Suffering

Matthew Henry comments on the text of Jeremiah the Prophet of God as he speaks of suffering.

Here are two excerpts from the commentary that I believe are important lessons for us all.

First Jeremiah speaks of Godly suffering, then he speaks of brutish men, particularly brutish preachers.

I have included the definition of brutish from Noah Webster's Dictionary, which gave Biblical meanings of words as well as those contemporary to the time.

Click on the title of this post and it will take you to a website where Matthew Henry's commentary is available for on line reading for free. Also, you may go to this link,

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and down load the best free Bible study program on the web, and if the Matthew Henry commentary is no longer listed, click on the down load from LightbyDesign link, where you can purchase a CD to install into the E-sword, which contains over 100 Christian commentaries and other classic Christian literature.

But I said, when I was about to complain of my wound, To what purpose is it to complain? This is a grief, and I must bear it as well as I can. This is the language rather of a sullen than of a gracious submission, of a patience per force, not a patience by principle. When I am in affliction I should say, “This is an evil, and I will bear it, because it is the will of God that I should, because his wisdom has appointed this for me and his grace will make it work for good to me.” This is receiving evil at the hand of God, Job_2:10. But to say, “This is an evil, and I must bear it, because I cannot help it,” is but a brutal patience, and argues a want of those good thoughts of God which we should always have, even under our afflictions, saying, not only, God can and will do what he pleases, but, Let him do what he pleases.

Every man is either a saint or a brute. But it is sad indeed with a people when their pastors, that should feed them with knowledge and understanding, are themselves thus brutish. And what comes of it? Therefore they shall not prosper; none of their attempts for the public safety shall succeed. Note, Those cannot expect to prosper who do not by faith and prayer take God along with them in all their ways. And, when the pastors are brutish, what else can be expected but that all their flocks should be scattered? For, if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch. The ruin of a people is often owing to the brutishness of their pastors.

Brutish

BRU'TISH, a. Like a brute or beast; as a brutish form.

1. Insensible; stupid; as brutish men.

2. Unfeeling; savage; ferocious; brutal.

3. Gross; carnal; bestial.

4. Ignorant; uncivilized; untaught.

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Swine Flu Hysteria

Have you noticed how frenzied the media reports were over the "swine flu"? The regular strains of flu that come around every year kill more than 30,000 people in the United States alone.

So far, this is much ado about nothing. I am not disregarding the deaths that have occurred, and the tragic loss the families of those victims feel.

I was stationed in Germany in the US Army during the last "swine flu" hysteria. That would be the one that lead to the giving of a quickly made and inadequately tested vaccine to millions of people, with the end result being that more people died of the vaccine than of the flu, and hundreds of people were left with permanent paralysis, Guillane-Barre Syndrome, blindness, and other debilitating legacies of the vaccine.

Those of us on duty in the military had no option concerning the taking of the vaccine; it was take it or face a possible Courts Martial.

The end result of that wise decision by the powers that be was that, in addition to many military personnel suffering the same permanent damage that I listed spoke of in the paragraph above, but the readiness state of our military forces was crippled due to the fact that in United States Army Europe, so many personnel were too sick to perform their jobs, I doubt we could have resited an invasion by Russia across the East German and other Communist borders.

Temperatures in excess of 104 degrees Fahrenheit were common. So many were ill there was not enough room in the hospitals for all the seriously ill, and so barracks became the medical confinement areas for the sick.

All due to the vaccine. We had no reports of actual swine flu cases in the military population.

Think about it.

The Title of this post will take you to an article about the Bird Flu Hoax when you click on it. Undoubtedly, there will be many stories on the "Great Swine Flu Hoax of 2009".