More Mole: Miryam

"What have you been seeing of the Mole, Baruch?"
"Not much happening---a few more small garlic plants have been pulled under. I'm not quite sure what I am to be doing, leave it be or drive it out of the garlic patch. Doesn't look like it is going to volunteer to leave the dinner table. It may be blind, but it has a keen sense of "food." Really, LORD, who is going to leave such a good paying job? This mole, is it really just about "money-making" and interest?"
"No, Baruch. There is much more to this little critter. This mole is a people, my people---that is, all Israel---and they have become as moles burrowed into the world, holed-up with their treasures, "the garlic." They really are "dug in." I have chosen, loved, and preserved them, but they really "dig" their own ways, habits, desires, needs... The comfortable and familiar, the predictable and reliable are what they seek or smell out. These they connect with, and not with me. They have taken their "Precious Idols" into their life. They have become one with the Money Mole. They are moles.
So LORD, now I understand why you didn't want me to kill or harm the mole. But how to get it (or them) out of that maze of tunnels? You said no to the trap. The water didn't work. The urine and mild bleach solution seems to be working as a corral, at the least the running to and fro in the tunnels seems to have ceased... But it still, obviously, isn't sensing anything other than garlic---"food." Maybe some fear and a little panic as well..."
"This is how it is going to be. They, and this one little mole, will be unable to turn a "blind eye" to what I am bringing. Dangers on the right hand, perils on the left. The unbearable, difficult, painful, and "odious" will enter their tunnels. I will make them senseless even to their wealth, abundance, and riches. They will cease being fixed on "the garlic." Plagues, famine, war, persecution... will be very real to these mole noses. They will gnash those sharp teeth to no avail. Wickedness and unrighteousness abounding. Now, Baruch, do you see a bit more of what I am doing?"
"So, the urine-bleach solution is the stink of the world!"
"Exactly. And the rain showers I brought today will carry their "stinky" ways from the surface of the soil deep into their mole tunnels and hiding places. Slowly, but certainly, "my waters" will do unto them as they have done unto my creation and unto Jacob. Permeate, penetrate...my heavenly waters will carry the overwhelming and overpowering "odors" through every nook and cranny of the soil, the Adam-ah. Their earthy, fleshly senses, even blind eyes, will not be able to ignore the "in your face" reality. It is not good to pee on my ways. I will pee on your ways O man! Those who stubbornly refuse, who stay, they will perish in their burrows eating their garlic, thinking they are "safe," confident they can survive. Dig deeper! Create multiple "exit" strategies! The curtain of stink will come down to the deepest recesses. They will not "see" or "smell" or discern the veil of death. They truly are senseless."
"So what do you see today, Baruch?"
"O LORD, this stubborn mole, as the "fumes" have penetrated deep, it has come up from the silent deeps to sub-tunnel the lesser depths. It won't leave the garlic... still feeding, burrowing here, turning there, even while the tunnels are filling with the stinky fumes. This mole must be a Miryam."
"So call her Miryam! I am at the doors of her burrow "knocking." Who will answer? She is wedded to her idols, and those idols are too big to be dragged through the tunnels. The treasures of my people are blocking the exits. Warn them Baruch, sound the alarm. Perhaps, some will hear, some will "see," some will smell..."
"I am arising, my strong arm bared and active. I am driving my people out of
the stink of their world. I am calling them, I am leading them forth to the Light of day and Life, "if my people called by my Name... So, some will come forth, though with tears and mourning. I am ready to console, I will carry, I will accompany them with steadfast love and mercy. My Word will light their path, and that way will be a Holy Way. Even so, even now, Baruch, I do this. So, Baruch, tend to my "moley" people!"

The Garden of the Nations

A mole in a garden patch is an eating machine. With a super-sensitive nose for the most succulent and tender, the ripe and the ready, they forage through a maze of tunnels that channel the "scents of the soil." Thus it knows exactly when its target tasties are ready. The young plants aren't worth the effort, and the mature, old-age, over-ripe plants are tough.
The mole in my garlic planting is like an underground scythe, moving and mowing according to a mysterious inner rhythm. And the Lord said to me, "Do not harm or kill the mole. Just watch."
Earlier, the Lord had said to me, "I bring down nations with a mole."
Surely not this mole in this small garlic patch. So then, what is the mole that You are talking about? And what do these garlic plants represent---since they are presently disappearing one by one into the earth---and the survey flagging I have used to mark each plant? What does it all mean Lord? Could the mole be representing money? It certainly has invaded all of modern life. But money, itself, doesn't consume or eat up someone's productive labor.
"The mole is the interest on borrowed money. All debt is intended to grow, and as it grows, the interest costs grow, like on the national debt of the United States, and the debt plus interest can eat up every house, farm, business, city, nation... That is the "mole" that brings down nations, and it has the "scent of the nations" that are ripe and ready."
"The flags are nations and they will reveal the sequence of early and later victims. They will also reveal the survivors. I will speak to you later with more detail. For now...
"The mole is in "The Garden of the Nations."
"

The Mole

Early in the morning as I looked out over the garlic beds, home to a single mole, Yahweh spoke to me:
"Baruch, what do you see?"
"Lord, I see devastation. Tall vigorous garlic plants are down. Their colored tags lie there in the mud like flags marking the graves of the fallen. All that is left, a memory, of what had stood in the row. They have vanished, swallowed by the earth. Several others are toppling over on their sides. There are heaves and craters among the plants. The orderly rows are broken and confused... The remaining plants seem to be shaking and quivering...is it the ground shaking or the morning breeze?"
"Baruch, I bring down nations with a mole."
"Lord, I have labored long and hard over this garden, your garden and your garlic."
"Yes, so it is. And this is my hand, that you might see."

Moles, Voles, and Other Creatures of the Burrow

The first Fall rains in Israel bring a flush of new green growth as seeds germinate that waited through the hot dry dormancy of summer. It is a veritable explosion of lush greenery. Many small creatures that have been holed up in their burrows then come forth to sample and browse the abundant salad bar. One such hungry sleeper came out of a stone retaining wall at the rear of my garlic patch, secretly nibbled and gnawed on a tender garlic shoot, pronounced its organic goodness quite delicious, and promptly burrowed into the middle of the nearest garlic bed, a return to the "Garden of Eden."
Only after 3 plants had suddenly vanished did I know something was amiss, leaving a void in the row like the plants had never ever been there. Then a fourth garlic bulb and shoot disappeared leaving a small, but telltale hole. This was pushing the limit of hospitality and blessing and welcome: after all, they, the burrowers, do quite an admirable loosening and tilling job on the heavy soil. And the laborer does deserve his wages...
But a fifth very large plant, slowly being pulled down and seemingly swallowed by the earth, necessitated calling the curtain down on the "fifth act." Enough. That was it. Caught red-handed, the marauder was clearly developing a major appetite for organic garlic. The "trail" was easy to discern: from the burrow opening at the base of the stone wall, to a new entrance at the side of the nearby garlic bed, and thence down the row, underground, a few heaves of the soil here and there marking the tunnel, and of course the MIAs.
But how to send this grazer on to browse other pastures? Perhaps a strong flushing of this "garlic mine" would accomplish the goal? And though I do appreciate the culinary commendation of my unknown guest---no doubt an accomplished expert of healthy, tasty greens---it was time to settle the check and move on.
I am watching...
This latest story of the garlic, as I ponder it, seems to reveal some other important hidden matters. Over the last year or so, a number of people I thought were healthy, thriving "plants" in the garden of my life, just down and out disappeared. The earth just seemed to open up and "swallow" them, almost overnight, with nary a trace, just a void, like did they really exist?
Perhaps they had a hidden "burrower"---a complaint, a suppressed desire, a consuming lust, a grudge, or hidden agenda. Maybe a nettlesome thorn, an inner infection, something unbalanced and out of joint, hidden, but nevertheless actively gnawing away at their "life", whatever, it was pulling them down into a hole, a void. Then like overnight, poof, they were gone.
I wonder if a good flushing of those underground tunnels by a strong stream of live water might have saved... For sure the burrowers, hidden denizens of the underground---mole, vole, or mouse---can wreak wreck and ruin.

Israel & Mammon

Yahweh said to me: Baruch what do you see?
I see a paper tower, like an inverted pyramid, ascending to heaven, tottering and bulging, dripping glue, held up by one old man. A tower of paper so heavy its fall will crush the world. And Jacob is so small...
Thus says Yahweh, God of Israel---
Unless I build the house, they labor in vain. And for vanity they do labor mightily!
What have you built O mighty man? A house of paper, making millions of souls your slaves to money and debt... And you would claim I built this house? Watch my breath consume it. Watch the wind carry the ash to the far corners of the earth!
You mock my instructions... I mock your creations!
Smoke, mirrors, sleight of hand, magic, and illusion can disguise iniquity for a season from the eye already blinded by greed, and from the eye blinded by fear, and from the heart bound in a lust for power. Watch me dry up your wells of "credit" until you are utterly bankrupt. Who will loan to you even a crust of bread in the Day that I have appointed?
Your covenant with Mammon cannot save you. A prince who cannot deliver. Go on and covenant with all the world's bankers---see if that league will save you! What pride you have, a full-blown confidence in the covenants you make: covenants of politics, covenants of money, covenants with false messiahs, covenants of stubbornness and hardness of heart.
So you have anointed a new President! You elected George Bush, and what did his Presidency amount to? Religious jubilation became a cup of bitter tears! And how will you manage to drink the next cup? What will your political jubilation taste like with the cup I have appointed? The leadership of "success" is no leadership from Me. The leadership of "alliances" is no leadership from Me!
Consider what my dealings with Israel have been---consider long and hard, then repent. I use kingdoms for My purposes. Your mighty men...I oversee and I employ for my purposes... Think not? Watch!
You who call yourself a Christian: do you walk as your Jesus walked?
You who call yourself a Jew: do you walk in the ways of Torah, my teaching and instructions?
You all walk in the ways of your father the devil himself: Satan is the god of your principality of money, and his ways are your ways. Your covenant with money can yield only death and destruction.
So come let us see if your riches will profit in the Day I have appointed---a day of burning, a day of thirst, a day of fainting, a day of dark stumbling! Show me your derivatives; show me your best financial stuff! When I plow, it is well not to be standing in the middle of the field!
Your fatness is no fatness from me: I appoint it for the day of slaughter. Your pride is no glory from me: I appoint it for the day of sucking-up dust.
Heap it all up with the cleverest bankers---I will have it all in the end. Who among you has the cattle on a thousand hills?
Leave off this iniquity of gathering interest on money, interest on houses, interest on lands, interest on all things...
Where is the man of my Wisdom and my Vision? Where is my son of Israel? Arise beloved Joseph from your sleep---show these puny pharaohs my Spirit, my Wisdom, my Ways... Show forth my economy and my provision.
And return to me, the God of Israel. And see if I will open my storehouses... In returning to me, in resting in me, and in silence, you will be saved. A remnant.

Browsers, Grazers & Growers: Which are You?

Browsers are livestock, such as goats, that like to nibble here, nibble there, eat pretty much anything. They aren't picky or discerning and self-willed fence-jumping suits them to a "T".
Grazers, on the other hand, such as sheep and cattle, while not particularly discriminating, if they are put on good grass with adequate clean water are content and prosper. Some, for the sake of the owners, can be used to lure the flock or herd into cars headed for the slaughter houses---the Judas sheep. But that is a problem of the Owners. Most sheep, though, are competent grazers, and gladly go about the life of being a "sheep". In every flock, though, there are some who are particularly productive.
The Growers are what I would call these individuals. They are especially adept at turning their grazing grass into an abundance of meat, or fleece, or milk, or lambs. Different breeds have different characteristic strengths (or gifts).
Within the people called "Israel", all three---Browsers, Grazers, and Growers---live, often side by side.
Hope you aren't simply a browser goat...!
So then it comes down simply to this question---are you simply grazing the grass of "Israel" or are you growing Israel? Whatever your special gifts are, it seems to me, we are all called to grow Israel!

Jezebel, Judas, Sapphira, Yordim, and other "J" Persons---

What to do?
At whatever level one experiences the reality of "Israel"---personal, fraternal, or communal---sooner or later the painful experience of loss or betrayal is encountered. Relationships are torn asunder, death seems to rule the day as well as the night. Life seems to have departed, and God is nowhere close at hand... Elijah's triumph on Mt. Carmel is followed by full-blown retreat at the threats of Jezebel. In the present day, the joyous arrival of new "olim" (immigrants) making "aliyah" gets balanced with the reality of the "yordim", those who depart after having had some taste of life in Israel. The word yordim, literally in Hebrew those gone down or departed, has the same root as Yarden (the Jordan River), or yarad which is the basis for "yored geshem"---the rain is coming down. The Yarden descends or rushes down from Mt. Hermon on its way to the Dead Sea. When the experience of departing betrayal and abandonment presses upon us, what are we to do? When the tears are falling, what are we to do? When the loss or death of someone seems overwhelming, what are we to do? Rachel weeping over her children in exile---is she comforted? Is there any comfort to the one betrayed by Judas? Did Elijah find comfort in the wilderness? Is the mourner comforted?
Before the "comforter" can come, the cup must be drunk, that is completely drained. The physical rawness, the sharp bitters that bring tears to the eyes, the raw anguish of soul, and the raw spiritual blackness---all must be drunk, to the full, sooner or later. This is the classic pattern of grieving or mourning, and all the phases will be passed through before the "comforter" is finally known. And avoidance only postpones. Neither the darkness of the Garden night, nor the cup go away.
Grieving, as a son or daughter of Israel, has its appointed times. And I believe the God of Israel has a unique and special provision for his grieving children. There is a Hebrew Wisdom if we will receive her. During the First Gulf War, while I was in Jordan, my father died back in the States, and three weeks to late I learned of his death. The seven-day memorial candle and sitting "sheva" (the seven day period of mourning) help us move through the experience, drinking the cup fully, and then coming to the day when the paralysis of grief is broken and we can rise up to life once more. It is my conviction that the God of Israel has been sitting "sheva" for seven Biblical days, drinking fully the cup of His children's betrayal, death, and exile. But the day of grieving is not ordained to last forever, for God, for Rachel, for you, for me. Death is followed by New Life, Darkness by a New Day. The closets can be cleaned out, the departed ones' clothes can finally be let go... And as the Word says will be the case, the tears are wiped away.
What to do? Not recriminations. Not angry fulminations in the face of God. Not despairing pity parties. Not speculative imaginations of what ifs...
What to do? Mourn and "sit." Remember---memories do have a function, blessed and releaseful... And "sit" and wait for the day when we can then take hold of the Promises of God made to the children of Israel. "Weeping endureth for a night, but joy comes with the dawning of a new Day."