Good Shepherd
25 Apr 2021
Richardson
I read an article about a band of killers and thieves roaming the Iraqi countryside. As if this country hasn’t had enough problems, now they have these gangs stealing sheep and attacking shepherds. These killers work in well trained teams with each member knowing exactly what to do. To stop them the herders in the local area have taken to arming themselves. They are trying to turn the tide, but it hasn’t deterred their enemy too much. One man told the story of shooting one of his attackers a hundred yards out. He was only wounded but to man’s surprise, instead of running away, the wounded attacker ran towards him. The man unleashed a barrage only to final bring his assailant down just six feet from him.
It’s not Al Qaeda or ISIS. It’s not terrorist or soldiers. These monsters aren’t even human. Its packs of Arabian Wolves. These apex predators seem to have no fear of the farmers. It seems they don’t need to. They grow to 6 feet long, weigh 120 pounds, armed powerful jaws lined with sharp teeth, and can sprint at up to 40 miles per hour. (1)
This species of wolf has roamed the Holy Lands for thousands of years. These are ones David would have faced, or any of the shepherds of the Christmas story, watching their flocks by night.
A wolf kill is not a pretty sight. Unlike lions who suffocate their prey for a quicker death, a wolf just doesn’t have the size or physique to accomplish that. A wolf kill usually dies while being torn apart. Pretty gruesome (2). We’ve all watch National Geographic and seen that it’s not a very pretty sight.
I’ve always wondered why prey animals group up. I would have thought to predator it would look like Wild Kingdom’s Golden Corral. A mobile all you can eat buffet. Meals on Hooves if you will. But, I found a sheep’s best defense against predators is to stay in the flock. Turns out there really is safety in numbers. The reason why is it makes more eyes to keep watch. The animals in the herd can relax and feed as others take their turns on the lookout. It’s also very dangerous for an animal to attack a herd. There’s a much higher risk of getting injured and to a predator; a broken foot or jaw stops them from hunting. Without being able to hunt, in reality the injury means slow death.
With all those animals moving amongst each other, it’s also harder for a predator to pick out an individual animal to attach. So that’s why a shepherd keeps his sheep in a tight flock.
Wolves are tenacious. They will follow a herd for days. Studying them, probing, looking for a weakness. Trying to see who’s the slowest, who might be weak, who might be more likely to be broken off; watching for a chance to get someone outside the protection of the group.
Now that you’ve learned this, imagine you’re one of the shepherds of old when the pack came to scatter the flock, and your only armed with a with a staff. Not even a Louisville Slugger. Knowing they could just as easily tear you apart, would you stand your ground or would you run? Makes John Chapter 10 sound a bit different now:
John 10
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
So if we’re sheep, who’s the wolves?
Persecution is the most obvious wolf. In 2021, there are over 300 million Christians living in persecution, in the world’s 50 most dangerous countries to follow Jesus. This is a growing problem, up by over 40 million from last year, exacerbated by the pandemic. Every day 12 Christians are killed for their faith. Every day, 12 churches are attacked. (3)
There are enemies like Communist regimes. North Korea is the #1 most dangerous place to be a Christian. Just having a bible can lead to death by torture.(4)
China isn’t far behind where Christians are routinely arrested for nothing more than their faith.
The Muslim countries of the world are become increasingly dangerous for us too. Boko Haram in Nigeria, a radical Islamic group, will summarily execute missionaries for nothing more than doing exactly what we are commanded; Feeding Christ’s sheep.
And if you think it’s always in some far off land across the ocean, think again. Mexico is number 37 in the list of 50 most Christian hostile countries. Here’s a place only a couple hour’s drive for us in the Border States. But Priests are attacked and executed by drug cartels for speaking out against their monstrous violence.
Those attacks are blatant. They are out in plain sight for everyone to see. The Communist Party makes no excuses, nor do they hide the fact they profess atheism. They’ve been openly attacking any faith since they came into power.
It’s certainly not a surprise to see Christians attacked in Muslim countries. This clash has been an on-going battle of beliefs for over 1500 years.
But there’s others, out there lurking in the shadows.
The newest wolves are occult. I use that word not because of the obvious definition of supernatural, but the medical definition of “the hidden”. The occult attacks are meant seem benign. These aren’t a shout screaming at us to split us up, but a subtle whisper of messages, that’s mostly fact; but with just enough lie to create a second to doubt.
Don’t think too many would fall for it? You’d be surprised. They use the fact that we’ve become too accustom to believe what we read.
If you think you have strong faith, try Googling “Did Jesus Exist”. I’ve come across this type of question more than once while researching a sermon. In your search, up will come responses with respected websites like the Smithsonian, The Washington Post and other organization names you’ve been taught to trust. In them are articles written by professors sighting selected historical facts interwoven with their message that Jesus was nothing more than a composite of a number of philosophers invented in the 2nd century. They use facts and scholarly articles to make their point. However, their lie is of omission. They fail to bring up the fact that the Romans documented Jesus existence, and corroborate the Gospel story, even naming Disciples. And the Romans kept a lot of records. Without a grounding of history, the wolves have separated more than a few lambs from the flock, with the sole purpose of destroying faith. Without an education in historical facts and real historical figures verifying what we have always been taught, they’ve torn good Christians apart.
They want you to doubt….
We’ve become too accustom to believing what we read on the internet when it has an important sound name attached like “professor” or “doctor”. But always remember this quote that also came from the web: “The problem with research on the internet is knowing if the sources are real; Signed, Abraham Lincoln. “
In other arguments to separate us, you’ll also hear how the flock is full of hypocrites. They will tell you that people in churches are always saying one thing and doing another. They say those church people always ask you to do as they say and not as they do. To solidify their argument that church people are hypocrites, they may even parade a list of criminals who used religion for personal gain. Their assertion of all this is to make you question why anyone would stay. Who would want to be in a flock like that?
But we need to cling to the fact that a church is not a haven for saints, it’s a hospital for sinners. We need to learn how to protect one another while we gain strength. We’re here to learn from each other and we need to be here to learn how to be a better member. We need to make sure we’re a good example.
Wolves will convince people that the scripture’s teachings are outdated and not relevant anymore. They’ll say things like faith is for the uneducated. They’ll have someone with a title like “Doctor” to again state their point. Then for the counter argument they’ll find an illiterate somewhere, and shove a camera in their face for our side of the debate. Someone without a foundation in this situation just ends up looking like a one-armed man boxing Mike Tyson. And just like Mike Tyson, wolves bite too.
They’ve even fought legally to show teachings are just not conducive to a modern society. Canada’s Bill C-250 even managed to successfully argue the Bible is “Hate Speech”.
They want you to think their progressive, faithless, do-what-feels good message is the best way to live. It’s only path of intelligence. It’s the only path of true happiness. Your faith in that outdated ancient belief has no place in modern society. You’re just holding yourself back needlessly and hurting others if you speak the truth.
The modern wolf has teeth to make you feel alone. They’ll do what they can to make others walk away from you. We call it the cancel culture. They blacklist anyone who is a threat. They get people fired from their jobs. They even nearly cost the Jurassic World and The Avengers actor, Chris Pratt, his career with their rhetoric, not because 20 years ago he failed to tweet a condemnation of someone they claimed is a hater, but merely because he goes to church.
They use the camouflage of social media to be anonymous.
They want you to believe their societal rules are happy and healthy. But this only ends up tearing at your soul. Just look at examples of these liberal utopias. Take France for example.(4) It has one of the highest percent of atheists in Europe. They also pride themselves on their progressive views. Yet France leads Europe in suicide rates.(5) Just in the time you’ll be in in a church service, another person in France will have taken their own life. The wolves successfully led them with a promise of happiness only to leave them with depression and self-loathing.
The wolves are circling the flock, just waiting for someone to leave the fold.
The wolves are just waiting for someone alone to tear them apart and destroy their soul.
What can be done about this?!
I have good news! Even if we find ourselves outside the flock, we’re never alone. Even when we’re in danger, there’s someone who is here to save us!
The good shepherd will leave everything to search for the one. He’ll put himself between you and the wolves and rescue those who’ve strayed. But not without cost. Every one of us has wandered off from time to time. Every one of us has sin. And because the Shepherd was there, he’s taken the viciousness meant for us. Just read the account in John. Just like the attacks on National Geographic, his flesh was ripped open. Holes were torn though his hands and feet. Finally he was sliced open, penetrating his abdomen, through his diaphragm and piercing his lungs. Not only did he do this for us, more amazingly, he know all along this was going to happen.
We were the ones who wondered off. We were the ones who disobey. We were the ones who deserved the attack.
Why would anyone do this? Why would someone face these horrors to rescue us? Why would he take the beating in our stead?
Simple. He was willing to die for us …. because he loves us. He knows each one of us by name. He’s willing go through all of that because the pain of losing you hurts more than anything they could ever do to him.
Kind ‘a makes you feel pretty special knowing that, doesn’t it?
….
Look around you. How many people do you hold dearly? Living in the example of Jesus, how many people close to you would you give your life for? How many of these people wander off from the safety of the flock? How many are out there in danger?
What can we do? Can we sit and watch them pulled from the safety of the flock? Have we seen them succumb to the lies that it’s happier, all the while we see them fall into darkness? Can you stay on the sidelines while their soul is being torn apart?
We’re not the Good Shepherd. We don’t have his staff. WHAT CAN WE DO?!
….
We can be a sheepdog. And the sheepdog helps keep the flock together.
How? Arm yourself. The Good Shepherd has his staff; you need to be armed also. You build your armor with prayer and study. You need to know the facts that can wither their tools for doubt. You need to study the truths and face them down when they are trying to tell you theirs is the easy way. You need to know with conviction that Jesus Christ is real and that HE loves them!
The sheepdog is the loyal, smart, tireless servant to the shepherd. A dog is no match for a pack of wolves but the dog can help keep the sheep in the safety of the fold. The dog will put themselves between the flock and the business end of the claws and fangs to keep their loved one safe and in the fold.
So how do you, as a sheepdog, get someone back into the fold? We can’t just bark at them. All that does is chase them away. Screaming at ‘em to telling ‘em how wrong they are won’t work.
We get them back in the fold with love. We have to make them feel loved and fulfilled in a way that makes them want to be there. Anyone forced in will only continue to look for a way to leave.
Just like the Good Shepherd knows us, we need to know our fellow flock members too. We need to know why anyone would ever want to leave. Did they not get the whole story? We need to be patient with those who are learning. We need to we need to study and be ready and eager to answer questions. It has to be a battle of facts because a battle of beliefs isn’t a debate, it’s an argument and nobody wins.
Why do we do it? For the same reason as the Good Shepherd faced the wolves for us …. Love
I once had a non-believer ask me why I hadn’t given up. They asked me just why did I care whether they believed or not. My answer was “because Heaven would be a little less if they weren’t there”. With that, they gave pause.
The Good Shepherd knows us by name. He calls constantly and mourns to loss of any of us that wander off.
The bottom line is the only reason anyone would leave is if they don’t know the Shepherd.
… They just don’t know him ….
We need to lead everyone to the safety of the flock and help them to know the Master. The best way? Like it says in Matthew (5:16) “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
We all need to go from here and show others how much God loves them by showing them how much you love them.
Or to put it another way, Live your life in such a way that those who do not know Christ learn of him through you.
Now that’s how to keep we keep the fold together.
Now it’s time to go and bring the lost sheep home.
1. Iraq wolves are big, bad and unafraid, March 20, 2008 , BORZOU DARAGAHI and Hassan Halawahttps://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/iraq-wolves-are-big-bad-and-unafraid/
2. Living with wolves; https://www.livingwithwolves.org
3. The 50 Countries Where It’s Most Dangerous to Follow Jesus in 2021; https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/january/christian-persecution-2021-countries-open-doors-watch-list.html
4. The 25 most tolerant, progressive, and environmentally friendly countries in the world; Edith Hancock Jan 6, 2017,https://www.insider.com/the-worlds-most-tolerant-progressive-and-eco-friendly-countries-2017-1#16-france-france-performed-best-for-its-natural-environment-coming-in-10th-place-in-the-environmental-performance-index-but-fell-behind-to-18th-in-the-social-progress-index-10
5. In France a person commits suicide every hour, so what needs to be done? Ben McPartland; 2/6/18; https://www.thelocal.fr/20180206/in-france-a-person-commits-suicide-every-hour-so-what-needs-to-be-done
