Jamaica Patois Wisdom #3b

By Jefferson David Tant

(The Jamaican Patois dialect is colorful, unique and humorous. It is my desire to share some of the philosophy shown in this mix of colorful phrases that are witty as well as thought provoking. I hope the readers both profit and enjoy. In my quarter-century plus of teaching there, I have come to appreciate some things about their culture. – Jefferson David Tant)

Patois: weh sweet nanny goat a go run im belly

English: What nanny goat enjoys eating can give her diarrhea.

Meaning: What appears to be the most delightful or precious, may produce a bad ending.

A truer thought has never been expressed. An ancient writer wrote, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). I don’t know that I ever met anyone who was suffering greatly from wrong choices to admit, “I knew this would happen before I ate the forbidden fruit,” i.e. “sinned.”

Consider Adam and Eve. “A piece of fruit? What’s the big deal?” The big deal was the “fruit” of the forbidden fruit. Oh, Satan made it sound so good. It looked tempting, maybe smelled so good that it must be tasty, and who wouldn’t want to be wise like God? The truth is that ALL the evil in the world today—Islamic mayhem, child sexual slavery, theft, murder—is the result of the “trivial” act of eating a piece of fruit. How could Adam and Eve have ever begun to imagine the world  today? Or even their own circumstances after the garden gate shut them outside?

Have you ever seen a billboard beer ad showing a drunk in the gutter with vomit all over him? Or a twisted car and bodies on the ground after a drunken driving crash? Or a picture of someone dying of AIDS in one of our magazines that encourages/endorses sexual promiscuity? Have you ever seen a “safe sex” brochure that cites the number of STDs that plague us? When I was in school in the mid 50s, we had sex education, a one hour film on syphilis and gonorrhea, the only two STDs we knew about then. Today, we have over 50 STDs, and AIDS is not the only one that kills. Studies indicate that 26% of young females have an STD, but many don’t know it.

King David’s tragedy began simply. Immodesty on the part of Bathsheba; a look on the part of David; evidently a longer look that became lust; adultery, deception; causing drunkenness; the murder of her husband; and tragedy that followed. David confessed and repented, but he suffered the consequences the rest of his life. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me” (Psa. 51:2-3).

Satan is a liar and deceiver (John 8:44). “Just this once.” “It’s no big deal.” “You’ll really like it.” Do you suppose those are some of the lines he used with Eve? Please be aware that every sin is a big deal. There are no little sins with God. Sin separates us from God, and endangers our eternal soul. Sin has a way of becoming habit forming. Telling one lie then occasions another lie to cover the first lie, and eventually lying becomes a habit. Mothers are pretty good at telling children what not to eat—what will make them sick. Our heavenly father is very good at telling us what not to eat—the forbidden fruit of sin! He tells us to “flee youthful lusts” (II Tim. 2:22).

Not many know just when they will die. Sudden death comes upon many. David recognized this, as he said, “there is but a step between me and death” (I Sam. 20:3). The Boy Scout motto is good advice—“BE PREPARED!” Don’t take the first bite; it will make you sick. &

Reaping the Whirlwind

Joe R. Price

In Hosea 8, God’s prophet Hosea continues his pronouncement of God’s judgment by the hands of the Assyrians against the northern kingdom of Israel. The “days of punishment” had arrived (Hos. 9:7).

In his description of Israel’s sins and God’s judgment, Hosea said, “They sow the wind; and reap the whirlwind” (Hos. 8:7). We cannot see the wind, even though we hear its sound, feel its force and see its effect (Jno. 3:8). Israel had sown to nothingness as she lived in faithless irreverence. Israel had lived without spiritual substance. Now, Israel would reap the whirlwind – the destruction and devastation brought on by her sins. Consider the “wind” to which Israel sowed, and ponder present-day parallels.

Israel despised and rejected the leadership and authority of Almighty God. “They set up kings, but not by Me” (Hos. 8:4). The princes who ruled over the northern tribes did not fear God and did not lead Israel in faithfulness. Not a one of them was said to have been faithful to God. Israel set up unfaithful princes to rule over her and the results were disastrous, as they led Israel into more and more sin (1 Kgs. 14:16; 15:26; 16:30-33).

Any nation ruled by unscrupulous, irreverent princes will eventually reap the whirlwind (2 Kgs. 17). Not only does the outcome of the northern kingdom of Israel teach us this. History is filled with the debris of rulers and nations who defied Almighty God. Their demise displays His sovereignty (Dan. 4:28-37).

While we are commanded to “honor the king”, we are not compelled to put our hope in him:

Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs from the earth, in that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them... (Psa. 146:3-6).

God’s faithful ones put their hope and trust in God to see them through the turmoil and uncertainties that political leaders bring upon them (Heb. 13:5-6).

Israel fell into idolatry and offered false worship to Jehovah God. “Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against them...For from Israel is even this: A workman made it, and it is not God; But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces” (Hos. 8:5-6). King Jeroboam enticed Israel to set up golden calves to worship as their gods (1 Kgs. 12:28-33). Their gods were nothing (the wind)! Although they made many altars at which they worshiped, these were “altars for sin”, completely rejected by the true God (Hos. 8:11). They reaped the whirlwind of destruction; their false gods could not save them.

Modern men and women are not immune to the sin of idolatry. Multitudes around the globe still bow down before the graven images of false gods. People continue to make “many altars for sin” to their false gods of fame, fortune and the flesh (Col. 3:5; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; 1 Jno. 2:15-17).

If we sow sin in our lives we will reap the whirlwind of divine judgment (Rom. 2:1-6).

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Gal. 6:7-8).

The history of nations that defied Jehovah God teaches us to fear God and keep His commands (Eccl. 12:13-14). It teaches rulers to honor Him who rules from heaven over the whole world.

God will send the whirlwind against the faithless. But, God will rain showers of blessing on those who seek and follow Him (Ezek. 34:26):

Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you (Hosea 10:12). &

Determining Truth

By Bob Myhan

We begin with the premise that the truth can indeed be determined for the reason that Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). If we cannot know the truth, it cannot make us free! The truth, of which we speak, of course, is the word of God (John 17:17). If we cannot determine truth, then God has not revealed it. If God has revealed truth, we can determine it!

How does one determine truth on a Bible subject? Four things are required.

First, one must have the love of the truth.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thess. 2:10-12)

Second, one must have a desire to obey the truth.

Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” (John 7:17)

Third, one must have an investigative spirit.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

Fourth, one must exercise his mental faculties.

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. (Psalm 1:1-3)

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

Consider the Jews of Berea as an example. “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica” (Acts 17:11). Their fair-mindedness was illustrated in two ways: (1) “they received the word with all readiness,” indicating a love of the truth and a desire to obey the truth and (2) they exercised their mental faculties as they “searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” This demonstrated an investigative spirit as well as the exercise of their mental faculties.

Because of these attitudes and actions, the Jews of Berea were able to determine truth, for “many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” (Acts 17:12)

Do you have a love of the truth, a desire to obey the truth, and an investigative spirit? Are you willing to exercise your mental faculties in an unbiased assessment of what God has revealed? If so, you can discover the truth on any Bible subject. Why not search the scriptures yourself to see whether you have been taught the truth? &