Then Came the Rain

The news that all government employees including teachers, doctors and policemen would have their salaries slashed by 25% had already broken, so had the news that the value added tax would be increased from 19% to 24%. The mood of the general population was already dark and bitter; then came the rain. At first the rain was a welcome reprieve from the heat wave that Romania had been experiencing since May, but as the light showers turned into unceasing torrential rains, the mood quickly became one of concern. Some days hail peppered entire regions of the country, destroying the wheat crop, while other days the heavens would simply open up and the rain would descend like someone had just turned on a high powered hose. The rainfall was unprecedented, and since over twenty people are confirmed dead due to the subsequent flooding, some did not see the danger these rains posed in time. While our neighbors to the east have had to contend with the worst drought in over 130 years, we have had to contend with the worst flooding since records started being kept. Regions that were never considered as having been in flood areas, in fact regions that have never been flooded were suddenly underwater, and the government scrambled to do what they could in order to save as many as they could. In the words of a reporter, the scenes of levies not holding, dams giving way, and people running for their lives having abandoned everything they'd worked for up to that point in their existence seemed unreal, almost like an apocalyptic movie about the end of days. This however was no movie, it was real life, and as such real people were being uprooted, real people were losing their homes, real people were hungry and hurting. The devastation the recent floods caused must be seen to be believed. The floodwaters came with such force and violence that hundred year old trees were uprooted from the ground, some homes were literally torn off their foundations, cars were tossed about like some mere playthings, and anyone who did not get to higher ground in time yet survived, survived by providence alone. Vast regions of our wheat and corn fields are still underwater, and a preliminary report by the department of agriculture says that close to half of this year's crop is no longer viable. The people were already bracing for a difficult winter before the rains came, before they lost their livestock and their homes, now some simply don't know how they will survive. For some the worst is over, for some the worst is just beginning as they attempt to rebuild their lives, returning to the mud caked edifices that were once their homes in an attempt to salvage whatever little they can. We are doing what we can as we can, and we ask for your prayers for this ministry, as well as for the people of Romania in this time of great trial.

In His Grace,
Hand of Help Staff

I will say the following plainly, because I could think of no other way of saying it. At the risk of bringing the readership of this blog to zero, at the risk of having to wade through dozens of less than friendly e-mails, the following must be stated, and clearly so. 

If the gospel messages you've been hearing lo' these many years have never once made you feel uncomfortable then you've never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you've been hearing lo' these many years have never once challenged you then you've never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you've been hearing lo' these many years haven't accentuated Christ and the cross in perpetuity then you've never really heard the true gospel message. If the gospel messages you've been hearing lo' these many years have never once stirred you to repentance, prompted inward introspection, humbled you, caused you to weep and truly see the enormity of your sin, then you've never really heard the true gospel message, but a neutered version wherein God is always smiling, the sun is always shining, the birds are always chirping and no matter what you do, God's holding onto you so tight that you'll never be able to get away. 

In this brave new world of ours, pastors have redefined their roles and become life coaches, no longer preaching a crucified Christ, but rather playing the part of guidance counselor to scores of individuals that can be likened to overactive, petulant, and overgrown children who will not accept being accountable to anyone, be they God or man. 

Preachers too have redefined their roles and rather than be concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of those to whom they are ministering they play the therapist, speaking soothing words, in a soothing tone, ensuring anyone within earshot that everything's going to be alright, that God has mellowed over the centuries, and as long as they 'bring the tithe into the storehouse' God will overlook everything else. 

It is an understatement when I say that there is enough blame to go around for the farce of a faith many are presenting, living and promulgating today, and the sheep are just as much to blame as the shepherds. In the end these so called shepherds are just giving the people what they wanted aren't they? 

If you preach the truth, if you preach the unadulterated Word of God, wherever you happen to be, you are bound to hear those famous words that seem to be on everyone's lips nowadays: 'That's not the god I serve!' 

I've heard it more times than I would like to recall, and no matter how often I hear it, it's still shocking. 

'I don't like your god, your god is mean, that's not the god I serve.'

'But all I did was read from His book', I would retort, 'all I did was read from the Bible!' 

If you hear the truth being preached, if someone is reading out of the Bible and in your heart you say 'that's not the god I serve', then may I humbly submit to you that you are not serving the true God, but a god of your own making and imagining. A god that you have fashioned in your heart who requires no submission, who requires no obedience, who requires no sacrifice on your part, but is more than happy to let you win the lotto time and again. 

It is because we have refashioned and remade God in our own image that the neutered gospel is so widely accepted and received. It is because we didn't like what God had to say that we chose rebellion rather than submission, and with hammer and chisel in hand we began to sculpt our new and improved deity. 

Like the prophets of Baal however, we will know the true impotence of the gods we've fashioned when we need them most. When we see the gods of our own making for what they truly are, nothing more than mists and vanities, it will be too late, and though we might cut ourselves and bleed, though we might cry out to the heavens for a sign, these deities we so revel in today, these gods we so honor and worship will remain silent as the empty tomb from which the Christ, the Son of the one true God walked out of two millennia ago. 


With love in Christ, 
Michael Boldea Jr.