His Soul is Puffed Up

“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,

    but the righteous shall live by his faith.

“Moreover, wine is a traitor,

    an arrogant man who is never at rest.

His greed is as wide as Sheol;

    like death he has never enough.

He gathers for himself all nations

    and collects as his own all peoples.”

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—

    for how long?—

    and loads himself with pledges!”

Will not your debtors suddenly arise,

    and those awake who will make you tremble?

    Then you will be spoil for them.

Because you have plundered many nations,

    all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

    to cities and all who dwell in them.

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

    to set his nest on high,

    to be safe from the reach of harm!

You have devised shame for your house

    by cutting off many peoples;

    you have forfeited your life.

For the stone will cry out from the wall,

    and the beam from the woodwork respond.” (Habakkuk 2:4-11 ESV)

There are many people in this world, both among those professing faith in Jesus Christ and those making no profession of faith in our Lord, who are filled with pride and with all that is evil, wicked, corrupt, and immoral. Even if they give lip service to the Lord, they are still living to gratify the sinful pleasures of their flesh. The authority over their lives is not God, but their sinful flesh. They walk in the darkness (sin) and not in the light of truth and righteousness, nor in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands.

Now the Scriptures teach that we have all been shown the glory of God via his created works, so we are all without excuse if we choose the darkness over the light because of evil deeds (John 3:19-21; Romans 1:18-32). But especially those who have professed faith in Jesus Christ, who have been taught the Scriptures from early on, and who perhaps even taught the Scriptures themselves, are without excuse if they refuse the light and if they prefer the darkness because their deeds are evil.

For they have been given the light of the gospel. They have been given the truth of Jesus’ sacrifice of himself for us on that cross in order that we might now die with him to sin and walk in obedience to his commands, in his power. They have been taught (or should have been taught) that genuine faith which saves involves us denying self, dying to sin daily, and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands. And if we refuse, and if we continue making sin our practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

But even many who have been given this knowledge are still living to please the flesh and not God. So, in order to give way to their flesh they just shove the truth out of the way and they ignore it, or they alter it to make it fit with their sinful lifestyles. And they do this without conscience and without really caring that what they are doing is against God and against his teachings, and that it is in direct disobedience to his commands, and without regard for who gets hurt in the process, either. That is how addiction to sin operates.

So, they are lacking in good judgment, common sense, and discernment, because they block those out when they want to sin. They cast them off. Even though they know that the word of God has the answers for what ails them, and that God has the remedy to deliver them from their addiction to sin, they block it all out when their flesh craves what is wicked and immoral. And even if they have people who love and care about them telling them the truth, warning them of the consequences of sin, they still block it all out.

And even if they are keenly aware of what the Scriptures teach us are the signs of the end, and they know enough of the Scriptures to know what is truth, and even though they may even see the signs right in front of their faces, and they may acknowledge the times in which we live, that will still not stop them from seeking after what is evil instead of after what is good, even knowing that hell is what awaits them, and not heaven, because they just block out that reality, too, so that they can keep on in their sin.

And, sad to say, that is where many Americans are who are professing faith in Jesus Christ, not really taking God and his word and his warnings seriously, but assuming God is going to let them into his heaven just because they profess his name. And they have been duped into accepting a cheapened form of the true gospel which makes no requirements of them of death to sin and walks of obedience to the Lord. So they have convinced themselves that how they live doesn’t really matter with regard to eternity.

“Woe to him who builds a town with blood

    and founds a city on iniquity!

Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts

    that peoples labor merely for fire,

    and nations weary themselves for nothing?

For the earth will be filled

    with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea.

“Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink—

    you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,

    in order to gaze at their nakedness!

You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.

    Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!

The cup in the Lord's right hand

    will come around to you,

    and utter shame will come upon your glory!

The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

    as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,

for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

    to cities and all who dwell in them.” (Habakkuk 2:12-17 ESV)

But this goes beyond just the individuals who treat God and his word in such an ungodly and disrespectful manner. As discussed in the two previous studies in Habakkuk, the USA government falls into this same category. For many of our leaders claim to believe in Jesus Christ and to be Christians, and our nation, as a whole, is presented as a “Christian nation,” “One nation under God..” But the US government is not what it purports itself to be, for it is subservient to the Elite who are the de facto government of the USA.

And the USA government has been used of the Elite to take down the nations of this world and to conquer peoples and to kill them and to rob from them their lands and their natural resources, and to bring them into submission to “the international community,” i.e. to the rule of the beast (One World Government). But now what goes around comes around, and the USA will be taken down, too, in order that all nations will be in subjection to the rule of this beast (Revelation 13). And our leaders are our traitors.

The USA (along with perhaps their political allies) is the Babylon being spoken of in the book of Revelation, I believe, which includes the institutional market-driven churches incorporated under the state. My government has been responsible for the murdering of people of so many nations, including our own people in our own nation, and of corrupting so many people, too. So God is going to judge America. And I believe it may not be too far off, for I believe it has already begun (Revelation 18:1-24).

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

https://vimeo.com/379406352