I had been reading Nehemiah 8. It is a short book in the Old Testament, and it is good. Nehemiah was the fellow who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem and alongside Prophet Ezra help to purify the Jewish community that had re-gathered there. Nehemiah was governor and Ezra was the priest and the scribe.
The day came when Ezra called all the adults, and all children who could understand, to come and listen to the reading of the Law. They stood and listened. The Levites were there to help them understand what they were hearing. Soon there were tears, weeping, and crushed hearts. They fell on their faces. “For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.” The people realized how far they were from God. But Ezra said not to weep, for it was a day of rejoicing. The Festival of Booths was born, and the people celebrated, giving gifts to those who had nothing, and went their way eating and drinking. It is a short chapter. I recommend reading it.
I used to follow news of sinkholes and earth cracks. I am fascinated by them. I think my fascination stems from the fact that the earth sees so solid, so permanent, but when the earth cracks or shifts or liquefaction occurs, it shows us that it isn’t.
EPrata photo
The earth seems so eternal, even more so to an unsaved person as I was for most of my adult life. The ground is always there to uphold us, put our homes on, traverse its roads and byways. When a geo-physical incident occurs like a sinkhole opening or a crack appearing, it scared me. This earth is all I’ve got, if it isn’t permanent, if it isn’t safe, what is? I don’t think I was the only one to feel that way. We all seek a sense of permanence and safety. The biggest, most obvious safety to an unsaved person is this world that we live on and the ground we walk on.
We see the earth cracking and splitting and opening in the Bible.
Korah’s rebellion comes to mind. “As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, ‘The earth is going to swallow us too!‘” (Numbers 16:32).
Jude 1:5-13 reminds us that the specific example of Korah is an example of what WILL happen to the ungodly. Revelation 12:16 may show us a picture of a similar event: “But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth”. Gill’s Exposition says “and the earth opened her mouth; as it did when it swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Numbers 16:30; to which history this may have some respect.”
Isaiah 24:19 says that “The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.” In the end, the earth cracks up. Isaiah 24 shows the same judgments in Revelation 6. The earth opens its mouth…and swallows what is above. The sinkhole and earth cracking incidents that are happening in the world lately are good examples of reminding us that the LORD is in control of the earth.
By the end of the Tribulation, the earth is devastated. Almost three-quarters of the entire population are dead. The geo-physical form of the surface of the earth is unrecognizable. The Tribulation is the orderly uncreation, a reversal of the creation as the Lord systematically takes down mountains, sinks islands, burns the things upon the earth like homes, trees, and grass. And so on.
Now as a saved person, I don’t rely on a false solidity of the earth, nor do I panic when that seeming solidity is cracked or liquified. The earth is not my home. I know from whence my solidity comes. The eternal word of God, the Man-God Jesus, the everlasting Savior. My salvation is eternal, His life is eternal, His heaven is eternal. Nothing is more solid than being in Christ.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28.
It feels like God is definitely putting us to the test these days, doesn’t it?! At least it does to me- politically, economically, spiritually…even physically. I feel surrounded!
We want to do the right thing as a citizen of the USA but ultimately we want to do the right thing even more by our Lord & Savior as citizens of heaven.
The first Presidential election in which I ever voted, was in 1980 as an unsaved 19 year old. I was scared of Reagan, disillusioned with Carter (the Iran hostage situation etc.) so I voted for Independent John Anderson. I’ve always liked third party or outsiders-from-Washington, and these days even more so as the two main parties over the decades have gotten less stark in what they stand for.
“One of the most wonderful statements about our Lord is that He was “full of grace” (John 1:14) and “of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). “Grace upon grace” speaks of accumulated grace—one grace following upon another. Such grace is ours each day. It is unlimited and sufficient for every need.” ~John MacArthur
The picture here is of waves on the beach. We can’t detect where one wave ends and another begins. Waves of grace simply roll in, endlessly, eternally, one connected to another. And so it is with God’s grace upon His believers. We receive endless waves of grace because our lives in Christ are of His grace and in His grace.
Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they were told to avoid. This was sin. Sin is anything we think, say, or do that is against God’s law. Their disobedience is called the Fall. They fell from their lofty position of perfection and intimate, personal relationship with God into a low position of guilt and disobedience. When Adam and Eve did that, God withdrew since sin had become a barrier to walking with Him personally in the garden.
Forever after that moment, all humans born on earth (except Jesus) had an innate sin nature. Their first thought is sin and they cannot escape their own nature. Just as a lion is a carnivore by nature and would not consciously choose to change his nature to vegetarian, so humans are sinners and cannot choose to change their nature to holiness. It has to be done outside of man. God is outside of man and thus is the agent of that necessary change. Continue reading “What will happen to unbelievers upon death, and why?”→
God created the Universe. It took six days and He spoke it and it was so. More than just so, it was good. (Genesis 1:1-31). Now that’s enough to ponder right there, looking at the complexity of the world and the creativity of our God who spoke it all into existence within a few days!
Then we disobeyed. Sin and shame and rebellion entered the world. It was all ruined, poisoned by our sin. God withdrew because His holiness cannot be near to sin (Habakkuk 1:13; Is 59:2)
Why did God not erase us all and start over? He could have! He was grieved later that He had made us (Genesis 6:6) and regretted it. It would have been so much easier for Him to do an etch-a-sketch and shake it all up and begin again. After all, it only would have taken a few days.
He didn’t wipe us out. Instead, in His love He chose a 6000 year travail on earth that included more patience on His part that I can ever understand, more love, martyrdoms of His apostles, and His own Son’s sacrifice in a grueling and horrific death!
Even through all this, He still gives us as many gifts as He does. He gives us His Son. He gives us salvation. He gives us the Holy Spirit. He gives us armor to resist satan, our enemy. He gives us the Bible. And He gives us angels.
“For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:11)
“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14)
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)
There are entire web pages devoted to the ministry of angels, why God created them, and what they do for God in their ministrations to us. There are more verses about angels than I posted here. Angels! Imagine! To guide and protect us. Minister to us. Serve us. I think of their their faces turned toward God as in the verse in Matthew, like racehorses at the gate, waiting for Him to say “GO!”
When we go through a day when nothing uneventful occurs, thank the angels and the Father who sent them. I drive an old car, I live in an old house, I dwell where tornadoes come, there are many bad or inconveniencing things that could happen to me each day…that don’t. We should not take that ‘nothing’ for granted. It might be interesting if He allows when we get there, to see a rewind of our life’s movie to view the efforts to which our angels went in keeping us safe from harm t the appointed times.
The car accident you didn’t have. The tears you didn’t have to shed. The slip on the ice that didn’t happen. The fall down the ladder that hadn’t occurred. The fire in the bad wiring that stayed out.
If you have an uneventful day think of the angels the Lord sends to us in service to our needs. Nothing happened? Thank the LORD for His angels!
A reader wondered about the verse in Acts 2:17, where it is said,
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
And how that verse reconciles with the cessationist position. Cessationists believe that the sign gifts such as miracles, tongues, healing, and visions/prophecy ceased (hence the title of this position) some few years into the end time after Jesus’ ascension. The end time, or latter days, is the period between Jesus ascension and His return in the Second Coming. Therefore we are in the end time now (hence the title of my blog). Continue reading “Reader Prophecy Question: What about seeing visions and prophesying in the last days?”→
We’ve all heard this phrase. We may have even used it in Vacation Bible School with the kids, or youth camp after a poignant testimony or a lengthy musical interlude. It’s religious shorthand for the Gospel, asking someone to respond to what they have heard and to come into the kingdom of Jesus. But is it legitimate? Has the shorthand gotten TOO short?
“Asking Jesus into your heart” is a phrase that reverses the proper order of salvation. Jesus initiates salvation, not us. We don’t ask Him, He enters. We remember how He entered Saul/Paul’s heart on the Road to Damascus? It was without Paul ever ‘asking’.
In the Old Testament, too, we see that the LORD is captain of the soul, and does with a soul as He wishes. And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, (Haggai 1:14).
We see the initiation of the Lord in Lydia’s conversion, One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. (Acts 16:14)
We see the Lord active in the understanding of the scriptures in the two from Emmaus, They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).
Paul Washer is a preacher that has much to say about the ‘asking Jesus into your heart’ mode of salvation. It’s also called ‘easy believism or The Sinner’s Prayer. Here is Washer on how to lead someone to Christ rightly, 3:14 min. Wretched: Paul Washer: How to lead someone to the Lord.
Though the phrase is used earnestly by most people, and it started with good intentions, perhaps after a solid Gospel presentation, it has become a cliche that dilutes the meaning and power of the Gospel. The Gospel should include confession of sin, repentance, awareness of our due wrath, and the power of God alone to change our heart of stone to one of flesh.
Until the days of Charles Finney in the 1800s, such phraseology and such easy salvation was unheard of. It has led to the simplistic actions of walking an aisle and reciting a formulaic prayer, whereupon the preacher declares one saved. No one can declare one saved, except Jesus in heaven. Salvation is seen after time passes, by the life and the fruit one observes in the person. But remember there are tares mixed with the wheat, and ultimately, despite a preacher’s best sermons, right doctrine, stern Gospel presentation and eagle-eyed observation of a life of holiness, only Jesus knows if someone is actually saved.
‘Asking Jesus into your heart’ has sadly led to premature declarations of salvation and assurances of heaven, though the person was falsely converted. In this way, many people have not been truly saved, but are deceived into thinking they are.
Picture this. Lazarus is dead and in the tomb. Jesus is weeping outside. The crowd is gaping. Let’s say that Mary or Martha or one of the pharisees and teachers of Israel shouted, ‘Lazarus, ask Jesus into your heart! Ask Him’. Jesus is still outside the tomb, weeping, standing by. Can Lazarus ask Jesus? No. Lazarus is dead. He can’t do anything. (John 15:5b).
It is the same with all of us. We are dead in sin. We are unaware of our sin and our need for salvation because we are dead and blind to sin. Jesus is the Light, and when He turns on the light in our soul, then we see our sin. We go, ‘Ick! That’s gross! I AM depraved, and I DO deserve wrath and punishment!’ We then confess our sins and throw ourselves upon the mercy of the One on the Mercy Seat.
If you walked an aisle, or believed half the Gospel, that ‘Jesus has a great plan for your life and you just need him’, without the parts about sin, wrath and confession, here is an essay titled Is It Real? 11 Tests of Genuine Salvation Is It Real?
Jesus forgives sin and in no way will cast anyone out who confesses. But if you don’t think you have dealt with your sin properly, then I urge you to click on the Paul Washer link, the Todd Friel link, or the Genuine Salvation link.
I’ve been watching the legal wrangling in LA County from Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, their departments, Supervisory Board, and legal team, against John MacArthur and Grace Community Church. The wrangling began late in July when pastor-teacher John MacArthur called for his congregants to return to church and worship together.
Gov. Newsom had said that there was too much COVID-19 virus circulating for people to gather in churches, or anywhere, despite the fact that many protesters had been gathering unimpeded in many other locations throughout California. And despite the fact that COVID has not proved to be as deadly as first thought. Also despite the fact that the First Amendment protects freedoms to worship. After heeding the restrictions for many months, finally on July 24, Grace Church met for indoor worship.
Subsequently, the church received vague threats that their water or air conditioning would be turned off in Grace Church should people turn up to worship. It wasn’t, but an official Cease and Desist letter was sent to the church leaders. The letter contained a threat of a $1,000 a day fine and possible arrest. The church retained legal counsel.
The church’s legal counsel replied of the Cease & Desist Letter: “It is unconstitutional for Governor Newsom and the State of California to discriminate against churches by treating them less favorably than other organizations and activities that are not protected by the First Amendment.”
The church took the issue to court and won. The Judge agreed they should be able to hold in-person, indoor services, but also asked that the congregants be willing to wear masks and try to remain socially distant until the matter could be fully heard at a scheduled time, September 4. Dr. MacArthur said yes, replying,
This vindicates our desire to stay open and serve our people. This also gives us an opportunity to show that we are not trying to be rebellious or unreasonable, but that we will stand firm to protect our church against unreasonable, unconstitutional restrictions.”
However, the court decision and the respondent’s good faith promise was not satisfactory enough for the State or City government, and the LA Board of Supervisors took the matter to court again and again, once in an ’emergency session’ late on a Saturday night. But the Supervisors lost again and again. At one point they tried to put into place a contempt of court order with attached thousands of dollars of fines, AND a restraining order, but the judge hearing the case said that there was no court order currently in place for the church to be in contempt OF! It was dismissed. The City has not been successful in any of their varied legal attempts against Grace Community Church.
Now, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works has suddenly broken the parking lot lease the Church has held with the city for the past 45 years. The City is demanding they be evicted. In 1975, the Church leased the adjacent parking lot to the church, paying over $8,000 per month, $24,000 quarterly, almost $100,000 per year to the Department of Public Works, but this week the Department of Public Works suddenly and without cause voided the lease. You see from the Google map below that the parking lot’s size and how it is an absolute necessity.
It has been noticed that as each Government attempt to stop worship at GCC fails, the next attempt seems more and more like petty retribution and harassment of a powerful government agency against a single organization.
Legal Counsel for the Church, Jenna Ellis, replied of the eviction notice,
“In America, we have a judicial system to ensure that the executive branch does not abuse its power, and Grace Community Church has every right to be heard without fear of reprisal. The Democrats’ message to Americans is clear—if you don’t bow to every whim of tyranny, the government will come after you. The Church has peacefully held this lease for 45 years and the only reason the County is attempting eviction is because John MacArthur stood up to their unconstitutional power grab. This is harassment, abusive, and unconscionable,” Ellis added.
As I wrote yesterday of this COVID issue, satan is god of this world for a time, and he is allowed to put forth the deceptions as he will. In his opening to the August 30, 2020 sermon, Dr. MacArthur said, “There is no pandemic.” He was referring to the issuance of the actual numbers regarding COVID-19 by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that only about 9300 people have died from the virus from COVID alone. Six percent of deaths from the virus were healthy people with no underlying conditions. 94% of covid deaths were people in the upper age brackets (at or exceeding U.S. life span) with two OR MORE comorbidities, that could not be explicltly traced to COVID.
This was astounding news, and it rightly circulated widely this past weekend on social media. It trended Late Saturday and early Sunday on Twitter. It was eventually picked up by NBC late Sunday.
I mentioned the 6% issue yesterday in my essay, and received a harsh reaction from people who are deceived and want to maintain the fiction that death has been lurking for one and all since March when the COVID virus was first called an ’emergency’.
Nevertheless, despite the growing obviousness that COVID isn’t a widespread threat, the Governor of California has recently made more restrictions and tightened ones already in existence, including forbidding gathering for worship. Churches had attendance caps placed on them, restrictions for indoor worship such as distancing and a singing ban.
The pastors, elders and worshipers at Grace Community Church on July 24 made their decision to stand for Jesus. When Government said, do not teach in this name, (cf Acts 5:28), the people answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” (cf Acts 5:29).
If you think Caesar’s harassment, legal battle, and overt punishment and retribution against grace Church in CA won’t happen to you and your church, wherever you are in the U.S., you are dead wrong. It is already happening. It’s happening most visibly to Grace Church in CA but also in many other places in the United States.
Dr. MacArthur said that among the fabrication of numbers and deception going in with COVID, it’s obvious that part of satan’s deception is to shut down churches that preach the Gospel. “It does not surprise me that they want to shut down those who preach the Gospel, because the architects of this level of deception are not part of the kingdom of heaven. They are part of the kingdom of darkness,” he said last Sunday (Video linked below).
EPrata art
Get ready to make your decision. Get ready to make your stand. What will you do when they come and say, ‘You may not worship. You may not teach in the name of Jesus. You may not enter the church. You may not sing. You may not buy a Bible.’
If you believe that last threat is outlandish, please know that several authors have already remarked that their books on the biblical stance on homosexuality and homosexual conversion have been pulled from Amazon and banned from being sold as the claim of hate speech wins out over biblical truth. There is a current push in Scotland to name the Bible itself hate speech, so the notion that Bibles may become difficult to obtain here in America, and soon, is not as outlandish as previously thought, despite the Constitution’s protection of the practice of religion.
Satan blinds the mind of the deceived. EPrata art
What will you do? If you have been feeding on the word of God, and are filled with Gospel truth, you will stand. If you haven’t, you won’t. Don’t think it won’t happen to you. King Saul fell. Samson fell. Even Peter denied Jesus, whom he loved and had been close to for three years! The only strength is the strength of the Holy Spirit, apart from Christ we can do nothing. We inflame that strength by feeding that fire, the fire of truth!
Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)
I copied and pasted a screen shot of the Center for Disease Control data on deaths from covid alone, without comorbidities. I restated the facts in the page and linked to the source. This is good journalism. There was no interpretation, no hyperbole, no opinion. Just the facts.
Initially, friendly people were shocked at what the data showed. It challenged the narrative that covid is a huge killer and the narrative that it’s a threat around every corner. They thanked me and simply retweeted the post. Some people went ahead and investigated further, going to the link. I loved that. It’s what journalism is for, to present unvarnished information so people can make good decisions, and cite the source in case they want to delve further.
Then after about an hour or so, the naysayers got a-hold of the tweet and the onslaught began.
I’ve been used to push-back, but the things that were tweeted or emailed to me represented an entirely different level of vile. I will not repeat them, just trust me when I say the indecent replies were on a cruelty level akin to the tenth circle of hell.
The statistics on that one tweet are astounding, within 8 hours it had gotten almost 300,000 engagements.
That’s a lot.
The onslaught continued but I tuned out, saving my sanity and for more edifying things. I’d forgotten that Twitter now has a mechanism to filter replies. If I’d remembered before tweeting it I could have clicked on the button that said only people I follow can reply, but it was too little too late. I kept the Tweet up because it is important information and it should be in the public square.
The episode was also instructive in a larger sense. So what’s instructive about tsunamis of despicable behavior and speech?
I write essays here at my blog The End Time on prophecy, discernment, and encouragement. Two-thirds of my ministry often sparks onslaughts. Prophecy triggers people. Discernment triggers people. Especially discernment. In discernment, whenever I post that so-and-so teacher is false, there is inevitably a tsunami of push-back refuting the plain, biblical facts.
I’ve developed a thick skin, having been an investigative journalist in a small town owned by the Democrats. I cut my teeth on controversy. So it doesn’t faze me when it happens, and I want to learn from every experience, including adverse reactions to facts. Inevitably, I ask, “Why?”
What I have learned through riding these occasional but always surprising waves of aggressive reactions to biblical things, is that the harder and faster and fiercer the push-back, the deeper that satan has his claws into that person or into that philosophy. The worse the aggressive reaction, the more that satan is protecting his own.
It might sound weird to speak of satan in these science-y days, but never forget that for a God-allowed period, satan is the god of this world. Three times in the Gospel of John Jesus refers to satan as the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11) and in 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul refers to satan as the god of this age. He has his own philosophies and strongholds and he doesn’t like them to be challenged.
Here’s a metaphor. In the days before laws were made about picking up doggie poo, when you walked along the sidewalk and saw a fresh steamy pile, you’d also see a horde of flies crawling all over it. If you poked the pile, the flies would arise and fly chaotically around.
Vivid scene, but that is what happens when you poke one of satan’s dearly held fortresses. The higher the activity of the flies indicates the depth of satan’s devotion to it.
the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2)
Every tweet, every email represents a soul behind the words. Our fight is not against these poor, anguished, deluded souls spewing vile things or perpetrating vile deeds in public. They need Jesus, as I once did. Hate hidden in the heart isn’t even suppressed any more these days but allowed to foam and increase and flood the public square. They do these things because they are under satan’s clutches, clinging to strongholds and deceiving philosophies and empty promises. They need release.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4).
The worldview war is mounting- fast! I feel for the unsaved, as the satanic worldview is being fiercely protected, the unsaved are being well used, thus, their spiritual anguish is high. But as difficult as it is, as righteous as it is to hate satan, we need to stay salt and light for the deceived souls. We need to pump out truth, grace, and Bible, Bible, Bible.
The darker the world gets, and it IS getting very dark here in America, the lighter we need to be. It’s hard, but fortunately we have the strength of His Holy Spirit to aid us in this important work. Keep going, sisters, keep going. One step after another.
and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)
the-end-time.org 