“As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’” (John 9:1-5)
Please note the Lord didn’t say this man was blind to the glory of God but rather that his blindness would be an occasion for the glory of God to be revealed. The man’s terrible, difficult, lifelong condition was an opportunity for the Lord to be exalted. That is the Jesus mentality. As He said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
The darkness is the divine setup for the light. The sickness is the divine setup for the healing. The current Corona virus crisis is the divine setup for the church to arise and shine and make a difference. We must seize this moment before it passes (and then, in the aftermath, once it passes). We must milk it to the full for the glory of God. I hope you agree.
The big question for us all should be: What does God want to accomplish through this crisis? We all know the answer to that is: More will come to know their saviour, Jesus Christ and therefore the goodness of God. So, let’s seize the moment and redeem the crisis with our actions to reach out to those God has brought across our path.
An important video for pastors but also for all saints. It will help them understand what has happened to the church in becoming an institution. A long way from the church in the beginning, as described in the Book of Acts.
A great testimony from a former Methodist pastor who eventually had to resign from his church. A holy spirit filled pastor, speaking in tongues, and intent on taking the church out into the marketplace was not wanted by most of the church. The good news is that before he resigned many in the church became spirit filled believers and of course a church split resulted. You need to listen to his story and understand what is wrong with the institutional church. Hopefully, it will challenge many to get into prayer to find out what God is calling them to do at this climactic time in the history of His planet. The Bible reveals that we are in the “end times”. Two important “end times” signs given by Jesus to His disciples in the Olivet Discourse; 1. rebirth of Israel as a nation has occurred and 2. apostasy in the church is happening.
Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to be our COUNSELLOR, COMFORTER and TEACHER. He will direct us into all truth if we ask HIM. Every time you open your Bible ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to you. He knows what you need and when you need it.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”John 14:26
I believe the following Scripture reveals that our spirit was always meant to be the vessel of the Holy Spirit. It is only when we have the Holy Spirit in our spirit that we can be holy, and our spirit is the lamp of the Lord.
The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart. Proverbs 20:27
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-16
If you are not desiring to spend time in God’s Word something is desperately wrong, at the very least, you are quenching the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and certainly grieving Him.
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
Great message from young man prepared to go out on the streets of New Orleans. Not sure how many heard the message, as the streets were deserted.
God is shaking things like never before. I have never experienced anything like it. The impact this virus will have on the world economy is enormous but for Christians it is not a time to be fearful, just the opposite, it is opportunity time. My recent post: GOOD NEWS: GOD’S WAKE UP CALL IS WORKING is worth a look if you haven’t done so. It demonstrates God’s shaking is having the effect He wanted.
Considering the content of my last post, GOD IS FORCING CHURCH TO CHANGE, I was delighted to read the results of the recent Joshua Fund Survey.
A March 20 National Survey indicates that nearly half of the country now believes that the deadly coronavirus pandemic sweeping the Nation and the Globe is a “wake-up call” from God, and one-third see this as the “last days” foretold by the Bible. This new key finding was revealed in the Joshua Fund’s survey. According to the survey, some 44% believed that the current pandemic is a “wake-up call for us to turn back to faith in God” and “signs of coming judgement,” said the Joshua Fund, a charitable organisation created to mobilise Christians to “bless Israel and her neighbours in the name of Jesus.”
According to Joel Rosenberg, creator of the Joshua Fund, “millions are turning to God, the Bible, and Christian sermons for answers, some of them for the first time. That may be the most important silver lining in this crisis so far.” One-third of respondents of this poll also said they fear the end really is near. The Joshua Fund said that “29% said they believe that this crisis indicates that ‘We are living in what the Bible calls the ‘last days.’”
However, as can be seen from the following chart, 63% of the non Christian respondents said that the crisis has not changed their mind. They still have no interest in God or spiritual matters. Sadly, 50% of Christian respondents said they have no more interest in God or spiritual matters as a result of the pandemic.
How many Christians believe God is bringing this pestilence for His purposes much as He brought the ten plagues on Egypt to force Pharaohs hand?
God, being the sovereign judge over the nations, is the theme throughout the Bible. Christians should have no doubt God is working out His plans and purposes in His world. Much of the Bible is prophecy, almost two thirds fulfilled prophecy so we know that the rest of the prophecies, much about the “end times” before Jesus returns to rule and reign with a rod of iron, will come to pass.
In a short period, God has shut down the activity and economy of the developed nations of the world! Sadly, the world so deceived by an evolutionary world view no longer believes God exists let alone controls all events in the Cosmos. A recent Barna survey revealed most Christians now don’t hold a Biblical world view. They need to be reminded afresh that Yahweh alone is the true sovereign Lord. Let me remind you of what the Bible says is coming.
“For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up — and it shall be brought low — They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily.” Isaiah 2:12, 19
The arrogance of humankind, seduced by its self-focused affluence, makes this generational visitation a necessity.
Due to the massive proliferation of this virulent outbreak God has hopefully caused every person to consider their fragility and mortality.
“Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”Psalm 90:11
With schools cancelled and parents working from home, God has forced families to spend time together. Hopefully, mothers, fathers, siblings and spouses are connecting in a meaningful manner.
Now, more than ever, church will have to go to another level in faith and dependence upon God for their sustenance. Those who lack experiential faith and intimacy with God during these days will either pursue an encounter with the living God or experience deep despair and failure.
With less emphasis on the large crowd, many church initiatives have collapsed down to personal touch rather than programmatic persuasion. For too long, the term “church” was equated to what took place within the four walls of a building on Sunday mornings. The success of a congregation was primarily gauged by how many people were present for service. We even call the facilities that are being used for service, “church.” The coronavirus pandemic has proven that the church can no longer be defined by a single Sunday morning service. My prayer is; it will get back to holding a Biblical worldview knowing the Bible provides the only true history of God’s world. It tells us the end of the story. What we can expect to unfold in the years ahead before Jesus return. Watch this space and together we will see world events unfold exactly as prophesied.
The Rapture initiates Jesus second coming, not to earth, but to receive the risen saints in the air and to take them to heaven. The same day that the rapture occurs will be the same day that The Day of the Lord’s Wrath will begin.
The apostle Paul links the return of Christ with The Day of the Lord’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:9). Paul teaches that when Christ returns to pour out His wrath upon the wicked, His return will be like a thief, and it will occur suddenly like a woman in labour pangs:
“For you know quite well that The Day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night. Now when they are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction comes on them, like labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3
Before the battle of Armageddon occurs, the world will have been devastatingly pummelled by TheDay of the Lord trumpets and bowls judgements. The wicked will clearly know that the judgements are from God (see Revelation 6:14–17; 9:20–21; 11:3–19; 14:6–11; 16:9–11, 21; 17:14 cf. Luke 21:25–28). By the time the divine trumpets and bowls have been poured out, the battle of Armageddon will not be a surprise! It climaxes the period of God’s wrath, not initiates it. Paul clearly teaches that the wrath of God will not begin until the second coming of Christ at the Rapture, which will catch the wicked off guard as a thief with sudden destruction as a woman in hard labour. Therefore, Armageddon cannot be considered the beginning of the second coming.
Jesus taught the exact same point that sudden destruction will occur when the second coming begins, using five parables/illustrations: 1. Noah and the flood, one taken and one left, 2. the thief in the night, 3. the master of the household, 4. the ten virgins, and 5. the talents (Matthew 24:37–25:30; cf. Luke 17:28–30).
Peter also draws the “thief” motif from Jesus’s Olivet Discourse illustrating the sudden destruction when the parousia begins (2 Peter 3:10–12).
Jesus, Paul, and Peter are consistent in their message that the second coming of Christ at The Rapture will begin like a thief catching the wicked off guard in their oblivious state.
Since the battle of Armageddon occurs at the end of God’s wrath, the second coming does not begin with Armageddon, because that would remove the surprise element—the whole point of invoking the thief metaphor!
The resurrection and rapture, followed by the trumpets and bowls judgements, will occur at a much earlier point than the climax of God’s wrath at the battle of Armageddon and Jesus second coming to earth to rescue Israel.
The following explanation of the parenthetical exhortation that seems arbitrarily placed in Revelation 16:14-16 is extracted and abbreviated from Alan Kurschner’s post “The Day of the Lord’s Wrath Begins before Armageddon” Eschatos Ministries.
Revelation 16:14–16 begins at the 6th Bowl judgement just before the 7th and last Bowl judgement which precedes the Battle of Armageddon
“For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful. (Look ! I will come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.) Now the spirits gathered the kings and their armies to the place that is called Armageddon in Hebrew.” Revelation 16:14–16
This parenthetical exhortation in Revelation 16:15 is not intended to give a temporal indicator to when the Lord will return, as is often interpreted. It does not mean that his parousia has not occurred up to this point with the church still on earth. Nor does it mean that his parousia will begin at Armageddon. it makes no sense to say that Jesus is coming back as a “thief” after the world just experienced his previous earth-destroying judgements.
So then how should we understand this parenthetical statement that seems to be arbitrarily placed at this point. As it is placed at the culmination of God’s wrath, the likely meaning is that the warning represents the unified complex-whole of the day of the Lord’s wrath. And what are the implications of this statement? There are basically three interpretations but the one I believe it means is; the one who does not stay alert is a false believer (the many nominal Christians in our churches today), who will be left on earth and on the receiving end of God’s wrath.
Rhett and Link” are a popular YouTube comedy duo.1 They were once professing Christians but have recently come out as “hopeful agnostics”. On their popular podcast, Ear Biscuits, they each spent a couple of hours detailing their walk away from the faith.2,3 This video put together by Dr Robert Carter of CMI is in response to those podcasts to help other struggling Christians with issues raised by Rhett and Link.
From my standpoint Rob does a great job of dealing with the issues both raise. Most of the issues arise out of their belief that evolution is true and due to the fact they have read books which support theistic evolution. Both came to the conclusion that it is untenable to believe the Bible and theistic evolution which is true.
This video is worth watching several times as it contains a lot of helpful information, presented well, which you can use in your efforts to bring the good news of Christ to those destined to punishment and a second death in the Lake of Fire after facing God at the White Throne Judgement.
The Living God can stop this pandemic in a second. Know, He is allowing it to test us all, in every nation.
Is God’s sovereignty ever acknowledged or mentioned in the media (except when He is mocked), in press briefings, in any statement by government leaders? Sadly, not.
In the USA and Australia, we have men in Trump and Morrison who declare they are Christians and will join prayer groups to pray. However, both nations have legislated abortion and gay marriage which has brought them under God’s judgement. Unless these abominations are repented of and changed we can only expect further judgements. Based on God’s end times prophecies, pestilences, famines, earthquakes and other so called natural disasters escalate, so I would venture to say nations don’t repent and only Jesus return to rule and reign with a rod of iron will put things right.
As I said at the start of this blog, God could end this Pandemic in an instant and history reveals He has done it in the past. There have been leaders of nations particularly of the USA and the UK that have had great faith for the Living God to provide miracles and God has always delivered, provided they gave Him the honour.
In 1777, a year after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the signers met again in Philadelphia, a city that was about to be overrun by the British. The war was not going well; the untrained army was losing battles; John Adams and the other signers could all be captured and hung for treason. One local doctor asked John Adams: “Sir, given these circumstances, how ever can we defeat the British given their skill and their size? John Adams replied: ” We will defeat the enemy if we fear God and repent of our sins.” These two key spiritual strategies outlined in 2 Chronicles 7:14: publicly honouring Christ and repenting of sins, personally and as a people, opened the heavens for the Lord to make the battle His.
The Southern Campaign and the American Revolution
“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.”(2 Chronicles 7:14)
Another occasion John Adams called on the Lord was when he sought to avoid war with France in 1798 and 1799. President Adams called for national days of “Public Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer.” Adams noted: ” ..the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgement of this truth is…an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him….this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty and of danger….”
Church it is time to wake up and realise we are living in the “end times” prophesied in Scripture. Sadly, we know there is a great falling away in the church as it has already compromised with the world and its values. It’s time for the remnant to be courageous and be the light in this darkening world. We have a job to do, to preach the good news of Christ thereby providing hope where there is none.
Love this video: Could the World’s Darkest Hour become the church’s finest hour. It suggests; it’s opportunity time for the church. As church buildings close, Christians are starting to ask questions about how they can be church now. Realisation occurs to some, that the church has never been the building, but the people in the building, and that those people are called to be a blessing to a dying world. Jesus has charged them to bring the good news of Christ to these lost souls destined for judgement by their Creator, punishment and finally a second death.
“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.Revelation 20:6
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 