SEVEN FAMOUS BIBLE VERSES #6: "NO WEAPON FORMED WILL STAND"

"No weapon that is formed against you will prosper" (Isaiah 54:17a)
This is an amazing truth for the believer as it was when the Almighty spoke it through the prophet Isaiah in Chapter 54. This is another of those most popular Bible verses which merchandisers love to put on bronze plaques, posters, men's ties, bible covers and more. Anyone looking at this promise can understand why we all love this portion of a fairly long verse. Quite simply, it reaffirms that if God is for us, who and this means - no one - can be against.

But like all the other world famous five previous verses we have looked it, context is everything. God may have spoken in riddles and Jesus did speak in parables. However, even those parables from Christ Himself, were full accounts which taught various eternal truths. What God is saying here in Isaiah 54 is full on incredible.

Just previously, in Isaiah chapter 53, Isaiah, under the direct Word of God, prophesied the Final Sacrifice which Jesus gave of Himself in the entire Crucifixion story, in stunning detail. The horror of what was done to Jesus by those who tortured and killed Him on the Cross, is laid out in full view as well as, the reason it happened. 

However, immediately, next up in Chapter 54, God turns the lights on. In Psalm 30:5 He says "though weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning". This joy is the Hope of Zion. The Hope of all who trusted in what just happened in Chapter 53 with the Sacrificed Life of the Suffering Servant - the Lord Jesus Christ.  For the entire chapter of Isaiah 54, God recounts the suffering and persecution of His people and extrapolates this to us, as our example of where we should put our Hope.
Isaiah 54:13-17, we read:
13 “All your sons will be taught of the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be great.
14 “In righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not come near you.
15 “If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.
Whoever assails you will fall because of you.
16 “Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals
And brings out a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to ruin.
17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

There is coming a Day, when we all graduate to Glory (Heaven) and all our children who believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior will "be taught of the Lord" (Verse 13a)...and BY the Lord. Heaven will be a place of instruction because the we only know a fraction of 1 percent of what we think we know on this side of eternity.

There is coming a Day when the "well-being" of the family of God will be great (Verse 13b) and He Himself will wipe away all our tears and there shall be joy forever more.

There is coming a Day, when we shall not fear the enemy and those who persecute Christians, the Elect of God, because the wicked will not stand in the assembly of the righteous (those who are saved). Psalm 1 tells us this Truth. All persecution, oppression and its false religion and ideologies will be gone. (Verse 14)

But for now, we see the goodness of God to even those who do not like Him and even war against Him. The Lord is good to both the just and the unjust, because He is always full of grace, love and long-suffering. He is always patient and wishes that none should perish away from Him. The rain falls on both the Christian and those who do not support us...evenly.  God is a loving God is continually gives us time to make things right before Him and our fellow man or woman. It was the Lord Who gave mankind the ability to make the same destructive weapons used against His people.

But God, He has a day coming when none of those supposedly superior man-made weapons will succeed against God's people. For The Lord Himself will descend with a shout .....and those who His will rise up to meet Him in the air. The blacksmith, whose talent built the weapon which will be used against a child of God, will see that sword melt in the enemies' hands, as Christ returns to take full control.

This prophetic promise is coming for the Day of Reckoning when the All Powerful Righteous Judge will call us into His Throne room as He vindicates us, and sets the Captives Free. Why is this possible? Because He, God, says so. When God makes a promise, no weapon, scheme or plan of man, can ever thwart it. Amen.

NEW LIFE- A MONTH OF VERSES: JANUARY 6, 2017

VERSE:...keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:16)

EQUATION:  A cleaned, cleansed Conscience >> (is far greater than) the souls of scoffers + blasphemers.

ACTION: The great Moody Church senior pastor Dr. Erwin Lutzer once wrote that a cleansed conscience is full of assurance, peace and hope. This is so true in light of 1 Peter 3:16, a great verse which should encourage the saints to persevere in light of those who persecute, hate and spout vile rhetoric against Christians. Their day of Judgment cometh nigh, on that Day of the Lord. Therefore it behooves the Christian to be a peace, love and stay the course because our Hope is based on things from Above, Divine things which cannot be defeated.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this Truth, that You have not only given us this blessed assurance that Jesus is ours, but that You have set aside a day where all accounts will be settled and all will be judged. Strengthen, encourage, embolden and buffet our Faith that we may be salt and light in this World, full of love, mercy and grace, while not losing sight of the what is really important - remaining obedient and completely sold out to You, our Great Creator, Lord and Master of all things, in Jesus' Holy Name, amen.

(Clip Art Credit Here)

THE WORLD TODAY .....WORSE THAN SODOM & GOMORRAH!

48"As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.49"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50"Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it (Ezekiel 16:48-50).
The Great Billy Graham recounted that his wife Ruth had just gone through the draft of one of his books when the revelation of the enormity of our sin - as a people - hit her and Ruth told Billy the following: "“If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” This quote was made in 1965!

If you look at the events of the early 1960's we see that the United States Supreme Court had just done the unthinkable - removed any mention of God from schools and banned official school prayer. In less than two years since that occurred (1963), the filth and degradation of the 1960's sexual and moral decline of America and the rest of the world begun to accelerate.

We are at a point in human history at the present time, where the will and wanton lust of mankind are speeding towards a collision with the Holiness and Hands of God, Who will always bring sin into Judgment. In fact the sin of this modern age, in the 21st century, parallels that of Genesis 6 when God regretted creating man and proceeded to send the Great Flood to cleanse the earth. However, in some sense, the sin of the West and the pagan religions of the East is even more vile. This is so since we have the Record of the Truth as recorded in the New Testament, and the Knowledge of the Sacrifice of the Son of God - the Lord Jesus, at the Cross.

Jesus Himself warned against what will happen to those in the modern era, who rejects Him, the Truth and the Gospel. There is a harsher penalty and judgment coming for those in the modern era - since the Resurrection in 33 AD - who reject the Gospel and Christ than the final judgment STILL awaiting Sodom and Gomorrah and its residents who await the second death in the Lake of Fire!

Jesus said in Matthew 10:14-16 "And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

Jesus was NOT talking about tolerance or hospitality but about the acceptance of the Preaching of the Gospel! Read all of Matthew 10 here. But why would the Lord warn about a harsher judgment against the most corrupt and evil cities in ancient history? To comprehend this we must look at the underlying cause of man's sinfulness - PRIDE.

We know from Genesis 18 part of the story of the destruction of Sodom where Jesus told Abraham that the "sin...and outcry against Sodom was grave". Sexual perversion and the attempted gang rape of two Heavenly Angels by morally degenerate men was only a symptom of that area's evil! We know from Scripture, there were actually five cities involved in total, in addition to Sodom and Gomorrah, which lay by the Dead Sea. The five cities "on the plain" are fleshed out in Archaeology here.

God revealed in the Ezekiel 16 passage and verse 49 that their sins were the following in order of magnitude: Arrogance; Abundant Food and Abhorrent Apathy and comfort. Arrogance is the original sin of Lucifer, Satan or the devil - the fallen worship leader of Heaven, who introduced evil and death into the world. The description of his sin in Isaiah 14:12-17 is identical to the Arrogance of 21st Century man. Nothing has changed except the year.

Man has not just shaken his collective fists at and spit in the Righteous Eyes of God, but modern corrupt man has taken on to him and herself, the mantle of committing the unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit! How so, you ask? The Holy Spirit is the Author, Interpreter and Restrainer of Scripture or the Bible. There are explicit warnings about rewriting, reconfiguring and changing the Word of God to fit the political and societal agendas of a violent world, which is diametrically opposed to the Will and Word of God.

It is not just the rewriting of the definition of Biblical Marriage which God ordained in Genesis 2:24 and which Jesus reaffirmed in Matthew 19:4-6. It is the corruption of the Moral Code and Natural Law, where wrong is now right; the Gospel is being corrupted by huckters and prosperity gospel purveyors and worse! The unborn and innocent are being sacrificed to Molech as "unviable tissue masses" and under the banner of "reproductive rights" while children are being horribly misled/corrupted/brainwashed as early as Kindergarten by evil in the name of sexual identity or whatever the phrase is these days. There is no thought to the Judgment coming to these adults who are corrupting and misleading God's children with their own ungodly agendas in schools across the west and the culture. 

There is a specific warning against those kinds of people here from Matthew 18:6-7 "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!"

So in the final analysis, what does this all mean? How is this relevant to a Christian in the 21st century or just anyone who is concerned about these things? It matters a whole lot because God will bring every single action and more into Judgment on this day.  We know what caused the divine destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and it was not just sexual perversion. It was supreme arrogance, wealth and corruption which led a large sector of this forever demolished cities to think they could violate God’s Holy Angels when they came to rescue Lot.  

There is a strain of thought among secularists and so-called bible scholars and theologians that all of this is allegory.  As an aside here – whenever we hear the word “scholar”, think skeptic…in most cases. There have been amazing archaeological finds under 4000 years of silt and dirt where Sodom and Gomorrah existed by the Dead Sea, and the finds are even worse than the nuclear fallout of Hiroshima! There is no weapon on Planet Earth that can equal the Wrath of a Holy, Righteous and Angry God…as the unsaved world will discover during the Tribulation period which precedes the White Horse of Christ cutting through the Eastern Sky!

With all of this doom and gloom and scary news daily of some unholy outrage against God and His Holy Word and the coming Judgment against the world, what can the righteous, the saved, the redeemed and the good people who are seeking rescue do? 
- First of all, we must examine ourselves with the stark light of the Truth to see if there is anything in us which is not in alignment with God.  
- Secondly if there is some hidden sin, it HAS to be corrected immediately and dealt with through repentance, reconciliation and restoration. 
- Third, we must be fully aware of not just what the Bible says and means, but how God wants us to apply it to every aspect of our lives. If we have no clue on the Application of Scripture, we will not comprehend the times, the timeline of events and the events themselves….thereby knowing that these are the signs of a rapid advance to the end of days. 
- Fourth, in these times of approaching armageddon, significant natural disasters and a universe clamoring for the Savior, we have to be God’s alarm clock. If we do not spread the Gospel, the Road to Salvation and heaven and the Love of God to as many people as possible, we would have failed as Christians.
- Finally, we must trust fully in the Sovereignty of God. He is in charge of all things. He is the Judge of all things. He rules forever. He is merciful, longsuffering and compassionate. But His tolerance for evil and the stench of sin has an expiration date, which is quickly approaching. He will do as He says in the Book of Revelation and if we do not wish to be caught up in fire and brimstone 100 times worse than the nuclear-type blast which hit Sodom and Gomorrah, at the Second  Coming, repent now, believe the Gospel and put your complete Faith and Trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Master of your life.

MUST SEE VIDEOS ON THE RUINS OF SODOM & GOMORRAH

(Photo Credit Here)

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF GENESIS #6

PERSIST IN PRAYER

23 Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Genesis 18:23-25)

The first ever intercessory prayer was made by a man who was standing right next to Jesus when he brought his requests to the Lord! The pre-incarnate Yahweh had come down from Heaven on one of his many recorded appearances in Scripture on a mission. He had visited Abraham on the plains of Mamre to prophesy to Sarah and Abraham that they were going to have a son/heir and then had planned to move on to Sodom and Gomorrah to take care of some really pressing business.

Sodom and Gomorrah were like modern day western civilization: rich, powerful, prideful and full of moral degenerates. They became a walking testimony of what happens to a people who exemplifies the Total Depravity of Man, as described in Romans 1:18-32 (click to read). Here is how God Himself described Sodom in Ezekiel 16:48 "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50"Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."

The pride and the idolatry and the perverted, unnatural sexual abominations and worse....they all rose up in a massive stink to Heavens. Sodom was destroyed in less than a day by fire and brimstone and the same Judgment await modern corrupt man. The Lord is gracious, merciful and compassion and the only thing restraining His Hand is His Grace, Mercy and Long-suffering and hope that not many perish.

Abraham saw this coming as he stood side by side with Jesus overlooking the soon-to-be destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. His nephew Lot and Lot's wife and two daughters lived there. How Abraham prayed is an example of our intercessory prayers for our villages, cities, states and nations. Abraham knew the corruption and sexual perversion of Sodom. He didn't even try to pretend there were many righteous people there. He started with asking the Lord to not destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people, then 45-40-30-10. In the end, God only rescued four people - the Lot family and one was quickly taken out for looking back and longing for the past - Lot's wife. But look at the words, in part, that Lot uses while interceding and standing in the Gap for a paradigm of past and future judgment which we do not comprehend.
Abraham said:
- Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? (verse 23)....here we pray for the last, following his example as well for our Christian brethren to stand strong in persecution.
-  Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked.... (verse 24).....here we continually and persistently prevail for God to stay His pending doom on our civilization so just, oh just a few more can be saved and brought to a knowledge of Christ. We know it is bad, but God is Good.
- And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes...(verse 27)....it should dawn on us just to Whom we are speaking and making seemingly outlandish requests. Pray in humility but also let us pray in gratitude that the Creator and Judge of all the Earth is even speaking with, and listening to us! This is an amazing fact, truth and blessing!
 - Read the rest of Genesis 18 up to verse 33 and see how Abraham just bargains and bargains and then read and see Jesus just be patient and kind and just as gracious as He can be.

The Lord is patient with us the same way. Abraham sought mercy from the eventual divine destruction of a demonic destiny - Sodom. We know what the end of all things will be from the prophets and the Book of Revelation. However our calling, as Christians, the people of God, is to pray with the same passion for the lost, the hurting, the prideful and misguided. Our position in Christ, while interceding in prayer is to be like Abraham in this prayer, just like Moses was when God wanted to destroy Israel during the Exodus for dancing around that golden calf that Aaron made. We are to be persistent in prayer, believing the attributes and accuracy of the Sovereign God He is and to do so in humility.

In the end, the end will come, but not before our prayers reach Heaven alongside the foul odor of sin. In that way, God will save, whom He will rescue, just as He rescued Lot and his family.

(Photo credit here)

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF BIBLE TRUTHS - DAY 11 (LOST "CHRISTIANS"?)

BIBLE VERSE: And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:23)

TRUTH: This is not a good topic because Judgment never is. It is not even a good topic to start the year off right with either – but it is the Truth. One of the most Christian things we can ever do for our fellow man is to warn them of the Wrath that is to come.  Most will not believe but some will. What is even scarier than the mind-boggling sheer number who will be cast off for rejecting Son  of God, is the condition of too many inside the church.  Jesus is talking about a horrifying scene on Judgment Day when people from pastor to priest to pew sitter; usher and deacon will be told to leave His Presence forever. Why? Why is this so when they “did so much church work etc.”. He gives us His answer in advance so we can make things right! How so? Jesus promised this on That Day “…You who practice lawlessness”. That is an active verb. That explicitly implies those who were working in the field as “Christians” never repented, had their sins forgiven and thus, were not saved, period.  Therefore, they continued in their sins to the end of their lives. But the Present Tense of that statement gives the unredeemed hope. There is still time to repent and come to Faith, will you- will they?!

(Image Credit Here)

PLUMBLINE THE TV SHOW, TRUTH FOR TODAY - SOON ON ROKU TV CHANNEL

The PLUMBLINE bible teaching TV show has switched from the over the air

broadcast TV platform to an expanding by leaps and bounds Internet TV platform, which is available on ROKU and the worldwide web.  Plumbline was over the air (and streaming) on the Decatur, Illinois affiliate of theChristian Television Network- WLCF Channel 45 – for two years before switching to SOON Inspirations (now called barak.TV). 

The word “barak” is not about the current American President’s first name, but is Old Testament Hebrew for “praise”.  The “praise” network is now within the reach of over 19 countries including Israel, a certain other Middle Eastern country, Brazil and elsewhere! This is the barak.TV website, which is still building up. 

The reach of the former SOON Inspirations network, (now barak) is incredible and only a testimony to the Power and the Presence of the LORD in all of this. SOON was only fully launched three months ago, this September as the Bible Teaching side of the SOON Entertainment Network. Soon still exists as the wholesome subscription family entertainment internet TV network it set out to be. PLUMBLINE with Bernie Lutchman is one of the top three programs on the new barak.TV network along with network leader “CONTEMPORARY LIVING with Dr. Tim Henderson” and….. God Culture with John Naphor.

So what does PLUMBLINE really mean?  The word comes from another Hebrew word which means “plumb line”. The foundational Scripture which spoke this name to me was from  Amos 7:7-8 “Thus He showed me: Behold, the LORD stood on a wall made with a  plumb line, with a plumb line in His Hand. And the LORD said to me “Amos, what do you see?” And I said “A plumb line” Then the LORD said: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore”. The PLUMBLINE video program below goes into more details about this.  The Plumb Line of which the LORD Jesus spoke, was used as an illustration of how he was going to hold the people of that time accountable…i.e. to see how they measured up against the Law of Moses and Prophets.

Today, we have the Word of God as dispensed from Heaven, via the Holy Spirit speaking through over 40 authors through 1500 years, and THAT is the plumbline for the Church Age of the last 2000 years. Every Christian, from the Roman Centurion at the Foot of Cross of Christ to Stephen to Polycarp and Clement; from the Disciples to Athanasius and Boniface; from John Hus and Luther to Wesley and Whitfield; from Peter Muehlenburg and Jonathan Edwards to Peter Cartwright,  Sheffey, DL Moody and Spurgeon; from Billy Sunday to Billy Graham and Franklin,  from  Ray Comfort and Ronnie Floyd and Byron Paulus to the smallest bible teacher in the underground church in the persecuted middle east and Asia …as well as us who put teaching on video across the world on the web – we will ALL be held up and measured just like the wall by Jesus and His Word – the Plumbline of Truth. 

The Word of God is going to convict the World on Judgment Day and the same plumbline of Truth, the Logos – the Bible – will be the measuring line of Divine Justice. While this perishing world does not believe in the God of the Bible and while their minds cannot wrap itself around it, their pretending it does not matter or exist does not change the reality of that Coming Day. Our part, as followers of the Word and the Word Who became flesh (the Lord Jesus) is to learn what it says, so we can do what it says, so when we hear what He says as we stand before Him, at the Bema Seat for Rewards, we will not be ashamed,  but glory in the fact that our works passed the refining fiery test of Christ.

JOY, JOY, JOY - DOWN IN YOUR HEART! (Psalm 20:4-5)

4 He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
And fulfill all your purpose.
5 We will rejoice in your salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.  (Psalm 20:4-5)

This is a really tricky thing. We know, both from Scripture and personal experience that the heart is a deceitful, deceptive and even evil thing, "who can know it"? We hear people telling us all the time to "follow our hearts". This is a usually recipe ingredient for disaster because if we follow our hearts, into some gray areas, WITHOUT following what you and I know is right, according to the Will, Word and Wishes of God - we will end up in a very bad place. How many more times do we have to learn the lessons of history.

We live in a culture, society and system which is led by emotions over rational reasoning and while some of this is good, if based on Timeless Truths, most of it can lead to some horrible stuff. How many apparently solid marriages are broken up because a husband or wife "fall out of love" and it is usually when one person falls for somebody more tempting and alluring. Then, this person proceeds to justify it as "God wants me to be happy" - all emotion-based, all led by the heart. Recently a number of well-known 'christian' singers-songwriters have declared their same-sex status and are living in sin with their partners, but have become belligerent (without anyone asking) in their justification of their human desires, vis-à-vis the Lord and His Word. Both are wrong, and both types of conduct are outside the Will and Purposes of God.

Verse 4 above exhorts us to line up our hearts AND our minds with the Will, Plan and Purposes of God. There is a reason Jesus said the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. When you truly love somebody, you commit all to them and even more so when this somebody is the One Who holds your life in His Hands, Who created you and Who sustains you ONLY by His Good graces. There is nothing good to endear us to Him except our obedience.  But the Good News if we pick up our Cross daily, die to our fleshly and sinful lusts and desires and if we seek Him daily and His righteousness, our spirit and soul will line up SO perfectly with His Will, Word, Plan and Purposes for our lives, that we can never stop our cup from overflowing with blessings from above.

When this happens, we can not stop rejoicing! We then develop a joy, joy, joy, joy down in our real hearts, which are in sync with God's, that is there to stay! This is confirmed in Verse 5 as we rejoice in not just the fact of our salvation and future eternal home with the Lord, but we have a magnetic pull whose powerful attraction to the LIGHT Of CHRIST so permeates every fiber of our being, that we cannot wait a moment to be near it! This is the TRUE JOY of being a Biblical Christian.  The difference between rejoicing and happiness is similar to the chasm between God and those who have rejected Him. This perishing world seeks after lust, power, fake peace treaties, pomp circumstance and phony show (to fulfill their human happiness) but those whose full gaze are fixed on JEHOVAH NISSI - The God Who is our Standard, will rise on that Day, and will have both the Joy and Peace that passes ALL understanding, even in today's evil, dark and perilous times.

Father God, we love You, and praise You for Your Mercy, Love, Grace and Long- suffering. We don't deserve a thing You give us, in fact we deserve hell and all the punishment set up for those who reject You. But by Your Mercy and Compassion, You saw our sad estate and sent Your Son the Savior - Jesus - to empty Himself and die for us on the Cross, paying the price for the evil desires of our heart, that we may be reconciled unto Thee. Father today, we commit our heart's desires to You and pray for the wisdom, the obedience, the perseverance and the commitment to be solidified in us that what we want in every aspect and facet of our lives will line up with the Plans and Purposes You have had for us since the foundations of the World.  As You told Jeremiah, You knew Him before You formed him in the womb and You know us well too, Father. You know our failures, lusts, weaknesses and even strengths.  Do away with the first two, turn our weaknesses into strengths and our strengths into eyes FIXED on Jerusalem that we may see the spiritual Holy City and the Kingdom Work You have called us to and thus, answer all the prayers and petitions we make, as we are no aligned more perfectly with what You, in Your perfect wisdom, have in store for us. We love, adore, praise and magnify Your Holy Name, through Christ the King, amen.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!

JUDGMENT DAY COMING
Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!  Why would you have the day of the LORD?  It is darkness, and not light,  as if a man fled from a lion,  and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,  and a serpent bit him.  
Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? (Amos 5:18-20 ESV)

There is a large segment of western church-goers who are extremely fond of saying the following:
"I can't wait..."; "Come take me away, Jesus (also known as "Calgon Theology") or "I wish the Rapture would happen right now" or name your variation of any of this. Usually these statements are made by pew-sitters. These are the majority of Christians in our churches who come in weekly for an hour or so, in order to get their weekly inoculation of what they think they need. They then go about their lives for the rest of Sunday and the following days, thereby leaving no distinguishing mark between then and the next guy. We all know people like this.

We have all been around enough sincere believers to know that weak pewsitter from the "real deal" or the remnant. The remnant are very few as Jesus Himself said when He spoke about the "elect". When He prayed in John 17 for this future followers - the saved, the elect - He said "I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours." in John 17:9. This is absolutely correct. 

There are two truths - God does NOT hear the prayer of an unrighteous man (unless he is seeking forgiveness and salvation) and secondly, Jesus is our Advocate and Intercessor before the Father. The Savior only becomes one's Advocate (or defense attorney if you will), if you and I are one if His Children, His elect. We become that by being born again,  by repentance , by believing the Gospel and being saved.

In Amos 5, we read of the coming Judgment day of the LORD (YHWH, Jehovah, Jesus) on the northern Kingdom of Israel. However we know that ALL Scripture is God-breathed, inspired by the Holy Spirit and meant for OUR INSTRUCTION FOR ALL TIME. There are more End Times (now) prophesy written by the "Old" Testament prophets than the New Testament Scriptures. The modern Christian ignores that truth to his/her peril and should NEVER neglect the Holy Word sent to the ancient prophets who longed to see this day, and are awaiting the fulfillment of the Age.

This passage above (Amos 5:18-20) jumped off the page as relevant for today's wayward church. This is the church full of cultural corruption and doctrinal decay.  We can read through the entire chapter of Amos 5 and replace every mention of the word "Israel" with "America" or "The West"! Like those idol-worshiping 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, to whom the prophet Amos was sent, we have people who have absolutely NO knowledge of the Holiness, Power and Majesty of God, sitting in churches feeling good about themselves.

They know not because they are not taught by a widening pool of building managers called pastors and because they are not shepherded correctly, they know not the Word of the Lord! This is affecting more and more so-called Bible teaching churches in North America! By calling for the "Rapture" or for "Jesus to take them away" when most of them have never been born-again, in your church and mine, or could name a time or place when God. through Christ radically changed their lives from a child of hell to a child of the King, they are basically setting themselves up for a huge, eternally-fatal disappointment!

When a person, who is not really right with God, no matter what nice clothes they wear on Sunday, have the whitest teeth and the fattest check-book or even helps serve donuts and coffee, calls for "THE DAY OF THE LORD" - they are calling down Judgment! God Himself in Amos 5:18 asks them "do you really know what you're asking for"?! You're asking for perpetual darkness, dread, devastation and divine separation for eternity!

So may some of our friends in the seats or pews over from us....or those who even sit next to us, may one to reconsider their wishes, and search their own hearts to see if they are really qualified to call upon the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY for His return, in such a way. When He first came, He came as a Baby to save the world. This time His Return will herald the fearful "DAY OF THE LORD" which was testified of, over 5000 years ago. It will not be a good day, for those who do not belong to Jesus Christ, and have accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

THE EYES OF THE LORD PART 2 - "ALL IN"

“For the Eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

The theme of the 2014 Fellowship of Christian Athletes annual sports camp (for high school kids and led by its powerful Chaplain Kirby Myers of the Naval Academy FCA) is “All In”…..as in totally sold out to Christ, or committed to walking in His Ways – which are not our ways.  At least one quarter of the high school teens are only there for the sports camp training from the best football, baseball etc. coaches in any state.  Some of these coaches are many times state champions like the Central Illinois father-son team of Ken and Derek Leonard, the latter having four straight state 4A High School football championships under his belt. We can say that kids like those are not “all in”.

So it was with a king of Judah named Asa, who was ruled the southern kingdom around     the 9th century BC. When he had been king for 36 years, the southern kingdom of Judah was attacked by the northern kingdom and its vicious armies.  But instead of turning to the Lord, Who had favored the southern kingdom, Asa made a treaty with the pagan kind of Aram (Syria)….a man named Ben-Hadad.  The Lord had already sent the prophet Azariah to warn Asa that if he (Asa) sought the Lord, the Lord will be gracious and open to him. But God also warned Asa that “if you forsake Him, He will forsake you”!  2 Chronicles 15:17 said that Asa’s heart was “blameless all his days”.

But then, something happened. When Asa made his pact to seek Ben-Hadad’s assistance to defend Judah, he disregarded the Word of the Lord. The Lord then sent another prophet, Hanani, to deliver the word from on high. When Hanani went to tell King Asa of the direct admonishment of the Lord, for relying on a pagan alliance with Ben-Hadad rather than God whom Asa followed for most of his life, the King through Hanani in prison! Not just that, but King Asa had a complete shift in character from the majority of the many decades of good rule, and began oppressing his own people. In due course, King Asa developed a severe disease in his feet and instead of turning to the Lord for healing, as apparently he used to do, he turn and trusted only in his mortal doctors. There was a strange end to this once Godly turned prideful and selfish man - King Asa. When he died, he was buried in a grave - WHICH HE DUG FOR HIMSELF!

There are some critical lessons for us to learn from a man like King Asa. They are relevant for even these modern times. The first one is that you can do all kinds of wonderful work for the Lord. You can do go missions to dig water wells for people or build churches in Central America. You can feel the homeless at the local breadline or even win souls for Christ in passionate street ministry. You can be the best preacher in town with the liveliest church. If all of this means your self-reliance on your own judgment, is more important than seeking the Lord.... or you have some notion about making friends with the world to "get along", then you are in mortal King Asa territory. In this case, it would be a good idea to search your own heart to see if you are truly born again!

Secondly, the scary thing was - Scripture said Asa's heart was "blameless all his days"....until that 36th year when he committed a HUGE sin by taking the gold and silver from GOD's TEMPLE in Jerusalem and giving it to Ben-Hadad, for some defense "alliance". We can be deceived into thinking we are alright for most of our christian life and show our true colors towards the end of life, when it counts the most. We can appear to live the perfect life, in the eyes of the world, yet suffer shame and loss on Judgment Day. Asa shook his fists in front of Holy God not once, but many times in the last three years of his long reign as king. He knew the power of God - we know the power of God. He knew God would fight his battles, if he asks - we know the Source of our Strength, but sometimes do the opposite of Philippians 4:13. 

He knew the prophets of God (Azariah and Hanani) and persecuted them for speaking truth - we stick our heads in the sand because we, as a church, are afraid to acknowledge sin, call it sin, call evil evil and then stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are no different from King Asa sometimes...to the point of doing it our way, with no apologies to Frank Sinatra. Some of us refuse to even pray and/or intercede for our families and friends or country, because "God knows I'm okay". Some of us are so full of our own pride and self-importance that we even dig our own philosophical grave, as King Asa did so we could be buried "his way"!

The Scripture, whose context anchor this historic event, says that "the Eyes of the Lord run and move to and fro" across all mankind....to find AND support those whose hearts were ALL IN, or LOYAL to Him! King Asa was NOT loyal to HIm when it counted. Are you?
Jesus said in Matthew 24:13 "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." What the Savior really means is that the elect - those who are called by His Name and are saved WILL make it all the way to the end of all things.  This is absolutely true. True believers have the capacity to persevere (also called "Perseverance of the Saints") because the Holy Spirit of God, who lives in us to guide us to the path of all Truth, leads us into the path of all Truth. The challenge from now on is for each of us to set our eyes and hearts to "Jerusalem" to fix our gaze on Him; to never waver and to never, never, never give up and never give in.

Let us then resolve to be like King David in Psalm 139:23-24" Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any wicked way within me". Then beseech the Lord to remove all filth, sin, iniquity and the propensity towards transgression, that His Eyes may find us "all in" for Him! Amen.

BIGGEST COMMA IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND, PART 2

THE JUDGMENT OF JESUS

There is a whole lot more to that great COMMA from Isaiah 61:2a ( To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God;) and what

follows it, as I discuss in sequence from the Scriptures. These events, which follow the Comma therein, lead up to the upcoming scene on Judgment Day when all mankind will

stand before God in shock and awe. We know that no-one will be speaking back to God, especially those who are before the Great White Throne - the very worse position one can ever be in.

As we saw in the Part 1, God has a series of indictments which will be presented in His Courtroom on Judgment Day. We, who have been saved and have had our sins washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb, know exactly what this means and the thought of That Day brings much fear and trembling.  Here again are the Charges God has against ALL mankind for which they will answer (Romans 3:10-18)
“No one is righteous—
    not even one. (Verse 10)
11 No one is truly wise;
    no one is seeking God. (Verse 11)
12 All have turned away;
    all have become useless. 
No one does good,
    not a single one.” (Verse 12)
13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
    Their tongues are filled with lies.” (Verse 13)
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”
14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” (Verse 14)
15 “They rush to commit murder. (Verse 15)
16     Destruction and misery always follow them. (Verse 16)
17 They don’t know where to find peace.” (Verse 17)
18     “They have no fear of God at all.” (Verse 18)
Again, if Jesus Christ is your personal Lord and Savior, and if you have repented and put your complete Faith, Life and Lifestyle in His Hands - this does NOT apply to you or I. We have been declared FORGIVEN and saved from what is to come from those who remain unsaved, by their own choice:

Now, in the First Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Micah 5:2 prophesied and it was fulfilled the place He was to be born (Bethlehem). Daniel prophesied as to the period of time. In this small portion of a small verse in Isaiah, which follows the comma, the Prophet Isaiah, under the Power of the Holy Spirit, says exactly what is going to happen after Jesus' Second Coming on that White Horse of Revelation 19:11a (Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.)

Now, look what happens in the rest of this passage from Revelation in Chapter 19, verses 11b-13: "And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had[e] a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

Catch that phrase at the end of verse 11 again "He judges and makes war"! How does that happen? Well, read here with me from Isaiah 63:1-6....then watch the PLUMBLINE teaching on this and more to follow the coming JUDGMENT OF JESUS!

Isaiah 63

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Lord in Judgment and Salvation

63 Who is this who comes from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah,
This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—

“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”

2 Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?

3 “I have trodden the winepress alone,
And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For I have trodden them in My anger,
And trampled them in My fury;
Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
And I have stained all My robes.
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
And the year of My redeemed has come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
And I wondered
That there was no one to uphold;
Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me;
And My own fury, it sustained Me.
6 I have trodden down the peoples in My anger,
Made them drunk in My fury,And brought down their strength to the earth.”

BIGGEST COMMA IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND, PART 1

Jesus Christ's first foray into His public ministry is recorded in Luke 4:18-19 KJV where, in one short passage, He gives the entire purpose for this First Appearance on this earth! The Mission He was on, as decreed by the Father in Heaven, is summed up in this one powerful statement:
“18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Most bible-reading folks alive on the earth understand that Jesus was quoting directly from the Book of the great prophet Isaiah Chapter 61 and verses 1-2a! What most Christians....and everyone else, do not glum on to, is the reason He stopped halfway through verse 2 and put down the scroll of Isaiah!

This Bible teaching, in the video teaching from my PLUMBLINE TV show, explains it fully, but just briefly here is the reason and the explanation: 
Isaiah 61:2A: "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord," (FIRST COMING)
Isaiah 61:2B: "and the day of vengeance of our God" (JUDGMENT IS COMING!)

That comma after the word "LORD" in verse 61a, is the longest comma in Human History! It

is now almost 2000 years old!
That comma represent a day that is soon coming!
That comma represents the terrible Day of the LORD - Judgment Day!

GOD'S THIRTEEN INDICTMENTS AGAINST ALL MANKIND
Why is there going to be a Judgment Day? Because God has a problem with Sin and the Rebellion of man, since before the Creation, when Lucifer fell from grace. In fact, He has a series of Indictments against ALL of us and those charges will be aired in God's Courtroom on that great and terrible day. The world will have no answer and no Advocate standing for them, before the Holy Father in Heaven. The Christian, because He has repented, found forgiveness and given Faith in the Lord Jesus, as Savior, has Him as our Advocate. The following are the list of Indictments which will be this discussed in this program and then Part 2:
Romans 3:10-18 

10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14     “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”    

18
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”