Chapter 18 of Ezekiel is an excellent study on the justice of God.  It begins with God responding unfavorably to an often-quoted proverb, “The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (vs. 2).  I find comfort in his statement that “every living soul belongs to me” (vs. 4).

Then God goes on to explain (through the prophet, of course) that each person’s sins are accountable for their own actions.  No longer can they be blamed on the behavior of their parents or how they were raised.  You do bad, you die.  You do good, you live.

Now I’m not sure what is specifically meant by the term “death.”  Is it a physical death?  We all die, but does God take us out sooner if we’re bad? From looking around us, that doesn’t appear to be true.  Many apathetic, angry or miserable people still manage to live to a ripe old age.

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I remember as a child playing a game called Red Rover.  It consisted of two teams who formed lines about thirty feet apart.  One team would announce the name of who they wanted to receive (Red Rover, Red Rover, send Stevie right over.).  The person selected would rush at the opposite line, attempting to break through.  If he or she broke through, they could pick one of the two links broken to join them back on their team.  If they couldn’t break through, they remained as a part of the receiving team.  I never got called because of my size.

Picking sides has always been a part of childhood games.  If you were picked first, you felt special.  If picked last, you felt like a loser.  In today’s society political correctness requires everyone to be a winner in children’s games. No longer are they taught how to lose gracefully.

In 1877 Frances Havergal wrote the words to the hymn, Who Is On The Lord’s Side? The hymn was allegedly written based upon Exodus 32:26 (KJV), where Moses asks the question (from the title) of the children of Israel?  They had been bad while Moses was up on the mountain talking to God.  They made an idol and worshiped it.  When Moses asked the question, one tribe stepped forward.  For their dedication they got to kill 3,000 of their brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers and children.

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I’ve heard the term thrown around a lot lately, mostly on TV and radio.  The preachers who ask for prayer warriors usually want your address so that they can then bombard you with requests to be “seed” warriors — they want your money.

But, to be fair, there are many who believe that people must be bound with one another in prayer, and I suppose that’s a good thing.  I struggle with the concept of prayer for myself, so you can see where I would wonder what a prayer warrior is.

A warrior is typically someone engaged in battle, with a determination to eliminate the enemy.  In the concept of prayer the enemy is probably Satan and his minions.  But I wonder how many prayers it takes to defeat such a force, especially when the Bible says that no one but God will ultimately defeat Satan. So does that make us police warriors?  We keep the Devil in check until God finishes him off?

In my prayers the enemy is often me.  I know what to do and don’t always do it.  I also know what not to do, but sometimes do it anyway.  Of course it could be Satan messing with my mind, making me think that the enemy is me.  In either case I need spiritual help.

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She’s listed as one of the four women in Matthew’s lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:3,5,6).  Three have less-than-reputable histories, but they are held up as Biblical women of courage.  Here’s the story of Tamar (Genesis 38).

Judah, one of Jacob’s twelve sons, married outside of his race.  As was the custom, he was to select wives for his own sons.  He picked Tamar for his firstborn, Er.  Er was bad.  God killed him.  As also was the custom, Tamar had to marry Er’s brother, Onan.  The idea was to preserve the tribe.

Onan didn’t like the idea, so he failed to complete the conceptive process. God didn’t like that very much, so he killed Onan.  Judah is now wary about losing more sons, so he tells her to go home, using the excuse that the third boy isn’t old enough yet.  His name is Shelah (yeah, he’s a guy).  Then Judah’s wife dies.

After he was done grieving, Judah goes back to work.  Tamar’s starting to wonder why she wasn’t called for in order to marry Shelah.  She disguised herself and observed Judah going to work with his son.  She notices that the boy is now a man, and assumes that she had been discarded.

Judah notices her, but he doesn’t recognize her.  He thinks she’s a prostitute, and, like any good red-blooded Hebrew, he decides to buy her services.

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Everybody’s gotta eat.  There are carnivores (eat only animals), herbivores (eat only plants) and omnivores (eat anything that isn’t nailed down).  Food sustains us; it contains important vitamins and minerals.  We can’t just take a handful of pills, because we also need sugars and starches for energy.

You need only look at people to wonder if they’re eating too much or too little.  I’ve been told by more than one person that I could afford to skip a few meals.  I think it’s my metabolism giving me problems — or not.  But it’s true that some foods go to fat more quickly than others.  Then your body gets really jealous of its fat stores and fights you when you attempt to lose some pounds.  What’s your food?

Our bodies also need spiritual food.  The brain has a lot of storage capacity.  It constantly needs information to keep the physical body running properly.  But it also has the amazing desire to assess the meaning of life, the concept of death and what might exist beyond this life.

Religion teaches us that there are forces (or Persons) at work in our lives to conform us to their will.

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