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People of The Living God |
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July 2022
WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS
TWO WORLDS
Alfred King
Every morning when we awake and look around, we see the world in which we live and move and have our being (Acts17:28), all given us by our loving God. Our eyes behold God’s beauty in creation and realize that God designed it all for our pleasure and enjoyment. Knowing that God created it, everything seems so enduring. We may hear our wife moving about in the kitchen cooking breakfast and the aroma of coffee brewing and bacon frying in the skillet. As we sit up and place our feet on the floor, we feel the cool of the floor beneath us and have this great desire to taste that great breakfast our wife is preparing for her family. Everything seems so real, so permanent, so secure.
As we exit our homes to go about our daily tasks, our five senses make us aware of our surroundings. We have experienced these things since birth and take it all pretty much for granted and subconsciously assume that the world will continue forever. It’s difficult for us to imagine that the physical world around us will someday be dissolved and everything as we know it will be consumed. Yet scripture informs us that this natural universe shall cease to exist. It is this world that seems so secure, this world in which we labor, and in which we place our confidence and are assured that tomorrow we’ll arise again and see the sun shining and smell bacon cooking in the kitchen and things will continue as always. We understand that nations will rise and fall, and governments will wrestle for power and superiority, but the world still remains in spite of what good or evil men and nations do.
The five senses that confirm the existence of the physical universe and its endurance are God-given in order that men might enjoy God’s creation. God created a world in which we can find happiness, peace, and pleasure with those things God has provided for His creatures to enjoy. It was when sin entered this universe that the happiness and joy of God’s creation began to be challenged. With sin entered trials, disappointments, death, and all things which bring hardships upon the world’s inhabitants. When sin entered this universe, evil gained a foothold in God’s creation and, over the centuries as sin has increased, it has brought about untold misery. Evil has produced a world where men wrestle one with another in greed, pride, selfishness, each seeking to obtain superiority. Through the centuries, nations invaded other nations for their natural resources and their wealth, or just so they could be the superior power, exalt their egos, and boast of their accomplishments. Cities and neighborhoods are unsafe today because sin reigns in so many hearts. Even children are vulnerable to sin’s aggression as they grow up in societies where sin is rampant and danger stalks them every day. Our five senses reveal to us not only the good of this world but also that which sin has produced. With our eyes we see evil around us, with our ears we hear profanity which proceeds from the mouths of the ungodly (and all too often from the mouths of “Christians”). It is not uncommon today to hear four and five year olds using profanity and even taking God's name in vain. It seems Hollywood and Disney can’t produce a film without profanity and scenes which are inappropriate for any decent person to watch. As we look around at our present world, we can’t help but feel the pain and suffering that many go through, all of which was made possible through the entrance of sin into our universe. We grieve over that which sin has produced in our world, for it is a direct attack upon the Lord who created all things.
The Spiritual World
We know from scripture that the time will come when this world shall pass away. Jesus spoke of that day in Matthew24:35 saying, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away”. Scripture also speaks of another world, a heavenly which shall not pass away but is an enduring realm which will last eternally. That world is spiritual. In that spiritual world there are also five senses, spiritual senses. Some men have had their spiritual eyes opened and were able to see beyond the physical and peer into the spiritual. And there have been many who have tasted of that spiritual realm (Heb.6:5), which taste has left them forever desiring that better country whose builder and maker is God (Heb.11:10).
In II Kings 6, we read the account of Syria coming against Israel. When the Syrian king found that Elisha was revealing to the king of Israel Syria’s battle strategy, he sent his armies to surround the city of Goshen, where Elisha resided. When Elisha’s servant arose that morning and saw the Syrian armies surrounding the city, he was afraid. He questioned Elisha about what they were to do. He was seeing the situation through the eyes of the physical world only. Elisha, on the other hand, was resting in the peace of God, for he had a different view of things; he saw beyond the physical and into the spiritual world. He simply asked God to open the eyes of his servant in order that he might see what God was doing. His servant then saw a heavenly host, “full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” God was there to protect Elisha and His people from the Syrians.
It is very sad that most men are blind to spiritual things and only see the physical. But what is even more sad is that many Christians have very little sight into the spiritual world. This physical world dominates their senses. Yet, no matter how lasting this world may appear, it is temporal and will pass away. However, that spiritual world of which so many are unaware, is that which will endure forever. Those who enter into the spiritual will see this universe from a very different perspective.
As I stated earlier, five senses operate in the spiritual world much like they function here in the natural. God still speaks today in many but various ways, so men can hear God’s voice today just as Elisha did in his day. God is no respecter of persons and Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind. The Spirit of God, through Zachariah, spoke of Jesus’ purpose in coming: “To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke1:79). Let it never be thought that Jesus only came to open men’s physical eyes. He did that, but there is a blindness upon men that is far worse than physical blindness; it is blindness of the soul. The soul was blinded in the fall, for sin blinds men to spiritual things. Jesus came to open our spiritual eyes so we might behold spiritual things.
It is not too difficult to understand when we speak of seeing spiritually, but the other senses have been affected by sin as well. Men’s spiritual ears are plugged up and we don’t hear when God speaks. In John12, Jesus was speaking of the hour in which He would bear the sins of the world, and He asks a rhetorical question: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour” (John12:27). He then prayed this short prayer, “Father, glorify thy name.” Immediately following these words: “Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:28)
There were people standing around hearing Jesus speaking which also heard that voice from heaven. But their ears did not hear clearly. Verse 29 reveals this, for some thought it thundered and others thought an angel spoke to Jesus. One wonders if any, other than Jesus, heard what the Father actually spoke. It appears from the text that none did. Their spiritual ears were dull.
There were many men of God in scripture that heard God speaking to them. Noah heard God’s voice and prepared an ark to the saving of his house (Heb.11:7). God spoke to Moses many times, to Gideon, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He spoke to the prophets in the Old Testament and in the New, and God still speaks today. God is immutable. That means He never changes. He speaks today just as He spoke in days of yore. God still speaks and He desires that we hear His voice. God will open our ears to hear if we will set ourselves before Him and spend time in His presence.
God speaks of spiritual taste. Consider just a couple of verses that reveal this:
Psalm34:8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
Psalm119:103 “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Taste also is affected by smell. In Psalm45:8, the Psalmist, in referring to Jesus, wrote: “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.”
The last of the five senses is feeling. “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us” (Acts17:27). In other cases, we find that God touched Jacob’s thigh (Gen.32:25), and He touched Jeremiah’s mouth (Jer.1:9). The man Daniel, whom scripture says was “greatly beloved,” was touched several times (Dan.8:18; 9:21; 10:10).
God, who changes not, still opens eyes, unstops ears. He still is sweet to the taste, and the aroma of His garments draws one to Him more than coffee lures the sleepy husband to the kitchen. Anyone who has been touched by God has experienced the spiritual sense of feeling.
While we have only written about the good side of the spiritual world, there is another side which cannot be left unmentioned. It is the evil side of the spiritual world. Just as there is good and evil in the physical world, there is good and evil in the spiritual world. It is not difficult to see, even with our physical eyes, the evil that is taking place in the world around us. The problem here is that so few recognize that much, if not most, of this evil is coming by inspiration of evil spirits. Today, men think that Psychology can solve the issues of those they claim have mental problems. It is true that certain medications can calm the mentally disturbed, and this is true whether the person actually has a brain disorder or whether one is being influenced (and many times being controlled) by evil spirits. If the disorder is spiritual, it must be addressed spiritually. But men, in their pride and arrogance, refuse to recognize or acknowledge the spiritual and, therefore, limit their resources and abilities to the physical to solve the problems, which are too often spiritual. It takes spiritual remedies for those spiritually afflicted.
However, the problem of evil influence goes much further than those whom we class as mentally disturbed. It affects some men with the greatest learning and abilities. Evil spirits are behind much of what is going on in the educational arena today. The push among gay activists and political leaders who go along with and promote this garbage in our institutions of learning today are being influenced by spirits from hell. Their reasoning is perverted, their eyes blind, their ears dull while they promote a very unsafe and abominable lifestyle. It’s one thing for one to choose that way of life for one’s self, but when they leave the privacy of the home of their debauchery and shove it in the face of the populace, it is no longer the choice of a lifestyle, it is an agenda to defile others. There is no area that more vividly portrays evil spirits at work than through this movement, especially when we see how they are pushing youth as we see today. It is being promoted in our public schools to children as young as five and six. One doesn’t have to be very spiritual to recognize this as evil and that it is being forced upon our youth by those who are not only inspired by evil but, in some cases, are possessed by spirits of hell.
Jesus and the Apostles cast evil spirits out of many during their ministries on earth. Are we to think now, two thousand years later, that evil spirits no longer possess people? Are we to believe that evil spirits are all bound in hell someplace and can no longer influence or possess? Satan is likened to a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour (IPeter5:8). If he is not able to operate today, why are we, as Christians, told to put on the whole armour of God that we might be able to stand against the wiles (snares) of the devil? (Eph. 6:11)
We also read that, in the latter times, the bottomless pit into which Satan and his cohorts were cast will be opened and they will come forth, and evil spirit activity will be more prevalent even than what we see today. Let’s just briefly explore this fact.
The Bottomless Pit Opened
In the book of Revelation, chapter 9 and verses 1-3 we read: “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” When Jesus died on the cross, He not only made salvation available by bearing man’s sins, He also dealt with Satan. The Apostle John reveals this to us in John12:31 and chapter 16:11. “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”
Jesus bound the strong man and plundered his house (Matt.12:29), and in Colossians 2:15, He made a public display of the defeat of Satan. The Lord revealed to John in the Revelation that He bound Satan and cast him into a bottomless pit (Rev.20:1-3). In verse three, it plainly declares that Satan will be freed from the pit into which he was cast. The time for his release is drawing very close. There are many who believe he is already loose.
If you will notice in Revelation 9 that when the pit opens, there first arises smoke from the pit and after the smoke, locust come forth who have a sting as that of a scorpion. This refers to evil spirit activity. The smoke blinds and suffocates. It blinds, not physically, but spiritually. Men’s eyes will be blinded to a degree that has not been known in the past. Some who have their eyes opened to see what is transpiring in the spiritual realm are seeing this pit being opened. The total irrationality of many things being promoted today as normal are not normal at all. God created man and He created woman and created them in such a way as to be able to replenish the world (Gen.1:22,28). This is God’s order. Satan is the one who is influencing men to rebel against God’s order. This is just one area of concern, but it is one that is so clearly scientific and so vividly a biological fact that any reasonable person can figure that out. But the irrationality and stupidity of the transgender movement exposes it as a movement inspired by hell.
This is just one area that we see the pit being opened. There are many more if one has his spiritual senses exercised to discern between good and evil (Heb.5:14).
The handwriting is on the wall for any who have spiritual eyes to see and who have spiritual ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. The church in America has become very worldly and, consequently, we have become dull of hearing. Carnality plagues the majority of America’s Christians and has produced a lukewarm people. It’s time for every Christian to awake and begin to seek God and return to Him with their whole heart. We must once again become a spiritual people who are just as aware of the spiritual world as we are to the physical. God desires it; therefore, He will help everyone who will begin to seek Him. God will have a spiritual church when He returns, and it will be holy, and pure, and filled with the Spirit of God. The church God is raising up will be used of God to finish His work on this earth, because it will be an overcoming church, a church that will be used to destroy the works of the devil, and they will walk in the divine. The future of the true church will be glorious, and we can be a part of that assembly, but we must begin today to return to God with our whole heart and love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Hasten it O Lord.
“DIVIDING ASUNDER”
Harold Scullin
“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Dan.12:10).
Daniel speaks of two classes of people – the wise and the wicked. One of the problems which confronts heavenly beings is the separation of these two groups of people. The separation must be just and righteous. The corrupting influence of partiality must be kept out. The separation must be based upon the laws of justice and equity. The judgment necessary for this cleavage must be such that no individual or group of individuals will be able to present a valid excuse or reason why they have not complied or measured up to the standards of righteousness. Each person must be without excuse. Each individual will have an absolute knowledge and understanding that the judgment is just, righteous, and morally right in every respect. The demands of justice and equity will have been met. Mercy will have been satisfied in that patience longsuffering, kindness, and love have been completely expended. The Great God must also be vindicated before “principalities and powers,” before angels and men. It must be demonstrated and shown that His will, His law, His infinite wisdom, His plan and purpose are superior to all others and that His laws are best suited to moral beings.
To accomplish this seemingly impossible task and to bring about this separation of the “wise and the wicked,” God gave unto mankind HIS WORD. “In the beginning WAS THE WORD, and THE WORD was with God, and THE WORD was God. And THE WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John1:1,14). Consider the meaning and significance of the above Scripture. Jesus was THE WORD. He was God. He “was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus Christ was not only God's messenger, He was God's message to men. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days SPOKEN UNTO US BY HIS SON” (Heb.1:1,2). “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you…and it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts3:22,23 and 7:37,38).
There can be no question that, as individuals who profess Jesus as our Saviour, we are accountable, obligated, under command to fulfill, to do, and obey the Word of God – the sayings of Jesus. His sayings, His teachings were not His own, but the Father's: “And the Word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me” (John14:24); “My doctrine (teaching) is not mine, but his that sent me” (John7:16); “As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (John8:28); “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (John12:49). No wonder He is called the Word of God!
So exalted is the Word of God that David wrote “for thou hast magnified thy word above thy name” (Psalm138:2). It is impossible for the human mind to understand or comprehend the importance, the worth, the authority, the excellence, the majesty of the Word of God. So majestic and powerful is the Word of God that Isaiah prophesied by the Holy Spirit – “So shall MY WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa.55:11). Here are three very definite, positive declarations concerning God's Word:
1-“It shall not return unto me void (empty).”
2-“It shall accomplish that which I please.”
3-“It shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it.”
And to emphasize the sureness and steadfastness of the eternal Word of God, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but MY WORDS shall not pass away” (Matt.24:35). “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail” (Luke16:17). Finite man with his limited intelligence cannot grasp or comprehend the awesomeness of the Word of God. Only by “faith” do “we understand that the worlds were framed by THE WORD OF GOD” (Heb.11:3). Peter said, “the heavens and the earth, which are now, BY THE SAME WORD are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (IIPeter3:7); created by the Word of God, held reserved against the day of judgment.
How can man, insignificant man, who is made from the dust of the earth, and full of presumption, pride, and egotism, rise up in rebellion against God's commandments and deny them and break them and disobey His laws? The powers of darkness, evil spirits, must – in fact, they are compelled to obey the authority of the Word of God. “He cast out the spirits WITH HIS WORD” (Matt.8:16). “What a word is this! For with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out” (Luke4:36). John, on the isle of Patmos, when identifying the rider of the white horse, wrote, “His name is called THE WORD OF GOD” (Rev.19:13). Here is the Word of God giving battle, making war, cleaning up a situation that was out of order, and separating the two factions. Do we really understand the power and authority that is vested in God's Word? “For the WORD OF GOD is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing (separating) asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb.4:12). Is this the Word of God you live and walk by? If you are His servant, His Word will “divide asunder,” and do some separating in your life.
We testify by song, and by word of mouth, that we love Him, that we will do His will, that we will serve Him – BUT He cannot be separated from His Word. It is so easy to be extravagant with words and promises. Israel promised, “All that the Lord hath said that will we do.” Their words and promises meant nothing because “their works denied him.” Who is it that will love Him and serve Him? Let the Word of God set up the standard: “If a man love me, HE WILL KEEP MY WORDS” (John14:23). What an indictment against multitudes that name the name of Jesus! “He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (IJohn2:4). Righteous judgment that will separate the keepers of the commandments from the non-keepers.
The Lord God deals in truth; He establishes the standard in and through His Word. Man, as a free moral agent, has been given the power of choice, must make a decision as to how he is going to respond to the Word of God – for or against. There is no neutral ground. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the father and the son” (IIJohn9). “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark8:38). Here is the WORD OF GOD “that was in the beginning,” “dividing asunder,” separating those who “are ashamed of His Words” and separating those “who abideth not in the teaching of Christ.” These are those who receive the seed in stony places, “the same is he that heareth the word, and anon for joy receiveth it. Yet he hath not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth BECAUSE OF THE WORD, by and by he is offended” (Matt.13:20,21). In the day when the Son of Man is revealed, all creatures will give an account of what they have done with the Word of God. His Word will be their judge. “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John12:48).
His Word Shall Not Return Unto Him Void
If God's Word could be made void – that is, if it could be perverted, corrupted, or caused to turn away – the whole structure of God's government and His very Being, would be jeopardized.
Satan and all of his hosts have used their influence to work through religious men who are impostors and teachers of a counterfeit gospel. Many present-day ministers, teachers and evangelists have fallen prey to the devices of the enemy as he has diligently sought to cast down the Word of God. Isaiah prophesied, chapter 24, verse 5, “The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; BECAUSE
1-they have transgressed the laws,
2-changed the ordinance,
3-broken the everlasting covenant.”
The enemy has been able to find willing recruits in the inhabitants of the earth to strike at the ROCK, but it still stands: the impregnable Word of God.
His Word is immutable. His Word is His law. His Word is His will. His Word cannot be changed or altered because of conditions, situations, and circumstances. “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise THE IMMUTABILITY OF HIS COUNSEL, confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable things, in which
1-it was impossible for God to lie,
2-because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself (v.13), we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb.6:17,18).
Upon these two immutable qualities of His Being rest His honor, His creation, His very throne, and the hopes of those who love and obey Him. There is no power or force great enough or powerful enough in heaven, in earth, or in hell, to nullify or invalidate His Word. His Word is eternal. It shall never pass away (Matt.24:35). His Word cannot and will not return unto Him void.
His Word Shall Accomplish That Which He Pleases
It pleased the Father to desire a family of beings who would be like Him. They would be partakers of His divine nature, they would be selfless as Himself, and they would have eternal life – immortal beings. They would be as God.
These beings must desire this state of being of their own volition. Obedience to His laws, His Word, and His will must be based upon their love and devotion to Him. Their love for Him must be supreme, above everything and everyone else. Force, coercion, domination of the human will cannot be factors in influencing an individual's choice in the matter.
There was great opposition to the means the Father was going to use to fulfill His plan. Pride, jealousy, selfishness, and egotism filled the heart of Lucifer. He wanted to be like the Most High. He would use force, lies, deceit, to be “like the most high” (Isa.14:14). Satan and his angels fought against Michael and His angels: Satan was “cast out into the earth” (Rev.12:7-9). Now, through lies, compromise, hypocrisy, this arch-enemy of The Lord and His Word has successfully turned multitudes from the law of God, from the truths of the Lord and His Word. To replace the void within their hearts, he, the devil, has substituted “a form of godliness” to ease their troubled minds and spirits. This sop, this destroying sop, is a lie and comes directly from the “father of lies.” People have been handed a pseudo-gospel, a pseudo form of Christianity, which dishonors the Word of the Lord; they have “trodden under foot the son of God,” they have “counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing” and they have “done despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Heb.10:29).
Has all of this work of the enemy cast down the Word of the Lord and made it of none effect? NEVER! His Word is accomplishing that which pleases Him. All men are free moral agents. To every individual is given the power of choice. Those individuals who are being deceived are in this condition because they want to be deceived – they do not want to walk in truth. Those individuals who serve God and obey Him do so because they have chosen this way – they love Him – they desire to please Him. This they do willingly and joyfully.
This is the power vested in the Word of God. It separates the “wheat and the tares,” “the wise and the wicked” His Word is accomplishing that which pleases Him.
“It Shall Prosper In The Thing Whereto I Send It”
“A sower went forth to sow…Some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth…and when the sun was up they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold” (Matt.13:3-8). “One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt.5:18). The Word of God speaks for itself. “His word shall prosper” (succeed) in the very thing for which it was sent forth.
This is the day when “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every WORD which proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt.4:4). The “midnight hour” is upon mankind. It is time for His servants to hide His Word away in their hearts that they might not sin against Him (Psalm119:11).
MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY
Philippians 4:19
Randall Walton
Paul's letter to the saints in Philippi was meant to build up their faith in God's ability to care for them. Philippi was a city in upper Macedonia to which Paul and Silas had traveled on Paul's second missionary journey. It was there that the first European was converted, a woman named Lydia, and it was there, also, that Paul and Silas were put in prison because they cast a demon out of a young woman who was hurting their ministry.
Their experience in this city was quite special because of the incidents which occurred while these brethren were confined in the prison's stocks. It was no ordinary matter to sing praises and worship God at midnight while being bound in a dark and dingy jail. But God heard their expressed joy and answered with a glorious earthquake which not only shook the foundation of the prison but unshackled the prisoners and flung open the doors.
With this divine testimony of the benevolence and sovereignty of God, faith in Him was bound to be made stronger. After all, these men had been personally sent to this area by God Himself (Acts16:9, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”), and they had not been hospitably received. After they relieved the young lady of her demon possession, the citizens “laid many stripes upon them” before committing them to the jailer! Not many evangelists are treated this way now-a-days.
But the outcome seemed to have produced somewhat of a harvest in this pagan city, for Paul addressed his letter to “all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Phil.1:1).
His letter was written for saints who had a deeper knowledge of the way of the Lord than the average professing Christian. “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” he declared. It was to these folks that he stated, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He could write thus because he knew they could comprehend it.
He even commended them for the sacrifices they had made on his behalf; “an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.” What a contrast to the reception he had when he first visited this place.
Now he is concerned for their welfare. He calls them dearly beloved brethren, “my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord.” “help those women which labored with me in the gospel.” “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Is it possible that Paul foresaw the persecution which would shortly overtake most of the Roman world? Was he trying to prepare them for the onslaught which would come their way because they stood as “sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (2:15)? He spoke of death without fear: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,” and he admonished them to receive trouble as if it were normal and natural for a follower of Jesus: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”
Nevertheless, he tells them, “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Notice, he did not promise them riches, wealth nor abundance of goods, but only that their NEEDS would be supplied. And he qualified this by his stating “according to his riches in glory.” Riches in glory? Why not riches in money, houses, lands, earthly goods, temporal things?
Because, in a time of trouble and anxiety and persecution, a person may have none of the world's wealth and luxury and personal goods, yet may have perfect peace and serenity because of the “riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (4:7).
This is why he could exhort them to think about things of inestimable value: “things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtue and praise” (4:8). These are divine qualities which not only endure, but help to sustain through the most wretched darkness of any night. No doubt we need Paul's epistle to the saints at Philippi as much as, or even more than, the Philippians did. We are facing problems from without and from within, and we need to believe without a question or a doubt that our God SHALL supply all our need in these last hours, even according to His bountiful riches in glory by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
BEWARE
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Jesus tells us in Luke12:2, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Hypocrisy is a very subtle sin that easily besets us and leads us into self-righteousness. Hypocrisy is a pretense of having desirable or publicly approved attitudes, beliefs, principles, etc. that one does not actually possess. It is the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
The Pharisees were constantly criticizing Jesus; they called Him a glutton, winebibber, friend of publicans, to name a few. Jesus was perfect, yet He could never measure up to the Pharisees' standards. No one could. They were critical, always inclined to find fault and judging others by the standards or opinions they had.
There is a malady in the church today, and every believer is susceptible to this. It is called the spirit of Pharisees, and it is a spirit that leads us to deception. The definition of malady means a disease or ailment. If you have this Pharisee spirit, you are spiritually sick, and you must repent. God loves a broken and contrite heart. Psalm34:18 states: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
The Pharisee spirit judges others by their standards or opinions. They are always critical of others because they don't think that person measures up to their standards. They are self-righteous.
We must stop pointing the finger at each other and being critical of each other. We must love one another, encourage one another, be concerned about one another, pray for one another, etc. We must bear the fruit that our Lord is patiently waiting for. Read James5:7.
Even when we have knowledge and the truth of God's word, we must not get puffed up. ICorinthians13:4 & 5 states: “Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.”
We must humble ourselves before the throne of God. John1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Here is a question for you to ponder. When was the last time you wept before the Lord? James tells us in 4:8,9 & 10, Draw nigh to God, mourn and weep, humble ourselves and God will lift us up.
We are only righteous through Jesus because He is the one that died on the cross for us. Romans5:17 states: “For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”
We need to stop being religious and stiff-necked like the Pharisees and become gentle and flexible as children (Matt.18:3; Luke18:16). It is possible to become so religious that you cannot be spiritual. Read about the Pharisees in Matthew23. The Pharisees preached, but they did not practice what they preached. They did all their deeds to be seen by others. Jesus would speak to them with the word “Woe” to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. We surely don't want to be one of these.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to our heart, and ask Him to show you anything that does not please Him.
Finally, “Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb.4:16).
With Love in Jesus' Name, Larry and Melody Ax Brush Creek, TN 5-18-22
GOD'S WILL BE DONE
Curtis Dickinson
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt.6:10).
In this portion of the prayer repeated by millions every week, there is both a statement of fact as well as a petition.
It is a solemn fact that God's will shall be done! Before creation He had a plan, called the “eternal purpose,” because it does not change with the changing times, but is fixed and will always remain the same. It includes the ultimate fulfillment of man as immortal and in glorious fellowship with God, as well as the means by which this is attained by Christ's death, which “was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world” (IPeter1:20). According to God's foreknowledge, He even knew who would attain this blessed hope, “and chose us in (Christ) before the foundation of the world” (Eph.1:4). This refutes the false millennial claim that God intended for Jesus to set up a Jewish kingdom, but when the Jews rejected Him and had Him killed, God changed His mind and postponed such a government until the second coming. Scripture states that Jesus came according to God's purpose to give His life a ransom for man by dying to meet the penalty for man's sin (Isaiah53), and that this was all accomplished by Jesus' obedience to God the Father.
Christ's birth, life, suffering and death was all in harmony with God's will. Jesus came in the worst of times. He resisted the greatest temptations and suffered a most agonizing death. Then He ascended to heaven and began His reign at the “right hand of God” (Acts2:33; Eph.1:20-22). God's will be done.
Jesus' accomplishment of God's will in taking man's punishment for sin has never ceased to be a matter of praise and thanksgiving for Christians. His death demonstrated that the destiny of the unforgiven sinner is the final death in the day of judgment (IPeter2:24; Jude7; IIPeter3:7). God will have man in His own image, or not at all. Those who refuse the will of God reveal that they are opposed to Him and do not want the life He offers. God is good and His laws are perfect (Psalm19:7). To reject them is gross wickedness, and the law-breaker knows it. One who believes God's word will rejoice in every act of the Father, because he sees in it the execution of the “good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom.12:2). Even in the day of judgment he will sing the song of thanksgiving (of Revelation, chapter 11), because God at last wipes out all evil and every trace of sin and sorrow.
Therefore, when we pray, “Thy will be done,” we may be sure that God, indeed, will accomplish His will.
However, the main thrust of this prayer is a petition. It is a prayer asking God to do His will in the one doing the praying.
The Kingdom has already come, Christ having already ascended to David's throne (Acts2:30-36). Each Christian is translated into the kingdom upon his redemption from sin (Col.1:13). But the kingdom is still coming, in that citizens are being added with every new believer. The Christian has his citizenship in the kingdom, but still must live upon the earth, “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” (Phil.2:15). There is no way to escape the earthly kingdom, and we are bound by the word of Christ to live in this world in such a way as to be a light and a witness to the unbeliever. Doing God's will requires that we deny “ungodliness and worldly lust,” and “live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world” (Titus2:12).
This means that we do not wait until the next world to begin doing God's will. This is the point of the petition, that God's will be done here on earth now, by and in the one doing the praying.
This is dangerous praying. Jesus prayed, “Thy will be done” (Matt.26:42), and within hours He was slain.
Even so, it was the right thing to do. With Jesus there was never a doubt that obedience to the Father would result in the ultimate good. It meant opposition from the world, but it meant pleasing the Father, and resulted in Jesus being raised up and exalted above all that is in heaven or earth.
We, too, must learn that pleasing God by doing His will is a purpose that far outweighs any other consideration. Bunyan spent 13 years in jail because he was dedicated to serving God rather than the corrupt church. Wycliffe, Tyndale, and Huss all suffered persecution because they sought to please God, but their works have blessed and inspired millions. The apostle Paul was continually persecuted and suffered much, but also accomplished much, and rejoiced in the victory yet to come.
We are engaged in a warfare, “not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph.6:12). A government which is loaded with anti-Christian appointees and unelected administrators who have power to enforce laws they create by their own directives is, indeed, a formidable power. As much as possible, we are to be at peace with all men, but when earthly decree conflicts with heavenly authority, we must say, as did the apostles, “we must obey God rather than man” (Acts5:29), and pray “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”
The prayer is not that the same things be done on earth that are done in heaven, but that God's will be done here, as it is in heaven. It is not for us to know what goes on in heaven, but we have God's instructions as to what is to be done in earth.
It is a great mistake to think that we can establish a “heaven on earth” through legislation and a “New World Order.” Steps now being taken toward this new global Utopia are diametrically opposed to this model prayer that God's will be done in earth. A major obstacle to the new Order is the belief held by Christians that man is to worship God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, and that His will supersedes that of all other “gods” and man's laws. This Christian principle stands squarely in the way of the new religion designed for the new order. This accounts for the concerted attempt by the controlled media and the government to silence the Christian witness and reduce the Christian faith to nothing more than another world religion on a level with Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism. Church leaders and members who endorse this concept of “unity” are either shallow-minded or very corrupt.
The evils in the world are not due to man's environment nor to the mismanaged government, as many think, but to the rebellious nature of man, as expressed in Sinatra's popular song: “I Did It My Way.” As long as man rejects the Creator's design for living, his world will continue to be fouled up.
A word needs to be said about the erroneous idea that God expects us to yield our wills to the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit might take “full control.” Countless errors, and even crimes, have been committed by people who abandoned their will to follow irrational inclinations rather than sober thinking.
Scripture never suggests we give up control of our minds. Rather, the influence of God's Spirit will produce greater self-control (Gal.5:23; IIPeter1:6), and thus enable one to do God's will. When Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done,” He was not giving up control of His will and actions; rather, He was exercising His will in the strongest sense.
Instead of yielding control of His will, Jesus willingly humbled Himself to obey His Father, becoming “obedient even unto death” (Phil.2:8). While Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit to an unlimited degree (John3:34; Acts10:38), He exercised His own will in submitting to the will of the Father.
Some praying may be simply asking God to help one attain his own earthly ambitions. But Christ did not come merely to help people over the rough spots on their way to final destruction. He came to turn them around, that their lives might be ordered after God's will as they seek for eternal life and immortality in the new creation (Rom.2:7). The question for ever Christian is whether or not he can honestly pray that God's will be done in his own life.
It was Jesus who said, “Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt.7:21).
Let us pray: “Thy will be done.”
“HE PULLED UP MY FLOWERS”
Donna Kupp
The other day my husband, Harold, brought me in a flower that he had picked and said: “Donna, even the weeds you grow are pretty.” Then he added, “I got them all pulled up for you.” My helpful partner didn’t know that I had wanted to brighten up that corner of the yard and had scattered some flower seeds along the edge of our property.
Well, we can all have a good chuckle with Harold that he mistook my flowers for weeds. The problem is that errors like this are happening in the Church of God…and it isn’t funny because it hurts to be rejected by other believers. (I can speak from experience.)
We can learn some lessons in discernment by looking at the two reasons why Harold pulled up my flowers. One, he didn’t recognize the flower and, secondly, it wasn’t growing where he expected a flower to grow. Even after he saw the flowers’ beauty, he treated them as weeds because they were not growing in an established bed.
So, too, in Christendom, the testimony and character of a person can be admired. but he is still rejected by other believers. Why? The answer to that question is: MANY OF GOD’S PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO IDENTIFY A SAINT, so they must depend upon their unreliable intuition. Their reasoning goes something like this: “Since they are not part of MY church, they are probably a ‘weed.’ After all, I believe The Truth and, if they don’t believe exactly what I believe, they must be false.”
Friends, a flower is a flower wherever it grows, and history has proven this is also true of saints. The most hardy and rare ones did not come from seminary hothouses but sprang up outside the gates of religious institutions. Isn’t it time for us to learn from the scriptures how to correctly identify a saint? We read: “Here is the patience of the SAINTS, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev.14:12).
That simple test will keep us from making the same old errors in discernment that have hurt the church in the past. If anyone believes in Jesus and obeys the Ten Commandments, he is one of God’s flowers…and every flower in a bouquet doesn’t have to be exactly the same.
Knowing this, the next time we meet that obedient brother or sister in some unexpected place, we will be able to accept our new friend as a lovely gift from God.
UVALDE, TEXAS
Alfred King
The mass school shooting in Uvalde, Tx, this past month shocked the nation. Once again the country grieves over the loss of innocent lives, especially the lives of children. Something so atrocious as this serves as fodder for politicians to ever more forcefully push their agenda while never seeming to come to a real solution to the problem. Each mass murder brings up the same failed policies over and over again, while politicians on both sides of the isle turn a blind eye to the real solution: Returning to God and His word; Teaching the Bible in America’s schools; Allowing children to learn about God and His plan for their lives instead of allowing them to be polluted by the gay agenda, the new Disney, and foul language and violence in their entertainment; And let America’s politicians return to God’s order by honoring Him and facing truth rather than continually conjuring up lies in their attempts to deceive America’s populous.
Sadly, this will not happen in this country. America has sold herself to do evil much as did Ahab and Jezebel in Israel almost three thousand years ago. IKings21:25: “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.” Ahab was king in Israel, and he caused all Israel to sin and commit idolatry, thereby bringing God’s judgment upon the nation.
Today, many (if not most) of America’s politicians love the honor bestowed upon them by men more than the honor that comes from God and, like Balaam, they love the wages of unrighteousness. What is the warning to these elected officials from the accounts of Ahab and Balaam? Jude has some special words for those of this character: He said they were like “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” (Jude13) It were better for them to never enter politics if they were not going to stand for truth and honor God in their office. It will be much like the religious rulers in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus. Jesus did not give them comforting words when He warned them of the wrath of God which was reserved for them. His judging words were, “Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites …”. Eight times Jesus spoke these chilling words in one chapter; Matthew23.
When the word “woe” is used in scripture, it is a very serious warning, and that those to whom the woe is spoken is on an extremely dangerous path, a path that leads to eternal destruction. More is required of leaders than others, whether it be in the church, a school, a business, or the government. These politicians have been trusted to do what is best for the people they represent and for the nation as a whole. All too often it appears they are more interested in themselves than the good of the country.
There is a remedy to the problems facing America, and God vividly states it in IIChron.7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Is it still possible for America to change? It is possible because our God is a very merciful and forgiving God. But the real question is: Will America change her course or have we passed the point of no return?