Rats in the Garden
Rats along the walls
They come and they steal
what is purposed for God's people

Rat in the corner
has eaten more than his fill
laments and groans
But still no relief

Notice to those who steal
Notice to the apostate ones
Notice to all who have taken liberty
against the Truth
Who have stolen
misrepresented the Gospel
Taken what does not belong to you
Those who destroy the fruit of labor
of God's servants
Those who have come to bring lies,
disease, false hope to God's Church
Those who operate from their mind
and not the Spirit of the Living God
Those who speak of themselves
rather than the Holy One of Israel
Those who have neglected
the poor, the hungry, the hopeless
Those who gain money from God's Name
Those who write long sermons
but fail to live out its content
Those who abuse, neglect, silence the children
and block their way to the King
Those who wear filthy garments
and not the Robe of Righteousness
Those who draw attention to themselves
rather than God
Those who are false
even though they preach and teach
99 percent Truth

Hear ye, Hear ye
You may have taken over The Garden
But all that you "eat" now will bring a curse
For you have defiled God's Name
You have perverted the Kingdom
You have tainted and destroyed the children

Rats be gone!

And they say
That in the land of The Garden
In that very land
The rats they did die one by one
Then ten by ten
Then more than one hundred at a time
For The Gardener returned
And with Him
Prophets, Apostles, Teachers
Who spoke with Authority
Who claimed the Promises of God
Who knew what the Garden was destined to be

They returned, not quite in triumph
But they returned determined
To rid The Garden, the Church
Of the rats; the thieves, liars,
hypocrites, unfaithful, slanderers,
abusers, immoral

Come now partake of the Cup
Those washed in the Blood of the Lamb
Take of the Bread, poured out in suffering for you
Take, eat, drink to your health
And the Resurgence of the Body of Christ

For this day
He comes to cleanse
To set right
To destroy all that is unclean
To make humble the mockers
To plunder the thieves
To stomp upon the liars
To raise up the Righteous

The rats will leave
Some will pass away in the sanctuary
Some will go to their homes
And quietly be no more
Some will rant in the streets
of the injustice of their punishment
Others will cower behind the Righteous
But in these times
In this day
The rats will be destroyed
By the One who bore their sins,
all their sins on a humiliating Cross
The gift of Salvation, cleansing from sin,
redemption, transformation offered time and time again
But it proved easier to fake it
And so we have
A justified death
At the Hands of the One
Who offered only Life

Let it now be said
And recorded,

Malachi 3