SPECIAL PRÉCIS ON THE PRICE OF OBEDIENCE FOR TEACHERS: GOD’S CALL TO COURAGE VS. CONCILIATION, CONFUSION, AND COLLAPSE

SCRIPTURE. “But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins [in preparation]! Get up and tell them all which I command you. Do not be distraught and break down at the sight of their [hostile] faces, or I will bewilder you before them and allow you to be overcome.” – JEREMIAH 1:17, AMP

KEY TERM: “DISTRAUGHT.” ‘Chathath’ [ תֵּחַת֙]: “A primitive root, ‘To fall prostrate, break down either by violence or confusion and fear; to become discouraged, dismayed or terrified.’” NOTE: “חָתַת (‘chathath’) conveys the collapse of courage or structure—ranging from internal dismay, terror, or discouragement to outward breaking, shattering, or destruction. The contexts decide whether the verb speaks of an inward emotional state or an outward physical ruin; often the two blend, as fear leads to collapse and collapse breeds fear.”

QUOTATION. “‘There are so many ways to be Brave in this world.’ Sometimes Bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater. But sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. That is the sort of Bravery I must have now.” ― VERONICA ROTH, Allegiant, 2013; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Gird up thy loins.’—Be as the messenger who prepares to be swift on his errand, and to go whithersoever he is sent (1Kings 18:46; 2Kings 4:29; 2Kings 9:1). The vivid image of intense activity re-appears in the New Testament (Luke 12:35; 1Peter 1:13), and has become proverbial in the speech of Christendom.

‘Be not dismayed.’—The repeated calls to courage appear to indicate—like St. Paul’s exhortations to Timothy (1Timothy 4:12; 1Timothy 6:13; 2Timothy 2:3)—a constitutional timidity. We must remember, as some excuse for this, that the Reign of Manasseh had shown that the work of the Prophet might easily lead to the fate of the martyr (2Kings 21:16). Even Ezekiel, among the remnant of exiles on the banks of Chebar, needed a like encouragement (Ezekiel 2:6). ‘Lest I confound thee.’—The Hebrew emphasises the Command by repeating the same words: ‘Be not dismayed, lest I dismay thee.’” – CHARLES ELLICOTT, An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers, 1878, 1897; edited

“COURAGE.” [Latin, ‘the heart’] Bravery; intrepidity; that quality of mind which enables men to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, or without fear or depression of spirits; valor; boldness; resolution. It is a constituent part of fortitude; but fortitude implies patience to bear continued suffering. ‘Courage’ that grows from Constitution, often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; ‘Courage’ which arises from a Sense of Duty, acts in a uniform manner.‘Be strong and of good courage’ Deuteronomy 31:6.”

DK’S TAKE. When I received this Word in earnest around 1981, comparatively minutes after being rescued from addiction, depression and near suicide, I did not grasp its immense important to me as a Christian Professor of His Word. Back then I saw it as a reasonable request for me to always be honest and deliberate with what I taught others.

Little did I realize then what massive impact my obedience (or my disobedience) of this Command would have on my later years. Today of course as we find ourselves in the midst of a virtual Collapse of Truth in the American Church, this Word has become ‘My Ensign’, frankly, for continuing the word of a Teacher.

I have told you more than once that I did not grow up a courageous young man. Fear was pretty much my animating force, thus the drinking, partying and escaping my sordid and cowardly way of life. But when God saved me, an inkling of Courage began to creep into my soul. Yet the ‘Fear of Man’ still remained, and in a crippling manner when I was around famous Christian leaders.

TRUMP ARISES. To this day, however, I am grateful that God used the explosion of Donald Trump onto the twin scenes of Church and State to shock me into my own personal Awakening. As Christian institutions began to demand my allegiance to this Vilest of the vile, and my refusals were followed by employment terminations, I knew something both unique and very powerful was underway:

The Destruction of the American Constitutional Order predicated upon the Destruction of the American Church’s Orthodoxy.

That is when my back stiffened, my resolve hardened against all this, as the Lord Himself began to “Gird my loins” for battle! During these past momentous and difficult ten years, I have seen that resolve deepen, and joyously met dozens, then hundreds, and now thousands of like-minded True Christians and ‘Noble Pagans’who have joined the fight.

These to replace the over 90 percent of former ‘Christian’ friends of an entire lifetime who chose Accommodation, Compromise and even Idolatry instead of Christ. Selah.

CALL TO COURAGE!  After searching for an appropriate and uplifting statement by which to encourage us all, I kept recalling the speech by then PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL to his public school alma mater named Harrow on October 29, 1941.

“You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that ‘Extra Courage’ to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period — I am addressing myself to the School — surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson:

‘Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to Convictions of Honour and Good Sense.’ Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.

Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say: ‘We can be sure that we have only to Persevere to Conquer!’”

CODA. So here we are, some 84 years later, facing not merely a Great War of the Nations, but the FINAL WAR to truly end all wars, even Armageddon, at the end of those brutal, Global conflicts. Will Christians muster all their strength, wisdom and courage to face what lies just ahead in like manner?

Here is what the King of the Universe says to His true followers.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – JOSHUA 1:8-9, AMP

It is all there, beloved. Now just do what He says, and truly, fully, ebulliently Love joyously and Follow Him and Him alone! ‘And all these other things shall surely be added unto you.’ Both now, and then Forever, and Ever, and then Forever!

Selah.