I felt led to share this, which I have written since I got up this morning (wow... for the past 10 hours... where does the time go, its almost time to start 2nd shift...)...
it is a little lengthy, but hopefully all will read and consider.
"5Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
8Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
9Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
11And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands." (Haggai 1)
[The tiny remnant that returned, was sort of like the landing of the pilgrims who barely survived the first winter; what began with such high hopes, was nearly extinguished... like the smoking flax (smoldering candle wick about to expire) of Isaiah 42:3,4... like the reed broken in the wind, about to topple over... which passage also tells us that reviving comes only for those who look for and long for God's Righteousness, His Law re-established (and those who don't keep it now don't love Righteousness nor do they look for it; and they shall not see it; Psalm 24:3,4). The tiny remnant that returned failed to rebuild the Temple and the walls... and had given up, surrendering to learned helplessness, lazy indifference, like an episode of the t.v. series Survivor where the newly deposited group of contestants, dropped on some lonely island, are all laying around doing nothing, waiting instead for someone else to do it or for some fairy to wave a magic wand. The tiny remnant that returned had built their own houses... but not God's House. It was actually King David's idea (about 500 years earlier) to build the first Temple of the Lord, "Solomon's Temple"; David's pure heart made him feel guilty that he himself had an excellent palace, while God lived in a tent of curtains and skins, the Tabernacle (I Samuel 7). But despite David being of a pure heart, he was not of clean hands; and some of his sins prevented him from God allowing him to build that House. But such was David's sterling character (unlike the majority who would have gotten his feelings hurt, showing it was actually about self, not God, the average carnal person would have responded, "fine, suit yourself, don't say I didn't ask" and then gone on never to give it another thought), David continued to entreat the Lord to at least allow him to begin to store up the materials (gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, stone, precious stones) with which the Temple would be built by his son Solomon... and at the end of his life David gave over $5 billion dollars worth (in today's estimation) of his own wealth for the building of the Lord's House--in addition to the $196 billion that he had already given...! --and then he even took a collection among the Israelites in general. TRULY David embodied the spirit behind, "for God loveth a cheerful giver" (II Corinthians 9:7). David's attitude was "NO one is going to out give me...," such was His love for the Lord, the amount that David gave was about 22.5 times more than the amount that all the rest of people of Israel combined gave (which combined was $8.5 billion). David's love for God embodied the principle: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might" (later written by his son Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 9:10) It seems that many of the Puritans who came to America learned a lesson from the sloth and indifference of the return of the captives, as well as from David's gusto and joy in doing to his fullest that little that God allowed him to do; for many of the Puritan companies that arrived built a church building to worship God before they built their own houses!]
Why Christendom is on the verge of extinction...? because instead of laying up their treasures in heaven, where moth and rust and dust doth not corrupt, instead of building the Lord's House, they are busy running around hording temporal pleasure, squandering their time on senseless things that will not last, and running around busy about their own leisure and amusement and self-betterment, rather than being about their Father's business. I once heard a preacher preach that never in all his years did he ever see a hearse pulling a U-haul. I told him after the service, "True, you cannot take it with you--but you can send it on ahead." Seek ye first... lay up treasures... invest in Holiness and in the work of the Kingdom.
Many selfish individuals perished, in the settling of the American south, because instead of building first the Lord's house, instead of first building a fort for the safety of all from the attacks of the savages, they set out staking out their own claims, like Lot, choosing the better lands for themselves instead of first making the community secure and seeking God's blessing and prosperity for all.
Why Christendom is on the verge of extinction...?
Even as I explain in my brief "Who I Responsible for the DEATH of Christendom"...
The answer to "who is responsible" is: Christians. Christians who are just letting life die, looking away, feigning helplessness and pseudo-spirituality imagining that they are not the problem. Scripture would not tell us that Judgment begins in the House of God, if God's children were not the problem. The enemy is just the symptom of the problem... but God's children opened the door to the enemy, and in violation of God's Law, declared them to be "equals"--their race, their religion, their god, their customs... all equal with ours, all having wonderful contributions to make to society... all worth celebrating. Christ said that He will SPEW such out of His Mouth. "Come out from among them and be ye separate," God commanded. It is the Antichrist that says, "amalgamate." Judgment begins with the House of God because God's children are responsible (and God chastens HIS children, not bastards; Hebrews 12:8). The enemy will be judge too, but God will deal with His sons first... that is why the enemy is oppressing us... the same way in the many cycles in the book of Judges, that God used the enemies of His people to chasten them to repentance... only once they repent (Judgment begins with the house of God), will God then deal with the enemies. Sure the enemy is to blame... but serpents and wolves only do what is in their nature to do, so why is it any surprise to you that they do it? The blame lies with the false shepherds and the stupid sheep... the stupid sheep allowed the false shepherds to invite the wolves and serpents into the sheepfold, saying, "these are your brethren." In reality, what people are willing to tolerate they give their vote of approval to.
I reprinted the below title 4 years ago...
- Stories of Great Revivals with Contributions on Revival Work (1906) Henry Johnson, Canon Aitken, F.B. Meyer, Stuart Holden, Gipsy Smith; c.420pp., pb., 25.00 + P&H. Chapters: Evangelical Revival of 18th Century England; Evangelical Revival of 18th Century Scotland; Evangelical Revival of 18th Century Wales; Evangelical Revival of 18th Century Ireland; Awakenings of 1858-1862 England, of 1858-1862 Scotland, of 1858-1862 Wales, of 1858-1862 North of Ireland; Work of Moody & Sankey 1873 - 1875; 1881-1884; Revival in Wales, 1904-1905; Torry-Alexander Mission, 1903-1905.
I just completed reading it (and recommend that all read it... revivals have nothing to do with modern "revival meetings" - it has to do with God pouring out his Holy Spirit as upon a dry and dusty parched, cracked ground... once His people realize that their spiritual dessication is life-threatening and once they cry out for the living water to be freely poured out upon them once again... without measure... to overflowing).
I have also excerpted some significant stories from it, which I included in my introduction to the reprint of the Puritans and Pilgrims that I am now printing.
Below are just a few interesting paragraphs to consider.
....
[p.8]
I might add...
Before God undertook to do most anything significant for His people, before they received the law, before they dedicated the tabernacle, before they entered the promised land, before they returned from captivity, God commanded them to sanctify themselves, cleanse themselves, put away their alien wives and offspring, put away their other gods, humble themselves, seek His Face. This is still a requirement... while Christendom is "on life support" and about to become a cold corpse... God still issues these commands. God is Immutable. He cannot change. His Standard of Morality and Holiness cannot change. We are to be holy as He is Holy. His Holiness cannot change, the Standards of Holiness that He requires of us (His Law) cannot change. Keeping the Law never saved. It could not, it was never claimed that the Law saved.
Keeping the Law is what God requires of His children. The modern apostate Christian church's claim that the Law was done away with because it did not save is one massive, blatant non-sequittur (an error of logic, "it does not follow").
That is like saying, "Carpenters should no longer carry hammers because hammers are not heart medication." The two concepts are entirely unrelated and irrelevant to each other. Christ did not come to earth ... to DRAG GOD to us... and force God to His Knees and order Him to compromise. God cannot change or compromise. Christ came to bring His people BACK TO GOD. Those, like the rich young ruler, who prefer the delusional, evanescent "pleasure cruise" of "self" do not "get on board" the ark of the cross that reunites man with his Creator through his Redeemer.
[Interestingly, when God told Noah to pitch the ark within and without with pitch or tar, that Hebrew word pitch is the very word atonement: 3722 kaw-FAR: a primitive root meaning, "to cover (specifically with bitumen); figuratively to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel:—appease, make (an) atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, to pitch, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile (-liation). ]
TO WHOSE VOICE then are modern Christians listening when they say the Law was abolished? Christ Himself said that not even the slightest, insignificant pen stroke (the crossing of a t or dotting of an i) would pass from the Law as long as heaven and earth existed (quick, stick your head out the window or door and look all around... are you back yet...? was the earth and the sun, moon or stars and sky still there...? whew... I was worried there for a minute... I thought for a split second that maybe I was the one in delusion... the earth and sky are still outside MY window... but maybe it is all just in my mind... but if it is still there out yours too, then I doubt it is just a double delusion).
Christ additionally said that whoever BREAKS even the LEAST of those Commandments (not just the "Big 10"--ALL of them) and teaches others that they don't need to keep them either* shall be called LEAST in the Kingdom of Heaven. ...
[* It is one thing to blatantly sin; it is altogether a different matter to drag as many people as possible into your sin with you... sort of like the rebellious college "genius" who, because he is unprepared, tells everyone else in the class, "don't anyone show up to the final exam; he can't flunk us all!" Brilliant.]
They will be called "least" in the Kingdom... that is, if they even make it to the Kingdom... many will be shocked when they are rejected... the parable of the 10 betrothed virgins shows this (5 who were unprepared and who didn't show up were shut out of the wedding feast / Kingdom). Christ also taught directly in His discourse saying that MANY on that day (of Judgment), who THOUGHT that they were Christians, who THOUGHT they they had even served Christ and done many wonderful things in His Name, will hear, "Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity [lawlessness, the violation of God's Law]... I never knew you." MANY... not just an aberrant few. Many. Christ said, "If you love Me, keep My Commandments." He had no commandments of His own, but those of the Father, and He kept them perfectly to set the example for us--which itself is further evidence that He did not abolish the Law.
Furthermore, Scripture prophesied that God would WRITE HIS LAW UPON THE HEARTS of His people.
Does that sound like it was abolished?
Answer this question: Does it sound to you that those who think that God abolished His Law, have His Law written on their hearts?
It doesn't sound like it to me.
If they think that God's Law is abolished when God declared that it would be written (not merely on stone, but) on their hearts does that now mean that they are unconverted?
THE NEW COVENANT is that God would WRITE HIS LAW on the hearts of those of His people who are converted. First of all, God takes a heart of stone, a heart that is dead (like the valley of dry bones) and removes it and replaces it with a heart of flesh (like bringing those scattered dried bones together, assembling them, having sinews and flesh appear, and then breathing life into it giving it life)... ONLY THEN can the heart that was once DEAD (and the scattered bones that were just that)... come to life... only then can life be lived--and the purpose of living is to live in obedience to what God commanded. Keeping the Law does not save. It is what God expects His children to do... but if they don't... it is evidence that they are still DEAD. Dead in their trespasses and sins. Dead toward God. Oh, they delude themselves into thinking that they are spiritual and love God... but God established what true love is: If you love Me, Keep My Commandments.
The oft-repeated, lame, mind-dead ditty the average ignorant Christian parrots in reply, "We don't need to keep the law, all we have to do is 'love'" shows his deadness of heart and mind. Try that at your job. When your boss comes in and asks, "Why aren't you working?" Just stand up, smile, give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and go back to day-dreaming. If a father told his son to clean up his room, do his chores and homework, and instead the son stood up and said, "no thanks pops, but I love ya'" and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek then went off to play with his friends... IS THAT LOVE? and DOES THAT NONEXISTENT 'love' replace the law? NO and NO are the correct answers. Scripture says, "Even a child is known by his doings." Scripture says, "Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Modern expressions reflect this: "talk is cheap," "Your actions are speaking so loud I can't hear what your words are saying." Scripture says, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey" (Romans 6:16) Just because a Christian goes to church every now and then and sings a hymn does not mean God is his Lord. Ones Lord is the one he obeys.
Tragically, most Christians (mis)understand so many passage of Scripture backwards.
Love is demonstrated by keeping the Law. If you love your kinsman you will not steal from him, beat him up, rape his daughter, commit adultery with his wife, and murder his son. Thinking that one can "love" while ignoring all those commands (and every other command) IS DELUSIONAL! OBEDIENCE to the Law is love, and that love is the fulfillment of the law; even as faith without works is dead. Works do not produce the faith, the faith produces the works. One does not attempt to ride a motorcycle up a ramp and over 12 school buses in order to achieve faith. One who ALREADY HAS FAITH that he can complete that task, then has motivation to actually do it. Experience (works) is a RESULT of faith and HOPE/CONFIDENCE (having seen faith in action) is a RESULT of EXPERIENCE. Experience does not produce faith; it is the other way around. However, as pertains to God and us, without God's Holy Spirit we are dead. NOTHING we can do can please God. We are dead. The Holy Spirit regenerates and quickens and it is by the Agency of the Holy Spirit in a believer that the believer REALIZES that God's Law is still in effect (like some massive bar tab or electric bill that continues to accrue, whether you pay it or not--eventually the bill will come due--it is called JUDGMENT) and it is by the Agency of the Holy Spirit that the believer DESIRES to obey and please God and it is by the Agency of the Holy Spirit that the believer is actually EMPOWERED to do what is right. Those "Christians' who think that the Law was abolished, who do not have the desire to obey God (their own selfishness, pet sins, and the cares of this life and the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh being deemed of greater value: which means ones god is actually himself, since that is who he honors and serves and worships), and who do not obey... are on VERY SHAKY ground. Every tree is known by its fruit. A diseased tree cannot bring forth healthy fruit A bad/salty well cannot bring forth good/fresh water.
The very last books of the New Testament to be written (even after the book of Revelation) were the epistles of John, in which John reveals, "sin is transgression of the Law." If the Law was abolished WHEN was it abolished? Christ did not think it was abolished, nor did John as he penned the very last books of the New Testament. If the Law was abolished WHO abolished it (and BY WHOSE authority)? Christ specifically said that HE did NOT... (and that it was not even in His job description).
So WHICH "bible" are Christians reading who think the Law was abolished? If the Law was abolished sin could not be possible (for sin is transgression of the Law)... if the Law was abolished NO ONE COULD SIN so WHAT would anyone need to REPENT OF or be SAVED FROM or be SAVED UNTO...? --which are the very repeated THEMES of the entire Bible!
Romans 8
1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
[The Spirit will not lead anyone to "walk in sin"; the flesh is sin (the old creature, the carnal man); walking after the flesh is fulfilling the lusts of the flesh which is the violation of God's Law.]
2For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. ...
[Free not from the Law itself, but free from the sinful nature's natural and complete gravitation to disobedience and from the PENALTY (Judgment) of the Law (death).]
4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
[Walking after the flesh is fulfilling the lusts thereof, everything God commanded us not to do; again, the Holy Spirit will not lead anyone to walk in sin; if a Christian walks in the flesh/sin (even ignorantly not considering it to be sin), it is evidence that the Holy Spirit kept on going straight and the believer turned aside and is walking in the flesh, having missed where the Spirit was leading).]
5For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject [submissive] to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. ....
[Subject is not the best translation since it has several meanings... the meaning that is intended is that the flesh does not subject itself or submit itself to the Law of God... the meaning is NOT that the flesh is under no obligation to obey. The Law was not done away with, it is just that the unconverted mind (which includes the minds of many individuals who think that they are converted) is not in submission to God's Law (especially if the individual continually claims that God abolished His Law altogether).]
8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
[We are not supposed to be dead unto the Law, but dead unto sin and alive unto Christ, who was tempted in all areas as we are yet without sin because He lived in obedience to the Father. "How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:2) Those who are dead to sin WON'T live any longer therein, if they do, they are not dead to sin and if they are not dead to sin then they are not in or of Christ. Christ said "I am the True Vine... [which presupposes the existence of a false vine(s)] I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (obedience)" (John 15)... those who are not bearing Christ's fruit are not attached to Christ, but are part of some false vine masquerading as Christ... antichrists, false Christs (of which Christ Himself said there would be MANY)... false Christs graven in men's minds (idols) through false doctrine. in Romans 8:9, Christ said, if any have not the Spirit of Christ (which will produce the fruit Christ commanded)... HE IS NONE OF HIS. Christ said, "My sheep hear (recognize) My Voice and follow (obey, heed) Me... they will not follow the voice of a stranger; well, if modern "christians" are following some voice other than Christ's then Christ just declared that they are not His sheep.]
10And if Christ be in you ....
11...if the Spirit of Him [God, the Spirit of God would then clearly be the Holy Spirit] that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
[Hint: if a "christian" has not been quickened in his mortal body to live in obedience to God's Law, then he is still dead in his trespasses and sins, having never truly been quickened. Quicken means: bring to life, resurrect, from sin and death unto obedience and life.... the purpose of bringing to life from the dead is to live in obedience... at times when Christ forgave sins, He said, "Go and sin no more" not, "go and do whatever you want the law is abolished"... obedience to the Law of God are the "good works" to which we are called, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)]
12Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
[Mortify or "put to death" the deeds of the body is walking in the Spirit so that you don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh... putting to death the old creature (unregenerate man, the flesh) reckoning him to be crucified with Christ and the new creature raised to NEW life (obedience) with Christ. ]
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
In John 15:10 Christ tells us
If ye keep My Commandments, ye shall abide in My Love; even as I have kept My Father’s Commandments, and abide in His Love. Christ here says that those who violate the Law of God are not in His Love.... if you are not abiding in Christ's Love you are none of His. His sheep hear His Voice and obey.
David said If I regard (harbor) iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.
Isaiah 59:2 informs us,
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His Face from you, that He will not hear."
Satan's great lie that God abolished His Law keeps Christians in perpetual sin* and God does not hear their prayers and thinking he is not guilty of any sin, he does not think there is anything that he needs to repent of.
[* They are in perpetual sin by their own chosen ignorance: God's Word is clear: If they would just read it instead of doing everything else that is meaningless in terms of eternity and in terms of daily obedience to what God HAS commanded. How can the average Christian claim God is his God and Lord when he doesn't even know what that Lord requires? and if he doesn't know what He requires, how can he serve, please, obey, or worship Him? He cannot.]
It is the perfect vicious cycle, the perfect con... and THAT is why Christendom is being destroyed; because God's people are in blatant sin--NOT EVEN KNOWING what God requires, having believed the lie that a Holy God abolished His Holy Moral Code... and those that fancy that they "obey" Him, in what I call "Smorgasbord Theology" pick and choose "which" FEW laws they think are still necessary and throw the rest away. A subject does not have the right to decide which laws of his Lord he will obey and which he will ignore. Not one jot or tittle Christ declared, would pass [end, become obsolete, fade away, be abolished]... the ONLY part of the Law that was abolished was the JUDGMENT or the CURSE of the Law against us because Christ Himself took that judgment for us (if we are truly of His sheep). The Old Testament sacrifices themselves were not really abolished but fulfilled in Christ the eternal sacrifice... but every single other law, the dietary laws,* the sexual laws, the laws of agriculture, laws regarding interaction with alien peoples, the Sabbaths, laws of cleanliness, no other gods or graven images (much less PAGAN TEMPLES) are still all in effect and our sins rise as a STENCH to Heaven... while Christians roll their eyes and twiddle their thumbs and claim there is nothing they can do about it... while they then rush off to the superbowl (while the barbarians are not pounding away at the gate--they have already been invited in, been given the keys to the city, and the watchmen on the wall have married their daughters to them!). Christ said that it is not proper to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs and Christ agreed and recognized the validity of the overflow of blessing principle (IF God's people are obedient and separate* as God commanded, and if they demand obedience of any internal segregated aliens and if those aliens mind their place)... that the dogs can eat from the crumbs that fall from the master's table. But instead of obeying God, the corrupt leaders of the master's children have declared the dogs themselves to be the master's children and they have forced some of the master's children under the table to eat the crumbs that the dogs drop and the rest of the master's children have been seduced into breeding with the dogs! And the modern Christian thinks God is just "all smiles" about that. It is an abomination.
[* God declared: "25Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine." (Leviticus 20)
The difference between clean and unclean (animals or peoples) was not a result of evolution, but by God's very design at Creation. God does not "re-act" to the (non-existent) "evolution" of His Creation... He is not passive. He does not do anything randomly or play "pick up sticks" or "a barrel of monkeys"; He does things orderly after the pre-determinate Counsel of His own Will for His own Good Pleasure. He doesn't "do damage control"--He plans everything, even like a "mock drill" that fire departments or policing agencies conduct, or like a "war game" or "flight simulator" enacted by those who devise such drills to test the ability of their people. For this reason, Christ gave the parable of a master who went away for a time and entrusted to his servants gold talents "to see what they would do with them". It is not that God does not know what any will do; He has actually determined what all will do: the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord (and the steps of the wicked are just as ordered and sure—Scripture says that in the betrayal, trial, and crucifiction of Christ, each individual did what God had before determined would be done; Acts 4:26-28); God's Omniscience is not passive: He cannot think something without having ordered it; He doesn't have a crystal ball: His knowledge is reality by His thinking it and He does not have thoughts randomly pop into His Head against His Will; He declared: "Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand" (Isaiah 14:24). God cannot have invalid thoughts and He doesn't "guess". He never "see things wrong" or "overlooks" anything; He doesn't have bad ideas or plans that never work out or ideas He never follows through with; nothing catches Him by surprise... because He didn't merely "see" all that would happen... He planned it all. He is Sovereign. Omnipotent. Perfect. His creation didn't merely "go bad"--all things have happened just as He determined. It is not exactly how He planned, if His creation "just went bad" on its own, then He is not Perfect.]
God cannot change. He commands obedience. Because His people are in multitudinous flagrant sin, as in the days of Noah --eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage--in complete violation of all the boundaries that God established concerning what we are allowed to eat and drink and marry... because of this mass perversion and rebellion, God is sending tribulation so great that hardly even the elect will survive... the founders of the US and Britain and Europe—Christendom—are being bred out of existence (in addition to daily being murdered and de-christianized and brainwashed). In 1 more generation, none will be left except a handful, and it will be like the movies The Planet of the Apes... where the Apes are hunting down the few remaining humans. That's what God says... society, the church will be so perverse, the only "crime" that is left will be holding true to what God commanded, the purity of our faith and heritage... and those who would put us to death will perversely imagine that they are doing God a favor... and unless God draw those days short, not even the elect will survive. God will not draw those days short until His people actually repent and shake off their delusion and realize that when it is a matter of life and death, leisure and amusement and recreation ARE IMMORAL.
“When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, the battle is your calling, and peace has become sin. You must at the price of dearest peace lay your conviction bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.” —Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) Dutch theologian, statesman, journalist, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands {1901-1905}. OH that we had such statesmen today! WE HAVE NO statesmen, we only have politicians and they are ALL corrupt (when they do not demand their fellow politicians to be held accountable for their TREASON and CRIMES against the people and against GOD, they COVER those crimes and are accessories to them).
God will not draw those days short until the remnant of His people repent and cry out... or until He has winnowed away the chaff from the remnant of the wheat down to the handful of those who already are so repenting and crying out.
The ONLY ones who will survive the coming days of WRATH will be those who have the Testimony/Faith of Christ Jesus (what HE said, not what the modern corrupt church has twisted His teaching into--Faith in the True God, not a modern idol created by the harlot church who has turned the Rembrandt of God into a Picasso disjointed caricature or a Salvador Dali psychotic, bizarre, perverse delusion)... and who keep the Commandments of God. TRUE faith proves itself by obedience. Faith without works is dead. If one watch has a battery in it and the other watch does not, how can you tell which watch is alive? One WORKS. The works do not "make" it alive or "cause the battery to exist" but is PROOF that the watchmaker GAVE it a battery or PROOF that he WOUND IT UP and MADE it ALIVE.
Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience* of the saints: here are they that keep the Commandments of God, and the Faith** of Jesus.
* Patience refers to the endurance, the perseverance of the saints during the tribulation--this identifies who are the remnant who will survive!
** Faith without works is dead.
Revelation 12:17
And the Dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the Commandments of God, and have the Testimony* of Jesus Christ.
* A Legal term: "Evidence, testimony, judicial record." And even as faith (with which this word testimony is substituted, showing they are synonyms, in Rev. 14:12)... even as faith without works is dead, this testimony itself is the evidence that we are Christ's--evidence of His work in us (the keeping of God's Law). The Ark of the Covenant was also called the Ark of the Testimony, because God's Law, His Covenant, His Testimony, His Testament was housed therein: "And thou shalt put into the Ark the Testimony which I shall give thee." (Exodus 25:16). .... Scripture calls it "the Ark of Testimony" or "the Ark of the Testimony" 13 times (such as in Joshua 4:16). It is called "the Ark of the Covenant" 41 times. It is also called "the Ark of His Testament" 1 time. This Testimony or Faith or Covenant is therefore clearly related to the Law or Commandments of God, which Christ repeatedly commanded us to keep; even telling us that obedience to what God commanded is the fruit we are supposed to bear and that obedience to the Commandments of God was a requirement for receiving the answers to our prayers (John 15:1-10); and in one of the very last books of the Bible to be written, the Apostle John himself echoes this very truth: "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His Commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His Sight." (I John 3:22) I guess someone forgot to clue John in that the Law had been abolished, I guess some time while he was in banishment on the Isle of Patmos, and he didn't get the memo... those sticky notes don't stick too well to the side of a cave; especially not on a wind-swept isle... but you would think that after he was released and while he was in the cultural city of Ephesus, someone would have filled him in to save him this embarrassment...! --or maybe the modern apostate Christian church is wrong and the Apostle John was right. I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I would put my money on the Apostle John... what about you...?
God is currently testing WHICH of His saints will remain true, even as He allowed Satan to afflict Job to prove Job knowing that Job would remain true, not because of any goodness or ability in Job, but because, "He preserveth the souls of His saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." (Psalm 97:10). Satan's goal is to destroy all those who have the Testimony/Faith of Jesus Christ AND WHO THUS keep the Commandments of God; keeping the Commandments of God is meaningless--actually impossible--without the Faith of God, because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified... sinning just one single time makes a person a sinner--in fact, merely inheriting Adam's sin nature makes one a sinner... once a person is born HE IS ALREADY IN SPIRITUAL DEBT! No amount of "keeping the Law" can get you out of debt once you are already 1 sin behind! Only Christ can pay that debt and then enable a person through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be able to obey and please God from thereon out. Having the Testimony / Faith of Christ Jesus WITHOUT keeping the Law is a delusion... a myth... because faith without works is dead... if Christ is truly in a person the person will be CHANGED and will WALK IN THE SPIRIT and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (the violation of all the Commandments of God).
The Dragon's goal is to perverted, defile, mongrelize, seduce away the Bride of Christ so that He has no bride to return to. The Dragon's goal is to devour the children of God (through carnage and death, through amalgamation, through perverting their minds by brainwashing them into turning from God and His Ways). Those whom God will preserve will be those who are truly His, those who reflect His Image, His Holiness by obeying His commands that set us apart as His children...would it not be easy to distinguish a talking parrot owned by a preacher and that owned by a rap "singer" or a profane sailor? So should we be distinguished by not merely our talk, but by our walk.
This end time Wrath that is coming upon the world is not virtual reality. It is reality. It is not a game. It is real life. It is not make believe, it is for keeps.
The Father has delayed Christ's Return to give more of His children the opportunity to repent (or defect) and to test their faith; the chaff will conclude that because Christ has not returned, He never will:
"3Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (II Peter 3)
[Christ is not returning in any secret silent "rapture"; that is Jesuit-Zionist counter-reformation propaganda devised to seduce God's children into being irresponsible thinking it doesn't matter how bad the world gets because God is going to yank us out before things get too bad. Think again! "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22) Maybe you ought to "rethink your game plan." You're going THROUGH the Great Tribulation... no need to go look for it, if you are of God it will find you. Maybe you ought to be like the wise virgins and have your lamps trimmed... check your provision chest... prepare as a good soldier to endure hardness. Christ commanded "Occupy till I come." That command can't be obeyed if you are raptured out. Christ said even as in the days of Noah (in many ways) so will it be with the Coming of the Son of Man: Scripture says that the waters came and took the wicked away... not Noah... Noah was preserved in the ark.... through the trials. "the root of the righteous shall not be moved" (Proverbs 12:3). It is the chaff that is driven away... it is the tares that are first bundled and burned.
The word thief is an improper translation above. The word does not mean thief but robber. The difference: a thief operated by stealth, like a cat burglar; he slips in and out without being noticed. A robber is a gang of banditoes who kick the doors in, in the middle of the night, with guns a-blazin' using the element of surprise with shock and awe... and then kill or tie everyone up and then steal what they want at their leisure, and then maybe burn the house down on their way out just as a nice touch. THAT is how Christ will return, but He will not return for His own in that manner, but for His enemies who have abused His Bride over the past 2,000 years. The first time He came as a Lamb to redeem His own; the second time He will return like a lion to avenge them. "10...when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Christ Jesus: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of His Power; " (II Thessalonians 1)]
Though the chaff will demonstrate disbelief, the elect wheat will reckon,
"for He is faithful Who promised" (Hebrews 10:23)
"Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised." (Hebrews 11:11)
Therefore:
"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:9)
For without faith (and faith without works is dead) it is impossible to please God... He that comes to God must believe that He is (that He is God and that everything that He has said is infallibly true) and that He is a rewarder of those who DILIGENTLY seek Him.
[Diligence is not something that is casual or passive.]
May God turn the hearts of the people once again--and turn them to repentance unto life and unto Him, and not give them up again to destruction.
God's people can only repent if God puts it in their hearts to repent... for there is none that doeth good, there is none that seeketh God or even incline themselves toward Him... no not one... Like Lazarus, unless God calls the dead forth from the grave, they remain dead.
Ephraim, symbolic of all God’s people, after being chastised, in repentance cries out God: “...turn Thou me, and I shall be turned; for Thou art the Lord my God.... Surely after that I was turned, I repented” (Jeremiah 31:18,19).
[In context, the whole passage reads: "18I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. 19Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD. 21Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. 22How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?"]
Christ did not abolish God's Law: He declared with His Father—
"This is the way, walk ye in it" (Isaiah 30:21)
God commanded us to turn not to the left or the right. But observe ALL the things He had commanded us.
Christ said:
"13Enter ye in at the strait [narrow, restricted, constricted] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7)
[The narrow or restricted way is that experience by the bullock in the yoke, and by the horse with a bridle... they are turned the way the master wants them turned; they are restricted into going in the narrow way that he wants them to go.]
He that hath ears to hear... let him hear... let the redeemed of the Lord say so... can two walk together except they be in agreement? If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done of my father which is in heaven.
The Christian singing artist the late Chris Mullins (who is not one of my favorite artists, but he had various songs the local stations played that I heard over the years), I heard him on a Christian radio interview once (before his untimely passing)... he had, unprecedentedly, put the very same song "Chariot of fire" on 2 albums in a row. When asked why he put it on the second album, he replied, "because I didn't think anyone was listening the first time."
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Why no LASTING reformation/revival...?
attached are some other pages of introduction to this book Stories of Great Revivals.
Holden makes some very good points, to which I will preface some of my thoughts.
Why no LASTING reformation/revival?
Christ said, "that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit."
The majority of modern "revival meeting" or "evangelistic crusade" fervor is of the flesh, not the Holy Spirit. If it were of the Holy Spirit it would last. Ye shall know them by their fruit. Christ said that He ordained His own that they should bring forth fruit and that that fruit SHOULD REMAIN. Those who don't produce Christ's fruit, and fruit that remains, are not of Christ, even as I showed from Scripture yesterday, "he that hath not the Spirit of Christ IS NONE OF HIS."
The soil must be prepared (which can only be done by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is oft moved to so operate when God's people care enough to pray for things beyond their own selfish needs and desires: ye have not because ye ask not and ye receive not because ye ask putridly).
Anyone who has ever done the slightest bit of gardening will know that it does little good to wantonly cast seed to the wind without even tilling the ground. Good seed will not penetrate the sod or areas overgrown with weed. As Scripture reveals, "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." As it pertains to our farming illustration, this method of wanton scattering only generally works with the seeds of weeds. Weeds are hardy, tough, resilient (like wild mountain goats, they brave the remote harsh places on their own; whereas, most domesticated sheep, goats, cattle, if not cared for diligently, will die in a sickening wave). Good seed and plants are tender, delicate. You can rip weeds out, stomp on them, poison and burn them, and they keep coming back. But if you practically speak too harshly or look to scornfully at a good plant, it will shrivel up and die. Very rarely will you have a lovely broccoli or cucumber or tomato or pumpkin come up on its own in the middle of the yard or on the edge of the forest or in a heap of weeds. Good seed needs cultivation. It is tender... it is also desired prey of many predators... deer and raccoons don't crave thistles and brambles or poison ivy, but whatever delicacy you plant for yourself. That is the law of sin in operation. In the parable of the sower and the seed, good ground was prepared, ploughed, tilled; however, the illustration was that some fell beyond where it was intended; but wherever it fell beyond where it was intended, it did not avail, anywhere.
The senselessness of so many fleshly revivals, as briefly explained by Holden in these few pages, puts me in mind of a few war movies I have seen (many based on fact) in which armored amphibious transport boats were transporting loads of soldiers to the beach, and invariably, time after time, as the human cargo ship approached the shallows and dropped the front ramp... enemy machine gun fire mowed down everyone, often before they could even hit the water, let alone reach the beach. The overwhelming senselessness of it all was profound... time after time... I wanted to shout to them, "You fools can't you see that it is not working! Can't you see the great loss of human life...!" Eventually, they did succeed... but at what cost! at what UNNECESSARY cost! Either another way should have been brainstormed or that beach did not need to be taken, or at least not at that time in that way. How could such leaders, generals or politicians or even the transport boat drivers ever sleep at night for the rest of their lives having known they sent all those men to their deaths...? I know how politicians sleep, because they have no conscience... and the generals, well, they generally don't concern themselves with such details... like bomber pilots don't generally see the carnage of human life as a result of their dropping those shiny bombs way up from the clouds where everything on earth is just a tiny speck they don't even look at. Generals don't lead their troops into battle any longer, as did Washington... HOWEVER, if we want to prevent all future senseless tragedies, we should DEMAND that if they are going to send men to their death, their own sons should be in the first boat... as well as those of the politicians.
Regardless, this same (or similar) senselessness is the result of "emotional conversions" that are not real, the convertants not being prepared (or even scrutinized) by the convertors... as Christ said, "does any man go to war without first counting the cost, whether he can win?" This is the problem that has resulted from watering down the truth to reduce it to a level that the dumbed down populace can understand, and to bring within reach and force on him by pressured sales techniques a product that the buyer really doesn't want... all with the hopes that one day he might be glad he bought it... but invariably, all such hard sales to low dominance people end up in the attic or the garage, or closet, or by the curb with the garbage. This is why Scripture says if any man preach ANOTHER GOSPEL other than the FULL one transmitted (with all its commands and responsibilities) --let him be accursed! Bringing such "questionable" conversions into the church is as foolish as evangelizing within the church. The church is not the place for evangelization; it is the place for confirmed believers. Evangelism is to take place outside the church... (if the church itself is in need of conversion it is not a church!) only those who have been validated and then confirmed (examined and discipled/trained) are then admitted to fellowship. You don't put an inexperienced novice crane operator in charge of a project going on in the middle of town with pedestrians walking all around, and other workers exposed whose lives are in the hands of that operator. The parole officer/social worker does not bring a murderer/rapist/pedophile home for dinner to meet the wife and kids. A real father does not let just anyone come and pick up his daughter to take her out on a date. Noah didn't say, "What, ONLY TWO termites, two rattlesnakes, two scorpions, two yellow jackets...? heck no, bring them all, the more the merrier; we will be on the ark for over a year; it will get boring without a little excitement!" Yet that is the senselessness that takes place in the modern church--all for the false appearance of "success" in having the pews packed, and the sunday school rooms full of kids bussed in from the local projects, lured there with the offers of cake and ice cream and a puppet show... and then people wonder why the church a few years later is beset with scandals... affairs, illegitimate pregnancies, embezzlement of church funds, doctrinal shifts, attitude shifts, internal wars, and then the church is overrun by the neighborhood ghetto and the church is turned into a storage building by the local hardware store. Give not that which is holy to the dogs; cast not your pearls before swine... lest they turn and destroy you. Was Christ just babbling nonsense...? Of course not. Yet the majority of Christians show by their actions that they believe He was, that His "old antiquated ideas are now obsolete in our modern world". Christ is not the head of their church, if they do not follow His agenda, but their own. He who has not the Spirit of Christ is none of His. This spirit refers not merely to a sugar-coated happy love everyone sing-singy demeanor (which, incidentally did not characterize Christ, yet that is the false portrait that is painted of him today)... having the Spirit of Christ refers to obeying what He commanded... even as He obeyed the commands of His Father. That is the only true Spirit of Christ. Christ rhetorically asked, "Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" The vast majority of "conversions" go sour because they are not based on principle, but emotion; and quite often people don't even realize the "conversions" went sour... because how could anyone know...? when those in the church are no different than those who do not even consider themselves Christians? When nonchristians or false conversions "fit right in" in the local church, what does that say about the local church? Being a "friendly church" has nothing to do with Christianity; yet that seems to be the spiritual barometer by which modern churches measure their Christianity. But to be friends with the world is to be the enemy of God, and Christ said those who are lukewarm will be vomited out. All of this is the most important truths which any person can occupy his time. These are the end days. Only a remnant will survive. This is why Scripture says, "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith"--not according to the worldly church's yardstick, but according to God's. When the enemy attacks the safest place to be is by the forces that will be defending you... and Scripture says, in Psalm 91
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
However, God is not fooled by lip-service. Dwelling in the secret place of the Most High cannot be faked. It is either real, or it is not. The rich young ruler wanted all the benefits, but none of the sacrifice or responsibilities.... but his life ended about 1950 years ago, and his eternity has barely begun... what good then were his brief fist full of years which he esteemed of greater value than eternal life.
