I’ve gotta be honest, I wish Aaron could’ve had a better ending… Psalm 106:32-33 explains that he and Moses also had their hearts grow cold to the Israelites, so to speak — Moses spoke rashly with his lips, the psalm says. It’s a shame they couldn’t finish their journeys in the wilderness strong. I can’t really tell what Aaron was thinking, but maybe Moses didn’t know much of his significance on the whole country… regardless, leadership of any kind is a huge responsibility, and if we don’t have what it takes to pull that off, we’d best avoid signing up for it. Yet every Christian leads in something. However, we’re supposed to follow Jesus primarily above everything else. Otherwise, it’s idolatry. This passage is found in page 91 of the NKJV Bible I have for this four-translation project, pages 116-117 of the NASB Bible (Old Testament) pages 185-186 of my VOICE copy (with a short note after this chapter ends), and pages 188-189 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.
I suffered a loss of Internet connection as I was writing this down (this probably won’t be the last time this happens even if I had the fastest Wi-Fi 📶🛜 ever), but maybe an evil spirit had interfered with this — it came to my attention less than three hours ago that they’ve dropped many of the faiths that were legal here (they’re all minorities), and while Christianity, for the most part, is still legal, and likewise several other popular faiths in this world, I think they needed to avoid criminalising these things; why not give them the opportunity to repent and follow Jesus without any negative repercussions? But this country’s following the pattern of Constantine, who, after coming to power around 300 A.D., banned all religious expression except Christianity. As a result, the empire he led fell apart pretty fast. I am speaking of the same empire that crucified Jesus. And soon, it’ll not be allowed for me to speak the truth about the governments here, and I’m tired of the excuses the “church” gives to try and deceive me into believing Trump or anyone else in the U.S. leadership system is less brutal than Nero had been. For if anyone is willing to take away good things and call it Christianity or godliness, that’s actually worse than what Nero had pulled off. And he used to torch Christians for his amusement. There’s a reason the book of Jude, which speaks of the Great Apostasy (see verses 3-19 there) was written after Jerusalem fell again in A.D. 70. Sadly, though, the love of Christ is completely absent in every U.S. church… I explained to a friend that it was the sin of 2 Peter 2:20-21, but if he doesn’t believe this or if he changes the subject, there’s no truth in him. I think these churches here change the subject A LOT whenever I bring this up — I’m actually thinking they don’t want to be the hands and feet to the leads of these when it’s in their power. And sadly, there’s nothing I can do about it… the Word of God seems to have been wasted.
But back to the Bible passage… Moses sends a letter asking Edom if they’d let him and the rest of the Israelites pass through, and he was quite reasonable about it… but Edom wasn’t — they’d been nursing a grudge against Jacob since he had swindled him twice (Genesis 25:29-34, 27:1-41) — Jacob was indeed no Christian in those days, but he repented before he died, yet Esau believed forgiveness and justice contradicted each other… sadly, much of humanity has followed his lead, and the Puritans and most of their descendants are no exception. But justice is described in Amos 5:24 in terms of restoration. I found out about this from reading Brian Zahnd’s Radical Forgiveness book. (I don’t really know how to cite it properly, but whatever.) This is much-needed, but who among us is receptive to this truth nowadays? I can’t speak truth to anyone determined to misunderstand it… there’s a huge population in this country willing to do this 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔
I want to explain more, for I feel brokenhearted just thinking about it… but it’s good that Israel finally packed up from Kadesh and set out to try and go through Edom — they had to go another way to Mount Hor, where Aaron would die and be buried because he and Moses hadn’t treated God as holy (verses 10-12). Jesus wanted to showcase His love to the community again, and He was indeed the Rock they drank from (1 Corinthians 10:4), but Moses and Aaron didn’t do it properly, and most of the others had disowned God in their hearts both before the unbelieving generation died off and as a result of this (1 Corinthians 10:5). So, He had Aaron die at Mount Hor, and the Israelites mourned for him for 30 days, in contrast to the customary seven for most others’ deaths. They’d mourn for Moses for 30 days later, a note 📝 📋 says after this chapter is finished.
I want to showcase God’s kindness more often, and I don’t often know how, which honestly, is awful, knowing most of us stay inside every summer in the Valley, and water is getting expensive. I don’t think I can be humble enough… but at least no one has to humble themselves without Christ’s Spirit — it’ll be false humility if we looked to some other source, including ourselves. Also, today’s the last day of my vacation, and I probably won’t need to write anymore this week (I mostly want to look at more lovely images of Hawai’i, Bora Bora, and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Google Maps 😅😅 sorry that I don’t have the freedom of going anywhere) — I want to jump in my apartment pool today, so that’ll be good. I’ll need to shower 🚿 first, but that’s OK. I’ll see you next time when we analyse Numbers 21!
In Christ,
Ron Outland
Ron And His Stories 