“The house of shit ”
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“The house of shit ”
By Augusto A. Kho
Bureau of Jail, Management & Penology (BJMP)
Balungao; Pangasinan - October 15, 2018 (Monday); 10:30 a.m.
Updated: October 16, 2018 (Tuesday); 2:57 pm
“No matter how dirty your past it, your future is still spotless” in Christ.
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Photo from the internet
This really doesn’t sound very good even right from the title itself. It is self-derogatory as well as if I am maligning even the Word of God itself. But let me finish first before you react although I must admit I also over-react many times.
Sunday, October 7, 2018 when I started suffering from diarrhoea or loose bowel movement (LBM). After preaching I have had a high fever as well that made me confined in the bedroom for over half a day.
Thursday morning, October 11 when I pooh-pooh on my short while I was asleep at 4 a.m. I had to wash and clean myself on that very wee hour.
I am sharing this experience because whatever happens in our lives never occur as “chance” or “coincidence.” Things always have a purpose. “A coincidence is a small miracle when God chooses to remain anonymous” this quote is credited to Albert Einstein.
Saturday, October 13 at 8:30 a.m. which is two days later when my devotion reads like this:
“In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wasn’t not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee,“ ((Ezekiel 24:13).
March 19, 2018 is when this word “ filth “ which I can vividly recall came into my mind that took place at the very hall of Congress that says, “let he which is filthy, let him be filthy still,” (Revelation 22:11) which I can probably share in details later.
The situational analysis and chronological events reminds me of Psalm 119:105 (KJV) and all other Scriptures are indeed true that says,
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
The Word of God applies daily in our lives. His Word lightens every path that we step on in our journey of life. Like Ezekiel the prophet his life and experiences is made as “an example for you” and “symbol for these people,” as a “voice” of God (Ezekiel 24:24, 27/ NLT).
The filth
Filth is first mentioned in 2 Chronicles 29:5 when God commanded the appointed priests of the Lord, the Levites to “carry out the filthiness out of the holy place.”
Filthiness in Hebrew “niddah” (nid-daw) means “impurity, filthiness, menstruous, impurity, ceremonial impurity, idolatry, immorality, Moral (idolatry, incest); separation, set apart, unclean.” From root word “nadad” meaning “to retreat”. We hold back or retreat ourselves especially when we sensed something foul and smelly. And it is bone-jittery whenever you see human feces or shit as English people calls it whenever you see them scattered on the street or in your way. So we move away from others also when we fart. You don’t want others to smell it because it is unethical.
To cook one’s food using human dung speaks of spiritual, moral and literal famine as well as of judgment of God. Even He the Lord instructed His own prophet Ezekiel to feed himself food cooked by human dung (Ezekiel 4:12,15).
So when you see dung anywhere, and elsewhere especially when these shit is right before the legislative power of government, may God have mercy on us!
Moral filthiness & Sanctification
Moral issue is strongly pointed out during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah when the Israelites made intermarriage with the heathen. Ezra when publicly read the Word of God or Torah had commanded separation from the heathen wives or husbands to purify Israel for the Feast of the Unleavened Bread (Ezra 6:21-22). That is when separation of filth is required from God’s people that morally and spiritually defiled them and brought judgment to their nation.
On that Saturday night, October 13 my nephew who is a paediatrician insisted that I should be admitted in a hospital for detoxification to remove toxic waste from my body.
Sin, transgression and iniquities are toxic substances that corrupt the soul and a nation. From there, how can we detoxify ourselves from stains that beclouded our reason and corrupted our souls?
Injustice
Job described “how much more abominable and filthy is the man which drinketh iniquity like water," (Job 15:16).
When toxic waste finds final residence in our body we can get accustomed to it as if everything is just doing fine. But later in, it eats us up until we find it too late to withdraw from what we accustomed and became in us a habit that eventually builds a strong character in us. Sin operates in the same way.
Iniquity here in Hebrew ”evel” Z(eh-vel) i.e. injustice, unrighteousness, wrong, violent deeds of justice, injustice (speech or generally), moral (evil), perverseness, unrighteousness, wicked.”
So if they planted an evidence against you, or apprehended you without warrant of arrest or taking you in the jail without hearing your Miranda Rights or taken you forcibly without due process of the law, is it considered FILTHY, the perversity of a true justice.
God is just and he won’t let us loosen free without paying exactly what we have erringly done against Him and against other people.
As the prophet says, “I tried to cleanse you but you refused. So now you will remain in your filth until my fury against you has been satisfied. I, the Lord have spoken. The time has come and I won’t hold back. I will change my mind and I will have no pity on you. You will be judged on the basis of all your wicked actions, says the Sovereign Lord,” (Ezekiel 24:13-14/ NLT)
The same principle applies when a state sinned against her citizens or when a prince devours his own people he have sworn to protect and to serve.
A clan or tribe
The whole family or clan can be filthy like Ephraim.
Isaiah 28:7,8 “But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. “
Religiosity
One’s pagan ritual and religious ceremonies can be filthy as well. Religion has no place in heaven. Only the Blood of the Lamb is your official password.
Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. “
Protestants and Evangelicals are not exempted. We too like can be like the Pharisees when we are intoxicated with spirituality yet with the absence of Truth.
I witnessed by myself how two pastors changed their car plate numbers because they were coding in that day. And I asked them why they have to do it? A smile that grins up to their ears was the only response I got from them.
Dispersion, Migration, OFW
Dispersion or Hebrew “diaspora” is the result spiritual and moral filthiness of Israel against God that brought them in the four corners of the earth. Adolf Hitler alone of Germany terminated 5-6 million Jews during World War II. And what difference does it make with the Philippines whose 10 to 15 million citizens are being displaced as the modern “diaspora” in the 4 winds of the globe?
Ezekiel 22:15, “And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. “ (Also read Nahum 3:6). Today, we call dispersion or diaspora as migrants, OFW’s or displaced people.
Filth, shit, waster and Old Testament Hygiene
While we cover our human refuse as a form of moral issue and hygienic purposes, some “dubious bills” exposes our sins and lewdness as a nation in the form of legislation. This is indeed sad and very ironic. YET God taught clearly how our human waste must be dealt with.
Deut. 23:12-14, “12You must have a designated area outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 Each of you must have a spade as part of your equipment. Whenever you relieve yourself, dig a hole with the spade and cover the excrement. 14 The camp must be holy, for the LORD your God moves around in your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies. He must not see any shameful thing among you, or he will turn away from you.”
Filth or lewdness must be covered as the Scriptures say “love covers the multitude of sin” (1 Peter 4:8). We do not flaunt the fault of someone in the FB or Twitter for the whole world to see our shit. We do not make a brother or a sister a spectacle to the world. Satan does that to condemn man. When someone offended us, the bible taught us how to deal with it in God’s way in Matthew 18:15-20.
You don’t normally expose your breasts for others to see or even our filthy or immoral deeds. But to flaunt our wickedness by the virtue of legalizing them in the form of bills or legislations is like a big slap on the Lord’s face.
In the case of Adam and Eve, they “sewed fig leaves as aprons” to cover their nakedness which speaks of sins or lewdness God has provided them “coats of skins “ as covering garments that requires blood-sacrifice of an animal (Genesis 3:21) which is a picture of Christ’s righteousness in the form of “white linen” which speaks of the “righteousness of the saints,” (Revelation 19:8, 14).
Priests and the Temple
The temple and the priests are co-terminus. One cannot exist without the other. In science we call that “symbiosis.”
In Ezekiel 22:26 it says, “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. “
Destruction of the land or nation like Israel or Philippines depends from the temple priest according to the prophet Ezekiel “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. “
We are both the temple and the priests according to Paul and Peter. If both the temple and the priests are corrupted, what distasteful and disgrace would that be?
1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. “
Defile in Greek “phtheiro” (fthi-ro) means “to deprave.” Deprave (Webster) means to speak ill of, to corrupt morally, malign, abase, cheapen, debauch, degrade, demean, demoralize, deteriorate, pervert, profane, prostitute.
He who is familiar to the Law knows this very well that we should not profane the very image of God, this tiny little creature who is God’s “own image” (Genesis 1:27). Corrupting or perverting this resemblance of God is like indirectly assaulting God’s name where man originated from (Exodus 20:7).
Though this human body as Paul described as “earthly tent” perishes away “we have an eternal house not built by human hands “ as we wait for the “heavenly dwelling” (2 Corinthians 5:1/ ISV).
Only when this temple is undefiled, unsoiled and then offered these “bodies presented a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” which is the most “reasonable service,” (Romans 12:1)
God gave a stern warning is filthiness cannot be purged out from the temple. He said this,
“Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.,” (Ezekiel 24:21).
Cleansing the shit
One day I was surprised when a certain congressman called our house phone number. His voice was frantically worried and said to me:
Congressman : “Are you aware what is happening in that town?”
Peps : “What town? Oh I see (as the congressman mentioned the town that he was
referring at)… What about it?”
Congressman : In Filipino, he said it this way, “Nag babatuhan sila ng mga baho nila at pati ako
nadadamay (They messed up their own shit and my reputation is being put at
stake? Then he added, “Linisin mo mga basura nila (Cleanse their mess).”
You see the mayor and the vice mayor are verbally attacking one another through cyber-media that hurts as well the congressman’s political integrity and reputation.
When the congressman said, “Cleanse their mess or shit,” I felt like I was totally freaked out. What business do I have meddling in their political mess? “I am a pastor, not a politician,” I angrily said that to the Lord.
But you see the affairs of the priests does not end in the temple but goes beyond the sanctuary to provide divine counsel to the kings and to the affair of a nation. God’s state of a State is the business of the King of kings. Even the nation of Israel is being called by God as His assembly or His Sanctuary.
If we, individually or corporately as a priest or as Church failed to cleanse our mess is tantamount of profaning His Sanctuary (literal or figurative), then God’s judgment will be upon us in the same way that Herod’s Temple after 70 A.D. was trampled by the Romans, looted, burned and made as desolate up to this very day. The Wailing Wall or the Eastern Wall is a memorial that left a deep scar of God’s people unwillingness to be cleansed. God’s chosen and special people were wandered on the four (4) corners of the earth as pilgrims or strangers and their lands was turned over to their enemies for hundreds of years.
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The word “profane” is interpreted as “defiled” in New Living Translation (NLT) which means “prostitute” in Hebrew “chalal” (khaw-lal). Remember that Esau lost his birthright and called a “fornicator” or “male prostitute” from Greek word “pornos” (Hebrew 12:16). Esau’s offspring “inherited” his loss as well.
When God branded you as “pornos” you automatically lost your self-identity, calling and inheritance.
DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO US! We must keep repenting, we must keep on praying. We must keep on interceding for our president, for our country and for our Church to bring our wrong right!
King and the state
The filthiness and moral ascendency of the nation also depends from a king or leader of the land.
2 Chronicles 29:1-5 (ESV) says: “Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east 5 and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. “
The king or the princess (as executive branch of the government) must be the executors of the existing constitutional law of the land. In the case of Israelites, the Talmud or Torah is their basic constitution.
The first kingly agenda of Hezekiah is that he opened the doors of the temple. In other words, the temple of God has been probably closed for years and left in ruins perhaps. It was the king who repaired it. Princes of the must build the temple of God land does not destroy them. In our 1987 Constitution, the freedom of expression and religion is one of the cardinal rules. Any king or president must legally support the existing constitutional law.
It is worth nothing that Hezekiah’s grandfather was a former prophet and priest named Zechariah. Zechariah’s daughter – Abijah could have taught young Hezekiah the ways of the Lord. The Bible says, “He did what is right in the eyes of the Lord.” Young Hezekiah could have grown in the temple where his grandfather served. It was the king of the land who commanded the priests to take AWAY the shit or filth from the Holy Place. It is not the business of a king or a president like President Duterte to slap the Church or the nation with the shit. Otherwise God will go back to us and judge us as a nation.
It is the duty of the king to bring back the Levitical order and to build a Temple or repair a broken temple like Hezekiah did. From there we see how strategic a king or a prince of the land when he is God-fearing in consecrating the temple and the nation. The same is true to our dear President Duterte. Everyone needs help and a prayer. So do not lose hope in praying for the President, to the Church and to this nation.
God bless the President, the people and the Philippines!
Filth, cleansing and purging
The Ephesians Church was encouraged by Paul not to engage in “filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting,” (Ephesians 5:4).
The Facebook today becomes the “toilet-bowl” or “toilet-church” of some if not many pastors, Christian leaders and bishops who are like ravening wolves who exposes their butts and refuse publicly for public consumption. It is like spectacle for the whole world to see. They flaunt their shit or refuse on social media revealing their true colour or character. In other words, we should not expose our dirty linen publicly.
Filth in Greek “perikatharma” means “refuse (tae).” Metaphorically, “despicable men, criminal as price of redemption, pestilence or calamity” as defined by Thayer Bible Dictionary.
So “criminals” like you are treated as shit or tae lang as etymologists call it.
Read 1 Peter 2:7 on “filthy conversation” or the “filthy dreamers” (Jude 1:8).
Colossians 3:8, “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. “
Titus 1:11, “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. “
How this lucre works?
While coming out from the SM –Rosales building when this well-learned young man from nearby town came in. He said to me, “Pastor, can we talk very shortly?”
In one corner of the mall he lamented that a group of pastors, each one received P5,000.00 “bribe” from his contender for the mayoral race. His political opponent lost while he won from the recent election.
Filthy as mentioned in Titus 1:11 is a Greek word of “aischros” (ahee-skhros) which means “filthy, baseless, dishonour, shameful.”
And it is very disgustingly shameful to hear the mayor’s revelation considering I am a pastor myself. Apostle Paul mentioned that not all ministers preach with the same motivation. Others are sincere while the rest are not. One’s office or calling can be bought or traded. Esau did that. He sold his birthright over a bowl of lentils and that is why God hated him. We can do the same thing as pastors or ministers of the Gospel. That is why Paul lamented in 2 Corinthians 2:17 (NKJV):
“For we are not, as so many peddling the word of God, but of sincerity, but as form God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”
The word “peddling” in NKJV is translated as “corrupt” in KJV. Peddling or corrupt is derived from the Greek word “kapeluo” which means “to adulterate” or “to retail.” Filipino retailing means “tingi,” the retailing transaction of goods from the sari-sari store.
Yes, we can retail or trade our priestly services for a wrong reason for the right price. Lucre in Greek “kerdos” which means “gain or advantage.”
SO when a congressman, mayor or whoever uses you INMATES - to visit you and provide food for you with media mileage JUST to USE you is TAE lang yun.
Peter talked about the “filth of the flesh” in 1 Peter 3:21 and “filthy lucre” as well in 1 Peter 5:2 to pastors or workers of God.
Jezebel, the woman, a spirit is behind of this “full of abdominal and filthiness of her fornications” (Revelation 17:4).
But filthiness can be purged by God because is a Holy and clean God (Ezekiel 24:13; 36:25).
Even the priest Joshua “was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel,” and yet he was given a clean garment by the Lord (Zechariah 3:3-4). Paul was called “filth of the world” (1 Corinthians 4:13). He was a murderer right? But God forgave him as well. As one anonymous author said, “No matter how dirty your past it, your future is still spotless” in Christ.
Cleansing requires purging and it hurts.
You’ll find great separation among Christian families and believers in the time of cleansing before the coming of the Marriage of the Lamb which we the Old Testament call “Feast of Tabernacle.” It also means booths or shelters.
Only the Bride, the Church “should be arrayed in white linen clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” says John the Beloved (Revelation 19:8). It is only the “armies” of Christ is clothed in “fine linen white” (Revelation 19:13-14). Apparently only those who are in the “wedding dress” will be accepted in the Feast of the Tabernacle which is also called the “Marriage of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7-9).
And only the priests in the order of Levi and the worshippers of God can wear that robe of fine linen (2 Chronicles 5:12). But the Christians are called a “royal priesthood,” (1 Peter 2:9).
That parting is like the separation of the wheat and the chaff or the separation of the sheep from the goats which commemorates the Feast of the Atonement. Atonement is like when dross is separated from the gold.
Separation of filth is essential to require the sparkling revelation of gold. In the same way, wicked must be separated from the righteous. And the Church will do its greatest acrobatic balancing between evil and good. And the Church must act NOW!
House of shit
How severe is the filthiness of our church and our nation?
On March 19, 2018, some legislators in the Committee Hearing were like pushing heaven-and- hell to amend the constitutional infirmity of a certain bill. The issue is about “gender.” They wanted that one’s gender will become a matter of choice rather than a biological and natural distinction of birth-right. In several committee interpolations, I reasoned out that gender can never be legislated. It is natural right in the form of science of genetics which we call “inherited right” which is the absolute human rights of everyone in this planet Earth. To change the gender by the virtue of legislation will violate the Natural Science, our Family Code, our sacred 1986 Constitution which is drawn from the Spiritual Law i.e. the Bible. The provision of that bill is like perverting the truth and making lies as if they are true.
But on that day, I felt all my efforts, prayers and passion were drained on the sink’s drainage.
Presents then were the legal experts from DOLE, Department of Justice (DoJ), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), PNP, AFP, GSIS, SSS, DSWD and other government agencies who had a long, tiring and stressful day scrutinizing the its provisions. I felt I had to hold my peace when lawmakers simply pushed their way hard in to justify their pointless point. My heart simply resigned from that day and my mind was just like sucked by a giant sink drainage. .
When the legislators triumphantly shows a sign of relief to every a provision being approved during interpellation of the bill, I felt my heart revolting and I felt like pulling my hair out from its scalp due to anger, that was when I had in mind that the House may be “house of filth” or “house of shit” that immediately reminded me this verse in Revelation 22:11 that says:
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. ”
In other words, we will see the whole world not just in our own House of Congress, or right inside our home or in the centre of sanctuary that will become more filthy still while the rest will become righteous still. But the question of who will remain righteous and who will remain filthy is just right on our hands.
When I asked Christian brother who was sitting beside me in the conference committee table whether I point out clearly the flaws of a certain provision of the bill, this is what he said”
“For me, I do not want to cure the defects of this bill,” meaning we have just to leave people grope in the dark and legislations to entangle us like a strings controlled by the demons.
But we are called as a light in this dark world. What am I doing there like a crap is like pretending l am a ‘mighty band’ who could change our legislative system? But as long it is daytime. we have to work hard and pressed to tell the truth for “ the night cometh when no one could no longer work.” As long as Christ is Christ in this world, we still hope for a gleam of light for this nation (John 9:4-5). We are His ambassadors, aren’t we?
I was on that dilemma and I felt like giving up when the Chairwoman of the Committee said:
“Before we wrap up, I never heard Pastor Kho talking during the whole session. Can we hear him what he is about to say. Pastor Kho, do you have anything to say? ….”
When the crazy world shuts down, someone should speak up in their time of silence so our voices of truth may be heard. The voice of God must be heard in the corridors of power.
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We are not here to change the world, but we are here to speak about Him and His righteousness – and to change the hearts of men. And we cannot merely hold our peace without speaking about Him who alone holds the destiny of the heaven and the earth.
NOTES:
Shit
Shit is a word considered vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural, it means diarrhoea. Shite is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang term, it has many meanings, including: nonsense, foolishness, something of little value or quality, trivial and usually boastful or inaccurate talk or a contemptible person. It could also be used to refer to any other noun in general.
Coincidence
In Luke 10:31 (NIV), Jesus said, “And by a coincidence a certain priest was going down in that way, and having seen him, he passed over on the opposite side.” The word coincidence is translated from the Greek word synkyrian, which is a combination of two words: sun and kurios. Sun means “together with,” and kurious means “supreme in authority.” So a biblical definition of coincidence would be “what occurs together by God’s providential arrangement of circumstances.”
What appears to us as random chance is in fact overseen by a sovereign God who knows the number of hairs on every head (Luke 12:7). Jesus said that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father’s notice (Matthew 10:29). In Isaiah 46:9–11, God states unequivocally that He is in charge of everything: “I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.” According to Charles Ryrie.
Coincidence is used in Luke 10:31 in Young’s Literal Translation while the word “chance” can be found in NIV, ESV, NSAV, NLT to name a few
Feast of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
Leviticus 23:27 provides a day of confession, the highest of holy days. "Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord." This is the one feast that is not fulfilled by the church, because the Church owes no atonement. The Church is not innocent, of course, but it is exonerated. The Day of Atonement will be fulfilled in a wonderful way when the Lord returns at His Second Coming as written by Mark Levitt.