Isaiah 1:18 Good News Translation
18 The Lord says, “Now, let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool.
Isn’t religion a bit mysterious? Isaiah states that our sins have stained us red. Then God says: “I will wash you clean like snow or wool.” If one reads the Bible further, one will find that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb[2]. So, our red stains are washed in red blood, and the net result is white as snow.
This reminds me of a phishing call I got this morning at 6;25 a.m. I was peeved. My phone was also peeved; it warned me that the caller was “scam likely.” I answered it anyway because some scammers have turned out to be friends, and I didn’t want it to awaken Sylvia any more than it already had. The conversation went something like this: [contents in brackets were not spoken.]
Me: “Good Morning!”
Scammer: “Hello?”
M. “Good morning?”
S: “Can I speak to Sylvia Clarke?” [May I]
M: “Who is this calling?”
S: “This is erfijdsk from her shipping pharmacy!”
M: “I’m sorry, who did you say you were?”
S: “This is erfijdsk from her shipping pharmacy!”
M: “What do you want?”
S: “Are you authorized to ask questions for her?”
M: “I’m her husband.”
S: “Her new Medicare card is being shipped from her shipping pharmacy.” [pharmacies don’t create new Medicare cards]
M: “What pharmacy?””
S: “From her CVS shipping pharmacy.” [She has no occasion to deal with CVS]
M: “What do you want?”
S: “Her new Medicare card is being shipped from her shipping pharmacy via UPS.”
M: “What is being shipped?”
S: “Her new Medicare card, by UPS.” [Medicare always ships by USPS. Medicare never notifies by telephone. What a terrible thing to awaken me at 6:25 in the morning for all this pure unadulterated bull manure.]
I gently returned the phone to its cradle and sat down and read the verse quoted above.
As you know, many things come to all of us at inconvenient times. They often sound contradictory. Although at times, like the call I got this morning, they are cow turds, they sometimes have vital meaning,. A call that sticks out in my memory was a call one Saturday night at midnight.
It started out, “Do you know Elvin Oblander?” This had every sign of spam. However, if I had hung up on them, Sylvia’s Uncle may have ended up in jail for who knows how long which may have caused his untimely death. Because I answered, we were able to rescue him.
All of our carefully worked out crap filters usually protect us from harm or inconvenience, but they may occasionally cause us to reject absolutely vital information. How can we know?
\Paul warns us[3] “Put all things to the test, hold fast what is good!”
Lord, You promised us wisdom in our choices, wisdom that is extremely vital these days. Please give it to us now. Thank You.
[1] https://www.pashudhanpraharee.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FB_IMG_1603321744305.jpg
[2] Revelation 7: 14
[3] 1 Thessalonians 5 :21 GNV
Maybe those spam callers are in need of salvation. At least one should see them as God's creatures..
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