Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
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Psalm 22: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.”
“Shiloh”: “They have stretched my shredded body/ On this humiliating tree.”
_____
Psalm 22: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.”
“Shiloh”: “My tongue tastes like ashes:/ It sticks to the roof of my mouth. / I am so thirsty. / This famine is too much for me.”
_____
Psalm 22: “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”
“Shiloh”: “The hands that healed/ And the feet that brought good news/ They have pierced/ With their fierce hatred.”
_____
Psalm 22: “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.”
“Shiloh”: “The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.”
_____
Psalm 22: “All they that see me laugh me to scorn.”
“Shiloh”: “The chapter-and-versed wolves/ Jeer and taunt me.”
“Pharisees smile like vipers/ They laugh and mock their venom.”
_____
Psalm 22: “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.”
“Shiloh”: “Where are my friends? / The landscape is dry and desolate.”
_____
Isaiah 52: “As many were atonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”
Isaiah 53: “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him . . . But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.”
“Shiloh”: “My flesh in tattered pieces/ Clots red and cold and sticks/ To the rough-hewn timber/ That props up my limp, vertical carcase/ Between and Heaven and earth.”
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The Holy Ghost dictated "Shiloh" to me for three days back in the fall of 1996.
Sarah: I changed the photo after you posted your comment. I think the photo of the preacher in the pulpit does a better job of conveying the message of the poem.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is about Christian Pharisees: people who are so sure of their doctrine (the Gospel in their heads), religious churchy church people whose man-made traditions make void the Word of God (Jesus, not the Bible). Christian Pharisees are the most wicked people I have ever met.
I was at a friend's place last night and we watched Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". The great enemies of Jesus while He was walking the earth, were not the Romans or the Philistines or the common Jews, but the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Pharisees (of cultural Christiandom) are still persecuting Jesus Christ to this day.
Tim, Wow! great stuff! Once again, you've served up just what my spirit man needed to hear. Powerful poem, brother. Definitely under the anointing.
ReplyDeleteYou said, "Christian pharisees are the most wicked people I have ever met." And I say, Amen, amen and amen x 10 infinity... and again Amen!
Throughout my entire life me and or my family have suffered under the persecution of "religion" I was only about 8 years old when my mother drove us home from church crying because the "deacon" sent us home in shame because my mother was wearing a new dress that wasn't "proper" for a godly woman. Years later she told me the dress wasn't at least 5 inches below her knees.
For the past year as a thorn in my side, there's this Australian "hyped Christian fundamentalist, RELIGIOUS ZEALOT" he and his Vietnamese wife live and operate out of this state operated "fake church" has caused me more grief and heartache (stemming from unimaginable harassment because I don't participate in their farce and when I asked his wife to please mentor this unsaved Vietnamese girl that I was unable to reach, was told "No! We don't get involved like that." etc... etc... etc..
The great saints have suffered for Christ. The servant is indeed no greater than the master.
But anyway.. Thank you brother.
Cultural Christiandom is the devils scythe (the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, specifically, Grim Reaper (Death). The harvester of souls) on the march to stamp out the saints.
Be not faint in this hour believer but live day by day by Grace through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen
great photo you've chosen.. couldn't be better.
ReplyDeleteRandy: You have some deep insights into spiritual matters. Thank you for your comments.
ReplyDeleteThe Body of Christ is a spiritual, mystical body, not some dead, man-made organization. I thank God He told me to get out of the man-made church a long time ago; I really enjoy all the Christian fellowship I am getting--and I got tired of being stoned to death by institutional "Christians".
"Let us bear His reproach without the camp."
When I was watching "The Passion of the Christ" with a friend recently, I was watching as they nailed Jesus to the Cross. That scene reminded me of my going to church on Sundays.
A.W. Tozer:
ReplyDelete“The fact is that, we are not producing saints. We are making converts to an effete type of Christianity, that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian of our times is but a shallow display of true sainthood. Yet, we put millions of dollars behind ‘movements’ to perpetuate this lower form of religion and attack the man who dares to challenge the wisdom of it.”
Effete: “having lost character, courage, strength, stamina, or vitality.”
--Webster’s Third New International Dictionary