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Thursday, July 31, 2008

part 3 end times

Daniel 11:31 describes the anti-christ desecrating the sanctuary see also matt 24:15 and then comes this verse
Daniel 11:32 "By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action. 11:33 Those who have insight amont the people will give understanding to the many : yet they will fall by sword and by flame , by captivity and by plunder for many days."

so there is the church alive and well, being a strong witness to the power of God, and yet being willing to "lay down their lives", in the second half of the tribulation... and really seriously, where else would you want the church to be, when the world will be in such a time of upheaval and terror. Wake up, the church was created to be a witness "for such a time as this", not to be raptured out and placed on the sidelines.. leaving the "work" to a bunch of 3 year old believers, who came to the Lord after the rapture
it is just so wrong and self centered to "want out" when the real work has just begun

Thursday, July 24, 2008

psalm 102:14

For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. psalm 102:14
with much gratitude to Art Katz
this is "the verse" that speaks of the church, truly loving the Jew in the midst of the terrible persecution of the end times

oh God reveal your truth to your church
rip the veil of selfishness that wants to "leave" before it gets "bad"

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

part one of who knows how many

i need to get my thoughts on the end times down on paper, and so i will 'blog' them here i can't imagine i will finish in one sitting but maybe God will surprise me...
The lie of the church being raptured before the tribulation, is a thing that I see as being so destructive and evil that i feel i need to actively fight against it. Jesus is our forerunner, if they have done these things to the master, they will also do them to the servant... and if we truly learn to love, if we truly learn to lay down our lives for others... we will understand that it is God's loving plan that we be on the earth during the tribulation living the true deep christian life that will then be an undeniable witness to the Jew, who seeing our love and willingness to lay down our lives, will fall in love with our God.

There is a "spirit of the elder brother" among us that says we in "the church" who have been faithful "all these years" should not have to celebrate and anticipate, and joy in the festival of the last days that sees this "prodigal son" returning to the Father.

There is a gross down-playing of Grace, a subtle lifting up of man, of "what i am doing",
ALL THINGS are from Him, to Him, through Him. Grace says "to hell with your flesh it is of no use to God, it is in fact an abomination to Him" beware of a "little leaven" a little "i turned to Jesus", you did no such thing, His love and mercy ripped the veil from your eyes, His sacrifice cleared the way for you to return to God, His Spirit drew you back to Him
This lessening of grace and lifting up of man is at the root of the lie of being raptured out of the world before the tribulation. We "the church" have turned to God, we are not like the hebrews of the old testament, we have seen Him and turned to Him, we are not stubborn and obstinate like they were, we we we we we, be aware of how many songs we sing that start with 'i will' 'i have' 'i am' the songs of heaven sound like this "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" in fact the lamb of God imagery is used in Revelation 10 times as much as the "lion of Judah", we are followers of the lamb and we obtain victory the same way He did, by the laying down of our lives for the brethren. All Glory Be To God.

He has not destined us for wrath, no kidding, but His wrath is not something that can be realized in 3 1/2 years, or 7 years or any number of years. Because it is HIS wrath it is eternal, like His love, like HIM. The wrath we are saved from is eternal. 1 Thes. 5:9 is the verse that many use to "prove" their point of a "left behind" way of thinking.
lets look at that verse and see the lie
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation thru our Lord Jesus Christ.

the wrath is eternal because the salvation is eternal, or do you believe that the "salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ" is only for a 7 year period of time, of course not it is insane, no one would say that, but they will twist the first part of the verse and say that this is speaking of the tribulation period ridiculous, self-centered, self-preserving, a LIE.

Jesus, died that we might have life.
Paul, the writer of the verses that many use to prove the LIE, experienced incredible tribulations and was constantly preparing the church for the same. There is no hint in his writings that persecution is something we should be saved from, but taken thru. The prophets understood it in the old testament and the writers understood it in the new testament.
Fire purges, purifies, is needed. "purify the sons of levi" is the final cry of the old testament and the cry for a pure spotless bride is thru-out revelation.
The blood of the lamb, the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death.
REvelation 13:7 "It was given to him (the end times beast) to make war with the saints and to overcome them and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." Ever heard a message on that verse?, but even in times like that the saints are overcomers because the eternal plan has not changed from Jesus to the church, a life layed down for others cannot be defeated, what can man do to me, what can seperate me from His love ?tribulation, tribulation, tribulation NO NO NO. Death NO
Oh God give us a revelation of Your love, your plans for the times of the end, for the glory of Your Name.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

devastation versus pruning

we have a 3 foot wide spot of unmanageable grass between the road and the sidewalk in the empty lot (side yard) next to our house. Unmanageable because it is partially on a slope and partially not, filled with rocks large and small and whatever rolls off the road. It typically grows out of control and i could care less, but to soothe the neighbors i fired up the weed eater and "went for it" this past week.
Only this was no "trim" i was out to devastate this piece of real estate, and be done with it for this year! I succeeded. Safety glasses on dirt and rocks flying willy nilly i completed my task and nothing was left standing and most were down to the roots
which leads to these thoughts
right now, the body of Christ as individuals and corporately is experiencing the loving hand of pruning, drawing us away from the self life to a life lived in trust and faith on God and God alone, not my fleshly ability, No Flesh Shall Glory In His Presence, (principle #1 of all true ministry)
Pruning is completely different from devastation
devastation is the cross, and we are called to
"love not our lives unto death", to expect "suffering" to welcome the
"refining fire", to trust the God who is a "consuming fire" to come to a sober expectation that
in order for the bride to be pure and spotless, a deep cleansing consuming work must MUST be done....
So fellow travelers, seek to be most pliable (sp) under the pruning hand of God, willingly lovingly trusting Him, confessing your faults to one another and being healed, loving, laying down your life,
because....
the pruning is almost over and the devastation will come

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

truth from steve

"end times" discussion at church and some truth and wisdom
deep and wide came from my friend steve
"This country refuses to be uncomfortable"

if we can plumb the depth of that we will probably have
the name of the stronghold that sits over this country
God have mercy

we do have the authority of God to break this stronghold
over our lives. We defeat it, the same way all of the enemy is
defeated, we take up the grace, to pick up the grace, to live out
the opposite kind of life. So if the stronghold is selfishness, we
live out self-lessness by the power of God and all the glory goes
to Him. If the stronghold is "false security" we live out 'risk-filled faith'.
Willingly DOING Hebrews 10:32-34