Tag Ecclesiastes

Accusation Without Understanding

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

The Ancient Disease Still Alive Today

There is a sickness in the public square today, and it is not new. It is the same sickness that surrounded Job as he sat in the ashes, scraping his wounds while his friends circled him with confident speeches and careless theology. Scripture records God’s verdict on their words: “You have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has”** (Job 42:7 NIV).** Their counsel did not comfort. Their logic did not heal. Their certainty did not reflect heaven. They spoke out of turn, and heaven rebuked them for it.

The One Moment They Got It Right

Before they spoke, something remarkable happened — something we often overlook. They sat with Job in silence for seven days and seven nights (Job 2:13). No accusations. No assumptions. No explanations. Just presence.

That moment of silence was the closest they ever came to true ministry. It was the only time their actions aligned with Scripture’s wisdom: “When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise”** (Proverbs 10:19).** Their silence was compassion. Their silence was solidarity. Their silence was the ministry of presence — the very thing Job needed most.

But then they opened their mouths. And the moment they spoke, the condition of their hearts was exposed.

When Speech Reveals the Heart

Their silence had hidden their assumptions; their words revealed them. Their silence had covered their ignorance; their speeches broadcast it. Their silence had honored Job’s suffering; their words multiplied it.

This is the same pattern we see today. Our culture rewards quick speech, hot takes, and instant judgment. People speak before they listen, react before they reflect, and accuse before they understand. Yet Scripture says, “To answer before listening — that is folly and shame”** (Proverbs 18:13)**. Folly and shame have become the currency of the public square.

False Witness in Modern Clothing

Job’s friends believed they were defending God, but their words misrepresented Him. They believed they were diagnosing Job’s condition, but their conclusions were false. They believed they were offering wisdom, but God called their speeches “folly” (Job 42:8). Their error was not merely intellectual; it was moral. They bore false witness — against Job and against God. And Scripture is clear: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”** (Exodus 20:16)**.

False witness is not simply lying. It is speaking without knowledge. It is judging without understanding. It is assuming without humility. It is offering commentary where compassion is required.

When Words Wound Instead of Heal

Instead of comforting Job, they condemned him. Instead of praying with him, they lectured him. Instead of binding his wounds, they reopened them. Isaiah describes the heart of God’s servants as those who “bind up the brokenhearted”** (Isaiah 61:1)**, but Job’s friends did the opposite. They twisted the knife. They picked the scabs. They deepened the wounds they should have helped heal.

The Reversal of Biblical Wisdom

We have become a people who speak much and listen little. We have traded compassion for commentary and discernment for suspicion. We have forgotten that Scripture commands us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry”** (James 1:19)**. Instead, we have reversed the order.

Paul gives us the mental guardrail Job’s friends ignored: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble… think about such things”** (Philippians 4:8)**.

He gives us the relational guardrail: “Speaking the truth in love…”** (Ephesians 4:15)**.

And he gives us the verbal guardrail: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth…”** (Ephesians 4:29)**.

Scripture adds yet another warning: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”** (Proverbs 18:21)**. Job’s friends chose death. Our culture often does the same.

The Call to a Higher Standard

God calls us to something higher. Words that heal, not harm. Words that restore, not ruin. Words that bind wounds, not reopen them. Words that carry grace, not suspicion.

Ecclesiastes reminds us there is “a time to keep silence and a time to speak”** (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Silence is not cowardice when chosen in humility. Speech is not righteousness when offered without understanding. A word spoken in season is like “apples of gold in settings of silver” (Proverbs 25:11)**. A word spoken out of turn is a weapon.

The Example of Job

If the public square is ever to be healed, it will not be through louder voices but wiser ones. It will not be through more accusations but more intercession. It will not be through the arrogance of Job’s friends but through the humility of Job himself, who said, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him”** (Job 13:15)**. Job spoke honestly before God, but he did not pretend to know what he did not know. His friends pretended — and God rebuked them for it.

The Final Word

We do not need more voices speaking out of turn. We need more hearts aligned with Scripture. We need more tongues governed by truth. We need more speech seasoned with grace. We need more people willing to speak only when their words carry the weight of heaven.

Until then, we will continue to repeat the sins of Job’s friends — confident, loud, and disastrously wrong.

The Diaper, The Drapes, and The Temple

Allen Frederick Leave a comment
WHY COSMETIC CHRISTIANITY CANNOT PRODUCE SPIRITUAL MATURITY

The Nature Problem Beneath the Diaper

There comes a moment when God refuses to indulge surface‑level solutions. There comes a moment when He stops blessing the diaper change, the drape change, the pastor change, or the program change. There comes a moment when He exposes the truth that the problem is not the diaper, not the drapes, not the leadership, not the music, not the branding, and not the building. The problem is the nature. And until the nature changes, nothing else will.

Every parent understands this instinctively. You can change a diaper, but you cannot change the baby’s nature by changing the diaper. The diaper is not the issue. The mess is not the issue. The nature is the issue. And until the nature changes, the cycle continues. Paul confronted this same reality when he wrote, “I… could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as to babes in Christ… for you are still carnal.” [1 Corinthians 3:1–3] Babies do what babies do. Immature believers do what immature believers do. Churches that refuse to grow up do what churches that refuse to grow up do. Changing the diaper does not change the nature, and changing the pastor does not change the congregation.

Decrease Before Increase

John the Baptist understood this when he declared, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” [John 3:30] Decrease is not cosmetic. Decrease is not decorative. Decrease is demolition. Something must die for Christ to rise. But churchianity wants increase without decrease, maturity without surrender, growth without breaking, and new wine without new wineskins. Jesus made it clear that this is impossible when He said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins… the wineskins burst.” [Mark 2:22] The wineskin must change. The nature must change. The structure must change. Otherwise, the mess continues.

Drapes Cannot Fix a Cracked House

This is why changing the drapes never fixes the house. Drapes are safe. Drapes are pretty. Drapes make the room look refreshed without touching the foundation. But drapes do not repair cracked walls, rotting beams, or sinking footers. Drapes only hide what the light would expose. Jesus confronted this exact spirit when He declared, “You are like whitened sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but within are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” [Matthew 23:27] That is not gentle language. That is not soft correction. That is not a suggestion. That is a verdict.

Churchianity loves the outside of the tomb. Churchianity loves the drapes. Churchianity loves the appearance of renewal without the cost of repentance. But drapes block the sunlight, hide the flaws, and create the illusion of change without the reality of transformation.

Hard Ground Cannot Receive Seed

Yet even this does not reach the root of the issue. The deeper problem is that churchianity has become hard ground. God spoke through Hosea saying, “Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord.” [Hosea 10:12] Fallow ground is unbroken ground. It is rigid, resistant, and unresponsive. You cannot plant new seed in hard soil. You cannot expect harvest from ground that refuses to be torn open.

This is the tragedy of churchianity: it keeps changing pastors, but it never breaks the ground. Unless a pastor carries a strong prophetic anointing capable of breaking through the hardness of hearts, nothing changes. The soil remains untouched, and untouched soil cannot receive seed.

Jesus explained this plainly in the parable of the sower. Some seed falls by the wayside, and “the birds came and devoured them.” [Matthew 13:4] Some falls on rocky ground where it cannot take root. Some falls among thorns that choke it. Only the seed that falls into good soil produces fruit. Churchianity has become the wayside, the rocky ground, and the thorn patch. It has become rigid, resistant, and immovable. The Spirit tries to move, and churchianity quenches Him.

The Temple Was Not Meant to Be Cleaned—It Was Meant to Fall

This is why Jesus did not come to clean the Temple. He did not come to update the Temple. He did not come to modernize the Temple. He came to end it. When He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” [John 2:19], He was not speaking of renovation. He was speaking of replacement.

The Temple represented a system of access, a system of hierarchy, a system of sacrifice, and a system of separation. Jesus came to fulfill it, finish it, and replace it with Himself. The Temple had to fall because the system could not be cleaned — it had to be crucified.

Likewise, the modern church cannot be revived by cosmetic changes. It cannot be renewed by diaper changes. It cannot be transformed by drapes. It cannot be awakened by leadership swaps. It must be broken. It must be decreased. It must be torn down to the studs so Christ can be built up. Ecclesiastes declares, “A time to break down, and a time to build up.” [Ecclesiastes 3:3] Break down comes first. Build up comes second. This is the order of God.

Old Wineskins Cannot Hold New Wine

Jesus did not say, “Patch the wineskin.” He did not say, “Polish the wineskin.” He did not say, “Rebrand the wineskin.” He said the wineskin must be new. New wine expands, stretches, and transforms. Old wineskins resist, crack, and burst. Churchianity keeps trying to pour revival into rigid structures, to pour Christ into systems that refuse to decrease, and to pour new wine into old wineskins. And then it wonders why everything bursts.

Christ-Adjacent Christianity Cannot Be Transformed

This message is not for the Body of Christ. The Body hears and responds. The Body grows and matures. The Body decreases so Christ increases. This message is for the Christ‑adjacent — those close enough to see Him, not close enough to touch Him, and too far away to be touched by Him.

These are the ones who love the drapes, not the demolition; the diaper change, not the nature change; the Temple, not the tearing down; the wineskin, not the wine; the hard ground, not the breaking. They want Christ added, not Christ enthroned. They want Christ referenced, not Christ obeyed. They want Christ near, not Christ in them.

The Final Word: Break, Decrease, Surrender

Here is the truth at the center of all of this: Christ cannot increase where the old refuses to decrease. Christ cannot rise where the structure refuses to fall. Christ cannot fill what refuses to be emptied. Christ cannot plant where the ground refuses to break.

You can change the diaper, but unless the nature changes, the mess continues. You can change the drapes, but unless the structure changes, the cracks remain. You can change the pastor, but unless the people change, the church remains infantile. You can scatter seed, but unless the soil is broken, nothing grows.

There is a time to tear down. There is a time to uproot. There is a time to break the wineskin. There is a time to destroy the Temple. There is a time to plow the ground. And that time is now.

This has been a View From the Nest. And that is the way I see it. What say you?
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Change is Coming

Allen Frederick Leave a comment
There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens

I really enjoy the smell of burning leaves wafting through the air at the arrival of fall. Living in Western Pennsylvania I am blessed with a change of seasons 4 times a year. We experience the bleakness of winter with the countryside blanketed in white. This eventually gives way to the beauty of spring and a countryside bedazzled with brilliant colors. Summertime rolls in and backyards are alive with outdoor activity. Barbecues are ablaze. Swimming pools overflow with those attempting to escape hot and humid evenings. We return full circle back to fall and the brilliant colors of the changing leaves.

Nature teaches us that there is a season and a time for everything. Scripture amplifies this theme of nature. It declares that indeed there is a time for everything. There is also a season for every activity under heaven.

It is natural for nature to revolve in cycles. Earth’s orbit revolves in a cycle, which leads to our seasons. With just casual observation, we can see the cycles of life. There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to reap what was planted. There is a time to gather and a time to scatter. There is a time to build up and a time to tear down. All this reflects the cycle of life. A modern-day idiom goes something like this, there’s nothing as constant as change. In fact, the only thing we can really count on is that things will change. Without change there’s no room for anything new. Fall serves a vital purpose. Old leaves fall to make way for new leaves that will appear in the spring. It is the order of life for the old to make way for the new.

Although things change some things remain constant, gravity for example and the laws of nature and of nature’s God. In order to support the changes of life, some things must remain constant and without change. If there were not gravity, then life as we know it would not exist. If the earth did not rotate on its axis, there would be no night and day. If the earth stopped revolving around the sun, the seasons would come to an end.

It is with that thought in mind that I address a rather disturbing trend in our society. Things that should not change are being altered quickly. At the same time, things that ought to change are being held as sacred. The latter being etched in stone, while that which was actually etched in stone is being done away with.

Earthly governments, principalities, and powers from the beginning until now are uniformly represented in the Scriptures as wild beasts. They are full of destructive savageness and offensive uncleanness. It is but folly and fanaticism for men to talk of Christian states and governments in this world. Christians and good men may be involved in their administration. Christian ideas may sometimes temper their enactments. However, earthly states and governments themselves are not Christian, and they cannot be. They are all the products of devastated nature’s wilds, and full of ungodliness. Fix it as we may, such is the result. The best-planned institutions and the wisest laws are ever disappointing their framers. The same can be said of the United States government.

It is not surprising then to find the Sovereign Law of the Land. Our Constitution is being ravaged. It is rewritten with hellacious fervor. God Himself delivered the very law on etched stone from Sinai’s thunder-shaken heights. However, this law could not restrain mankind from its sinful and destructive nature.

Many revolutions have been wrought. Men have labored, sacrificed, bled, and died to achieve freedom and just governance. They believed they would secure the precious boon for which the race has sighed and cried for ages. However, it was only a rearrangement of the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. It was an exercise in futility.

In our day, people wish for a grand ‘United Nations.’ They seek something shaped to populism and compacted by common laws and special interests. ‘Enlightened’ ideas are expected to rule so that all the world will become one. However, the result will be the embodiment of hell itself, full of blasphemy and lies. Good shall be called evil and that which is evil will be exalted as good.

Revolutions, creeds, and transformation, progressivism, and liberal ideologies seek to overturn old creeds and revise the Decalogue. They introduce vain philosophies of men. These attempts rule out a personal God and exalt self in His place. All man’s foolhardy ideas to reconstruct society may promise much and tug at the heart. However, they are destined to fail in the end. 

 
Indeed, all who delight in piety and are determined to live a devoted and godly life in Christ Jesus will meet with persecution [will be made to suffer because of their religious stand]. But wicked men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves. 2 Timothy 3:12-13 (AMP)

What should we do as Christians living in a fallen world? We are ruled by fallen men whose hearts and minds are being deceived. They are growing worse and worse. Should we simply throw our hands up in defeat? One could come to that conclusion when we review the events that took place in our country just last week. A couple of lone Senators stood-up to declare that the road we are traveling is ruinous. They insisted we need to go in an entirely new direction. They found themselves shouted down and demeaned for having the audacity to stand-up for what they believed to be right. These courageous men and women took a stand. They confronted the evil ideologies of those transforming our society. The few stood tall calling for a change. They wanted to change course. They wished to try something different. They were only told that what exists is ‘settled law.’ It is written in stone and not to be undone by them or anyone else. There was nothing they could do. So, we might as well surrender and sit down and shut up.

Most thinking people could easily argue that when a product proves defective, you repair, replace, or junk the product. Then you try something else. Only in government is it ever wrong to ask for a change. It is seen as wrong to argue for a better outcome. Daring to seek to right a wrong is also discouraged. Our Constitution allows ‘we the people’ to ‘Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances.’ However, in all actuality, we are forbidden to do so.

Things need to change in D.C. There is no doubt about it, but things also need to change in the heartland of America. We need to regain our ‘righteous’ footing and restore the sure foundations upon which we wish to build our society. We cannot continue to allow the wholesale slaughter of innocent children, and the destruction or should I say the reconstruction of the family unit to go unchallenged. This must not be acceptable by those who call themselves Christian. I am afraid that there are too many “Christian” in name only. They are siding with the destruction of our society. They enable those in power to continue their onslaught.

We do need to choose sides. We can stand with the Lord and his laws. Alternatively, we can support those who are actively erasing any mention of God from our society. In the end there will only be two camps. Those who are standing with the Lord when he returns and those who will be fighting against the Lord. Which side do you suppose comes out victorious?

The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth. Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening and let him consider and perceive and understand by hearing. Matthew 13:41-43 (AMP)

Yes, indeed things will change. A law will be established. That which was sent down from heaven will once again become the chief cornerstone. It is the rock that the builders of our current societal structure have rejected. God’s law is the only one that is ‘settled’.


“All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever.”  1 Peter 1:24-25 (NKJV)

This has been a View From the Nest. And that is the way I see it. What say you?

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Along for the Journey. Allen Frederick

Pray for our Country, Pray for our Leaders

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

I like the way the Good News Bible reads on this verse: A wise person’s heart leads the right way. The heart of a fool leads the wrong way. Ecclesiastes 10:2 pray therefore that our President starts to seek after wisdom rather than clinging to his ideology.