Devour

They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers . . . 

 - From Mark 12

Our generation is vying to be the most notorious, in history, in identifying, weeding out, and punishing heretics. 

First: I think that I would avoid even the word "heretic," or "heresy" in our times. It's too easily used, in debate. 

Second: I'd put "hypocrisy" in the same category. Just don't. The words "heresy" and "hypocrisy" even sound similar, and they both sound ugly. They are not uplifting words. 

Third: You'd think that the more educated people would be the least likely to toss these words around casually. But the opposite seems to be the case. 

These are not times for ugly-sounding words. But now . . . lest the reader think I'm entering into a "warmth-for-everybody" theme here, I'm not. 

These educated, and highly-credentialed people, that love these words, are the same that enjoy the best seats in the house. They make sure you address them with their lofty professional title, usually "Doctor." (A side comment - an Engineering PhD of many of our acquaintance, said that you can tell how non-technical the doctorate is, by how much they insist you call them "Doctor.")

They don't mix it up, at all, with mechanics, farmers, hunters, beer-drinkers, patriots, proud Americans - - - the modern equivalent of fishermen in the time of Christ. They can't see it, but they are the very descendants of the Scribes and Pharisees. Look at their profession: Scribes. Writers. Journalists. Historians. They write the narrative and they record the history. We (blindly) trust them to tell the truth. 

What is this: They devour widows' houses? I think that we could unpack that statement for some time. But the implication is that the Man and Woman of God; the spiritual servant-leader, the person of any worth whatsoever, should be mostly concerned about their elders. I heard Dennis Prager assert, last night,  assert that one of the most important things we need to do, right now, is to restore the respect of children for their parents. Their first loyalty should be to mom and dad, and family. If that is in place, then free republics may thrive. 

And maybe this is why the care of our elders is so consistently stressed, from the "In the beginning," to "Come, Lord Jesus."