For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. – Ecclesiastes 1:18

As I sit here staring at a computer screen and a blinking cursor trying to figure out how to convey the following message, I understand the vanity of man explained within the pages of Ecclesiastes. Honestly speaking, it is painful knowing some of the depths within the Word of God. In a world such as we live in today, all Christians are taught pretty much the same thing. Believe in any Jesus Christ and all is forgiven. Do you even know what you are forgiven for? Jesus said, “you shall know the truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” Pilate said to Jesus, “what is truth?”

Do you know the truth? Do you know what you have been made free from? Is to be made free, something that takes time as the clay to the Potter’s wheel? Do you know why we are all facing an eternal torment of punishment in fire and brimstone where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth? I thought we are created in the image of God. If we are created in the image of God, why do we need to be redeemed. Why did the LORD God have to take an unimaginable punishment to pay the price for us?

“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men” – Ecclesiastes 6:1.

Were you aware that there is a god of this world? Did you know that Jesus said that we are of our Father the devil? Did you know that the Bible says, “they that are in the flesh cannot please God?” We are told that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. I will put this in perspective for you. There is a reason that we need to be born again. Jesus doesn’t lie. “And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” The devil truly is our father here. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” So if Jesus is the image of God, what does that make all of us? “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

“Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” – Ecclesiastes 7:3-4.

“And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.” “I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.” “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Jesus said unto them, “Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” This is the reason that we need to be born again. Jesus is the firstborn of the “new” creation.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do… And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” We are all blind. We are all captives. We are all in prison.

“I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness: And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.” – Ecclesiastes 7:25-26.

Please read the last post and watch the video. “I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” Jesus said unto Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

“There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.” – Ecclesiastes 9:14-18.

In my own walk of faith, I have wept. I have wept bitterly. I think a part of me is still weeping, continually, yearning to be back with the Father. The Author and Finisher of my faith. The Beginning and the End. The First and the Last. All of us were there in the Beginning. Very few of us will be there at the End. And that bitter truth causes me to weep even more. “Forget those things which are behind and reach froth unto those things which are before.” “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” – Ecclesiastes 3:15.

“And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd. And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” – Ecclesiastes 12:9-14. Give ALL Glory to the LORD God alone…

Jonathan Heller – Lift Up A Banner