Category: wrath

Posted in anger, holy, righteous anger, wrath

Where is the righteous indignation? The holy anger?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Most sane people, until recently at least, would agree that child abuse is heinous. It is something that arouses in people an anger and feelings of severe indignation, in some cases, even violence. The very notion of an innocent and vulnerable child being abused by a horrid man or woman is beyond comprehension. The notion of baby abuse is even worse. Most people, including myself, refuse to even think about that because of the dread feelings abuse against children or babies breeds in the heart.

Though most sane people who become righteously angry at the notion of a child being abused will not enter into violence. Most will hanker for justice. They will vigorously pursue a due punishment for that abuser through all appropriate channels – to the utmost.

They will pursue justice through the court system. Of the abusing priests, they pursue justice through the Vatican. Some dedicate their lives to protecting abused children. Others dedicate their profession through a lifetime to obtaining justice for these kids.

All believers are children of God. To God, we are His kids. We feel grown-up, mature, and in earthly terms, we may be. But we are children.

  • Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
  • John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–
  • Romans 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Even if we have been a believer for 50 years, we are still a kid to the LORD. We are his sheep, dumb, helpless, and shivering at the wolves who prey on us.

“The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not

bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.”

“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. (Ezekiel 34:4-10)

We can see from the above verses that the sheep can be prey for the wolves in many different ways. When a worthless shepherd throws them to the wolves and feeds himself instead, it is a very bad thing- for the anger of the LORD burns in His chest.

What He is describing is spiritual abuse. This occurs against the children of God by those in positions of trust. We are enduring a flood of worthless shepherds these days, as well as worthless prophets, false teachers, and unregenerated “believers”.

“A steady stream of false teaching has been cumulative so that it is wider and deeper now than it has ever been in human history. False teaching about God, about Christ, about the Bible, about spiritual reality is pandemic. (source)

Pastors who plagiarize are abusing the sheep because they are giving voice to satan and turning the pulpit over to the kingdom of darkness. Teachers who introduce destructive heresies ruin the people who listen to it. (2 Timothy 2:14). False prophets who speak a dream they’ve made up dilute the word.

So my question is, when a pastor or leader or teacher abuses the flock, why don’t we become as righteously angry as we do with secular child abusers? Why, so often, is there more focus on the victimizer than the victims? His feelings? His reputation? His restoration? Why do we not get more righteously angry about spiritual child abuse? Their feelings? Their restoration? Their needs in the face of recovery?

Look at how harshly Paul dealt with those whom the Spirit commanded to be turned over to judgment.

“This command I commit unto thee son, Timothy, according to the prophecies which pointed to thee that thou by them mightest war a noble warfare; holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away have made shipwreck concerning the faith; of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (2 Timothy 2:14-19).

There is a place for righteous anger in a holy setting. We’re commanded to limit it, but it is OK to feel it.

“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” (Ephesians 4:26). Here is what

Dr. John MacArthur says about righteous anger:

“You have a right to be angry about some things.

Psalm 97:10 says: “Ye that love the Lord hate evil.” And Psalm 69:9 David says: “Zeal for Thine house is eating me up. The reproaches that are falling on Thee are falling on me.” He’s saying, God, I can’t tolerate what people do to Your name. It infuriates me.

Now I admit I get angry sometimes. I hope to God I never get angry about what happens to John MacArthur, I hope I always get angry about what happens to God’s holy name. And I hope I never stop getting angry about that. We should have a basic, built in, – that is a programmed anger over sin, a programmed anger over evil, that puts us in a beatitude mentality so that whenever I see sin be it in you or be it in me, I mourn in my spirit. That kind of anger is the sinew of the soul.

F. W. Robertson, a great saint, tells in one of his letters that one time he met a certain man who he knew was trying to lure a young girl into prostitution. And he was so angry he bit his lip until it split open and bled.

The anger that is selfish, passionate, undisciplined, uncontrolled is sinful, useless, hurtful. It must be banished from the Christian life. But the disciplined anger that seeks the rightful place of a righteous God is pure and selfless and dynamic.

This sermon goes on to offer practical ways to allow holy anger to rise to the surface but not to let it consume you.

“anger that is unselfish and is based on love for God and concern for others not only is permissible but commanded. Genuine love cannot help being angered at that which injures the object of that love.

“But even righteous anger can easily turn to bitterness, resentment, and self–righteousness. Consequently, Paul goes on to say, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. Even the best motivated anger can sour, and we are therefore to put it aside at the end of the day. Taken to bed, it is likely to give the devil an opportunity to use it for his purposes. If anger is prolonged, one may begin to seek vengeance and thereby violate the principle taught in Romans 12:17–21…”

In Psalm 4, David shows us what to do with our righteous anger and it’s consistent with what Paul said, “Be angry, and do not sin!” (From Bible.org)-

Twice in this very short psalm (Psalm 4) David refers to his bed. In verse 4, David speaks of being still, of not taking action himself. Apparently David has done all that he could, in the rebuke of his enemies as recorded in verses 2 and 3. Now, he remains still on his bed, not mulling over the sins of his enemies, or plotting their demise, but rather meditating on the virtues of his God.

Get angry if the sheep are abused. Spiritual abuse is terrible and ruins lives and souls. Be angry! But do not sin. You have a right to be angry about some things. You have a command to be angry about some things! However we should not let that righteous anger linger because it would turn to sour bitterness. If we are angry about what angers God and not angry over ourselves, it is a righteous anger. Keep your eyes on God, even when you are praying for justice for the abused sheep.

Posted in end time, jesus, rapture, tribulation, wrath

Police restrain crowd from taking food after supermarket eviction

Posted on by elizabethprata

Apparently, a couple who owned a grocery store went way behind on their payments. The bank closed the store and evicted the owners. All the merchandise they’d had in the store was put outside to go to the landfill.

The owners say they offered the food to a church, but members didn’t show up to claim it. That’s when word that store products were abandoned spread through the community. When people who got wind of the goods stacked up on the ground outside the store, they hurried down to see if they could scavenge some. Instead of being able to get some food, the police were called to evict the growing and restless crowd who were told the food had to go to the landfill because it wasn’t theirs to take. The crowd got more restive and the police had to restrain them.

They asked, “People have children out here that are hungry, thirsty, could be anything. Why throw it away when you could be issuing it out?”

About 300 people came to take merchandise home, but they were held back by law enforcement. “These are brand new items; we saw the potential for a riot was extremely high,” said Sheriff Richard Roundtree. more here

So where did this crowd of hungry people show up to scavenge food? Where were police dispatched to hold back a potentially riotous crowd? Greece? Slovenia? Cyprus?

No.

Augusta, Georgia, USA.

My heart breaks for folks who are hungry. We see it all over, not just GA, though I live in GA. An increasing amount of kids are qualifying for free lunch and breakfast. More people are relying on either the emergency room at hospitals or the school nurse for their non-emergency medical care. More people are using the county or church food banks. It’s a sad thing to see a hungry person, and in formerly the wealthiest nation in the world. Still are pretty wealthy, compared to many other nations. But that cliff is coming up quick and we are on a fast slide down.

The Tribulation will be much, much worse. When the Third Seal is opened according to Revelation 6:5-6 it shows us that food will be scarce. The Fourth Seal will bring famine. At that time a fourth of the earth will die.

The police that were called today were sympathetic, mild, and peaceful. The scene was tense, but remained controllable.

It will not be controllable after the rapture, when hunger, famine, violence, starvation sets in and desperate people behave in unrestrained manner. (2 Thessalonians 2:6).

In the bible, there are scenes of cannibalism. (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53-57; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20; 4:10; Ezekiel 5:10). “Moses and other prophets predicted that, if the Israelites forsook God, they would fall into such awful degradation as to cannibalize their own children. These harrowing prophecies were fulfilled during the siege of Samaria during the reign of King Jehoram. Cannibalism was the physical horror which accompanied the spiritual horror of apostasy.”

I do believe America has gotten on God’s last nerve. No, the church is not Israel and the USA is not Israel. No we are not in Old Testament times. However, God does not change. Do we believe that we can apostatize and not be punished for it? That such things won’t happen to America, just because we are America? Of course not. God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:11).

The Tribulation, AKA The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, (Jeremiah 30:7) is a 7-year period when God will allow sin to come its full measure. (Dan 9:24). The Holy Spirit will have stopped His restraining ministry and sin will bloom like putrid oil bubbling to the surface of every person (except those who come to salvation after the rapture). People standing in a parking lot today, pleading for food but obeying the officers, will, in the Tribulation, simply use their guns to shoot anyone in their way.

Like also in GA this week, two teenaged boys attempted to rob a woman, and when she said she didn’t have any money, they shot her baby in his stroller, in the face. And this is before the Tribulation.

The only reason you won’t go to heaven in a glorified body at the trumpet call and miss all that terrible times, is because you have not repented and believed on the resurrected Jesus as Lord. That’s it.

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

“We” means believers. To become a believer,

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”(Romans 10:9).

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

You cannot get to the Father God because we are sinners, (meaning, we think, say and do wrong things that are against God’s holy standard). So God sent His Son Jesus to earth as a man in a real body to teach us, and then He was put on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins, the payment for which God poured out His eternal wrath. Thus, Jesus took our sin upon Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21). Instead of us dying, we will put on incorruptible and live forever in His house. This is all due to Jesus dying in our place (Romans 5:8). Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, proving His victory over sin and death (Romans 6:4-5) and that he is the Son of God, forever to live and reign. Why did He do all that? He loves us, that’s why. Jesus loves you. Yes, you.

Refusal to believe on Him and repent of our sins, thus being cleansed of them through the sacrifice of Jesus, will put you squarely under God’s wrath, which He will pour out on all flesh in the Tribulation and then forevermore on the unbelievers in hell. (Rev 6:15-17; Rev 19:1-3).

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36).

Your belief or unbelief in Jesus is all the difference between eternal joy in perfected glory with Him, and eternal wrath that begins at the Tribulation which will be hell on earth. Yes, you can be saved after the rapture, but there is no guarantee that you will even live until that day. There is no guarantee that you will live thorough the Rapture event. There is a minimal chance you will live through the Tribulation, given that most of the world’s population will be killed. Now is the time of your salvation.

I hope you’re hungry now, hungry for Jesus. He will save you from all that. Believe on Him!

Posted in israel, peace talks, two-state solution, wrath

Ariel Sharon showing significant signs of brain activity

Posted on by elizabethprata

‘Significant brain activity’ in comatose Ariel Sharon
“Comatose for seven years, Israel’s iconic former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is showing “significant brain activity.” The 84-year-old suffered a devastating stroke January 4, 2006, and a brain hemorrhage. He was presumed to be in a vegetative state. But on Monday, a team of surprised neuroscientists and doctors said Sharon’s brain appeared to respond when they showed him pictures of his family and had him listen to his son’s voice. Doctors also used tactile stimuli to measure Sharon’s reaction. Does this mean the man Israelis once dubbed the “Lion of God” could wake? Doctors urge caution.”

I remind us that four years ago I reported his doctors said Sharon may soon wake up. He didn’t.

The End Time: Is Ariel Sharon waking up?
October 22, 2009
Close to four years after suffering a massive hemorrhagic stroke, Dov Weisglass, who served as bureau chief to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, told Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet on Thursday that the former prime minister’s medical team indicates he may emerge from his coma, soon.” “Not really explaining his words, Weisglass exhibited a measure of optimism, seemingly confident the former war hero, prime minister and architect of the Disengagement Plan will awaken from his coma. He did not address earlier reports that Sharon sustained profound neurological compromise as a result of massive cranial bleeding from the stroke(s).” (Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)

Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel, 2001-06. Sharon was a commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948. As a paratrooper and then officer he participated prominently in the 1948 War of Independence, becoming platoon commander of the Alexandroni Brigade and taking part in many battles, including Operation Ben Nun Alef. He was an instrumental figure in the creation of Unit 101, the Retribution operations, the 1956 Suez War, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. As Minister of Defense, he directed the 1982 Lebanon War. During his military career, he was considered the greatest field commander in Israel’s history, and one of the country’s greatest ever military strategists. The Israeli public nicknamed him “The King of Israel” and “The Lion of God”.

So you can see that Sharon is (was) an influential figure. He looms large in Israel’s history, even having been comatose for nearly 8 years.

Suddenly, after years of dormancy, the talk is abruptly of a two-state solution again. Of a Palestinian state. Of peace talks. Here is one news article about it:

Netanyahu would agree to interim Palestinian state, ex-minister claims
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to agree to the creation of a Palestinian state in provisional borders, even before his conditions for a final-status agreement are met, former minister and veteran peace activist Yossi Beilin said. “I don’t think that Netanyahu, who is far from being a warmonger — he’s a very cautious person — [is ready to commit to] a permanent solution. Not because he doesn’t want it — all of us want it — but because he’s not ready to pay the price,” Beilin said Monday night. “But to speak about a provisional border with the Palestinians, this is something that I heard from him that we would be ready to do it.”

[Outgoing Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton Sees Opening for Revived Mideast Peace talks
“Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says a new coalition government in Israel could lead to resumption of talks toward a two-state peace accord with Palestinians. “I think the outcome of the election in which a significant percentage of the Israeli electorate chose to express themselves by saying ‘We need a different path than the one we have been pursuing, internally and with respect to the Middle East peace process,'” Clinton said. That could mean a resumption of stalled talks with Palestinian authorities, something that she said the Obama administration will pursue at “every possible opening.”

Just as the bonfire reaches maximum, God throws another log onto the fire…and things get hotter.

“I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it.” (Ezekiel 22:21)

photo credit: Captain Kimo via photopin cc

Posted in God, revelation, wrath

Revelation 15: God’s magnificence in holiness and wrath

Posted on by elizabethprata

I am reading John MacArthur’s sermon on Revelation 15:3-8. It is a tremendous picture of God’s wrath and His holiness. It is a beautiful exegesis of the verses. Here are a few quotes that moved me. Of course they are better read in context, and better still, heard as the sermon it is. I encourage you to listen to “The Final Wrath of God, Part 1 and Part 2.” These are from Part 2.

“In Job chapter 21 and verse 30 it says, “The wicked is reserved for the day of destruction. They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” God’s final wrath is coming.”

“God’s plan is holiness. God’s plan is peace. God’s plan is perfection. God’s plan is joy. That’s indicated to us, as we shall see, when we get to chapter 21 and read of the magnificence of the eternal state. And the One who lives forever and the One who promises eternal joy and eternal peace is not going to allow sin to live forever.”

“Those who refuse to drink the cup of salvation will drown in the bowls of wrath.” (Revelation 15:3-8; Psalm 116:13)

“And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. … “The glory cloud will stay until the earth is completely purged and cleansed and prepared for the King and His Kingdom.”

“God’s Grace”, Source

“Once the wrath of God was placed on Jesus Christ because of what He was doing for sinners. In the future, the wrath of God will be placed on sinners because of what they are doing to Jesus Christ.”

“After the judgment or the righteous acts of God have been revealed, the elect from all nations will enter the Kingdom to worship the King.”

Worship, Source
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

photo credit: Rennett Stowe via photopin cc
photo credit: dtcchc via photopin cc

Posted in christmas, judgment, wrath

Merry Christmas, God’s wrath is coming

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Christmas season is one where we call for peace on earth and goodwill to men. It is the season of love and joy and harmony. We pray and hope that we display the best qualities of these things to one and all.

Do we realize just what a radical love Jesus has called us to?

We think of the sweet babe in swaddling clothes, the still night broken by heavenly glory lighting the fields, angel choruses, and the grace of God. And it is, but these thoughts and visions in our mind are or should be counterbalanced by the reason for them: His wrath.

The reason He sent Jesus is to rescue us…from His wrath.

I’d like to contrast Godly love with Godly wrath in the lives of two bible people: Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was taken as a captive away from his homeland as a youth or early teenager. He was trained and put to work in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. He was threatened with death, his three closest friends were thrown into a fiery furnace, and he had to serve a pagan king with all its godless disgusting practices around him every minute. Yet, Daniel was compassionate and he loved Nebuchadnezzar as God would want us to love our enemies.

Nebuchadnezzar

When it came time for Daniel to reveal the interpretation of a particularly fearsome dream to the king, Daniel hesitated. Here is the scene:

“Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, “Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered and said, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies!” (Daniel 4:19).

Daniel knew that the dream meant God was going to cut Nebuchadnezzar down like a tree and make him go insane for seven years. The king was going to be crawling around on all fours eating grass like an animal. Daniel’s level of compassion was such that not one ounce of chortling, glee, or gloating came over him. He was troubled, dismayed, and didn’t even want to tell the king because he did not want the king to be troubled himself.

How many times do we get a bit of news where someone else was going to be cut down to size, and we cannot wait to share it? If it is an enemy all the better. Yet Daniel was compassionate toward the king, who was holding him captive and at any time could take his life for any reason or for no reason. THAT is Godly love.

Now the wrath. Why did God cut Nebuchadnezzar down and make him go insane for seven years? At the end of the interpretation, Daniel said to the king, “O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed,”

William Blake’s Nebuchadnezzar, Wikipedia commons

God’s wrath always comes because of unrepentant sin. Romans 1:18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

When we enter the Christmas season, remember peace on earth but remember wrath, too. Too harsh, you say? No.

“This is how Paul begins the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness,” as John MacArthur said. (source)

The good news begins with wrath. It ends with love.

MacArthur again, “Our Lord had more to say about judgment, more to say about destruction, more to say about damnation, and more to say about hell than anybody else recorded in Scripture. And if you think it unusual that this great epistle on the doctrine of salvation opens with this statement about judgment it’s because you really haven’t thought very long about how the whole New Testament opens.”

source

Daniel’s radical love of Nebuchadnezzar was Godly because God loves the sinner. His grace saves the repentant sinner and when we convert, we remember His love and the fact that there but for the grace of God go I. So Daniel loved even his enemy, and wanted the best for him. And what a glorious thing that was, because in each chapter Nebuchadnezzar the king gets closer to the dramatic moment when finally, finally, he converts.

Note that when Daniel shared the news about God Daniel did not say, “God loves you and has a great plan for your life.” He urged the king to stop sinning. Eventually Nebuchadnezzar did:

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (Daniel 4:37).

And the second part of Daniel’s message was the multiplying part- stop sinning and show mercy to those who are.

Wow. That is what Godly love does. It multiplies, and we continue in that love because we remember His wrath. We love because He first loved us, (1 John 4:19), but we remember that sin brings wrath. The whole story must include those two bookends- wrath and love.

“Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.” (Deuteronomy 32:35).

The Lord will punish the sins of His people in due time. His wrath will be unleashed but He sent Jesus as the love offering and rescue from that wrath. How can any part of the Good News omit that? Even at Christmastime? It cannot.

To sum up, I am not saying that for the Christmas season we go around saying, “Merry Christmas, God’s wrath is coming!” LOL. But it is part of the story.

source

Instead, envision the scene in Luke 2:8-20 where the shepherds are guarding their flocks by night, and the angels appear with a message. Particularly envision verse 11, (For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord), and know that this is the moment of rescue from wrath. The word savior in Greek used here means–

“properly, the Savior, Jesus Christ who saves believers from their sins and delivers them into His safety.” (Strong’s 4990), Safety from what? Wrath. Delivers them from what? Wrath. The Christmas message is one of loving rescue from wrath, and no witnessing of the Good News nor proclamations about it are complete unless both sides of the story are told.

Here is one last anecdote from modern day culture about the love and wrath bookends. I watched a video of Phil Robertson of Duck Commander and Duck Dynasty television fame preach. In that segment Phil said that he was on the phone at Duck Commander headquarters taking an order for a duck call from a guy in Alabama. Phil said that the man was using God’s name in vain, that every other word out of the guy’s mouth was “G-d this and G-d that.” Finally after about the fifth time, Phil couldn’t take it any more and he asked the guy, “Why are you cursing the only One that can rescue you from death?”

To make a long story short, Phil invited the guy to his house, about a ten hour drive from where the guy was calling from, and praise the Lord, the guy showed up the next week. Phil preached sin, death, and wrath, and the guy and his buddy both cried like babies on his living room floor. Before sunup, they were baptized.

Phil said he never saw the guy again – until 17 years later, when Phil was preaching in Alabama. Phil was led to a room and the guy was there, he was now one of the leaders of the church. He went from unsaved, blaspheming godless man to a Godly leader shepherding others into Christ.

The effect of the entire Gospel story is one of multiplying miracles. Leave off the wrath and you only have a smarmy story of an invisible God who loves us for some reason. Don’t leave off the reason.

Merry Christmas.

Posted in jesus, missionaries, repent, wrath

They refused to repent

Posted on by elizabethprata

The bible is full of examples of people given time to repent but they refused.

One that comes to mind is in Jeremiah 5:

“O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.” (Jeremiah 5:3)

The situation in this chapter is dire. Isaiah had prophesied doom for 50 years in the century before Jeremiah’s prophesying. The people did not take it seriously enough. By the time Jeremiah came along, they did not know it but the prophecies of destruction and abandonment were almost upon them. It happened in Jeremiah’s lifetime. The LORD is patient, giving time to repent!

God’s willingness to spare and bless the nation if the people repent is a theme throughout the bible. He is patient, too. He says repent, and waits in Amos 4:6, Zephaniah 3:2, and Zechariah 7:11 to name just a few examples. In the New Testament Jesus called for repentance to the false prophetess He calls a ‘Jezebel’. In Rev 2:21 it is written,  “I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.”

They refused to repent.

The Lord is gracious and kind, always calling for us to repent and giving us time to do so. Seems amazing, doesn’t it? That they refuse. Even after prophets prophesy a direct word from the LORD, they don’t. Even after they receive a direct letter from the Lord as in Revelation, they refuse.

Lest we think that the refusals to repent are an Old Testament, bygone behavior, here is an update from two dedicated servants of the Lord on mission in a South American jungle. Though they are seeing some harvest, they sadly report heartbreaking news. As they were welcomed into homes and they presented the Gospel, they saw some commit their lives to Christ. Praise the Lord for that! Every single soul added to heaven is a praise to the Lord in His loving-kindness. Yet…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some say ‘no’.

“After we clearly presented the Gospel, we asked, “Do you understand what we are sharing?” and several responded that they did understand. When asked if they were ready to receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord, they said “No.”

“Why would they respond this way? The local believers said it is because they find pleasure in their sin and are not ready to forsake their sinful ways. They understand that in following Christ, they will have to leave their lives of immorality, drunkenness, and other sinful ways. They are not willing to give up their sin.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They understood but refused, preferring to remain in their sin.

Paul wrote, “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:5).

That Day is fast approaching. Please do not reject any Gospel message you hear. As Wesley said, “man may refuse it; God will not compel.” The fact that the Gospel exists is a praise to the Lord who died as the substitution for our sin, becoming sin who knew no sin and enduring all of God’s wrath as punishment for it. And it is a praise to Him who was resurrected and who now sends witnesses, ambassadors, and missionaries to proclaim His beautiful truth- that He loves you and He wants you to become part of His family. As in the OT times, God’s willingness to spare and bless the nation and spare and bless and individuals who repent still stands. But equally true, as Paul said, there will come a day when His righteous judgment will be revealed. I can’t imagine how it will be for those who have heard but who have consciously and willfully rejected Him. Worse still, having rejected Him for the reason they they want to extend their season of sin is a terrible reason.

Sin is actual rebellion against God. It is not a matter of taking pleasure in alcohol, adultery, homosexuality, carousing, thievery or what have you. No. In fact, each of those acts and all sins are a direct poke in God’s eye.

So as you pray tonight, pray for all those who have heard the Gospel message and have refused to repent. Our missionaries asked, “pray with us that they will desire the hope that is only in Christ, obey the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and receive Jesus as the Savior and Lord of their lives.”

Posted in edmund fitzgerald, eternity, tribulation, wrath

Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Posted on by elizabethprata

“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?”

What an evocative lyric. It is from Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” It is a haunting ballad of a ship that went down in a November storm on Lake Superior in 1975. The last thing that they heard from the ship was a radio communication from the captain, who said, “We are holding our own.” Minutes later she sank suddenly. Twenty-nine men lost their lives on that fateful day. A record cargo worth 24 million was lost too. The nightly newscaster Harry Reasoner reported, “All that’s been found is an oil slick and some debris.”

Though over 240 ships have been lost on the rough sailing lake, it is the Edmund Fitzgerald that most captures the imagination.

Why would that be? Of all the wrecks of all time, other than the Titanic, so many have gone unremembered. The SS Central America’s loss off the coast of the Carolinas in 1857 was greater in loss of cargo worth and greater in lives lost. More than 550 passengers and crew died and 30,000 pounds of gold sank with them, contributing to the Panic of 1857.

The SS General Slocum caught fire and sank in New York’s East River on 15 June 1904. More than 1,000 people died in the accident, making it New York City’s worst loss-of-life incident until the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Perhaps we are so touched by the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald because of the Lightfoot song. It is vivid to be sure. Perhaps because of the lack of consensus on how the great ship sank. To this day there are competing theories, but after good video was taken from a submersible in 1994, the only thing that became more evident is that the ship broke up on the surface and the trip to the bottom tortured it. The twisted metal between the two halves spoke of the power of the seas when it chooses to claim a ship. A body was discovered laying beside the bow, still in his life jacket. The power of the seas claims lives too, and the torture of such a loss is just as great and greater. Perhaps because it is impossible to truly understand how time telescopes when you are in such an environment. The minutes do turn to hours.

If you are a mariner you know when you’re in a storm your two hour watch seems like days, and you look at your watch and only one minute has passed. It is disorienting to be in the dark, with waves crashing over you. You never know where the next wave will come from, always on the lookout for the rogue. Where is the lighthouse? Bleary eyes keep searching for that saving light, but all you see is more waves, and more dark, and fear. You feel helpless, powerless, in the dark, crying out to God for desperate help.

The Fitzgerald, or any other ship in distress, is a microcosm. It will be like that in the Tribulation, for example. Helpless, fearful, in the dark, navigating blindly, rogue waves washing over you, piteously crying out to God, wondering, where is the love of God in all this? Will this ever end? And just as suddenly as it began, it is over. Your tortured trip to the deeps is the last journey of your mortal body, while your soul flies to hell, where it will stay forever. Until the judgment that is, when your resurrected body will be reunited with your soul and the agony will really begin.

Suddenly when the trumpet call of the rapture sounds and Christians fly away, your storm will begin. The world’s storm will begin, there will be no safe harbor. There is no Whitefish Bay to aim for, no place that will offer you a good anchorage.

The storms will be relentless; earthquakes, tornadoes, diseases, violence, war. One after the other will crash over you relentlessly and yet you will never know where the next will come from. you will look for relief but will not be able to find it. And that is before the demons arrive. Their bite will be agony and you will want to die, try to die, but death will flee from you. (Revelation 9:6).
 
The agony of pain and tribulation will be unceasing. The trapped feeling, that this will never end, that there is no way out will pervade your mind and make you mad with despair. The knowledge that death is going to come but the agony of not knowing when will pierce your demented soul.

But God is love, you say. Isn’t this just too depressing? Yes it is depressing. I cry when I think of the  countless millions who will be lost. Maybe you are one of those. The Tribulation will be a time of wrath. God is love, but He will pour out His wrath on men.

Carm.org defines His wrath:

“Biblically, wrath is the divine judgment upon sin and sinners. It does not merely mean that it is a casual response by God to ungodliness, but carries the meaning of hatred, revulsion, and indignation. God is by nature love (1 John 4:16), however, in His justice He must punish sin. The punishment is called the wrath of God. It will occur on the final Day of Judgment when those who are unsaved will incur the wrath of God. It is, though, presently being released upon the ungodly (Rom. 1:18-32) in the hardening of their hearts. Wrath is described as God’s anger (Num. 32:10-13), as stored up (Rom. 2:5-8), and as great (Zech. 7:12). The believer’s deliverance from God’s wrath is through the atonement (Rom. 5:8-10). “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Thess. 5:9).”

The Tribulation is a near-future seven-year period of time when God is prophesied to finish His discipline of Israel and to finish His judgment of the unbelieving world. So yes, He is love but He is wrath too. “Love is an attribute of God. Love is a core aspect of God’s character, His Person. God’s love is in no sense in conflict with His holiness, righteousness, justice, or even His wrath. All of God’s attributes are in perfect harmony. Everything God does is loving, just as everything He does is just and right. God is the perfect example of true love.” (source)

He sent His son to take the wrath we deserve. If you believe on the name of the resurrected Jesus, you will escape the wrath and live an eternity of love with God. But if you refuse His love gift of Jesus it means you accept the wrath. Believe on Jesus today. Repent of your sins and believe that Jesus is Lord, having lived a perfect life and taken the punishment for your sins unto Himself. God was pleased to substitute His son for your penalty and resurrected Him as proof of that acceptance. If you repent and believe you will not have to endure the Tribulation’s wrath. It will be a time when the waves of trouble turn the minutes to hours. You will beg to die, but if you die apart from Jesus, those waves of agony turning minutes to hours will never end.

You will have a chance to believe in Jesus after the rapture, the bible shows us that there are martyrs who are killed for their faith, a faith they came to after we were taken out of the time of Jacob’s Trouble. But you may die before then. You may die during the first moment of the Tribulation. You may come under the delusion and believe the antichrist. It is too risky. This is the Age of Grace. Now is the time.

“All that’s been found is an oil slick and some debris.” That will be YOU.

You will be a smudge on the great timeline of history. You think you are holding your own, but destruction is moments away from you. You, debris, blotted out from the Lamb’s book of life and entered in the book of death. A name, a person forgotten and dispersed as an oil slick eventually dissipating to something of no consequence, like a vapor. An enemy of God howling in agony in hell while the rest of blessed eternity continues joyfully apace.

JESUS IS THE LIGHT. Come home to safe harbor.

Posted in God, hell, judgment, paul washer, sin, wrath

God’s holiness and His wrath

Posted on by elizabethprata

“And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).

Holiness is a quality of perfection, sinlessness, and inability to sin that is possessed by God alone. As Christians we are called to be holy (1 Pet. 1:16). But this does not refer to our nature. Instead, it is a command of our practice and thought. We are to be holy in obedience (1 Pet. 1:15). God has made us holy through his Son Jesus (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 2:9). (source)

Our LORD is holy. We so often focus these days on His friendship with us, His provision to us, His loving-kindness … that we could always use a refresher on His holiness, I think.

“so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:14)

“Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:35)

Our LORD is holy! How wonderful it must have been to be so overcome with His holiness that they could not even stand!

The flip side of His holiness is His wrath. He is angry over sin. On the day of His wrath, which is His anger over sin released, no one will be able to stand, either. His holy fury will overtake the sinful world.

They were “calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16-27).

His sinless perfection is offended at putrid sin. The following is a 6-minute sermon jam from Paul Washer on the Wrath of God. Remember, the flip side to His holiness is wrath over sin.

Wrath
“Biblically, wrath is the divine judgment upon sin and sinners. It does not merely mean that it is a casual response by God to ungodliness, but carries the meaning of hatred, revulsion, and indignation. God is by nature love (1 John 4:16), however, in His justice He must punish sin. The punishment is called the wrath of God. It will occur on the final Day of Judgment when those who are unsaved will incur the wrath of God. It is, though, presently being released upon the ungodly (Rom. 1:18-32) in the hardening of their hearts.”

“Wrath is described as God’s anger (Num. 32:10-13), as stored up (Rom. 2:5-8), and as great (Zech. 7:12). The believer’s deliverance from God’s wrath is through the atonement (Rom. 5:8-10). “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Thess. 5:9).” (source)

Praise Lord Jesus that He will accept you if you repent, and you shall be cleansed and redeemed to His bosom. No wrath will be upon you. GO HERE if you want to learn how to be saved from the wrath of God.

Posted in hell, jonathan edwards, sinners in the hands of an angry god, wrath

"God abhors you"

Posted on by elizabethprata

The default position on earth for every adult is hell. That is the destiny. If a person dies outside of Christ, they will remain outside of Christ for all eternity. Further, because they have sinned against Him and hadn’t dealt with those sins prior to death, they will endure His punishment for all eternity. (Matthew 3:12; 2 Thess 1:9).

But here is the GOOD NEWS.

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,” (Colossians 1:13).

Hell, though prepared for the devil and his angels, became the permanent abode for humans. (Matthew 25:41). UNLESS… before a person dies, he repents of his sins and appeals to the Lamb who was slain. Jesus died on the cross as the sacrifice to satisfy God’s wrath. As a sign of that acceptance, God resurrected Jesus. Jesus now reigns and will come again- to judge the earth. (1 Thessalonians 4:14; Romans 14:9).

People don’t realize how close hell is to them at any moment. (Deuteronomy 32:35). Unbelievers are unaware of the gossamer wispiness of the silk net upon which they tread. At any second, it could tear. Your entire life, and your physical body, will slam down into the miry pit. Jonathan Edwards wrote about this in his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He wrote:

“The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.”

“God abhors you.” Quite a different story than the one we hear from the Prosperity Gospel preachers, the Gnostic/Mystic teachers and the Emergent pastors, isn’t it?! “God abhors you.” You don’t believe it? Read Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5, Lev. 20:23, Prov. 6:16-19, Hosea 9:15, Jeremiah 12:8…

Let’s focus on the Colossians verse for a minute: “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,” (Colossians 1:13).

Rescue? From what? What is the rescue about?

I think of the Twin Towers. Our national day of remembrance for the terrorist hate attack on the US on 9/11/01 is just a few days past. I thought a lot about 9/11 on Tuesday. Eleven years later, it still hurts.

The life we live can be compared to the moments during the time when the planes hit. When the planes hit, people above the strike zone did not know that they needed rescue. They continued to work, they went to different rooms as instructed, or they waited. But they did not know that a fiery death was a short time away. The fires were igniting and the floors were softening under their feet. But they didn’t know it.

When the people above the hole realized the situation, they expected rescue. A fire ladder…a helicopter, something. Their minds would not let them believe that they would end up in the fiery pit. When it became apparent that no rescue could come, they knew that death awaited.

For most people, they do not have that luxury- knowing that death was coming for them and that the ground under their feet would fall away. They made calls, they wrote notes, they said goodbyes. Hopefully, some prayed to Jesus and were saved. Normally the floor is softening under the feet of every person on earth. At one unknown and unforeseen moment, it will give way and they will die.

Man rescues only the body. It is JESUS who rescues the soul and then gives a new body. That was the ONLY rescue awaiting the victims of the terrorist attack on the upper floors. In the world, it is like every person on earth is dwelling on the floors above where the planes hit.  They don’t know they need rescue. If at some point, they do become aware, will they wait for man to rescue them? Or turn to Jesus?

Rescue is in Jesus. He rescues from having to spend eternity in the fiery wrath. He abhors sinners, but He loves to forgive.

Jesus RESCUES.

Edwards wrote: “And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.”

“Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.”

JESUS rescues.

Posted in end time, jesus, prophecy, wrath

Sinkhole swallows man; robot recognizes his own reflection

Posted on by elizabethprata

I found a 12-minute Youtube compilation of natural disasters that are happening in the world. The disasters you are about to see all happened within the last month. There is nothing bloody or gory. Just a plethora of disasters that are coming upon the world like birthpangs. Note how often you hear comments in the audio from people who say things like “this is unprecedented” or “I’ve never seen this in all my life.”

I’ve reported on some of the disasters, like the Philippine floods or the Louisiana sinkhole. Below the video, is one news excerpt I expanded from the video that goes into more depth.

Here is a lengthier treatment of the moment in the video above where a sinkhole swallowed a man.

Sinkhole swallows man
“As Typhoon Saola trounces Taiwan, surveillance camera footage showing an unidentified man being swallowed by a sinkhole in Sansia District, Taiwan, has surfaced. In the video, the man can be seen walking along the street until — within a split second — the ground gives way and he disappears. A rescue operation reportedly was attempted, but according to CNN the man later died of his injuries.”

I tried to screen cap it for those who can’t or don’t watch videos, but it really was a split second. On the video above, at second 7 he is walking jauntily along, and at second 8 on the video there is a gaping hole and a dead man under the rubble. Jonathan Edwards preached on this very thing in his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

“If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost. … for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. — That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up. You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it”.

Now …here is something else. I’ve posted very few posts lately on the prophetic indicators for the Mark of the Beast partly because it depresses me and partly because by the time the Mark comes both the saved and the unsaved are so far along in the Tribulation these pre-rapture signs will mean little to the Tribulation survivors. But this one struck me.

Robot learns to recognise itself in the mirror
“NICO spends a lot of time looking in the mirror. But it’s not mere vanity – Nico is a humanoid robot that can recognise its reflection – a step on the path towards true self-awareness.”

Now if that doesn’t give you chills, I don’t know what will.

I am part of an interesting generation. I was born in 1960, before the space age. I remember the US astronauts on the moon in 1968. I lived most of my adult life before the internet, and personal computers only came along after college. I wrote my term papers on a typewriter and used a lot of white-out. Audio cassettes weren’t even invented until 1962 and my family didn’t use them until I was nearly in my teens. CD music, cellphones, cable television…all very new. I was 12 when Pong was invented and my dad brought it home. Now look where we are with computer games…

The ATM wasn’t invented until I was nine and their use didn’t become ubiquitous until I was a teenager. For most of my life, the notion of a one world payment system was simply unbelievable.

Now we are closing in on Artificial Intelligence. The major question in robotics and computering is “can machines ever become self-aware?” I propose that it is a moot question, because God would shut down the whole shebang before another “creation” with consciousness and intelligence appears on the scene. Once a robot is self-aware, would they then have to become cognizant of their own sin and then choose a savior? Of course not, the premise that God would allow man to create consciousness is ridiculous. But if a robot is that close to recognizing itself, how close are we to AI, and how close to the rapture? What will the Mark of the Beast look like…how will it work? The world doesn’t have long to find out, I think.

Fortunately those who have repented of their sin will be carried safely up to heaven before all this crashes down and man lives with his folly. We will be made fully perfect, and that includes an awareness of the entire body of the Church to a degree we know about now cognitively but don’t directly experience fully (due to our sin nature.) Best of all, we will see, know, and experience a life with Jesus the Savior clearly, and not dimly like we do now. (1 Corinthians 13:12-13).

Any person who repents will be in that blessed group of the Church Age believers who are raptured out. For those who fence-sit, or who outright refuse to believe, well, just think on this. If robots are becoming self aware, how long do you think it will take before kings, dictators, and evil men use them to hunt you down? (“Open the pod bay doors, HAL. … I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”)

The disasters on the video, remember, occurred in just this last month. What does God have in store for the next month? We do know the near future holds wars and rumors of wars, pestilences, volcanic eruptions, floods, drought, hail, fires, pain, anguish and death. Doom and gloom? You betcha.

Jesus is HOPE and LIGHT! I prefer the hope and light to the doom and gloom. If you repent of your sins, and you are a sinner you know, and ask Jesus to forgive them, He will. He is a good savior. So when will the end come? Just because He hasn’t judged men in wrath does not mean He won’t. He has been patient up until now:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).

However that patience is coming to an end, and as a thief in the night, the end will come. The repentant will be given their reward and their relief, and the unrepentant will have given to them what they chose: the worst time the world has ever known or will ever know again. (Matthew 24:21). Like the Taiwanese man who was happily walking one moment and the next was dead under the rubble, Jesus will suddenly and without warning end His patience and begin His wrath. You really don’t want to be here for that.