EZRA 9


9 For we were bondmen; yet our Elohim hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our Elohim, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

For we were bondmen


The predominant characteristic we find is the tremendous hold that the present and the apparent has on our attention, our actions, our inclinations and emotions. Unless energetically resisted, this fatal magnetism of the here and now prevents any protracted or fruitful contemplation of the distant future.

Is it reasonable to ignore an issue of such vast consequence just because its climax appears at present remote? Is it sensible to absorb our minds and energies with the transitory rubbish which wisdom tells us is a useless waste of time? Is it wise to disregard an offer of unparalleled magnificence just for the want of the effort necessary to assure ourselves of its reality and genuineness?

Not reasonable, not sensible, not wise-but very, very human.

Another powerful characteristic we see in all humans alike is a tenacious cleaving to what is usual and familiar-an almost unquestioning acceptance of common experience as the infallible criterion of what is possible, and an instinctive scepticism toward anything which varies from those things that we ourselves have encountered.

A third net which holds the vast majority enmeshed in its coils is the crushing weight of common opinion. The thoughtless accepting of things as true because "everybody" thinks so-the universal inclination to let others do our thinking.

And there's also that similar very natural and human inclination to stay in line and do what the rest are doing and hope we are not attracting any attention.

Can we not see these insidious forces exerting a constant pressure upon our minds and conduct? Can we not account for much of the conduct of others by recognising these influences at work? Can we not FREE OURSELVES FROM THEIR BONDAGE by a full recognition of and allowance for their universal sway?

If we cannot abstract ourselves from our inclinations and tendencies-if we cannot, or will not, deliberately diagnose the machinery of our conduct, how can we hope to control it, or be master of our actions? How can we be anything but the unconscious slaves of a pre-determined set of natural propensities?

All mankind from the cradle to the grave is swept along in a rushing current of natural reaction and habitual tendency like a boat without a helmsman.

But-we are given the ability to bring the vessel under control and direct its course in a definite line without regard to the current of our natural tendencies, and the ebb and flow of the tide of our emotions, or the winds and storms of environment and circumstance

Bro Growcott - The One True Faith

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