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Verily, Verily

Posted on August 12, 2012 by ez3728

Everything Jesus said was “Verily”.

Everything Jesus ever said is true. In fact, Jesus IS Truth. That means if He said something, we can bet on it. It is accurate, it is not deceptive, and it is not an exaggeration. The fact that He spoke it, is “assuredly”. That is also true about anything God spoke through His true prophets – there being some serious warnings, and sometimes disastrous results when people represented themselves as speaking on behalf of God, when in fact they were speaking from their own hearts. It did not matter whether they were saying “good” things or “bad/tough” things – if it was not from God, and if they were misrepresenting themselves as speaking on behalf of God, there were heavy consequences. Examples can be found in Jeremiah, and in the book of Jude

BACKGROUND: Israel was destined for a 70 year captivity because of the people having provoked God to rage through their unrepentant and ongoing sinfulness, and the (false) prophet Hananiah probably had a lot of cheerleaders and supporters, because he was prophesying things getting better in hurry. But he was speaking from his own heart:
Jer 28:11-17
11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.'” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.”
14 ‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also.”‘”
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.
16 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.'”
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
(NKJ)

BACKGROUND – Jude, like Peter, was warning the believers that there would be evil people in their midst, prophesying and speaking lofty words, and those speakers would bring judgment on themselves. Peter also tells the readers that saints who were not rooted and grounded in the word of God would be deceived by these false prophets:
Jude 1:10-13
10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
(NKJ)

2 Pet 2:18, 20-21
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
(NKJ)

Bad stuff, with guaranteed awful outcomes. We would do well to minister in the realm of the prophetic, in the fear of God, making certain to say what He tells us to say, and only that – no more, no less.

BACK TO TRUTH:
Jesus is the truth, and the devil is presented to us, by Jesus, as the father of all lies. Pretty clear differentiation. It would therefore seem that Jesus would never need to say something like “assuredly” (or in King James bible-speak “verily”) because EVERYTHING that ever came out of His mouth was true, or veritable. So why would Jesus say “Verily”? I believe He was putting a marker of importance on the next thing that He was about to say, because He knew its critical importance to the plans and purposes of God, and He also knew that, because of that importance, the enemy would particularly try to undermine the believers’ understanding and embracing that which was going to be revealed by Jesus. This goes hand in hand with some scriptures in the Old Testament, where God does some extreme demonstrations to mark a verse or a prophesy for importance:

Isa 49:22
22 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My standard for the peoples; they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
(NKJ)

Ezek 36:7-9
7 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame.
8 “But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.
9 “For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.
(NKJ)

Both the verses in Isaiah and in Ezekiel pertain to God’s faithful promises to eventually restore Israel (Ezek 37 also has an “indeed’ in it, another marker of importance – since EVERYTHING God promises is “indeed”). God revealing His taking of an oath is sort of outrageous, almost seemingly unnecessary, until you consider the madness of the satanic assault on the promises to Israel which have crept into the church in the way of “replacement theology” which proclaims that the Christian church of the NT has replaced the Jewish people. Paul gets livid over this, and builds an inarguable case for Israel’s inclusion in the eternal promises of God, in Romans chapters 9-11, and then writes the famous Romans 12:1-2 verses (I beseech you, therefore brethren, in light of the mercies of God…..) building from his example of God’s mercy to Israel (in chapters 9-11), declaring that God’s faithfulness to THEM (Israel) ought to motivate US (the church) to abandon everything else, and show up, and trust God without reservation.

ALL THAT SAID, when Jesus says VERILY, He is stating something so critical, that we would do well to listen up, dig in, recognizing that His “verily-ing” was intended as a pre-emptive strike against some yet-to-come false doctrine that would be presented to undermine a most critical truth. My favorite translation happens to be the NKJ, and “verily” is translated “assuredly”. I can live with that. Since everything Jesus said was ASSUREDLY, so when He actually says “assuredly” it’s sort of an “assuredly-assuredly”, meaning “mark this as critical”, reader.

Matt 5:13-16
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

These verses are key. We’re told we’re the salt, and without salt the earth will rot and become useless, and victimized by evil men. We’re told we’re light of the world, and that the purpose of the light is to illuminate and not be hidden. High visibility is the purpose of the light – particularly critical in dark times of trouble, wouldn’t you agree? Of critical importance to the world is the salt thing. Then immediately we’re told “do not think” – another sort of notable thing that would imply Jesus knew the enemy would work to get us to think a certain way, and He was telling us in advance, not to think that way.

Matt 5:17:21
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
19 “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(NKJ)

How clear is THAT? Everything in the Old Testament has to be fulfilled. Everything means that. I’ve mentioned this before, but this is critical to our interpretation and understanding of the NEW Testament in light of what has yet to be fulfilled in the OLD Testament.

None of us, in the flesh, is inclined to want to address the fact that some seriously heavy things have yet to take place, but they do. And they will. And there is a charge and a warning placed upon the teachers (v19) – don’t diminish your reward by teaching otherwise, even if it is unpopular.

ALL THAT SAID, we are in obvious times of worldwide shaking, and quite frankly we’d all be delighted to be able to preach “smooth sailing with Jesus”. But that is not what the bible says, in either testament. To the contrary, Jesus warned us that many would be offended in the end times, as things heat up, and the love of many would grow cold. That implied there love would have been warmer, earlier. He is talking about saints.

Matt 24:9-14
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
10 “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
(NKJ)

Matthew 24 had some small fulfillment during the destruction of the temple in 70AD, but these verses are clearly pointing to end times. The awful and complete destruction of Jerusalem was one city. The captivity of Israel to Babylon was one country. My bible speaks of a destruction across the whole earth – every nation. HHY – Hasn’t Happened Yet – that means it has to happen, otherwise Jesus THE Truth, was not speaking truth in Matthew 5:18. Impossible. Believe it. Assuredly.

Isa 28:22
22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
(NKJ) – That says whole earth.

Matthew 24 tells us after worldwide tribulation, then the END will come – right after these things occur. In Luke, there’s an “immediately proclaimed by Jesus to help us embrace the timeframes of this prophecy of worldwide judgment.

As far as whether the saints are present in the world at the return of Jesus, I say yes. No secret rapture. We’ll be caught up to meet Him in the air, but it never tells us we will all hang out in the air with Jesus after that. His coming across the sky has a landing plan. Jerusalem.

We are indeed to be delivered from the wrath to come (because we’re sons and daughters of God, and our accepting the payment by Jesus for the wrath awaiting us, is complete), but tribulation is not the wrath of God, it is the tribulation of God – brought upon the earth with the intent, by God, to draw the nations to Christ:

Hag 2:6-7
6 “For thus says the LORD of hosts: “Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;
7 ‘and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.
(NKJ)

“Tribulation” comes from the Greek word “tribulum” which was a heavy threshing stone (with sharp hardwood shards) pulled by a horse and used by the Greeks to separate (get this!) the wheat from the tares. Wheat and tares has some significance in Jesus’ teachings. Tribulation will, at the end, separate the good from the bad, the true from the false.

Facing the horror of crucifixion and separation from God, Jesus Himself, as a man, expressed pre-trib aspiration:

John 12:27
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
(NKJ)

Matt 26:42
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
(NKJ)

Thankfully, for all of us, Jesus – feeling the freedom to express His human feelings, expressed them, and then determined to resign Himself to embrace the perfect will of the Father, which was to not deliver Jesus out of His personal tribulation, but rather to walk Him through it, quite publicly, as a light to the world, His good deeds glorifying His Father in heaven. Phil 2 – let the same mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus….

God has an amazing plan to wrap up and culminate this theodramatic age between the two comings of Messiah. There is an age to come, but for it to come, all that was prophesied in both testaments has to and will come to pass. And we would do well to study and understand what God has revealed to us by His prophets. We are accountable to know what the Lord wants us to know.

Verily, verily, assuredly, you can bet on it, it will all happen. I do not want to be making excuses to a desperate world when the Lord starts troubling things in such a great manner as has never happened before, nor will ever happen again. He is God.

As Misty Edwards sings so prophetically in “Baptize My Heart” , I do not want to be offended when it’s all coming down. I want to be rooted and grounded in the love and faithfulness of a God Who has told us tough things so that we might have peace – knowing He has things fully under control.

Our place of security is in the place of intimacy. We are assured nothing else will work because nothing else has ever worked. Our prayer lives, our time with God, is key. No substitutes. In the Word. The Word in us.

The Spirit-led sons of God have to be manifested prior to the return of Jesus (Romans 8 and Ps 110). We are not called to simply hold the fort until He returns. We are called to be light and salt, out in the world, advancing the Kingdom. Warning every man, as Paul says – saint and sinner alike.

Verily. Verily.

Posted in Everything, Israel, Jesus, Movement of God, New Testament, Obedience, Old Testament, Tribulation | Leave a comment

Pray Pray Pray, then Pray some more

Posted on August 9, 2012 by ez3728

Paul wrote to Timothy, whom he loved desperately, that the following was God’s will:
1Thes 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(NKJ – as are all the verses)

“Without Ceasing” means never stopping. That’s a lot of prayer. What’s that about?
What it’s about is that God is wanting to communicate with His people all the time. And He has chosen prayer as being fundamental to that communication. Of course, being God, He can use any method He likes to communicate with us. He can use (as has used) angels, visions, dreams, earthquakes, whatever. But in His divine sovereignty, it would be wise for us to understand that God Himself, Who invented prayer, has established it as the primary means of communication between man and Himself.

Prayer is a remarkable opportunity for us. And it changes things. No wonder our enemy wants to present it to us as a burden and an obligation. There’s things that will only happen in and through prayer, and lots of prayer. It is difficult to cull down all of the examples of prayer into a few representative verses, but here goes:

Gen 20:17 (HEALING AND CHILD BEARING PRAYER) So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children;

Num 21:7 (REPENTANT INTERCESSION PRAYER) Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

1 Sam 2:1 (THANKSGIVING PRAYER) And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.

II Kin 4:33 (RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD PRAYER) He (Elijah) went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.

2 Chr 32:24 (PLEADING FOR HEALING PRAYER) In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the LORD; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign.
(NKJ)

Jonah 2:1 (DELIVERANCE PRAYER) Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.

Luke 9:29 (TRANSFIGURATION PRAYER) And as He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.

Acts 4:31 (HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM PRAYER) And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 13:3 (ANOINTING AND MINISTRY LAUNCHING PRAYER) Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

Luke 3:21 (PRAYER THAT OPENS THE HEAVENS) When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.

James 5:17-18 (CONTROL OVER NATURE PRAYER) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

History of revival will testify to us that the saints who went before us prayed by the hour, by the day, sometimes by the week, month and year. We might be into fast foods and instant messaging, and if you are driving off a cliff, a simple and urgent “HELP ME LORD!” would be a perfectly structured, complete and wonderful prayer model.

But typically we are not driving off cliffs, and sadly we often count minutes with God as our prayer lives. And we are missing out. And a lifestyle of only five minute toss-up prayers would surely not have us walking in the footsteps of countless successful folks who have walked before us – whose examples the writer of Hebrews tells us to follow.

As Paul said to Timothy (v 4-6) regarding disciplines and structure in our walk:
2 Tim 2:7 – Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
How much and when and what for, is between you and the Lord. LOTS OF PRAYER, however, has been found to be effective. And no one has ever overdosed on prayer, so no worries there.

God loves us SPENDING our lives on Him, and with Him. It is spent minute by minute, day by day, hour by hour – spent with Him instead of spending it elsewhere, on things that don’t matter, and are not eternal. Past revivals and outpourings typically erupted after some folks determined, and often covenanted that they would pray and pray and pray until something happened. And something always did.

Have you ever noticed that there is simply something different about the persona of someone who maintains an active prayer life? Go figure. Spend time with God and you will start behaving, talking, and walking more godly.

We have to be that people today. We are invited into that kind of pressing in. This is the heart of God about prayer and petition – it has not changed with the transition to NT life:

Isa 62:6-7
6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent,
7 And give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

God telling us to give Him no rest? Does that sound right? It does if you read Luke 18:1, where the unjust judge is compared, by contrast, to a loving heavenly Father Who invites us to petition and cry out and spend time with Him, in prayer. Nothing will take its place. In fact, the Church has tried everything instead of hours of prayer, and we’ve proven that nothing takes its place. You’d think we’d be praying more.

Alone, in groups, with the understanding of outspoken words, in the Holy Spirit’s heavenly language. Daytime and Noon and at Night. Hands raised. Bodies horizontal. On the floor. In your closet. At the altar. Inside. Outside. They are all good. Like Nike told us years ago: “Just Do It”.

2 Chr 7:14
14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
(NKJ)

That charge and promise is not to the ones who are not yet His people. That famous verse in 2 Chronicles, delivered by God to Solomon in a dream dialogue, is talking to you and me.

Posted in Everything, Personal Relationship, Prayer, Understanding & Knowing God | 2 Comments

Ps 107 – Whoever is wise will observe these things….

Posted on August 6, 2012 by ez3728

Ps 107

This is a profound psalm, and I’ve taught on it several times. It’s 43 verses, with the last verse teasing you to go back and read the first 42. Actually, I believe the author (some think David, some think it was after the return from captivity) probably simply wrote the psalm line by line, but for our purposes reading the 43rd verse is a good place to start.

43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
(NKJ)

The psalm is all about God’s amazing and merciful deliverances of four different groups – wanderers (v4), rebels (v11), fools (v17), and “those who go down to the sea in ships” (v23) – the last group representing folks who theoretically have their act together.

It doesn’t take excessive wisdom to conclude that pretty much any rescuer is exhibiting mercy and kindness to someone in peril, as the rescue-event occurs. But it does take a wise man to read this psalm and go deeper, and see that God, in His heavenly mercy, will even send trouble, as necessary, to get folks to cry out to Him. Ps 25:8 tells us He teaches sinners in the way. Good God.

V 5 has the Wanderers hungry and thirsty, without any one else to help (they must have looked elsewhere first), and their last resort is crying out to a good God.
V 12 shows us that GOD is the one Who brought the Rebels low, taking them to the place of utter desperation.
V 18 has the Fools at the point of death, despairing of life, prior to their shout-out.
V 25 has God once again bringing the trouble on the Got-It-Together folks, until after all their efforts fail, they realize they do not have it together, and they finally get humbled enough to cry out for help.

V 8 is V15, is V21, is V31 – whoever receives the mercy of God ought to bring forth the same response – give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.

So what do we have here? An amazing revelation of wisdom (V43) that God loves people so much He will send them trouble, so they can cry out to Him after all the silly pseudo-rescue plans of earth, fail. God is God. And His exercise of wisdom begins early, because He loves mankind so much that He will never affirm bad or destructive behavior.

Yes indeed – His mercy endures forever, but “enduring” means His mercy never gets completely exhausted. There are times when, God being God, it might not appear to some parties that His mercy (which is cloaked in righteousness) is actually being displayed. Proof-text might be Ps 136, where EVERY verse ends proclaiming “His mercy endures forever”, and meanwhile there’s a recounting of the drowning of the entire Egyptian army. It is good to know God as God. And that is the beginning of wisdom.

Ps 107:1-43
1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 And gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons–
11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High,
12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces.
15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two.
17 Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters,
24 They see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep.
25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.
29 He calms the storm, so that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.
31 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings.
36 There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
37 And sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease.
39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock.
42 The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
(NKJ)

On a personal note, there were some seriously sketchy times in my life, pre-Jesus. God, in His mercy, caused me to get desperate, feel chained, sniff at death, get my boat rocked, etc.

At different junctures, I can look back and see myself in all four of those groups of folks. I now give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. And I humbly suggest you can too. We have much to be thankful for.

Posted in Everything, Personal Relationship, Psalms, Repentance, Revelation(s), Understanding & Knowing God, Wisdom | 1 Comment

Backyard Idols

Posted on August 5, 2012 by ez3728

The days of Judges could be summed up by the final verse of the book – “everyone did what was right in their own eyes”. Jealous/zealous God (“qana” in Hebrew meaning both zealous and jealous) doesn’t do well when folks who’ve made a covenant with Him do what is right in their own eyes, His standards always being higher that ours. Example below:

Judg 6:1-31
1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,
2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.
3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.

Israel was literally getting its lunch eaten by the Midianites.

4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey.
5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it.
6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.
7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the LORD because of the Midianites,

Already this is good. The people finally (in crying out to God) do what they should have been doing before the trouble started. Trouble now becomes the great motivator. That’s a classic theme. And precious, merciful God responds when they finally cry out, first sending an unnamed prophet to remind them of the reason for trouble:
8 that the LORD sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage;
9 ‘and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10 ‘Also I said to you, “I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.'”

Now the Lord sends an angel, and Gideon asks the angel a WHY question that should not have been a question at all, had he read verse 1 (seriously – Deut 28:49-51 had already warned Israel of disobedience, and judgment by foreign nations – but when people do not know the word of God they are destined to relive the same errors, suffering the same consequences). The angel, knowing heaven’s purposes for Gideon, speaks out his future calling for boldness, while Gideon, treading wheat in a winepress, represents people trying to function in fear.

11 Now the Angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.
12 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
13 Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”
14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

Skipping over the classic and most favorite famous-fleece verses, let’s go on to see some housecleaning that was required of Gideon, by God, prior to Gideon walking in his deliverer anointing.

25 Now it came to pass the same night that the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it;
26 “and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.”
27 So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.
(NKJ)

Amazing account. Gideon had been living in a nationally self-inflicted, and truly fearful situation. Israel was living out correction-by-God days because of their disobedience. Eventually it gets terrible enough for them to cry out, and their cries are heard, prophets and angels give forth directives, a chosen man (who didn’t look the part) is called into service, and instructed to tear down some familiar, family altars. And then the good stuff happens.

Gideon didn’t finish all that well – getting a little hung up on Gideon-worship (he refused to be named king and then named his son “my dad is king” – Abi-melech. Go figure) and idolatry after his great triumph over the Philistines, but the point to be made in this writing is that when a nation is living in sin, it will find itself corrected by God.

Correction-by-nations was spoken of earlier in Deuteronomy 28 and also later again, in 1 Samuel.

2 Sam 7:14
14 “I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
(NKJ)

You’d think Israel would learn by now. You’d think America would learn by now.

Our nation made a covenant with God when we were founded. God holds people to their promises, and holds nations to theirs. Here’s a verse out of Isaiah that discloses Assyria as a judgment tool for the purposes of God. At this time we won’t even get off on speculations about Assyria extending beyond Isaiah’s own days:

Isa 7:17-18
17 “The LORD will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house– days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.”
18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
(NKJ)

One would hope that as nations begin treading wheat in winepresses, watching their own economies fail, taking their shoes off and x-ray-searching eighty year old grandmas at airports, that perhaps we might hasten some anointing-for-deliverance by looking into our own backyards and proactively tearing down our own idols, to clear the ground for a work of the Lord.

It’s convenient to even point to the sins of others, and recognize those offenses and causes for self-inflicted personal or even national trouble. But what about some potential Gideons getting their backyards cleared in advance of their angelic visitation, in preparation and hope of their deliverer callings. That would be you and me, my friend.

Posted in Everything, Prophets, Repentance, Sin, Suffering, Understanding & Knowing God | 1 Comment

Israel: God’s Ground Zero.

Posted on August 4, 2012 by ez3728

It’s perfectly fine to “pull scriptures down” into situations that are not precisely the complete fulfillment of their full purpose. Jesus quoted Isa 61 in the temple, and omitted “Day of Vengeance of the Lord”. It wasn’t time for the Day in Vengeance to be called forth, that day in the temple when Jesus stood up to read. And Jesus gets the timing thing.

Paul cited Isa 28 “with men of other tongues” to explain praying in strange tongues, although it is apparent that Isa 28 was first intended to prophesy the incoming invasion of the Babylonians. Both of course represent the invasion of foreign cultures and nations – in our case believers praying in tongues representing the invasion of the Kingdom of God into the earth.

Peter, in Acts 2 cries out the prophecy of Joel 2:29 – the outpouring of God, to describe the upper room event, even though the FULL-fillment of that Joel-prophecy was yet to completely occur – the moon did not turn to blood (Joel 2:31) on the day of Pentecost.

All that said, when the Spirit of the Lord is guiding someone, it is OK to pull down scriptures, in obedience to the Spirit. And that, of course, is guaranteed to offend the religious spirit – which is fine with God.

All THAT said, we also would do well to respect and embrace the actual and original context in which a word from the Lord was first revealed.

Which leads us to Ezekiel.

Here’s most of the children of Israel, in captivity because of their ongoing disobedience, and a bunch of guys (Ezekiel and some likely holy friends) hanging out near the River Chebar, and God decides that one guy in particular is going to receive some powerful revelation (Ezek 3:1 – the word came “expressly to Ezekiel”).

(Now remember Matt 5:17-18 – Jesus told us ALL has to be fulfilled – and goes on to clearly warn us against teaching anything other than that – it can reduce our reward, no matter what the intent of our error).

Note that this prophecy is not to PEOPLE, but rather to PHYSICAL EARTH.
Ezek 36:1-33
1 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD!
2 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,'”‘
3 “therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people”–
4 ‘therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD (VERY OBVIOUSLY WHO/WHAT HE IS TALKING TO IS NOW LISTED) to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around–
5 ‘therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.”‘
6 “Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” (The LAND as well as the people had borne shame for the sins of the people).
7 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame. (Strong stuff, God taking an oath. To whom did He swear? Ans: To Himself and to the reader)
8 “But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.
9 “For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.
10 “I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. (ALL the house of Israel, and then duplicated again in confirmation. When God says ALL, He means ALL).
11 “I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
12 “Yes, I will cause men to walk on you (for the EARTH, men walking on it is a good thing. For PEOPLE, men walking on you meant destruction, in Scripture), My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them of their children.”
13 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because they say to you, ‘You devour men and bereave your nation of children,’
14 “therefore you shall devour men no more, nor bereave your nation anymore,” says the Lord GOD.
15 “Nor will I let you hear the taunts of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore,” says the Lord GOD.'”
16 Moreover (MOREOVER – as if that was not enough) the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. (God had taken note of every sin of Israel, prior to the captivity)
18 “Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. (This is the God who never changes)
19 “So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.
20 “When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name– when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone out of His land.’
21 “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went.
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel (which is what the proud Jewish folks were/are inclined to think), but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.
23 “And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.
24 “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

(This next verse is often quoted as being a promise for the recipients of NT salvation, AND THERE’s truth there, but let’s appreciate it in its context – this points to the end times, once Messiah returns, and the people of Israel gaze upon the One whom they have pierced, and accept Him for Who He is)
26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
28 “Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
29 “I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you.
30 “And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
31 “Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations.
(That is not Jewish guilt: “loathe yourselves”, it is a remembrance, with regret, of the foolishness and madness of sin. Point well made.)
32 “Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”
33 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt.
(NKJ)

DRY BONES – all of Chapter 37 – I suggest you read it all – This amazing sequence is often applied to dry and dead saints who are promised restoration by a sovereign work of God. Amen – but I have to see this as what it is – a promise to Israel. Of course if the Lord breathes on these verses for other purpose, run with it. Some notable points are below (beyond Ezekiel’s obedience to prophecy as commanded, and the magic of what he saw in this long-distant vision of mass resurrection)

Ezek 37:11-12
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’
12 “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
(NKJ)

We know the dead will rise when the Lord returns. These verses fit. And He is working a special work within the house of Israel. Not enough time to go deep into all that in one already-long blog, but more might be expressed later.

CHAPTER 38 – a good prophetic read. Certainly is HHY (Hasn’t Happened Yet, so it has yet to occur). Gog and Magog, Rosh, etc. can in part be traced to Gen 10:2. At best, educated folks speculate as to the precise nations involved here, but some nations are named by names that are still familiar to us. All this coordinates with Zech 14:2, where the Lord says He will gather ALL nations, so named or not named, the point is well made, with the named being specifically pointed to by God.)

Ezek 38:4-23
4 “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws (in like spiritual fashion to how the Babylonians physically, torturously brought many of the Jews into captivity, leading them through the Ishtar Gate, referred to as the Gate of Satan – which Hitler reconstructed in Berlin – you can google that www.google.com), and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.
5 “Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;
6 “Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops– many people are with you.
7 “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.
8 “After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.
9 “You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”
10 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:
11 “You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’–
12 “to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
13 “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?'”‘
14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it? (It will infuriate the demonized nations that Israel is in existence, simply trying to live out their lives, in their land).
15 “Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
16 “You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”
17 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?
18 “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face.
19 “For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,
20 ‘so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’
21 “I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
22 “And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 “Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”‘
(NKJ)

Lots is HHY (Hasn’t Happened Yet) – but surely will, confirms our Lord. This post is a cursory look, at best, but it ought to magnify both the charge and the blessing associated with Ps 122 – the saints praying for the peace of Jerusalem. It is KEY to all that has yet to occur, and Jerusalem is Ground Zero for God’s plans of redemption and glory. And His priorities need to be our priorities.

No wonder Zech 2 tells us that offending Israel is like poking our God in His eye.

God owns all the earth (Ps 24:1, and elsewhere) but there’s something special about the LAND of Israel (as well as the people, my people).

Lev 25:2
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD.
(NKJ)

Lev 25:21-23
21 ‘Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.
22 ‘And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
23 ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
(NKJ)

Mine Mine Mine, says the Lord. And all that He has promised will occur. We are invited to learn of His plans, press into them, pray into them, and rejoice that His end plan is a good one.

When we pray “Your will be done” it is wisdom to understand as much of His revealed will as possible, so that we can pray with knowledge and understanding, and anticipation, hastening the coming of the Lord.

Jesus (Matt 24:29), says that “IMMEDIATELY” after some wild events, He will appear. Immediately means not 2,000 years later. In the dictionary “immediately” means immediately. All the prophecies of tough stuff happening were not fulfilled in the first century. Some were partially filled, obviously.

My flesh sort of wishes all the tough stuff would have happened already – that Nero was the complete and final Mr. 666. But too much did NOT happen back between 33AD and 100AD for us to happily check everything off. Like Ezekiel, for instance. Or Zechariah.

The joy of the Lord is our strength, always. His yoke is easy and His burden is light, always. We move forward into the world loving the lost, repairing the breaches, bringing hope to the world, always. And we embrace the whole word of God, always.

Posted in Everything, Holy Speech, Holy Spirit, Israel, Movement of God, Prayer, Prophecy, Understanding & Knowing God | 1 Comment

Global WARNING, not Global Warming

Posted on August 3, 2012 by ez3728

The weather has always been an issue. Society originally being completely agrarian, weather could mean survival or ruin, in short season. Crops and animals (hey, our food prices), travel and warfare – have always all been dependent upon weather. Ask Napoleon or Hannibal or Hitler (3 ego-maniacs with huge armies), crossing the mountains of Europe in snowy winters does not work.

In the Garden, the weather was perfect. After the fall of man, and during the cataclysmic events of the Flood (memorialized in most every ancient culture), lots of things got shifted and changed. The earth cracked open and waters came UP out of the earth – as well as rain falling from the sky for the first time.

Gen 6:13
13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
(NKJ)

Gen 6:17
17 “And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
(NKJ)

Gen 7:10-12
10 And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
(NKJ)

And we’ve had weather ever since – low pressure fronts trying to compensate for high pressure fronts, all that kind of stuff. A world off-axis, shaken the first time by God in judgment, still reeling from that event. Of course we know there’s a promise of a greater shaking event, but that is towards the end of time.

So God, identified by His warrior title – Adonai T’sva-oat (King of the Universe and Commander of the Armies of heaven – sounds more robust than Lord Almighty or Lord of Hosts), tells us that those kind of geographical as well as physical shakings are under His control.

Back To Weather.

Amos 4:5-13
5 Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; for this you love, you children of Israel!” Says the Lord GOD.
6 “Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
7 “I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
9 “I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig trees, and your olive trees, the locust devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
10 “I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt; your young men I killed with a sword, along with your captive horses; I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
11 “I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; yet you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
12 “Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13 For behold, he who forms mountains, and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth– the LORD God of hosts is His name.
(NKJ)

In Amos, God reveals His sovereign control and utilization of weather, and its resultant effect. He is in charge. Always has been. Always will be. And meanwhile mankind wants to come up with bumper-stickers philosophies like “S— Happens”.

My bible tells me that a little sparrow does not fall to the ground without the Father knowing it, so I can write off any happenings as just happening. And He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50) And the hills.

So God uses weather to deal with man. He uses other things as well, anything He so chooses, and may deem necessary – because the priority is man returning to God, not things going smoothly (Matt 18:8).

God will even call forth one nation against another.

Isa 45:5-9
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’
8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it.
9 “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
(NKJ)

And how has our weather been lately? Droughts, famines, weird stuff. Extreme heat. Fish dying for lack of oxygen, in heated waters. And these reports are increasing in both frequency and intensity. We don’t even bring up the earthquake in Japan any more. Google and see how it’s going for those poor folks. They are still living it.

This is not about global WARMING. This is about Global WARNING.

God, not willing that any perish but that all will come to repentance, is dealing with mankind. Will we respond? Will the believers please respond first, and get some 2 Chron 7:14 activity onto their Priority List?

Getting that into our lifestyles is more than one sober message delivered in clarity and humility, responded to by one on-our-faces altar call (or pray while remaing comfortably in your chairs, beloved brethren, if it is asking too much of you to get up and actually present your body before God).

God is doing something, and when He acts, we are responsible to respond.

Paul, in Colossians 1:28, said he warned (admonished) every man. Saved and unsaved.

Posted in Creation, End Times Related, Everything, Understanding & Knowing God | Leave a comment

Pages v Posts

Posted on August 3, 2012 by ez3728

I am beginning to understand the difference between Pages and Post. Silly me, I’ve been posting new PAGES behind the first one. Meanwhile, someone visiting this site, would have been thinking nothing fresh had been added since its first day. My bad.

I can see from My Stats that lots of folks have visited and read the more up-front pages, and some of the back pages were visited less frequently, perhaps because folks never realized their existence, figuring the site was unchanged from their prior visits – the July Most Recent Post day remained unchanged.

There’s been lots of fresh new POSTS (look at the title list in the top graphic) and you can click on ‘Zechariah’ or any other title and read new writings that were added after the original.

I am getting this weblog thing.

I know the Lord is happy with my progress, and keeps reminding me of things to express, so I am fine.

And new POSTS will be added from now on, so when you visit, you will more easily encounter latest writings.

Blessings.

Posted in Everything | Leave a comment