It was one of those times when I wish that I had had a camera. But it was before smart phones and it was all over too quickly.

Cheryl and I were sitting on the back porch visiting with an elderly couple. It was a beautiful evening and our spot on the planet was losing its turn with the sun. Birds were everywhere, flitting, chirping, and dipping in the birdbath. The elderly gentleman loved and fed them daily. And the cat loved them as well.

He began stalking a small flock that had landed under a bird feeder. They were pecking furiously at the ground gathering up a final meal before roosting for the night. The cat was a very good stalker. Although the birds glanced nervously about as they feasted, he inched ever closer. The drama was intense.

I did not want the cat to be successful and was about to shout and wave my hands when I realized that he had set his mind on one particular bird. Fascinated by his choice I watched spellbound as he crept ever closer and then pounced. Success! As the little flock took flight the cat hit his prey with lightening precision flattening the bird.

However, there was no explosion of feathers, no death struggle in the teeth of the fearsome creature, and no smug look by the cat as he pranced away to enjoy his feast. No, but something much more amazing occurred.

When cat and bird collided the cat bounced back, shook his head several times, and staggered as he slunk off with an unhappy demeanor. When he glanced back at the fallen bird and contorted his mouth as if he were eating peanut butter, I erupted with laughter.

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(Warning: If you’d rather wake up with your bed on fire than change the battery in the smoke alarm, this article is not for you.)

Why are most professing Christians ignoring warnings? Why do they consider truth speakers too harsh, fanatical, out of touch with mainstream Christianity, et cetera? Why, when it is obvious that the “end of days” is rapidly approaching, and God’s word has many warnings against being unprepared, do they so completely resist and reject warnings that can motivate them to prepare? Maybe we should ask why people drive into swollen rivers and drown? Or why they drive and text? Or why they eat, smoke, and drink themselves to disease and an early death?

People are willfully and comfortably blind to the signs and deaf to the warnings. It is the result of the human nature’s proclivity to be stress-free, and the compromise of Christianity by heresy. I witnessed the “Word of Faith” doctrine (prosperity, comfort, convenience, health, God-is-my-servant) seep into and blend with the Evangelical belief system. Now professing Christians are too focused on being “blessed” and comfortable to be bothered by warnings. Many of them say they do not believe in the WOF heresy, but they live as if they do. They have allowed their hearts of sacrifice to be slowly converted to self-centered hearts calloused by repeated, unresponsiveness to conviction (Romans 12:1-2). It’s all about sports, shopping, food, fun, ranting about politics, occasionally roasting a heretic, about Churchianity, and happy, happy, happy! They would rather believe that an inarticulate and bearded duck hunter speaking “pabulum” is a eminent sage than to acknowledge a God-sent warning.

They are comfortable and that’s what matters. Only what promotes comfort is permitted to pass the eye and ear gates. The fact is it doesn’t matter if one rides a Mercedes or a dirt bike into a firestorm he or she is still going to roast. The “Ostrich Complex” is merely a means to insure unpreparedness for a devastating and unprecedented satanic firestorm.

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It’s is a beautiful day! The coolest day of Fall so far. I open the door to greet the morning. All is still and quiet.

“How do you do, morning? You were made by the Lord!”

Our little domicile sits on the side of a small hill. The sun is shining over the eastern treetops and our roof, landing soft and gently on on the western stand of tall pines and oaks. Even the birds appeared to be in awe of the transcendent aura. They dance about in the trees stopping only to chirp excitedly. I had forgotten how organic and sweet their music is. Their excitement is contagious as songs burst forth from their divinely painted throats. If any creature knows the joy of the morning it is the birds.

I’m glad that no one drove down our street to shatter the sublimity of that splendid moment.

God’s new mercy brings hope for the day in the serenity of such mornings. It made me think of heaven. How about being in a place of perfect rest and peace? Can you imagine that? Sink your mind into the folds of such a thought and for a blessed interlude you can spiritually taste the bliss.

Why do people not believe in such a place as heaven? It is likely because they believe and trust so completely in the temporal realm. The only way to really grasp the concept of heaven is faith. But faith is a choice between the seen and unseen. It requires that we see the unseeable and grasp the ungraspable. I know…that doesn’t make sense.

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