Fishers and Hunters

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When gentle tactics do not work, more severe measures are used.

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13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favor.

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14 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord lives, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

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15 But, The Lord lives, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

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16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

Jeremiah 16: 13-16

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The nation of Israel would be driven out of the land into unknown territory, and forced into servitude.

Then, when it was time, God would re-gather his people and bring them home.

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First, he would use those who were fishers, who used the “bait” of freedom and a new land to inhabit, along with many incentives to relocate.

Then, whoever did not respond to that invitation, would be hunted down by enemies, and forced to move, or choose to stay and die.

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Jews were in exile out of Israel for first 70 years, in Babylon, and then again later after 70 AD, where they were driven to the nations until 1948.

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Either through gentle means, or means of terror, they were brought back into the land.

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This prophecy was fulfilled twice, and it will happen one more time, as half the Jews still choose to remain in the exile / diaspora.

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The next time, as before, they will either go back to Israel, or die where they are at, mostly persecuted, also as before.

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There is something about the psychology of the people, or any people, that causes them to go into denial, that things are very wrong where they are, and they need to leave.

Denial gets them killed, because they lack to wisdom to flee the circumstances in time.

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They do not respond to the almost daily invitations from Israel to come home.

Those extending the invitation are the fishers.

They offer jobs and land, and a place to be safe from harm.

But this does not work well, as Jews are still comfortable where they are.

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It takes the terror aspect to wake them up, and get them to move out of danger.

We see this now, in some European countries, where Muslims are terrorizing the Jews, and forcing them to get out or die.

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Lesson for us all

One of the amazing things God did was use the nation of Israel to demonstrate the human condition:

The cycle of faith, then failings, the sin , the rebellion, and then the repentance, just to start over again.

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We are all in danger now.

Will we go into denial, or move to a place of safety?

For some, this is a physical move.

For others, it is a spiritual one.

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For all of us, the danger signs are there, and the message is to draw close to GOD or perish.

Unless we are under the protection of God, we will not make it.

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When God gently sends messengers ( fishers of men) to us, will we respond, and heed the call?

Or will we wait until the hunters come, and we either have to flee in panic, or we are trapped and get killed?

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History repeats itself.

The question is , will we learn from history, and respond to the fishers, and not get snared by the hunters?

The time to decide is now.

For many, tomorrow will not come.

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God is calling you.

Say “yes,” and come.

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