Facing The Challenges of Mental Health
In the last post I stated that the anti-christ would reign for 42 months as seven years. This is a mistake on my part, I should have said this is three and half years. (Daniel and Revelation).
Please forgive me, sometimes my mind is going at one speed and my typing at another.
D. M. Bourne
Revelation 13: MSG
1 And the Dragon stood on the shore of the sea. I saw a Beast rising from the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads—on each horn a crown, and each head inscribed with a blasphemous name.
2 The Beast I saw looked like a leopard with bear paws and a lion’s mouth. The Dragon turned over its power to it, its throne and great authority.
3 One of the Beast’s heads looked as if it had been struck a deathblow, and then healed. The whole earth was agog, gaping at the Beast.
4 They worshiped the Dragon who gave the Beast authority, and they worshiped the Beast, exclaiming, “There’s never been anything like the Beast! No one would dare go to war with the Beast!”
5 The Beast had a loud mouth, boastful and blasphemous. It could do anything it wanted for forty-two months.
6 It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven.
7 It was permitted to make war on God’s holy people and conquer them. It held absolute sway over all tribes and peoples, tongues and races.
8 Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world’s foundation in the slaughtered Lamb’s Book of Life will worship the Beast.
9 Are you listening to this?
10 They’ve made their bed; now they must lie in it. Anyone marked for prison goes straight to prison; anyone pulling a sword goes down by the sword. Meanwhile, God’s holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground.
11 I saw another Beast rising out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke.
12 It was a puppet of the first Beast, made earth and everyone in it worship the first Beast, which had been healed of its deathblow.
13 This second Beast worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven.
14 It used the magic it got from the Beast to dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an image of the Beast that received the deathblow and lived.
15 It was able to animate the image of the Beast so that it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be killed.
16 It forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead.
17 Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.
18 Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It’s a human number: six hundred sixty-six.
The question of who the anti-christ is is one that man has been trying to solve since the writings of John the Revelator. Many have speculated who it might be, and many have been wrong. Some thought it was the Pope, others during their lives thought it was Napoleon, and yes even Adolf Hitler. All those had very close similarities to that man described in the Word of God, but none were that spoken by the disciples and the writer of Revelation.
Let me say here and now, there is not one leader at this present time that fits the prophecy. I can see how some would liken some leaders and their characteristics to the man called “the anti-christ”. Many leaders have been anti-christ(against Christ).
This man that is about to enter the worldly stage will be like none other. He will come what seems to be all of the answers to mans most troubling woes. He will do what all other peace seeking leaders have tried to do, he will sign a peace treaty with Israel for seven years(forty-two months). The whole world will wonder at his abilities and within a very short time of his reign will set up three new societies on planet earth.
Somehow, he will be able to persuade all the world governments to meld into one “new world order”. He will be the leader supreme, and he will not be challenged. His reign is seven years.
He gives power to his puppet, the Beast, and the beast will demand that all receive the name of the beast, the number of man, 666. It will be on the right hand, or in the forehead. This will seem to solve all the flaws in the economies of the world. No fraud, counterfeiting, not even bankruptcy. Those without this mark will not be able to buy or sell.
Those living during this time will be given only two choices, take the mark, or be killed. Christians that know the Word of God will know if they take this mark they will be spend eternity in the lake of fire, hell.
This man the anti-christ is just like the king of Babylon, he will be full of himself demanding everyone to bow down and worship the image of himself. He will put forth an order that those who do not bow down shall be slaughtered, his main purpose for this is to rid the earth of Christians, and people of the Jewish faith. This is where he will break the peace treaty with Israel.
Those living in Israel will begin to hide and take shelter in the mountains around Israel. They will hide in caves fearing for their very lives.
The body of Christ will be forced underground. It will be much like present day China. They will have no one to depend upon except Christ their Lord and each other.
The rest of the world will be thrusted into a final global war. All armies will have their focus on a valley just outside Jerusalem, the valley of Armegeddon. The armies of the world will begin to gather there, for the valley is large enough to hold all the armies of the world. The Euphrates will be dammed and dried up for the Kings of the East to march down the river bend heading to Jerusalem.
The dead will be great for it will take seven years to bury the dead and the blood in the valley will run as high or higher than the horses bridel. The vultures will fly over head and begin to feed on the flesh of the dead. The stench of rotting flesh will be overwhelming.
This man will have an over inflated ego like no one the world has ever seen or will see. Most leaders who have tendencies of ‘anti-christ’ have a narcissist. They demand that everyone worship them, love them, and cannot stand being challenged.
This man will think he has all the answers and will convince the world of this very fact. Yet, the Word tells us he is a phony, a fraudester. His pride is what over takes him when he has a statue of his image built.
Like those before him he will demand that he is the most powerful man on earth. His generals, sargents of his army will fulfill his every demand and whim. Those who oppose his power will be executed, usually by beheading.
He will make all autocrats that have been before him seem like kittens. His word will be law and he will have a blood lust for those who would seem to be his opponents. All nations will submit to his rule.
I believe his rule will be worldwide. Now this seems to be of some debate among Bible Prophecy students and theologians. Some that differ believe the rule of the anti-christ is regional, basically only the mid-east countries.
a. Man of Sin, Son of Perdition – 2 Thessalonians 2: KJV
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;b. The wicked One – 2 Thessalonians 2: KJV
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;d Onec. The Deceiver – 2 John 1: KJV
7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Those are a few and if you want to look them up all you need is a study Bible with a good referance system. It would behoove you to know all the names, like, “an angel of light”.
To the Christian take your eyes of those who seem to work miracles and set your eyes back to where they belong, on Christ Jesus.
If you follow signs and wonders you are a canidate for deception.
Do not seek wealth or fame here on this earth for they will soon rust and decay.
Matthew 6: KJV
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Please do your soul and spirit a great big favor, sit down, grab your Bible and learn it from cover to cover. Do not become on who is deceived. You will not learn all you need to know in one reading.
I started this journey as a young boy watching my dear maternal grandmother read her Bible sitting at the kitchen table.
I had a Pastor who would take me to his home and let me read his study aids. No, there was no such thing as a computer.
I would urge you to use a Bible that you can mark up and make study notes in the margins. When you are listening to a preacher, teacher, evangelist, etc. keep some note paper and a pen handy.
Then when you are alone in your home check and see if the message you have heard really does line up with the Word of God. Never accept anything at face value. Inspect everything, and that which is of God can stand inspection.
Learn that every subject can be traced from Genesis to Revelation in types and shadows. Learn to how actually study, not just read and close the Bible. I have studied the same verses over and over again and always find something new that God is revealing to me.
If you are listening to someone who says they have all knowledge about the Word of God, run to the nearest exit. Flee from those who say that prophecy through them supercedes the written Word of God. God never contradicts his own Word. Yes, it would seem sometimes in scripture that there are contradictions. Yet in time as you grow in your studies they begin to weave together like a finely knitted switted.
Then take the next step, do not keep what you have learned to yourself, share it with those around you. God will let you know when it is the right time to tell someone. That time is different for every living soul.
I can relate this way, you do not feed an infant steak, you nurse it with milk. It takes a more mature being to chew and digest steak. It is the same with Christians, some can only feed on the basic milk, as they grow then they become furtile soil for the meat of God’s Word.
Don’t take what this writer, myself has written, search the Scriptures like those in Berea when they heard the disciples teaching.
There is so much more I would like to write but I feel this is a good place to end.
2 Timothy 2: KJV
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
If you enjoy this blog please share it with others.
If you find it raises questions feel free to email me @: rethinkingscripture.gmail.com
I will do my best to recommend you some great study aids and reading material that you should have in your personal library.
Daniel 7:6 KJV
6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.Revelation 13:2 KJV
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
As I began to research out this animal, the leopard, I wanted to make sure that I was correct in what I have believed that this leopard represented. My understanding was it was the Greece empire as did many theologians and students of Bible prophecy.
Amazingly I was stopped in my tracks. As I was studying and researching I came across an article that put forth a whole new idea of what this leopard truly represented.
Here is the portion of the article. The website is: http://www.hightimetoawake.com
Craig C. White
Current world events regarding this verse compelled me to write this commentary. I believe the leopard is upon us. According to our interpretation, these beasts are nations or empires. Currently no nations on earth are symbolized by the leopard. However, a new world entity is about to be created that could be symbolized by the leopard. US president Barack Obama is spearheading an effort to form a confederacy of four nations: Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan (please note that the leopard has four heads). There are several reasons for doing this, not the least of which is that Turkmenistan wants to build the world’s largest natural gas pipeline to the Arabian Sea. The beginnings of this confederacy already exists. It is called TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India). This confederacy centers around The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline. Leopards are common throughout this region. These nations identify with leopards. They have named mountain ranges and former leaders after them.
Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline
The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline, also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank. WikipediaRuns alongside: Kandahar–Herat HighwayGeneral direction: north–southMaximum discharge: 33 billion cubic metres per annum (1.2 trillion cubic feet per annum)Length: 1,814 km (1,127 mi)
I have written about the animal, the bear, as representing the country of Russia. It has a major part in the last days.
So, I found out that my understanding was not so great. You see we can only see in part.
1 Corinthians 13:12 MSG
12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
As we move closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ knowledge will begin to grow in understanding Bible prophecy.
Daniel 12:4 KJV
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
I will continue to study this beast, the leopard so that I can share it with others correctly.
So, I ask you, can you recognize the leopard?
Mat 16: MSG
13 When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.
18 And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
19 “And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”
20 He swore the disciples to secrecy. He made them promise they would tell no one that he was the Messiah.Joh 17: MSG
15 Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One.
16 They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world.
17 Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth.
18 In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world.
19 I’m consecrating myself for their sakes So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.
20 I’m praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me Because of them and their witness about me.Rom 12: MSG
1 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Growing up can be frightening to a child always something new to grasp and understand. School can be abusive, so many bullies on the playground, someone making fun of another because of looks, clothes, or maybe just not as quick when it came to understanding what the teacher was trying to teach.
I was one of those who always felt that I didn’t fit in. It wasn’t because I was a little slower in learning. My parents try to give us five children the best they could, both of them working to put food on the table and clothes on our back. Deep inside of me I was feeling that I was alone. I didn’t have lots of friends, usually I would have one best friend and that was good enough for me. My interests were not the same as my peers going through school.
My interest was concentrated of learning a new gospel song with my grandfather. I cannot remember a time where gospel music was not a part of me. I didn’t know the lyrics to the latest pop or rock song. Some of my family would listen to country music, no not the style of country music today, but, the stylings of Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and many more from the Nashville Grand Ole Opry.
My other true interest was reading the Bible, yes, back then it was strictly the King James Version of the Bible. I didn’t have any fancy library to access, just the Bible. I can recall telling my mother that when I grew up I would be a preacher. Somehow I knew that was what I was going to become, nothing more, nothing less.
Looking back on my life I guess I could say I had an identity crisis.
As christians living in this world we should almost be having an identity crisis. We should not feel comfortable with the world around us. To the child of God it should be like we are just a visitor passing through a land for just a short time.
If the Bible was one big self-esteem lesson we wouldn’t need a Saviour.
Christ knew that when He left planet earth we humans would need protection. He knew that we were like sheep being sent forth into a pack of wolves.
All through Biblical history we see where man has needed someone bigger than himself to guide him and protect him.
Joseph was placed in Eygpt for in due time it would be him that would save the Hebrew children from the famine spreading throughout the rest of the world. Joseph was given divine insight to tell the pharaoh that in the seven years of plenty to store up wheat because there was coming seven years of famine.
Four hundred plus years later along comes a man who as a baby was found in a basket floating down the Nile river in the backyard of the pharaoh’s palace where the pharaoh’s daughter would rescue him. The man was Moses. He would go into exile as a wanted murderer and in the desert would have a God encounter. The God, I am. In that desert he would have to confront his own identity crisis when God gives Moses a command to go back to Eygpt and tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go.
Moses like us today questioned this plan, Moses a man with a stutter so God gives him his brother Joshua to be the speaker. God did not send Moses unprepared, He taught Moses all that he would need to be the deliverer of the children of Israel.
All through the Bible we can see where God never sends His servants out to do a task without giving them the tools to get the job done. No, not the equipment the world would use, tools that to the onlooking world would seem like foolishness.
Now, Christ’s death is approaching, time is running out the Son of God and yet there is still so much more to tell the disciples. He knew that there was coming a period of time where the disciples would face their own identity crisis.
Christ gives them a command that seems ill timed.
Luk 24: MSG
49 What comes next is very important: I am sending what my Father promised to you, so stay here in the city until he arrives, until you’re equipped with power from on high.”
I can imagine that the disciples in their finite minds were baffled questioning, ‘endued with power, what power’.
Fast forward to the day we now call the ‘day of Pentecost’. They are shut in a rented upper room worried that they may be next. That a knock on the door could mean Herod’s army coming to take them to their own deaths.
What comes next is something like out of a great sci-fi movie. A great mighty wind fills the entire place, it begins to shake and quake, and on the head of every individual is what appears to be ‘cloven tongues of fire’.
People down in the streets hear this great noise and begin to run up into the room. They here men and women speaking languages other than their native language. Speaking with languages that were discernable among all of those looking on at what would seem like a bunch of people who have lost their minds.
Peter, finally gaining control of his own native language gets up and delivers his first powerful sermon:
Act 2: MSG
14 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight.
15 These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.
16 This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:
17 “In the Last Days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams.
18 When the time comes, I’ll pour out my Spirit On those who serve me, men and women both, and they’ll prophesy.
19 I’ll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
20 the sun turning black and the moon blood-red, Before the Day of the Lord arrives, the Day tremendous and marvelous;
21 And whoever calls out for help to me, God, will be saved.”
22 “Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you—the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge—
23 this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned him to a cross and killed him.
24 But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him.
25 David said it all: I saw God before me for all time. Nothing can shake me; he’s right by my side.
26 I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic; I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope.
27 I know you’ll never dump me in Hades; I’ll never even smell the stench of death.
28 You’ve got my feet on the life-path, with your face shining sun-joy all around.
29 “Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried—his tomb is in plain sight today.
30 But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom,
31 seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah—’no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’
32 This Jesus, God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it.
33 Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured out the Spirit he had just received. That is what you see and hear.
34 For David himself did not ascend to heaven, but he did say, God said to my Master, “Sit at my right hand
35 Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet.”
36 “All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.”
37 Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?”
38 Peter said, “Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites.”
40 He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!”
41 That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up.
This is the day the ‘church’ was birthed. Their identity crisis was over. They now have put on the mind of Christ.
The modern day church/christians if they are going to win this world for Christ they must stop trying to use the ways of this old world. The church needs to shake off the mind of this world and how it does things and start listening to the mind of Christ like the Apostle Paul commanded us to do.
God gave Christ’s church a command to go out and teach this world leading them to Christ Jesus. God never sends out warriors without giving them the armour and weapons of warfare.
There are so many other points I would like to write in this article but it would become a small book.
The other day on social media someone asked me what is a former pastor, they had never heard that before. I sent a message back stating it meant that I was no longer in active ministry.
That began my mind and my being to thinking, yes, I may no longer stand behind a physical pulpit every Sunday delivering a message to a congregation, but, I am still bringing forth the message of the cross.
I am not an active pastor, evangelist, but this term came to me, I am a revivalist. For that is what is needed in these last perilous days.
Dear reader you may be facing your own identity crisis at this time in your life. Down deep inside of you you don’t quite fit in with your peers at work, school or maybe even in your neighbourhood. Remember, you are in this world but you are not a part of it. You are just a wayfaring pilgrim passing through until you receive your heavenly home. So, shake yourself, stand up in Christ for you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus your Lord! Take and put on the full armor of God!
Rom 8: MSG
36 They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
37 None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.
38 I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow,
39 high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
Joel 2: MSG
17 Between Sanctuary entrance and altar, let the priests, GOD’s servants, weep tears of repentance. Let them intercede: “Have mercy, GOD, on your people! Don’t abandon your heritage to contempt. Don’t let the pagans take over and rule them and sneer, ‘And so where is this God of theirs?’
Mar 11: MSG
17 And then he taught them, quoting this text: My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations; You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.Rom 8: MSG
26 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.
I thank God for the greatest tool a child of God has, ‘prayer‘.
Prayer is not some ritual, it does not matter if you are in a kneeling position, standing position, or just laying on your bed before you fall asleep.
What prayer is total direct communication between God and His child. You do not need to know some mystical chant or repitition of words strung together.
I know that this is contrary to what many have been taught since they were a child. You do not need to be at a certain place at a certain time. You can be engaged in this during your lunch hour at school, work, shopping or any other place on this earth.
The idea of prayer to some seems so trivial in this generation. They would rather have great music, I am a musician and do love great gospel music, a spectacular building, a fine robed choir, a great orator, but all those things are minor in the eyes of prayer.
I was raised that you can be in a constant state of prayer. Sure, those around you may not know that this is true, but prayer is something that connects your spirit with the very Spirit of God.
I have found myself waking up in the night finding myself in prayer for something that was not even on my mind when I was awake. It might be praying for someone whom you haven’t thought about in a great length of time. These are the times when the Spirit of God prays through you even when you had no knowledge of the need.
Prayer, in my opinion, is a two way communication. We tell God our needs, and then we wait for an answer from above.
I hear people declare on the news that it is a national day of prayer. Oh this sounds so sanctimonious, yet it is nothing but empty vain words. Nothing but a show. It goes no further than the ceiling in the room.
I must say I find pastors and leaders lacking when it comes to prayer. A pastor in North America has a congregation in the tens of thousands, talks alot about self-esteem, but very little on the subject of prayer. You don’t need a pep talk about self-esteem, or what your value is, how to get wealthy, you need a pastor who will tell you how to shake the heavens through prayer to move the hand of God.
I truly believe a nation is only as strong as their prayer life. A family is only as strong as it’s prayer life.
A church is only as strong as the priest’s prayer life, and as strong as the congregation’s prayer life.
Oh I am not against the shout during a great message, or even a dance during the worship, but, what is your prayer life like when you face the reality of life the next day.
In these tumulous days what will sustain you through it all is, prayer.
When your cupboards and fridge are empty all the self-esteem and positive thinking will not feed your hungry family, but, prayer will turn that empty table into a table of food.
The name above the door of your gathering place means nothing to God. I don’t care how many doctors, lawyers, etc., are in the congregation, but I do care that it is a house of prayer.
You don’t need hundreds or even thousands for the Spirit of God to be in your presence.
Mat 18: MSG
20 And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”
If you just have two or three, it might be just a shack, but you have the promise of the Son of God, that He will be there. This is true prayer!
I believe God is not moved by your politics, he is moved by the cry of his’ people.
Pastors need a heart of prayer, weeping before God between the porch and the altar.
Nations have risen and fallen because of the strength of the prayers of the leaders and people.
Mothers, keep praying beside your bedside for that wandering child, do not quit, do not give in to defeat. God hear’s those prayers, and sees your tears.
Fathers, if you want to teach your son how to be a man, teach him how to pray.
Leaders, if you want to be an example, teach those who follow you how to pray.
“Prayer changes things”.
Rev 3: MSG
14 Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God’s Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God’s creation, says:
15 “I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot!
16 You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.
17 You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.
18 “Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.
19 “The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!Mat 6: MSG
19 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars.
20 Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars.
For the past several days now the word “bankrupt” has been going through my mind almost non-stop.
I had been trying to write about the axe head that floated, but for now that is for another time.
When I was in active ministry and trying to prepare a sermon, message to preach I would sometimes meditate on a subject, verse of Scripture, or maybe just a word for several days to weeks before delivering the sermon, message.
I wasn’t much into writing out my sermons or messages, I would just study and meditate on that which was weighing on me. By the time I went to speak I knew my subject inside and out.
Now to the topic of this article.
Here is a definition of the word which I would like for this article to focus on:
completely lacking in a particular quality or value.“their cause is morally bankrupt”
I have seen the effects that financial bankruptcy can have on a person, persons, or families. Families fall apart, abuse of alcohol, and or drugs, or to the committing of suicide of a person. No matter how you look at it all outcomes are devastating.
Over the past years I have becomed alarmed of what is being said behind the pulpits of North America. Messages that have no Scriptural foundation to support them. Scriptures being twisted taken out of context to fit their misconceived ideas.
Preachers who at one time preached the message of the cross now resorting to teaching some other gospel.
Gal 1: MSG
6 I can’t believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message!
7 It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head.
8 Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed.
9 I said it once; I’ll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed.
I am sure if Paul were to be alive today who himself would not recognize what is being preached as the Gospel he delivered over two thousand years ago.
It is easy to get caught up in something that seems to be the going thing and give in and preach it yourself.
There are many sermons, messages I wish I could go back and erase them as though I had never spoke them.
I have come to a conclusion that I no longer would consider myself an evangelical as is thought of when you mention the word. What I see and hear coming from “evangelical” pulpits I do not recognize them as sound doctrine.
Jud 1: MSG
3 Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.
As I look in on what I see and hear all I feel is a people who have become bankrupted. Yes, they have some of the correct actions, words, and maybe even looks, but spiritually totally bankrupt.
During the great depression of the 1930’s pastors, teachers, and evangelists were having a troublesome time trying to keep going for finances were slim to none.
Some began to try and find ways to bring in more money so that the bills would be paid.
Now from what I understand there were some tent evangelists that got together and talk among themselves of what they could do to better their situation. Hence, the birth of the “prosperity gospel”. It began to catch fire with those in the pews and the offering plates began to overflow with finances. The only one who truly prospers from that gospel is the one behind the pulpit spouting it. I at one time also preached that gospel, but I have renounced that false gospel today.
Paul in his travels would often send word to the local gathering to take care of the finances and such so that when he arrived he could preach the Gospel. Paul sometimes even had to fall back on his trade, tent making.
Act 18: MSG
1 After Athens, Paul went to Corinth.
2 That is where he discovered Aquila, a Jew born in Pontus, and his wife, Priscilla. They had just arrived from Italy, part of the general expulsion of Jews from Rome ordered by Claudius.
3 Paul moved in with them, and they worked together at their common trade of tentmaking.
4 But every Sabbath he was at the meeting place, doing his best to convince both Jews and Greeks about Jesus.
When I was in active ministry as a pastor when it came to an election I never resorted to talking about politics from the pulpit. The minute a pastor does this he isolates some of those sitting in the pews. He forgets not everyone under the sound of his voice has the same political convictions as he does. So, for me I would only say to the congregation, ‘vote your conscience’.
The body of Christ needs to come to full understanding that government is not it’s friend. I realize I am somewhat alone in this matter, but, I will hold fast to this until my dying day. Yes, I follow Scripture, I pray for those who are in authority over me.
Israel had a king, not because it was God’s perfect will, He gave them want they wanted but, sent leaness to their souls. God’s will was that Israel would be led by the prophets who were led by God. When Saul became king he eventually turned his back on God and started Israel on it’s way to worshipping false Gods and idols.
David was probably the greatest king that the nation of Israel ever was priviledged to have, and yet, David was a flawed man. He sent a man to the front of the battle, the man was killed, it was David’s way to have the man’s wife. With all his failings God still declared that David was a man after God’s own heart.
Now forward to the time of the Romans. Rome was not a friend to Israel, Rome was Israel’s slave master. Word was brought to Herod about the prophecy of a king being born, a Jewish baby. Herod had his soldiers go out and kill every male baby two years old and younger. Mary and Joseph escaped by going to live in Eygpt during those troubling years.
Christ grew up in and around Bethlehem. At the age of thirty he begins his public ministry. He began to have favor among the people, but the elites among the Jewish temple began to become jealous. Those elites were the religious priests and others of the Jews.
They began to plan a scheme which eventually would have them convince Herod to send Christ to the cross. No, Herod had nothing against Christ, but, things were already set in motion. After the crucifixion the disciples and other followers of Christ went into hiding, fearing that they may be the next to be put to death.
Rome had their very own terminator, his name was Saul. Saul was a citizen of Rome and also a Jew. He would be considered in today’s society a lawyer. He probably was somewhere in the area when the crucified Christ, but, we have no written records to say if the two had ever met.
It was Saul who gave consent to the mob to go after Stephen and stone him to death. Later, the man who gave consent met the Lord on the road that led to Damascus. He then took on the name of Paul.
At first the disciples and others did not trust this man named Paul. They were fearful thinking that this could be a deception by Rome to persecute more followers of Christ.
I find nowhere in history where the new Christians ever became friends of the government. They had no trust in the governors of Rome and Rome had no use for the early church. I would urge everyone to seek out the writings of Josephus, the first century historian. Read the writings entitled, “The war of the Jews”. The government was brutal against the Christians. Feeding them to the lions as a form of entertainment. Crucifying and stoning everyone they captured. The disciple Peter was crucified upside down only because he did not feel worthy to be crucified the same as the Lord.
The apostle Paul was no stranger to the brutality of the Romans. He penned many of the epistles while in jail. Actually, they were letters to various new churches around the region and the known world. Paul while in prison in Rome finally met his day where he would lay his head on the block and lose his life to the axeman of Rome.
The author of the Book of Revelation, John, would spend his final years on an island meant for criminals, the Isle of Patmos.
Somewhere over many centuries and years the Body of Christ has come to believe that they would not see persecution. I have always maintained that we today are no better than that of the members of the early church over two thousand years ago.
I have more years behind me than I have in front of me, so, I may not physically see which that is coming upon this world, even North America.
There is coming a government upon this earth that will make the Romans look like saints. The ruler of this government will make it his task to destroy and kill all Christians. He will only save the lives of those who will renounce their faith in Christ Jesus. If they refuse they too will be beheaded. This time of trouble I believe will be global. Some theologians teach that it will be contained only in and around Europe and the mid-east.
He will present himself as a friend of Israel and make a treaty of peace for seven years, The Word of God tells us that half way through this treaty he will break it and declare war on the saints.
The upcoming battle that this will unleash will see rivers of blood of the slain as high as a horse’s bridle. It will take the world seven years to bury the dead.
It will begin to look like all is lost, Israel is near extinction, but just before it would seem all hope is gone Christ will come back just like the angels told the disciples on the day of the Lord’s ascension on the mount of Olives. When His feet touch the mountain it will be cleaved in two.
Christ will finish the battle and be the victor and then begin to set up His kingdom here on earth.
Every day as I watch and read of the events happening around the globe I see glimpses of prophecy coming into being. Then I look at the state of the church and even I wonder if many will make it through.
The eyes of the church have turned away from their focus on Christ. Little foxes have come in and began to spoil the vines and the fruit.
On the day of judgement when we stand before the throne of God we will have to give an account of our lives. Many like the Scripture tells us will tell the Lord, ‘we cast out devils in your name, we healed the sick’ only to hear the reply from the throne, ‘depart from me, I never knew you’. Most of these will be the preachers, teachers, leaders in the churches who led many astray turning their eyes off the prize of eternal life.
There is so much more to write but at this moment this will be sufficient to warn the church and the Body of Christ to turn back to the cross, get under the blood that washes our sins away and turn from all these false idols of wealth, luxury, etc.,
May God himself have mercy on the nations who have known the Gospel but perverted it with their religion, power, and money.
