Under threat

(Matthew 7:15)  "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Livestock is often under threat from predators and so it’s up to the gatekeeper or their enclosure to keep them safe. But the hunter has their own objective and this is to hunt and destroy. Not all predator kill to survive, they eradicate because it’s who they are.  

As some of you may already know that I used to breed chickens as I was doing whatever I could to put food on the table, selling off the eggs. I build pens that allow the chickens to free range. About a month into my venture I started loosing chickens to a predator, at first I thought it was domestic cats causing the damage, I was wrong and later found out that it was a predator know mas a Genet; a species on the extinction list. Firstly why would such a beautiful wild animal be close to extension? The answer is an obvious one; farmers of old would make it their business to exterminate them as they viewed them as vermin. The reason for this was the destruction a single Genet would cause was unprecedented. In a single night I could lose up to twelve hens. I would not have minded if I lost a chicken or two in a fortnight. But because they just killed for the sake of it, without eating the chickens, this then became a serious problem. Jackals cause a similar problem, when speaking to a farmer friend of mine, he informed me that when a jackal got into a sheep’s pen it would kill a number lambs and only eat a small portion of the animal and then move onto the next. A Genet is worse it would only eat the brain of some of the hens leaving a trajectory of devastation. This then forced me to fully enclose the coops; it was for their protection as I was their protector. The Genet is such a sleigh animal that it took me weeks to keep it out of their enclosure. By this time I had lost close to 50 chickens and none of my chicks survived.

In like manner the Christian has many enemies that look to break down their faith. They will attack the Word of God with the intention of uprooting the babes in Christ. Therefore the point I stressed yesterday was that it is our responsibility to study the Word of God and be equip to handle the rot. How will we achieve this? Read, read and read! When the Bible is understood correctly it will equip us to handle the fiery darts of the evil one. However if we do not know our Bibles we will be ill equipped to defend what is precious to us as Christians.

Sure we have men that have been skilled in God’s Word that will help guard against the onslaught. But as mankind is the most intellect of all of God’s creation many will dress up in sheep’s clothing pretending to be sheep when in fact they are wolves. We must make it our business to study the Word of God (the Bible) to quench the twaddle. The more we read and study the Bible the better off we will be.

Read, read and read!

Signing off

Tyrone