About two years ago, I was praying at the altar in our church one weekday, and as I prayed, I started reading Zephaniah chapter 3. The words leapt off the page at me as I say present day Canada in every word and phrase. I started writing them down and today I share them with you. It is best to read this along side Zephaniah 3 (RSV). I have attempted to place the verse number next to each paraphrase so you can follow along easily. Blessings.

Woe to Canada. This chapter so aptly applies to the state Canada’s leaders find themselves in. They oppress the people spiritually, they do not listen or draw near to the Lord, they listen to no other voice than their own.

Zephaniah 3 modernized

1 Woe to her who is rebellious & defiant, the oppressing leadership!

2 She listens to tintillating, "academics" who promote a new theory each year but not to the life-giving voice;

She accepts no correction.

She does not trust in the Lord but condemns Him as "religious" & imprisoning,

She does not draw near to her God but ignores it’s Charter of Rights prelude which says "under the Supremacy of God" stating it is too intolerant of others.

3 Her officials within her are as roaring lions invoking fear so they can maintain control;

Her judges are as evening wolves who secretly devour you through darkness of spirit under the guise of tolerance & personal autonomy, leaving no justice by morning light - where have all the Downs syndrome children gone? Where have all the disabled elderly gone? Where has restitution for killing gone? Where has privacy and respect for one’s jobs gone? Where has the respect for natural law gone?- all their followers do not see these losses because of their blindness. In the dark of their ignorance & in the fear of their fangs the people have followed along.

4 Her prophets are the academics who promote a new theory each year but consider the life-giving truths something to program-cut or shame as something intolerant & distasteful. To them it is better to be rid of religion and so state it with boldness.

Her priests profane what is sacred by making moral truths more acceptable for the public thus taking the life-force out of the sacred. The result is a population which finds sacred things irrelevant or searches for them in stones, worship of nature, worship of science, or ancestors.

Hence they do violence to the law. The law of the heart & conscience is either ignored or outlawed as the Law Societies ban law schools who want to teach the law of the conscience (Noahdic law).

5 The Lord within her remains righteous even though those on the street do not even know what righteousness means if they saw it!

The Lord does no wrong! That is one thing He cannot do! Each morning He shows His justice by isolating those who spread their poison, by spreading the oil of mercy & grace to those who have been oppressed by these rampant western civilization ideologies, by renewing a right spirit in those who seek His face.

No matter how discouraged we may feel, each dawn He does not fail.....But the thought patterns of our present society continue to show no shame....they are self seeking & blind. They feel hollow & so recruit others to join them in the hope of filling this void, they parade their "virtues" so their lonely hearts can have company.

6 'Look to history & other parts of the world where I have cut off nations; their defences are in ruins; their streets are nothing but desert weeds, wireless power poles, & lifeless buildings. Their grandeur is nothing but a faint memory written in history books.

7 The Lord said, " Surely they will see all this, reflect upon it, & revere Me. Surely they will see their wrong & ask for forgiveness. Surely she will see again & realize all they have ignored & destroyed in leaving me......

But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds openly corrupt, self centred, secular- oriented, autonomous, & spiritually bankrupt.

8 "Therefore endure your suffering even if you feel it is pointless, & wait for me," says the Lord, "for the day when I arise as a witness. For my decision is to gather nations but not like the UN, to assemble kingdoms with their self chosen ideologies, to pour out upon them my indignation as opposed to their request for personal dignity, all the heat of my righteous anger; for in the fire of my jealous, angry passion for you my creation, all the earth will be consumed. Not because of not loving you but because of your destructive decisions which will ultimately annihilate you & all on earth.

9 'My end is to change the worldview of people to one of purity, God-centred rightness so they will call upon my name & serve Me with one accord.' Says the Lord.

10 From beyond the riches of western society my suppliants, my worshippers will come and possess the land. They will present true offerings of spirit filled praise to Me. They will renew the land.

11 ' On that day, you will not be put to shame because of the immoral deeds you have seen done against me, because I will remove the secular Supreme Court judges, the 'self-actualizing' leaders & academics of Canada, the haughty corporate CEOs, and the blood thirsty media who make sensationalism through sharing half truths. This will result in humility of the leaders when they seek My Face through the altar of Truth & Grace.

12 'Those who are humble in spirit will remain & I will nurture & protect them. They will find protection & peace without anxiety in the name of the Lord,

13 those who are left in My grace, they shall do no wrong, and not utter half-truths, nor shall their speech & their actions not jive. For they will rest in peace in the cradle of My arms & no-one - no fear will make them afraid.'

14 'Sing aloud, O followers of Jesus! Shout for joy! Rejoice & exult with all your heart, O child of God!

15 The Lord has taken away all the judgments against you & cast out all those fearmongers, those who ridicule & persecute the way of the Lord. Your Master, God, dwells within & amongst you; you have no need to fear calamity or suffering or innuendos.

16 On that day it will be said, 'Do not fear, O people of God, let not your efforts grow weak & lifeless.

17 The Lord is amongst you & will give the victory. He will rejoice over you because you did it Christ's way, he will renew you with His Love, He will exult over you with loud singing 18 as at a great feast. ' I will remove feared disaster from you so you will walk through the sufferings as if it were nothing.'

19 'Behold, I will deal with those who promised you freedom but delivered imprisonment & oppression of spirit. I will save the disabled & gather the discriminated & I will change their shame into praise & renown over all the earth.

20 You will come home. You will be justified among all the people of the earth, when I, not you, restore true freedoms before your eyes,' says the Lord.