It isn't just what we hear and what we gossip that is
problematic. The conclusions we leap to
about what we hear are equally damaging.
It is quite amazing sometimes when we hear either what we have said
interpreted in ways that are unimaginable to us. Our minds can leap from point to point with
amazing rapidity and with only the barest logical connections. Our insecurities and our desire to tear down
others are lurking just under the surface of every relationship and every
conversation. Communication is the most
daring thing we can attempt to undertake for that reason. For leaders it is the most frustrating thing
we do, every word becomes parsed, people read their own emotions into the
written word, hear things that aren't there, and then conclude what we really
meant to say was something quite different from what was actually said. Some days you have to wonder if the ability
to communicate with others in complex ways is really a gift from God to human
beings.
What a bizarre idea that Jesus cast out demons via the power
of darkness, by Beelzebul! Jesus immediately
applies basic logic to the idea and shows it is ridiculous. The people have formed opinions about who
Jesus cannot possibly be, Messiah, because they "know" His father and
mother, that He is from Galilee, He breaks Sabbath and causes others to do the
same, etc., so they have to come up with alternate explanations for how He does
such things. Their logic sounds like, He
isn't of God, humans, without spiritual assistance can't drive out demons, so
He must get His power from the only other source of spiritual power, He is
therefore of satan. If your logic is
based on a flawed premise, you will only by accident come to the right
conclusion. Here, they come to a wrong
conclusion. Jesus also then instructs
that it isn't enough to get rid of the demon, it is equally important to fill
that voided space so there is no room for it to return with friends.
The two witnesses tell the truth about things, but the
people of the earth won't listen to them and will conclude that they are evil,
a curse to humanity because of their power to shut the skies of rain and bring
plagues on the earth. Elijah, remember,
was considered a troubler of Israel because his prophecy was that there would
be no rain and therefore no crops. Moses
prophetically announced the plagues in Egypt and the Israelites became an
abomination to the Egyptians. When they
have killed the two witnesses they will consider that this is a service to
humanity even though their message and the signs that attend it are to prepare
the people for judgment, warning them of what is to come. We don't like privation, however, so we often
reject and misinterpret such signs.
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