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People of The Living God |
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November 2023
WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS
ALL EYES ON ISRAEL
Alfred King
As I begin this article on Israel, I must first relate my personal testimony of the faithfulness of God and my gratitude for the precious and faithful Holy Spirit who recently protected three of our church members and me as well as those who were with us on a recent tour to Israel.
The way was opened for four of us from our church body to make a trip to Israel along with nine others from another fellowship. We left Atlanta on September 28thand returned on Friday, October 6th. Our plane landed in Tel Aviv and we began our tour in Joppa. From there we traveled north to Caesarea and, after attending our tour guide’s Christian church, we headed east to Tiberius. We made our way to Capernaum, Magdala, Nazareth and then to Jerusalem.
We visited many places of interest during the four days we stayed in Jerusalem but, toward the end of the week, our tour guide, who is a Messianic Jew, offered to show us some more sites if we would stay a day longer. We seriously considered it and two of our ladies decided to stay four days longer, which would schedule them to leave on the following Tuesday. They even paid extra to have their airline tickets changed to Tuesday. After considering the offer more seriously, I felt I needed to get back as did the brother with us. So we decided to leave on Friday as originally planned. As the week drew to an end, I felt very bad about the two ladies staying over and told them my feelings. As Friday approached, both of the ladies also began to feel bad about staying and decided to change their flight back to Friday, even though that meant they would lose the money they had paid to change their flight.
We left Tel Aviv Friday morning and arrived back in Atlanta at 5:00 PM Eastern time, which would be about 3:00 AM Israel time. It was not until the next morning as I was preparing for the afternoon service that I received a call from one of the ladies who told me that Hamas had invaded southern Israel and had slaughtered many innocent civilians, including women, children, and the elderly and had taken quite a few prisoners in the siege. All the flights had been canceled and many tourists, including Christians, were stranded. We had left just in time, and I want to give praise to God for His leading and for protecting our group.
The couple who arranged our tour stayed in Israel because they were involved with a group that ministered to the Israeli people and, while they were staying in Jerusalem, they had traveled into Jordan where they were to help with the ministry there. After the Hamas attack they were not allowed back into Israel so they had to leave all their belongings in Jerusalem and only had what they had taken to Jordan. On Monday they were able to get a flight from Jordan to Rome. They then flew to Norway and from there to Chicago. They arrived safely home on Wednesday. It was not a pleasant experience for them, but God provided a way for them to return home. God is so good and it is another testimony of His faithfulness to us.
Brief History of Israel
All those who are familiar with the Old Testament realize that God chose Abraham’s descendants to be His chosen people. It was through Abraham’s grandson Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, that the nation of Israel came into existence. Jacob and his twelve sons ended up in Egypt because of a famine that was in the land. It was in Egypt that the descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons multiplied and, as they multiplied, the different tribes of Israel were formed, each named according to one of the sons of Jacob. Over time they became identified as Israelites. Because they were not Egyptians the Egyptians made them slaves, oppressing them and putting upon them great burdens.
Nevertheless, God blessed them and they increased in number until the Egyptians began to fear them because of their numbers. Pharaoh determined to hinder Israel’s strength by killing all the male babies belonging to the Israelites. It was at that time that Moses was born and God raised him up to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. It was after ten plagues which God sent upon Egypt that Pharaoh relented and released Israel from slavery and allowed them to depart from Egypt.
God remembered His promise to Abraham and chose Israel to be His people. He led them by His servant Moses through the wilderness of Sinai and, after forty years of testing, He brought them to the land of Canaan, the land He had promised to Abraham a few hundred years before. While Moses was not allowed to go into Canaan, God raised up Joshua to lead Israel into the land and to conquer it. It was always referred to as the Land of Promise.
Over time Israel possessed the land of Canaan as was promised to Abraham, but instead of obeying the divine laws given by God for their protection and for their good, they began to serve and worship the gods of the Canaanites whom they had been instructed to drive out. They turned from God and consequently this left them exposed to their enemies. Over the next several hundred years Israel’s existence was like a yo-yo, up and down; serving God for a season, then serving the gods of the heathen.
After the death of Solomon, Israel’s third king, the kingdom of Israel was divided into what was called the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. Solomon’s son Rehoboam inherited his father’s throne and threatened to place greater burdens upon the citizens of his kingdom. Ten of the tribes determined to separate themselves from King Rehoboam forming their own kingdom under the leadership of Jeroboam. These ten tribes possessed the northern part of Canaan and they kept the name Israel while two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, became known as Judah and possessed the southern part. After this separation those of Judah became known as Jews.
Israel, the Northern Kingdom, continuously transgressed and God sent judgment upon them. In time, the Assyrians overtook them and scattered the ten tribes throughout the known world. There were some Israelites who over time made their way back to Judah and became a part of Judah. However, Judah did not fare well in their service to God either. The yo-yo life was also a part of Judah’s history. This finally came to a head when God sent Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon against Judah. Nebuchadnezzar’s armies brought destruction upon Jerusalem and destroyed Solomon’s temple, the place where God had ordained worshipped. Judah went into Babylonian captivity for seventy years.
At the end of the seventy years, God raised up Ezra and Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and repair the walls of Jerusalem. However, the glory of this temple never compared to the original built by Solomon.
Later the temple was desecrated under the siege by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 BC. (History books don’t all agree on this date; some date it as recent as 156 BC.) Antiochus attempted to get the Jews to accept and promote Greek paganism. He erected a statue of Zeus in the temple and Hellenistic priests began offering pig sacrifices to their Greek gods. This outraged the Jews and, over time, they were able to drive out the Greek priests. After the Greeks had been driven from Jerusalem, Judah Maccabee cleansed the temple and returned the temple to Jewish sacrifices. The first day that the temple was cleansed and restored for Jewish sacrifice is today celebrated by the Jewish feast of Hanukkah.
It was around 20 BC that Herod the Great began restoring the temple to what it was when Jesus appeared on the scene. In Matthew 24, Jesus prophesied that this last temple would be destroyed and not one stone would be left upon another. The Jews (Israel) would kill their promised Messiah and God would destroy Israel’s temple again. This occurred in 70 AD when Titus besieged Jerusalem and leveled the temple.
The Jews were scattered and they did not return to the land of Israel until 1948 when they were permitted to settle in the land of Palestine, now known as Israel. At the end of WWI, the British Empire had gained possession of Palestine and they, along with the League of Nations, agreed to allow the Jewish people to populate this land. However, it was not until after WWII and the Holocaust that the United Nations officially assigned the land to the Jews which allowed the Jewish people to return to the land promised to Abraham millenniums before. This was a sign to the Jews and many Christians that God still has a purpose for Israel. Without going into the various opinions to which Christians hold regarding Israel, suffice it to say that Christians are divided as to Israel’s role in events relative to the last days. Some believe that national Israel is still God’s chosen people and that they have a very definite part in the events of the last days. Others see national Israel’s return as a fulfillment of prophecies revealing the times in which we live. In other words, Israel’s return is a sign that the Lord’s return is close at hand.
Christianity And The Jews
Every Christian knows that the Jewish leaders were the instigators behind the death of Jesus Christ. (This is from a historical and natural perspective: Jesus came down from heaven to die as the means of bringing salvation to mankind. Some say “we” killed Jesus and some say God had His Son slain. From merely a human standpoint, the Jewish leaders had Jesus killed.) There can be little doubt that the judgments that have fallen upon the Jews for close to two millenniums are a result of those evil men’s actions. Not only did the Jewish leaders call for Jesus’ crucifixion but the Jewish people did also as recorded in Matthew 20:5, “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”
In Deuteronomy 28, Moses declared very specifically the judgments that would fall upon Israel if they refused to walk according to God’s laws. Scripture vividly reveals that, overall, they did not walk in a way that was pleasing to God. Israel reaped what it sowed under the Old Covenant and continues to reap what it has sown. This is not to say that God has forsaken Israel, but the Jews in particular have been hated and have suffered over the past two thousand years as no other race of people have. Is it just coincidental? Or is it a fulfillment of scripture?
There is a doctrine called, “Supersessionism” better known as “Replacement Theology” that teaches that the church has replaced physical Israel. Under this teaching the blessings and promises given by the prophets to Israel are not primarily physical and were not intended for National Israel but for a spiritual Israel, those who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and have the circumcision of the heart (Rom.2:28-29). Some may not see the importance of either of these teachings, but what is critical today as we see what has happened in Israel and Gaza is that Christians are seriously divided in their views of Israel and the Jews. Those who believe that God still has a plan for the Jews, support the Jews whole-heartedly and whatever they do to protect themselves and squash those in Gaza, specifically Hamas, they have the right to do.
On the other side of the issue of Replacement Theology are those (even Christians) that hate the Jews and side very strongly against them. Some of them go so far as to state that no Jew can be saved and are eternally damned no matter what they do. There is no salvation for them and, therefore, they need to perish from the face of the earth. Radicalism resides on both sides of this issue. We need the truth of scripture to be our foundation for our position on Israel and the Jewish nation. One thing is certain, the door of salvation is still open for the Israeli people.
Israel’s Present Crisis
The attack by Hamas on southern Israel has brought about a situation and provocation that is affecting most of the modern world. People are taking sides: some supporting Israel and some Gaza and the Palestinians. Israel is surrounded by Islamic nations, all who hate Israel and desire Israel be annihilated. Many Muslims and young people in America support Hamas. The Chicago chapter of BLM has publically sided with Hamas and is celebrating in the streets of American cities the attacks by Hamas. In Australia as well as in London, the sentiments are the same: destroy the Jewish people. One has to wonder what happened to just common sense, compassion and decency. When women and children are brutally butchered; is there no place for compassion? Should there not be outrage over such barbaric atrocities? Are we becoming animals with no sense of right and wrong? Is it possible that any true born again believer can be so calloused and hardened? We may have opinions and feelings about the state of Israel or Gaza and who is right or wrong, but it is sad that any life is cut off before their time by a hostile people.
In response to the demonstration which took place in America the first week after the Hamas attack Representative Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. wrote: “Something is rotten in the state of America. When the institutional leaders in our country cannot condemn the cold-blooded murder of Israeli children and civilians with moral clarity, one must ask, What kind of society are we becoming? … What does the silence and indifference and cowardice — from these so-called leaders — tell us about the depth of anti-Semitism in America and the reckoning required?" (Newsmax Oct. 16, 2023 – article by Charlie McCarthy)
Any terrorist or nation who assaults, kills and rapes as Hamas did to those living in southern Israel should be condemned and repulsed, not celebrated. In Gaza hatred for Israel is being taught in elementary schools. It is shocking and very sad to read about how children in Gaza are being taught to hate: not only to hate but to kill, stab, strangle and use weapons to kill Israelis. To read about this child abuse here are a couple of websites you can read and there are plenty more if you search it online.
https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/in-photos-hate-drenched-gaza-summer-camp-opens/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-kids-taught-to-hate-israel-in-un-funded-camps-clip-shows/
Many Christians are contending that what is occurring in Israel has been prophesied in scripture. Whatever one may believe concerning the recent attack on Israel and the effect it is having upon the rest of the world, these are serious times and a time when the church needs to have a true word from God. Islam’s vocal and determined position is that the world must be conquered for Allah and it matters not how that is accomplished: lying, cheating, killing, stealing, and any other form of barbarism necessary to accomplish the Allah-given order.
The Muslim nations consider America the “Great Satan” and Israel the “Little Satan.” Understanding their religious position and their hatred, not only for Israel but for America as well, should alert both nations of the seriousness of the present situation in the Middle East. This then affects America as much as any nation in the world today. America is being weakened as I write this piece.
One of the reasons Hitler lost the war in Europe was that he ran out of fuel to run his war machine. His funds also became limited. What does this tell you about America’s present situation? We have shut down our pipelines and are dependent upon Middle East oil, the very enemies that hate us. A few years ago, because of Covid we shut down our economy, which has resulted in the inflation we are experiencing today and we continue to shell out money to other nations as though there is no end and spend it on foolishness in our own nation. Why should our government, federal or state, pay for abortions or sex changes for confused and brain-washed young people? Why are we paying for all the needs of immigrants who enter our country illegally? These are just a few of the many ways America is destroying her own economy while our enemies relish it. America is depleting her economy and her arsenal at an alarming rate.
Why is all this happening? America is being weakened because she has forsaken God and His word. The only hope for America is that she returns to God. Is it too late? It appears to be. It seems that America is experiencing the judgment of God. Scripture tells us that “because they received not the love of the truth … God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie” (IIThess.2:10-11). In Romans the first chapter Paul puts it this way: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind…” (Rom.1:28). A reprobate mind is one void of judgment and this is certainly the condition of our political leaders in Washington.
The events unfolding in Israel are very serious for many reasons but the safety of God’s people rests in the hands of God. However, we must not take these events or our divine security lightly. These events should stir every child of God to seek God more fervently than ever before. We know that the day of the Lord is drawing nearer and, although we do not know the day nor the hour when He shall appear, we know that many of the things Jesus, the prophets and the Apostles prophesied would come about as signs of the last days seem to be coming to pass and it behooves us to be ready. In Matthew twenty-five, Jesus gave a parable of some wise virgins and some foolish virgins. Today is the day to be sure we have oil in our vessels and that we are ready to meet the Lord when He comes. May God awaken His Church.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Billy Linthicum
Encouragement is one of the key characteristics of a true believer and is probably one of the most important things the Church needs to practice. “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another,” we are told in 1stThessalonians 5:11.
Fighting “the good fight of faith” (1Tim.6:12) can be difficult without the encouragement of other believers. Many obstacles can cause us to stumble, and trust me, Satan will do his utmost to discourage and distract every believer from the holy highway. Encouragement is a tool that helps each of us to not be “overcome by evil” (Rom.12:21) and empowers us to endure to the very end (Matt.10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13).
Dante Bartiel Rossetti, the famous 19th-century poet and artist, was once approached by an elderly man. The old fellow had some sketches and drawings that he wanted Rossetti to look at and tell him if they were any good, or if they at least showed potential talent.
Rossetti looked them over carefully. After the first few he knew that they were worthless, showing not the least sign of artistic talent. But Rossetti was a kind man and he told the elderly man as gently as possible that the pictures were without much value and showed little talent. He was sorry, but he could not lie to the man.
The visitor was disappointed but seemed to expect Rossetti’s judgment. He then apologized for taking up Rossetti’s time but asked if he would just look at a few more drawings - these done by a young art student.
Rossetti looked over the second batch of sketches and immediately became enthusiastic over the talent they revealed. “These,” he said, “ah, these are good. This young man, whoever he is, has great talent. He should be given every help and encouragement in his career as an artist. He has a great future if he will work hard and stick with it.”
Rossetti could see that the old fellow was deeply moved. “Who is this fine young artist?” he asked. “Your son?”
“No,” said the old fellow sadly. “It is me – 40 years ago. If only I had heard your praise then. For you see, I got discouraged and gave up – too soon.”
Encouraging one another is of absolute importance because sin can overcome us and discouragement can destroy us. Hebrews3:13 indicates that encouraging others should be a daily practice and never neglected:
“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” – Hebrews 3:13
FORGIVENESS
Jeannine Hawkins
In the Psalms David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm139:23,24).
Following the example of this prayer, I recognized in the darkness of my own heart, anger, deep bitterness, and hatred. Broken and ashamed to find these sins in a heart pledged to God, I purposed to be rid of them. This determination immediately stirred up these sins, now openly exposed. My heart became a spiritual battleground. Anger shouted, “It wasn’t fair; I did nothing to deserve such treatment.” Bitterness, clinging to some injustice long past, declared, “I have a right to be here.” Hatred demands a down-on-the-knees, weeping and wailing apology, never intending to forgive.
How can we forgive an anger or hatred so painful that it has been buried in the depths of our hearts? In searching for an answer, the Holy Spirit directed me to Jesus’ words in Matt.5:44 “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” After reading this scripture, claims of injustice again were shouted from the darkness in my heart: “Why should I love them? They are the wrongdoer; I have a right to be here.” Why? Why must we love our enemies? “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven” (v. 45).
Beginning with what I considered to be the easiest (doing good to those who had inflicted such deep wounds in my life), I expected healing to begin. It did not. Unable to love my enemies and not knowing how to bless them, I began praying for them. My prayers were simply in obedience to His command, but amid the shouts of, “I have a right to be here,” there was no life in my prayers. There was no healing in my heart. I cried out to God for help.
Several weeks later I was with both my sisters. As usual, after we visited, we prayed together. I had not mentioned the lies being shouted from my heart. But I had asked God for help.
As we prayed, my sister began to pound her fist into the palm of her hand and through clenched teeth, in anger, she declared in prayer, “You have no right! You have NO RIGHT!” Over and over she proclaimed the lie to be a lie. I fell on my face and worshipped God.
The healing began. With the help of God, through members of His body, the fact has been established in the heart; there is no justification for sin. No matter how deep the wound or how often inflicted, there is NO JUSTIFICATION FOR SIN!
Make no mistake about it, hatred is sin. Anger and bitterness are sin. IJohn4:20: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.”
Hatred is a spiritual disease. Often the symptoms are hidden in the darkness and we fail to realize that our spirit is being destroyed from within. How can this happen? Because our hearts are deceitful and wicked. Every time the Light of God reveals to us the darkness of sin, we do one of two things: we name the sin as sin and determine to be rid of it, or we justify the sin and push it back into the dark corners as if it belongs there. Each time these sins try to surface we push them back a little harder, a little farther until the deception is complete. It isn’t really there at all.
Remember David’s prayer. Every child of God should desire this prayer. Hatred and bitterness, envy and jealousy: these are not sins only of the world. These abominations exist in the hearts of God’s people. They must not survive! It is a battle to the death. Either this condition among brethren will be abolished as the Lord commands, or the disease will spread its poison throughout until it devours the whole.
Recently I read this statement: “Resentment [hatred, anger] is like drinking a cup of poison and expecting someone else to die.” We do not have to drink this cup of poison. It’s spiritual suicide. Jesus has shown us a far better way to deal with these feelings. Hanging on a cross to pay a debt He did not owe, Our Lord, our Example prayed His Father would forgive those who spit on Him, those who called the Almighty Creator a fake. How pitiful and insignificant does this remembrance show our petty grievances to be!
Forgiveness is the healing balm of the soul. The cleansing which allows the nature of Christ to grow in us. The nature of Christ is love and love is the nature of Christ. The two are one and are inseparable. Love says, if your brother sins against you, forgive him seventy times seven (Matt.18:21 & 22). Love says that if we forgive, we will be forgiven. In this verse (Luke6:37) the Greek word “forgive” means “to free fully.” John13:35: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Again the Greek expands this, saying “IF LOVE YE HAVE AMONG ONE ANOTHER.” There is no half-measure in Christ’s nature.
Heb.12:15 admonishes us to look diligently “…lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.” Forgiveness must be complete and final. If we do not destroy the roots of hatred and bitterness, it will most surely return and try to repossess its place in our hearts. When we are “freed fully,” it is not difficult to pray for those who were our enemies. We love them! We may not like them in a “friend and neighbor” sort of way, but the nature of Christ has grown in our hearts replacing hatred with love, Christ-like love. This wondrous freedom causes us to be burdened for those who have wounded our lives. We WANT them to have the love, the peace we now enjoy.
Forgiveness is NOT AN OPTION! It is a prerequisite to being forgiven by our Heavenly Father. Without this forgiveness we CANNOT have the nature of Christ. Jesus says “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14,15).
YOU AREN’T YOUR OWN
J. Grant Swank
One of the most liberating concepts to be actuated by the believer is: “I don’t belong to me. I belong to Jesus.”
When that is a sanctified reality, the Christian is set free from his own manipulations and dreads. He is liberated from his self-drive and concentration on “getting ahead.” There are no more comparisons with others’ lives and ambitions.
The believing yet carnal mind is forever professing Jesus as Savior while ignoring Him as Lord. It is a mindset which, according to Scripture, is double-minded.
Naturally, this split-head state has to be the most miserable plight for any religious person to endure. One side is with God; the other side is on self-drive.
Sanctification is a conscious surrender of one’s entire existence to Jesus, not only as Savior but just as importantly, as Master/Lord. Therefore, the sanctified must activate in practical living the “I don’t belong to me; I belong to Jesus” mindset.
Why is not this submission a once-and-for-all inner experience? Because the human activates free will in every conscious moment. Life is fluid. Therefore, the crisis experience of sanctification must be followed by the continuing experience of sanctification.
Therefore, this day will call forth from you your choices for self-drive or Jesus’ control. To decide on the former is to be carnal. To choose the latter is to be sanctified.
When the Christian no longer seeks his own security, position, and acclaim, then he is free to be a love slave to Jesus. Until then, the Christian connives, many times subtly, to provide his own security, position and acclaim.
Therefore, getting personal, do you complain to God about the small church you pastor - struggling, dealing with persons who don’t seem to care that much about eternal matters?
If you are a layman, do you exist in a similar stressful situation?
If so, then say to yourself: “I don’t belong to me; I belong to Jesus. This is where Jesus has placed me. As a love slave to Him, I will accept this, for this is where He - in all His wisdom and love - has placed me.”
This is spiritual minimalism at its freest.
Do you sit back and, scanning the peoplescape, wonder why it is that you are left in the dust while others are flying high in the sky? Wonder why it is that servers are not given the applause that getters seem to come by? Wonder why it is that you are left at the back of the line while others are glowing at the front of the line?
All of this is ultimately of no concern to the sanctified, for the latter no longer work on self-drive; they are under directives from Jesus - solely. What happens with others’ places in life does not matter.
Once someone said to me, “Where are you in your career?” I answered, “I don’t have a career. I have a calling. And where I am is not up to me. It is up to Jesus. Frankly, I hardly ever know where I am; and in that I am free.”
The world is large. Human history is long. Where we “fit” into the positioning this-and-that of others is finally beyond our comprehension anyhow. We could never take it in, for we do not have the analytical equipment by which to do so.
Jesus views the large world. He overscopes human history. He knows then just where HE needs each sanctified servant to “fit” - especially you. Therefore, all decisions regarding your biography are always with Jesus. Live with that and be at peace. Accept that and be set free.
I don’t belong to me; I belong to Jesus.
EARTHY OR HEAVENLY?
I Cor. 15:48
Randall Walton
It seems ironic that the average professing Christian is in most respects no different from the average person who claims no walk with God, nor has ever had an experience with the Most High. After all, the Bible is very explicit that a true believer has been “born again” by the Holy Spirit, that he has undergone a supernatural resurrection from the dead (spiritually), and that he is a NEW creature in Christ Jesus!
The goals in life for both groups (the saved and unsaved) are generally identical. While it is true that the religious person will spend a part of his leisure time in some religious activity (going to church, attending a Bible class, singing in the choir, taking up the collection, etc.), the major part of his time is used for himself: earning a living, being entertained (movies, T.V., musical recordings), doing menial tasks, visiting, playing games, etc., etc. Little or no time is allotted to improving the person’s spiritual state.
It is a fact that a newly-born Christian is a new creature. “Old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new” (IICor.5:17). This new child of God has fallen in love with his Saviour; his total existence revolves around his new-found acquaintanceship with Jesus Christ. He eats, sleeps and rises with his Lord on his mind. The Word of God is suddenly precious to him – not that he comprehends it – but because it is God’s Holy Book.
His whole life has taken on a new meaning, a new perspective. He has lost interest in most of his former activities and endeavors, and enjoys the supreme happiness of sharing the blessed presence of the living God. He desires to know God more personally, to discern his glory and presence on a continual basis. He finds great joy in talking to the Lord and sharing his problems with his God. He is becoming a “heavenly” person.
He is aware that he no longer feels “at home” in his own house. There is a strong desire to draw closer to his Creator thus loosing himself from his earthly moorings.
But then, due to various circumstances, life becomes a series of ups and downs with the downs occurring more regularly with the passing of time. With a family to support, bills to pay, spousal problems mounting, and trials at the workplace, he gradually becomes a statistical victim of earthiness. Jesus warned about the “cares of life” causing a person to become unfruitful in his spiritual life. It can and does happen.
Why is it difficult to maintain the fervency of one’s born-again experience? What must one do to preserve the effervescence of that glorious moment when he was “raised from the dead into newness of life.” How can a person become heavenly and remain that way when nothing in life is conducive to such a possibility.
Quite frankly, it takes a great deal of energy and purposeful effort, and it most probably begins with a sincere and burning desire to live in the sacred presence of the King. Such a life as this requires dedication, determination, and devotion to God, His word and His will. Many people have concluded that such an existence was possible only if a person could isolate and insulate himself from his normal surroundings. But such a life as that is not consistent with the teachings of Jesus. “Ye are the light of the world,” He declared: “A city set on a hill cannot be hid.”
God wants His people to be shining examples of what it really means to walk with Him–“not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” It is His desire that we become heavenly people, that we are truly “pilgrims and strangers on the earth” (Heb.11:13). Admittedly, the cost of becoming heavenly is too high for the average believer who is satisfied to try to hang on to God with one hand and on to the world with the other.
This, of course, does not work. Jesus stated it most plainly in Matthew6:24. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Neither can you be earthy and heavenly at the same time. Those who wish to be heavenly can be but at much cost to “self.” A heavenly person is one who has set his own will to do the will of the Lord, who has renounced his former way of life and who has deliberately set his love and devotion upon God and those things which are heavenly. He lives only to please God, and he delights to constantly abide in the wonderful presence of the Almighty.
Is this your state today? If not, we urge you to lay aside every weight that would drag you down, reconsecrate your life and mode of living unto Him, spend time communing with Him, study His word to learn exactly what He expects of you and then do it. You will find the exquisite joy of living in the presence of the King and will come to know the glory of being seated “together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:6).
ALTERNATIVE TO THE RAPTURE
(Part 3)
Warren Berry
As we continue to delve into God’s divine plan, we must realize that God has designed it in such a way as to show that being made perfect or spiritually mature is not possible in man’s own strength. In the Old Testament we see men and women who were very dedicated and spiritual, but they never came into the fullness of the stature of Christ. In Hebrews9:9-10 we read concerning the Levitical priesthood with its divers washing, “Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” (all emphasis in this article are mine)
If we jump down a few verses in this tenth chapter to verses 13-14 we see that the blood of Jesus would be the means by which man would be thoroughly purged from sin: “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” While over the past 2000 years, men have not obtained perfection or come into that unity for which Jesus prayed in John 17, God has promised that some would enter His Rest and has ordained the full restoration of His church to the time just prior to His second coming. This does not mean that all believers will have obtained this state in Christ, but a remnant will. Referring again to Hebrews, “Some must enter therein” (Heb.4:6). Take special note of the word must. Before Jesus returns there will be some who have come to “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph.4:13).
God’s Plan For Producing A Glorious Church
While this sounds impossible, especially as we see the weakness and carnal tendencies of men, it is what God has promised to do and it cannot be done without His intervention. His word declares that He will intervene in the latter days to bring some into this glorious state of being.
Jesus said it was expedient that He go away for if He did not go, the Comforter (the Holy Spirit) would not come. But if He departed, He would send the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit would lead, guide, teach, empower, motivate, and do a special work in the hearts of those who will allow Him, so that they will be changed “from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (IICor.3:18). While this has been possible since that glorious day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell upon those early believers as they prayed in the upper room, tarrying and waiting for the promise of the Spirit, the fullness of God’s divine purpose was yet to wait until the latter days when God promised He would again pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Joel2:28-29; Acts 2:16-18). Pentecost was a foretaste of the glory that will come forth in the last days prior to Christ’s return.
While Peter quoted these verses from the prophet Joel, proclaiming what occurred that day in Jerusalem was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, the next two verses were not explained, nor do we see them at that time being fulfilled. “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” (Joel2:30-31) Take special note of these verses because they were not fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when Peter quoted them. Why? Because they are reserved for the latter days when God will again pour out His Spirit in a supernatural way, and this latter outpouring will be greater than the former as is stated in Hag.2:9a: “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former…”
Anyone familiar with Haggai’s prophecy will immediately recognize that Haggai is speaking of the temple that Solomon built, comparing it to the one built at the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity in the days of Ezra. However, two things need to be considered: the second temple was never as glorious as the one Solomon built and God’s presence was not in it as it was during the time of Solomon (Read IKings8 and IIChron.5). It is obvious that God was speaking through the prophet Haggai of another temple that would be greater and where God would come and dwell.
These portions of scripture reveal some very precious truths. One is that the New Covenant would be a better covenant than the Old and would be established upon better promises (Heb.8:6). That of course referred to the blood of Jesus that would accomplish that which the blood of bulls and goats could never accomplish. Jesus’ blood cleansed our bodies so that now the Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of those who have been washed in Jesus’ blood. The Holy Spirit is working there to bring the babe in Christ to maturity. While many have gained tremendous maturity, none has risen to the fullness of the stature of Christ. Yet this is the promise and it is yet to be produced.
The Means By Which This Will Be Accomplished
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was an event that changed those disciples of Christ into different men and women. Peter, not knowing his own heart, declared emphatically that he would never deny the Lord, even if all the others did, denied him three times in one night. There was the constant debate among the disciples about who was going to be greatest in the kingdom and who would sit on His right hand and His left. They loved the Lord but they needed something to bring them out of themselves and into spiritual maturity.
After Pentecost, Peter was bold in the face of the very authorities that had condemned his Lord, declaring the word of God fearlessly and calling out the evils those authorities had committed. Those disciples were transformed by one glorious and supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit who came down from heaven to empower them to be witnesses throughout the known world. They were men who turned the world upside down and the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread through these transformed men.
In order for the promised “glorious church” to be brought forth, there must come a second Pentecost. (I am not speaking of the feast the Jews and some Christians observe fifty days after Passover but a supernatural outpouring much like that which fell upon the early disciples.) This should be something that every true Christian prays for and intercedes before heaven that soon this final work of God shall begin. Evil is spreading across this world as a flood. Iniquity is increasing daily and it has come to the place that our children are being attacked by such evil as is unimaginable. If something doesn’t stop this flood of evil, the future will not be good for mankind. Man has stooped to such degradation that the very pit of hell seems to be opening and the powers of hell are coming forth (Rev.9) in a way we have never experienced before. Many unbelievers and people who have no understanding of God see the evil in the modern move of transgenderism and the mutilation of children. One doesn’t have to be spiritual to see the flood of debauchery that is covering our land while those in government are supporting it and making laws to protect it. It is certainly a time for the church to cry and sigh for the abominations which are in our land.
It will be as the church awakens and begins to seek God in a very serious manner that things will change. God has promised to again pour out His Spirit upon mankind. The fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy will come forth, and at this time there will be “wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come” (Joel2:30-31).
What does this part of Joel’s prophecy mean? It means that the judgment of God will come upon this globe. God destroyed the earth in the days of Noah because the thoughts, imaginations, and intents of men were “only evil continuously” (Gen.6:5). The world is on a spiral downward to this same moral and spiritual depravity. God also destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah primarily for their sexual sins, specifically exposing the homosexuality that existed in those cities. One wonders if the sins of Sodom were as diabolical as those we see spreading across the world today. It is a shame that in Canada it is the Muslims who are taking a stand against the government’s policies regarding transgenderism that is being promoted in their elementary and high schools. (Muslims in Canada plan “Million Person March” to protest LGBT ideology in schools – “International Family News”) Why were not Christians the first to protest?
Some Christians and church leaders are beginning to join with the Muslims in this endeavor while others are embracing the LGBTQ+ movement, even allowing drag queens to groom the children of the church. This is a worse abomination than what those outside the church do. The church should be holding up the standards of Godliness and holiness, not bending the knee to Satan’s agenda.
To think that God will not judge these actions of evil men is to be ignorant of God and His person. While He is a God of mercy and grace, He is also a God of holiness and righteousness and He is a God of justice and judgment and He will bring judgment in His time.
This brings us to an important fact. God will bring forth His church in power and glory to counter the forces of darkness that are being unleashed upon our world. When God poured out His Spirit upon the early church, He came in power, a power that came with the Holy Spirit into men who then went forth spreading the Gospel and delivering those who were bound by evil spirits, healing the sick and lame and opening the eyes of the blind and doing all the things that Jesus Himself did. This outpouring was because of God’s love, grace, and mercy. God sent His Son to bear men’s transgressions on the cross. He died in our place and those who will believe this truth are saved and adopted into God’s family. God’s mercy and grace are still being extended today and many have and are being saved.
However, the outpouring of the latter times will not only bring about the salvation of many souls, it will also bring about God’s judgment. The first time Jesus came, He came to save men. His second coming is to judge men. His second coming is to gather His people to Himself but it is also to judge the world in righteousness and to pour out His wrath upon the nations who have sold themselves to do evil.
In our next section, we will go into God’s wrath and how it will come forth on this earth before Jesus returns. God’s judgment will begin before the last day when Jesus returns; it will begin with the Great Tribulation, the Fall of Babylon, and man of sin coming forth and being revealed.
(to be continued)
THANKSGIVING 2023
Alfred King
November is a month which most Americans look forward to because it is the time of year when we count the many blessings we have been given and when our families get together for some leisure time and topped it off with Thanksgiving dinner. We in America have many things for which to be thankful, especially if we are aware of the poverty, privations, lack of freedoms, and government oppression that multitudes in our world experience daily. Then there are those who live in nations which are continuously engaged in civil, ethnic and religious wars, where fear is daily experienced and peace is something only hoped for. It is vividly clear to all who will study America’s beginning that God has blessed America because it was established upon principles and concepts drawn from the Bible. Many of the founding fathers were believers in God, and those who did not profess any religious convictions understood that freedom could only exist among a moral and ethical people. The Bible was found to be the best source of moral principles for a government of freedom.
The Thanksgiving tradition is generally considered to have come into practice in honor of the Pilgrims who gathered together to give thanks to God for their safety in coming to America and for God’s blessings upon their harvest. However, giving thanks for the blessings of a good harvest is an ancient custom and was commonly practiced by Christians before, during and after the Protestant Reformation. It is very probable that the giving of thanks among the Pilgrims and Puritans was a tradition brought with them from the old country.
George Washington proclaimed November 26, 1789, as the first national Thanksgiving Day. Although it was observed by most states afterward, a specific date was not established nationwide until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln set the day for its observance to be the last Thursday in November. This was later changed to the fourth Thursday in November by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941.
There is certainly nothing wrong with having a special day each year when we all pause from our busy lifestyles and consider the many blessings we as Americans have and turn our hearts to God in appreciation and praise. We tend to get so wrapped up in our daily activities that we sometimes forget to remember Him, Who “daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation” (Psalm68:19). Scripture admonishes us to be continually thankful, always rejoicing in the Lord for it is in Christ that we “live and move and have our being” (Acts17:28).
We who have been washed in the precious blood of Christ are those who have the most for which to be thankful, for we have experienced both the life of sin as well as God’s deliverance from that past life and the wonderful forgiveness and cleansing provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have tasted that the Lord is truly “good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Palm107:1) for it is no longer just a verse couched in the midst of scripture but is a living reality in the life. Not just life but abundant life is what Jesus promised to those who would believe, repent and surrender their lives to Him. The greatest blessing a man can possess in this life is to find salvation, peace and joy in Christ Jesus and to experience a life in the Spirit, which only God can give. Jesus proclaims good news to those who will listen. In John10:10 He declares, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” While the “thief” (devil) has come and is presently destroying the lives of millions around us, Jesus offers those who turn to Him and believe, “abundant life.” What is this abundant life?
Life means to be alive and not comatose or dead. Abundant life is to live one’s life to the full; loving every minute of it. It is enjoyable, rich, full, meaningful, exciting, free, flavored and seasoned with love, joy and peace. It is a life filled with activity and abounding with pleasures and contentment. When Jesus said He came to give abundant life He was speaking of exactly these characteristics of life not just in some future realm or dispensation but now, here on this earth. Yet, He was not referring merely to the physical, material and earthly but the spiritual. For if a man has found Christ, the door has been opened by which he can grow, mature and walk in an intimate relationship with Christ and in that relationship find and experience abundant spiritual life. That life found in Jesus will spill over into his life here on earth so that he not only enjoys the things of God in the spiritual realm but also will enjoy the physical blessings given as well no matter how meager they may appear in the eyes of the world. The abundant life is the life of God in the soul that springs up within into everlasting life.
Jesus spoke of the abundant life several times in His ministry. Look closely at the words He spoke to the Samaritan woman whom He met at Jacob’s well (John4). In verse ten Jesus offers the woman living water and in verse 14 He tells her, “whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The abundant life is a life that cannot be taken away, for it is not from a material or earthly source but flows from within by the Holy Spirit Who is sent to live and dwell in the believer’s heart. Such is the life Jesus promises and provides, yet few ever actually find it. Jesus spoke of the flowing waters again in John7:37-38: “… if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Jesus again offers all those who will believe a life in Him that transcends everything offered by the world. Such tragedy that men can be so blind and will settle to drink at the world’s fountain of temporal pleasure, which like a drug merely distracts the mind for a season from the guilt of sin, yet when it is finished the discontent and emptiness returns.
Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. The message Jesus proclaimed was good news for those who would recognize their sinfulness and their inability to free themselves from its bondage. Like the drug addict who every day has to once again bow to his taskmaster and steal, lie, cheat, or sell himself in some way to satisfy that taskmaster, so those in bondage to sin bow their knee to fulfill sin’s demands. Are you tired of sin’s dominion over you? Jesus came with good news. Jesus came to set free those held captive to sin’s dominion, to open the house of the prisoners, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the good news that there’s deliverance and freedom by merely believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. So simple is the door to this liberty that it is overlooked by most. Jesus did not complicate the Gospel but made provision for “whosoever will” to come and find in Him that “peace that passeth all understanding” (Phil.4:7).
So, for we who know Christ and have found salvation and life in Him, let us be thankful in all things and rejoice in our God Who so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son that through His death we can experience abundant and eternal life. For any who have not yet come to know Christ as Savior, He holds out eternal life to all that will call upon Him in faith. When the Philippian jailer desired to be saved the Apostle Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” (Acts16:31). The salvation of which man has been privileged to partake is so wonderful and glorious that even the angels in heaven desire to look into it (IPeter1:12). The writer of the book of Hebrews speaks of life in God with a clear warning, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation …” (Heb.2:3). If we neglect this wonderful and abundant life found only in Christ Jesus sin will destroy us, we will suffer much and we will sacrifice the riches of heaven.
Let us then be especially thankful this year that, while the world and America is in turmoil and confusion, those who know Christ have abundant life which the world cannot take away.