And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)

One of the strongest denunciations of human conduct to be found in the Scriptures is that which appears in the parable of the talents.

To the servant who had done no wrong other than that of hiding his talent, the Lord rebuked in the above terms

The curse of the angel of the Lord falls on disinterest, laziness, and an unwillingness to participate in the rigors of Kingdom warfare.

Queen Esther is a type of the Bride of the Lamb. Esther had attained the luxuries of the queen of a vast empire. But there came a day when the lives of her fellow Jews were in danger.

For Esther to intercede before King Ahasuerus could very well have cost her life. She may have been tempted to forget about the troubles of her countrymen.

But Mordecai, her close relative who had raised her, warned her concerning her responsibility to her people, Israel:

Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:13,14)

No Christian has been called by the Lord Jesus to sit at home, raise a family, and live happily and contentedly in this present world. Two spiritual kings are at war—Christ against Antichrist. Every Christian has "come to the kingdom" in order that he or she may play a necessary and substantial part in establishing the Kingdom of God in the earth.

Notice the question that Moses asked the tribes that desired to settle down before they arrived in Canaan, before they came to the fullness of the inheritance that had been promised to them when they left Egypt:

And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? (Numbers 32:6)

That very question could be asked of unnumbered Christian people of our day: "Shall your brothers go to war, and shall ye sit here?"

Every member of the Body of Christ is a part of every other member. It is not appropriate or scriptural that some Christian people are giving their lives for the Gospel while others are following the ordinary pursuits of mankind; that some believers in Christ are in prison for their faith while others are building bigger houses, buying more expensive automobiles, and worrying about their bank account and the color of the bedroom walls.

The Body of Christ is one body. When one member suffers we all suffer. Not one member of the Body is allowed to settle back at ease in the world until every other member has obtained his inheritance in God. How can we occupy ourselves with material comforts when our brothers and sisters in Christ are being tortured and imprisoned for the Gospel? Shall we not be held accountable for such treachery?

To be continued.