The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Joel 1:1-11, “The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

2 Hear this, O elders, and listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers’ days?

3 Tell your sons about it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons the next generation.

4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; and what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

5 Awake, drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine drinkers, on account of the sweet wine that is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation has invaded my land, mighty and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness.

7 It has made my vine a waste and my fig tree splinters. It has stripped them bare and cast them away; their branches have become white.

8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.

9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests mourn, the ministers of the LORD.

10 The field is ruined, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine dries up, fresh oil fails.

11 Be ashamed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field is destroyed.”

Reading this passage from the prophecy of Joel is tantamount to watching evil creep upon our nation. Joel warned the Israelites of coming days of darkness and despair. Joel is not with us today, but his words continue to reverberate within our souls. Days of darkness indeed are upon us; what’s more, the worst is yet to come. Males want to become females; females want to become males. They thrive on being different and become not a little disturbed if society at large does not recognize what they envision as their “rights.”

Throughout the Scriptures, the LORD warns us against affiliation with the evils that surround us. The “comforts,” we believe, will work to obliterate the evils; thus, gradually we convince ourselves that we are invincible! “Live, and let live,” becomes the cry. Yet, the prophet cries, “a nation has invaded my land, mighty and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness.”

As born-again believers in our LORD Jesus Christ, we must give ourselves to earnest prayer. We are not to hate those who ignore the LORD’s directive; rather, we are to pray for them. We might be surprised, were we to know, how effectively the LORD has turned some from the error of their ways. Let us remember the words of Judah’s King Asa:

“LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You…let not man prevail against You” (2 Chronicles 14:11).

Heartily in Christ,

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

“We will never know that Christ is all that we need, Until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom