The three pillars

By Johnny D. Symon

Not so long ago, while I was working in the big city, I dropped into an Asian takeaway shop to buy a tub of vegetable curry and rice. I felt like eating something exotic for my lunch break. As I ordered it I casually asked the girl behind the counter if the curry was one hundred percent vegetable, "Why yes, of course," she replied, then asked if I was a vegetarian, "No, I eat fish and meat, but I find that if I eat meat for lunch I get drowsy." To which she replied, "Do you eat all meats?", "Eh, no, only some, why?" "Well I'm a Hindu and I think that if you're going to eat meat you should eat all types." My answer was short and sweet. "Well look here. If your religion orders you only to eat fruit and vegetables, then you should eat all vegetation and fungus in the world, because I reckon that if I chewed down on everything that wriggles, and you chewed down on everything that grows, I bet that I'll outlive you!"

I'm a habitual "Love God, love my neighbor" person, and my patience verges on the infinite, but every once in a while my patience is tried in a hotter furnace. Everywhere I go I meet folks of varying and diverse religions, and or cultural beliefs, and most times both sides depart unscathed. Intolerance I guess is the key factor leading to conflict, and Lord knows how much tolerance was dished out to me during my formative years by my mom and dad; they had the patience of a saint, though thankfully it was in righteous balance with their sense of necessary justice.

Rabban Simeon son of Gamliel used to say, the world is supported on three pillars — truth, justice and peace, even as the prophet Zechariah declares, "Judge ye in your gates truth and the justice of peace." (Zechariah 8:16)

World wrestling champ, John Cena, sports three pillars on his sweatshirt, namely "hustle, loyalty and respect," and for me those three qualities can be found in the former. The Bible urges us to go forth, multiply and replenish the earth, and to do so must therefore involve a whole load of hustling on a thick crust of loyalty, topped with a layer of deep respect for our surroundings and fellow man.

Without truth there can be no justice, and without justice there can be no peace.

During my formative years on this planet I learned all about those three pillars, and I live according to them. I also happen to know many other people who do likewise. But the world is a very different place nowadays to the world I knew as a kid, and the three pillars I live according to are difficult to find elsewhere. As I look around in every direction I witness truth being twisted, righteous justice being withheld, and peace being promised when it hasn't been earned.

For those of us who have not only repeatedly read our Bible but also live according to it, we know that all "peace talks" involving Israel and the Middle East are a lie and a sham, and we know that despite assurances from those at the top that the world could be destroyed, our Book denies it all. Christians can rest easy by reading sections such as ...

"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that
by the word of God the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out of the water
and in the water:
Whereby the world that then was, being
overflowed with water, perished:
But the heavens and the earth, which
are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

— ll Peter 3:5-7

And if, after reading the above verses, you wonder what constitutes "ungodly men" of perdition, I recommend a little look at Hebrews 6:4-8. This section denies the modern day Christian assertion by some, that if one confesses and receives the "heavenly gift," that irrespective of their future conduct, eternity for them is assured. Jesus said that to love God, love your neighbor, meant that all the law and the prophets were summed up in those two acts. He didn't say that to love God, love your neighbor, did away with the law and the prophets, which is something our present-day God-professing apostates assure us, and that's something we all should consider and take note of. To love God and love our neighbor equates as a firm life's walk between the pillars of "truth, justice and peace."

Now the Bible is quite a large book, therefore I'll explain how to walk that walk as I understand it, using my famous old cowboy logic. So here it goes;

Way back in time the heavens and the earth were quite different to the place Adam and Eve were. They inhabited Paradise on Earth, but it wasn't the original earth alluded to in ll Peter 3:5-7 above, theirs was part two, the sequel, and they were the very first human beings to set foot on planet earth. And they blew it. Truth, justice and peace quickly fell from favor, and out they went into the big wide world, with the message still ringing in their ears, "Go forth, multiply and replenish the earth." Both Adam and Eve were well equipped to fulfill that task as one of them was male and the other female. So both of them were a perfectly matched set, able to perform the "multiply and replenish" bit.

But pretty soon their offspring followed their parents example by dropping all notion of observing the three pillars, and this led them on and into the great flood of Noah.

"The earth also was corrupt before God,
and the earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth, and,
behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth."

— Genesis 6: 11,12

The word corrupt in the KJV comes from the Hebrew root "shachath." This word chiefly highlights the corruption entailing sexual immorality and idolatry and outlines the strong truth that to "multiply and replenish the earth" involves the partnership of male and female, and since the status quo was not adhered to "truth, justice and peace" made way for "violence and corruption."

As the flood waters subsided mankind found yet another opportunity to get back on track, but was quickly spoiled by a night of drunkenness, leading to yet another act of sexual immorality, and on we rolled through history, and here we now are in the 21st century.

Truth, justice and peace are scarcer commodities now than in the past. Some of us observe the guidance of religious leaders who support the act of marriage yet have no experiential knowledge of it themselves. To go forth, multiply and replenish the earth, is something they can never personally achieve, whether they are Buddhist monks or Catholic priests and nuns.

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience
seared with a hot iron;
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain
from meats, which God hath created to be received
with thanksgiving of them which believe
and know the truth."

— l Timothy 4: 1-3

Bearing in mind that what led to Noah's flood was the people's departure from the three pillars, and their adoption of perverse sexual practices, careful note both of the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and those who forbid the union for so-called religious vocation reasons, requires careful study.

Now I know fine well that Paul the apostle stated that he wished that others would remain unmarried like himself, but he also claimed to have been a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin counsel, and in order to become eligible for membership, a man had to be married with children. Some of us still believe that marriage is made in heaven, and for life, and that marriage is a sanctified act, therefore to deny the right to marry is acting in accordance with the above described "doctrines of devils."

To observe all the law and the prophets by acting according to the "royal law" described by Jesus requires the work of a male and female partnership, without which, paedophilia and homosexuality fill the space that God provided.

So if there's a dearth of "truth, justice and peace" in the world, we know where the fault lies, and because the rot is at an advanced stage we witness Presidents disregarding scripture containing the elements surrounding Israel and its eternity, the world and its future, by fearing a Third World War. I regard any attempt at thwarting Biblical prophecy and promises as the mindset similar to the one eyebrowed Breugel dimwits displayed on his many canvases.

I don't fear Iran or Russia because I know where they're coming from and going to, and I don't fear for the world because I know it's future, but I kinda fear for the type of individuals who either through action, deny their own faith, or through atheism and humanism, deny Africans and such like the right to be intelligent and human. I'm talking Dr Watson here. And Buddhism is a close buddy, because all the Buddhists I've talked to see no difference between heterosexual liaisons and the other varieties. I've never asked the Dalai Lama though, but I suspect he cares little for God's variety also, after all, he's never been married and therefore has no idea what it's like to fulfill God's unction, to go forth, multiply and replenish the earth. True wisdom is beyond him, and any peace ideas he has on offer will be of the wrong sort.

You see, the Lama does not believe in justice, but I do. He cares little for marriage, whereas I do. And while I understand what it means to love God and love your neighbor, he doesn't because in reality he does not believe in Him. Like Dr Watson, who only believes in DNA, not in its Source, DL believes that everything in the universe is one and the same ... a roach, a dog, a human, etc.

The Kabbalah explains that we're first born as a mineral, and we strive to become vegetable, then we hope to become animal, then human, with a strong desire to finally push into the realm of being super-human. But those who deny God deny themselves the upward spiral, and the quest to become super-human, eternal even, because they choose to remain on the same level as a household roach, which leaves me wondering why so many of us rely on the wisdom and guidance of those who are little more than roaches.

Now ain't life full of puzzles and mysteries sometimes?

© Johnny D. Symon