40,000 REVIVAL PRAYER GROUPS SPRING UP AS TAIWAN’S CHRISTIANS FACE WAR

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Source: CBN News

China’s sabre-rattling has been escalating for months. “Tensions are peaking. Beijing’s belligerence is once again making Taipei jittery,” said a report from WION News. China’s military recently released a video showing what simulated attacks on Taiwan would look like. “A war here in Taiwan would have catastrophic economic consequences not just for this island, but for the whole world,” warned SkyNews London in a report from Taipei. The tiny island off the mainland coast is now facing almost daily Chinese military harassment. “Taiwan is beefing up its military and training with new U.S. weapons,” reported CBS News, as its military prepares for possible full-scale war. “To be clear, we do not seek conflict or confrontation, but we will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion,” said a defiant U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. While the war drums grow louder by day, Taiwan’s Christians are taking to their knees by night.”The united prayers and fasting prayers of the churches in Taiwan are much more than ever before. It’s an unprecedented prayer movement,” Brian Lu, pastor of Shekinah House of Bread of Life in Taipei, told CBN News.

All across this island, people are meeting every day, 24 hours a day, to pray for revival, unity, repentance, and protection over their land. “I believe something so simple is starting to have such a huge impact upon people in the church and also the people around the church,” said Gordon Huang, a prominent church leader. Huang pastors one of Taiwan’s most well-known congregations. His church sits atop the iconic landmark known as Taipei 101 in the heart of the capital city. He fears war with China is coming and wants Christians to be ready. “I think one thing for sure is that people are going to be so shaken and people will want to hear the Gospel. Are you ready or are you going to be on the run yourself?” Huang told CBN News. That theme of shaking gripped Don Young two years ago. “I had heard from the Lord: ‘Time is short, the hour is urgent, it’s time to pray’,” he recalls. In May of 2021, Pastor Young says the Lord spoke to him and gave him a word that there was going to be a shaking coming to this nation. He brought that message to the church leaders of the island and that gave birth to a prayer movement that has since swept across Taiwan.

The Revival Prayer Group or RPG movement began, made up of a handful of people in groups taking turns around the clock to pray for Taiwan. “Prayer is the only way that you can get through anything shaking,” said Young who now works with the Georgia-based College of Prayer International. “Jesus said everything by prayer. He did nothing apart from prayer. Before it was just kind of a moment with God, we all have them, but now it was shaping up to become a movement for God. There’s a huge difference between a moment and a movement.” “Because RPG has two or three people in a group, so if one day a war happens and there are no physical buildings that people can meet in, we can still pray in small groups so the church will not be affected,” said Pastor Lu. Peter Yang has pastored and planted churches in Taiwan since 1978 and says he’s never seen the kind of unity now on display. Churches across denominational lines have been joining the initiative.

“What’s happening today is so rare,” said Rev. Yang who leads the Taiwan Christian Alliance. “Every day, every week, I join pastors from other churches, other denominations, and we pray for our cities, for our nation for other countries. It’s amazing, it’s clearly God’s doing. Unity will be the legacy of this movement.”

More than 40,000 Revival Prayer Groups have sprouted up, with members of China’s underground church movement also taking part. Each group has about 5 members, so that brings the current total to roughly 200,000 participants. “We want to have 300,000 RPG groups where we also unite with churches in China, coming together, all the leaders and members, on both sides, so we can pray with the goal of impacting China as well,” said Yang. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year sent a chill across this island nation of 23 million people with many drawing comparisons between Putin’s obsession with taking over Ukraine and Xi Jinping’s determination to “annex” Taiwan.

Many fear war can erupt here with little notice and it’s prompting some to search for peace amid constant threats from Beijing. “Many people came and joined RPG because they heard testimonies of how God is answering prayer, so you have a lot of unbelieving people joining RPG and as they open their mouths and pray, they experience the Lord so they are coming to the Lord as well,” said Pastor Huang. CBN News spoke with church leaders who said a potential Taiwan-China war would be like David facing down Goliath, bringing untold devastation and loss of life. They believe prayer can make the difference between war and peace.  “We ask churches around the world to pray for this most dangerous place in the world today so that God’s peace can come upon cross-strait relations,” said Pastor Lu. “Ethnic Chinese should not kill one another, but instead, we should together fulfill the end-time missions’ movement, to bring the Gospel back to Jerusalem.”

This is just another end-times sign and it is great to see that Taiwanese Christians recognize it and are responding to it.

DO WE HAVE AN IMMORTAL SOUL?

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Modern, mainstream Christianity teaches that our bodies die, but we live on as souls. So why does the Bible teach something else entirely? Knowing what your soul is—and what happens to it after you die—is a core concept of Christianity. Join Gary Black as he explains both the biblical teaching of the soul and how that teaching became corrupted over the centuries.

“Then when death comes to a man, the mortal part, it seems dies, but the immortal part goes away unharmed and undestroyed withdrawing from death.” Plato, Phaedo 106e

Understanding the soul is not immortal is critical to understanding that eternal conscious torment is not the fate of the unrepentant.

“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:14-15

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8-9

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

WHY YOUNG AMERICANS DISSOCIATE FROM ORGANISED RELIGION

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Younger Americans are more likely to dissociate from organized religion, according to a recent Pew Research study on religious “nones.

Fully 69% of ‘nones’ say they believe in the God of the Bible or some other higher power, but only 3% “go to religious services at least monthly,” and a plurality (43%) says religion does more harm than good. These numbers don’t show “a rejection of God,” Perkins interpreted, but rather a rejection of “organized religion, that in many ways has become milquetoast and has abandoned truth. ‘So,’ [think the ‘nones’], ‘why bother?’”

An exploding number of young Americans are drifting through life without any theological mooring. Many of them were raised in the church, yet they remain largely ignorant of the Bible and its teachings

The real reason is that churches and Bible Schools have compromised God’s Word by accepting evolution and billions of years as fact. The Bible reveals that God made a perfect world about 6000 years ago. Adam was made in God’s image on the sixth day and given dominion over all the earth. He was there at the beginning. Death and suffering entered the world as a consequence of Adam and Eve disobeying God. The world rejects this true history as it does the Biblical account of the worldwide flood of Noah’s day when God judged the world and destroyed all but eight people and the animals that God had brought to the Ark. The entire topography of the Earth was changed due to the catastrophic flood “All the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened” Genesis 7:11. It is the reason we find billions of dead things buried all over the world including buried vegetation (fossil fuels). The world denies this event ever happened but has difficulty explaining the geological evidence.

Children are taught in schools that the universe started with the Big Bang. Life started in a primordial soup. Creatures evolved into more complex creatures as a result of natural selection and mutation. After much death and suffering men and women evolved from apelike ancestors. The survival of the fittest. God is not necessary and therefore does not exist. Does science support this theory?

The recent Encode project investigated DNA and its role in controlling the functions of all cells in the body. It revealed that DNA is a multi-dimensional assembly of information that controls the machines and transport devices in cells. Darwin did not have access to an electron microscope to see these complicated machines and transport devices inside all cells nor the DNA, the Information System that controls these machines. Information does not derive from matter or energy. There is only one source an Intelligent Designer who was outside of the universe (Time, Matter, and Space) He created. There is no way even the simplest cell could have evolved over time. The DNA, the information controlling the machines, and the complex machines had to be created perfectly at the same time to function – irreducible complexity.

God has raised up ministries such as Creation Ministries International, http://www.creation.com, and Answers in Genesis, http://www.answersingenesis.org to provide resources to present the case for creation so make sure you connect and support them.

CURSE ISRAEL AND GOD WILL CURSE YOU

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Jonathan Cahn opens up two stunning prophetic signs of judgment,  from the Turkish Parliament to Buenos Aires, Argentina, from the Abrahamic Covenant to the order of creation, from Israel to Pope Francis, the hand of God in real time and space!

There are consequences for cursing Israel. The Abrahamic Covenant declares that God will curse those who curse Israel.

“I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3

In the Turkish parliament, a member called down judgment on Israel and was struck dead. See it in this video.

Hasan Bitmez, 53, a member of parliament from the Islamist Saadet Partisi, or Felicity Party, died at the Ankara City Hospital.

Bitmez collapsed at the lectern of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on Tuesday after calling down a curse on Israel for what they were doing to Hamas.

GOD KNOWS YOUR HEART: EVERYONE THE FATHER GIVES TO JESUS WILL COME TO HIM

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“Jesus answered them. Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal.” John 6:26-27

When Jesus talked to the crowd about desiring “food which endures to eternal life,” the people only thought about sustenance to fill their famished bodies. The men and women listening that day could not believe that Jesus was who He said He was — the Bread of Life, the One doing the Father’s will, from Heaven. They sought after Jesus to fulfill their temporal problems.

The crowd wrongly believed that they had to do “the works of God” for this bread that Jesus was promising them. Even though the people still could not grasp His spiritual meaning, Jesus reversed their flawed theology by telling the multitudes that they, being mere sinful humans, could not do God’s work to obtain the bread that He was offering them. These people thought they could earn God’s favor and provision based on their legalistic obedience to the Mosaic Law, and Jesus used this interaction to expose their pride and self-righteousness.

The crowd in this narrative displayed the very position of many unbelievers who claim that they would believe if Jesus would just do “this” or “that.” These unbelievers fail to realize they do not have the power to change their own hearts. Unbelievers cannot believe based on external signs. They need an internal transformation; they require the work of God in their hearts. Men and women, boys and girls, must realize that until they put down their own dreams of self-righteousness, autonomy, and authority — and until they are willing to come to Jesus solely on His terms (not theirs), they will never believe. That willingness comes from God alone.

Jesus emphasized that their unbelief, which they conditioned on the appearance of a sign, was irrelevant to the plan of salvation. No matter how the crowd responded to Him, Jesus would not lose a single person given to Him by the Father that day. Jesus was on a divine mission — not to do His own will, but the will of the Father.

While the unbelieving crowd could not comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ words to them, these statements from our Lord should bring tremendous joy and peace in the hearts of all believers. The logic of this passage first demonstrates that every one the Father gives Jesus will come to Him. Not a single person will resist, reject, or refuse to come — at least not determinatively. All those given to the Son by the Father will come.

The passage also shows that all who come to Jesus will be received by Him. Jesus never rejects anyone who comes to Him because believers are a gift from the Father to the Son. As such, Jesus will raise every believer to eternal life on the last day. No one given by the Father will be lost. Jesus will remember all believers forever. This understanding should comfort every believer, that on their deathbeds, they can fade from this world in perfect peace, knowing with full assurance that Jesus will not abandon them in eternity.

When Jesus finished His discourse with these multitudes, He was left with 12 around Him — and one was a devil (Judas). Peter’s response to Jesus signified the heart of a true disciple: one who leaves everything behind, placing all hope and trust in their Savior and Lord. The response from Peter and 10 others highlights how true disciples respond to the Gospel.

Believers have been given an understanding of Jesus’ words — something that Peter proved with his response to Jesus. The crowd never accepted that Jesus was pointing to Himself as the true bread that came from Heaven; they kept thinking about physical bread to feed their growling stomachs, and that they needed to bring something to the table to manipulate Him into giving them what they wanted.

For believers, John 6 is such a beautiful and sobering picture of how we could never have obtained salvation of our own volition. When we were unbelievers, we were more concerned with our earthly needs, and we focused on what our works could do to gain us our temporal desires. We thought it was our plan that might move God to do what we wanted, when and how we wanted Him to act.

Only through Jesus, the Bread of life, can anyone come to a right understanding of who He is and receive the full and free forgiveness He alone offers through the eternal plan of salvation, what He accomplished on The Cross, salvation by His grace through faith in His name.

Adapted from the article “Earthly Concerns Will Blind You to Heavenly Realities” By Robb Brunansky, Op-ed contributor to Christian Post, Saturday, January 27, 2024

THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE MILLENNIUM

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The Kingdom of God has several phases. One important but neglected Kingdom phase is the Millennium as it is a future transition phase on this Earth. Much of the church teaches that the millennium is being fulfilled today and yet the Bible teaches that it follows prophesied events that are yet to occur: worldwide tribulation, cosmic signs, the wrath of God, the rescue of God’s people, and the judgement of nations. Testimony of the millennium is found in both testaments of the Bible. The Old Testament prophets tell of a future time when Israel’s prophesied Messiah will rule all the nations of Earth. It is a time very different from our present age and the coming eternal state with a new Heaven and a new Earth. The New Testament tells us how long this intermediate period will be – one thousand years.

Since the Fall of Man, God has enacted a plan to bring this rebel planet back into conformity with His universal kingdom in which His will is perfectly done. Part of this plan is for His Son, Jesus, the Messiah, to rule the nations, including his enemies from Jerusalem. Israel is restored, the nation God established for His purposes. Jesus and the Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron (see Psalm 2: The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed, Psalm 110, and Rev. 2:26-27).

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron…” Revelation 2:26

Jesus must fulfill the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants and rule over the planet that rejected Him. When this phase of the Kindom is completed this world will be destroyed. The rest of the dead are raised to face Jesus at the White Throne judgement. God creates a new heaven and new earth where only the righteous will dwell, at which time Jesus will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR PLANET EARTH ON GOD’S AGENDA?

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We already know how the next few years will play out. Why? Because the Bible, God’s Word is largely a book of prophecy. There are more than 1,000 Bible prophecies about Jesus’ second coming to Earth so I am sure God wants to prepare us for this event. Sadly, the religious leaders of the time of Jesus first coming to Earth misread it totally, not because of what the Scriptures said but because they wanted a Saviour from their Roman oppressors. They did not want the suffering servant depicted in Isaiah 53. What about the religious leaders of our day? Well, the Bible tells us that there will be a great falling away from true faith in the last days (apostasy) before Jesus returns. We see that already happening as many of the denominational/institutional churches have accepted gay marriage, and homosexual pastors/leaders. Look what Jesus told us would happen in the end times:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

Are you taking these words of Jesus seriously? You should, because the re-establishment of the nation of Israel 75 years ago was the first major end-times prophecy fulfilled. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus’ second coming to Earth is to rescue the nation of Israel at the battle of Armageddon when all the armies of many nations come against Israel. Israel did not exist as a nation prior to 1948 so all the end times prophecies which are Israel and Middle East-centered made no earthly sense. Its rebirth was miraculous and God has sustained it miraculously ever since despite Satan’s desperate efforts to destroy it.

The good news is that what’s next for this planet is Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth for one thousand years, The earth will then have had six thousand years of man’s rule under Satan’s dominion. It is still to have 1,000 years with Jesus ruling the nations with the glorified Saints so that the covenants God made with Abraham, David, and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) can be fulfilled. Israel will finally be the leading nation in the world with its Messiah ruling from a magnificent new Jerusalem.

During Jesus’ Millennial reign, Satan is bound in the Abyss but God allows him to come out at the end of the thousand years and he is still able to gather an army whose number is like the sand of the sea. I often wondered why during Jesus’ Millennial reign, He and the Saints have to rule the nations with a “rod of iron” until I read the following Scripture.

“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10

BEING OUT OF TOUCH WITH ETERNAL REALITIES

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What Makes Someone a Fool?

In Christ’s story of the rich fool, a man decides to hoard his fortune and then “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (see Luke 12:13-21). The word translated “fool” literally means “unthinking one.” Mindless. Senseless. The rich fool was out of touch with eternal realities. Despite death’s inevitability, he failed to prepare for it—and failed to remember that he would give an account to God.

“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Romans 14:10-12

The rich fool stored up treasures for himself on Earth as if he were the center of the universe and as if this world was where he’d live forever. The man was a fool to imagine his silver, gold, crops, land, and barns were actually his. He was a fool to ignore God’s claims on him and his possessions:

A wise person will regularly ask, “Lord, what do you want me to do with all you have put in my hands?” God’s Word tells us exactly how to prepare now for the afterlife. Though our culture and even some of our Christian friends may encourage us to do so, we don’t have to live like fools!

In the world’s eyes, the rich fool was a great success. Today he would be admired, and he might even be placed on a church or ministry board. But in the end, all his success counted for nothing.

Had the rich fool acknowledged God as his Creator and Redeemer, and as the ultimate owner of everything he possessed, he would have been rich toward God and stored up treasures in Heaven. Instead, he stored up for himself treasures on Earth and was suddenly and eternally parted from them at death.

The most troubling aspect of this parable is that if we met this man, most of us would commend him for his foresight. Notice he isn’t called the rich sinner, but the rich fool.

If you have been raised to believe in the Big Bang and evolution then death is then end of life period. There is no life after death.

Materialists Are Self-Destructive Keepers

Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson observed this about those who fail to live generous lives:

By holding onto what we possess, we diminish its long-term value to us. In protecting only ourselves against future uncertainties and misfortunes, we become more anxious about uncertainties and vulnerable to future misfortunes. In short, by failing to care well for others, we actually do not properly take care of ourselves.

Christ-followers are self-enriching givers. Why? Because giving inevitably enlarges our hearts, lives, and capacity for joy.

Don’t misunderstand. The true good life doesn’t say no to wealth or pleasures. Rather, it says yes to greater and lasting wealth and pleasures that are found when we cheerfully part with God’s money and possessions for others’ good and God’s glory.

God graciously gives us money and possessions to meet real needs, both our own needs and the needs of others. He wants us to enjoy life, but He doesn’t entrust excess to us so we can indulge excessive wants. Money and possessions are not life-giving. They are utterly incapable of imparting to us the identity, purpose, significance, and security we crave.

I recently heard someone talk about the rampant unhappiness, disease, and disillusionment he and his friends experienced while, he said, they were “living the good life.” Though I put that phrase in quotation marks, this person didn’t use air quotes or note the irony that what he called the “good life” was in fact devastatingly bad. In his case, the “good life” included drugs and sexual immorality, which led to the loss of his wife and children, and ultimately left him utterly empty.

Even when this so-called good life brought times of enjoyment, it was only “the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). Such pleasures don’t even last in this world, and they certainly won’t outlive this life. The rich man in Christ’s story learned the hard way that his prosperity was short-lived. It came to a dramatic and eternal end at his death, when God proclaimed, “You fool!”

Our Source of Life

To understand what constitutes the good life, we need to understand what life really is, where it comes from, and where it’s going.

God is the eternal source of life. He gave human beings “the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7), and He designed the first people to experience communion with Himself, the living God. In the presence of Eden’s tree of life (Genesis 2:9), He walked with Adam and Eve as they enjoyed a life-giving and delightful relationship (Genesis 3:8). God warned them, though, that if they ate of the fruit of one particular tree, this beautiful life would tragically end in death (Genesis 2:17).

They disobeyed, and as promised, sin brought death. While Adam and Eve’s physical death came gradually, the end of their life-giving spiritual relationship with God was immediate. The Holy Spirit departed their spirit.

Ever since, people have lived in a state of spiritual death, with dying bodies, decaying relationships, and failed dreams. Death is the new normal. But that’s not the end of the story. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus’ sacrifice conquers sin and death on our behalf.

John’s Gospel tells us that God created the world through Jesus, bringing life and light to His creation (John 1:1-5). He raised Lazarus from the dead to display His power to make dead people alive again (John 11:42-44). Then He, too, rose from the grave, ensuring the ultimate death of sin and the defeat of death itself. His resurrection gives us life (Romans 4:25). His coming back to life is the basis of God’s moving us from death to life (1 Corinthians 15:17).

Jesus calls Himself life in these four passages: the bread of life (John 6:48), the light of life (John 8:12), the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6)

There’s no way to overestimate the importance of life in John’s Gospel. John tells readers his Gospel was written: “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, NIV).

Jesus is not just a signpost or a compass to life; He is life. He’s not merely a map leading to water or an X that marks the spot where treasure is buried. Rather, He is the wellspring. He is the treasure.

The living God says, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). He offers us true life and, with it, blessing. But He warns us against sin and the curse that always comes with it. Just as He did in the Garden, God offers us the quality of life that comes from obeying Him. God says, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live” (Proverbs 4:4).

The Good Life Is Available to Everyone Who Knows Jesus

After establishing a restaurant chain, two banks, a ranch, a farm, and real estate ventures, Jerry Caven says the real fun started when his career was coming to an end:

At age 59 I was headed into retirement, looking for a nice lake home. Then God changed our plans and led Muriel and me to put our money and time overseas. It’s been exciting. Before, we gave token amounts, now we put substantial money into missions. Our hearts are in another country now. We visit and minister there often.

The Cavens say, “After seeing the way poor Christians in other countries trust him, we’ve asked God if he wants us to give away all of ‘our’ money. He hasn’t led us to do that yet. But we’ve meant it when we asked.”

When we live the good life, people quickly notice. The Cavens added this story: “A non-Christian couple saw us giving, and saw how much it excited and changed us. Then they started giving too, even before knowing Christ. They saw the joy and they wanted in on it!”

The simplest statement made in Scripture about the life that Jesus brings His people is perhaps also the most profound: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

The giving life is not about obligation or guilt or drudgery or merely surviving. It’s about life in abundance.

Adapted from Randy Alcorn’s book Giving Is the Good Life.

IN TIMES OF TRIAL, WHAT IS YOUR FOCUS?

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The letter to the Hebrews was written to encourage Christians in times of trial. Considering the increasing persecution of Christians even in the West it is helpful to look at what it teaches.

It does so by focusing on the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ. While God spoke in the past “many times and in many ways,” he has now spoken to us “through his Son,” Jesus Christ, who is the “exact imprint” of God’s nature and who “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus accomplished complete salvation for all who trust in him (Hebrews 1:1–10:18). We dare not “neglect such a great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3; 5:12–6:20; 10:19-39). Rather, in our faith and in our everyday living, we should imitate the example of Christ and of those on the honor roll of faith (Hebrews chapts.11–13).

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

WARNING AGAINST APOSTASY

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

The following Scripture gives us a sobering message.
​”Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” Hebrews 6:1-6

Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell the spirit of every believer to be their Counsellor, Teacher, and Comforter. The Holy Spirit enables us to live the Christian life as long as we say, as Jesus did, not my will but yours be done today and every day. We are told that we can grieve the Holy Spirit and quench His work in our lives. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and self-control. If these are not evident in your life then you are grieving the Holy Spirit and you need to get on your knees and repent.

We are in the prophesied last days before Jesus returns and restores righteousness on this Earth and ushers in His Millennial reign. Probably the most significant end times prophecy was Israel being re-established as a nation in 1948. The spiritual battle then escalated. Israel is surrounded by hostile nations intent on its destruction. Just look at the intensity and horrific nature of the recent attack by Hamas with over 1000 Israelis killed and 2000 injured. As well, many Israeli women and children have been taken hostage. As a result, Netanyahu has declared the nation is at war. Wars and rumours of wars are end times signs as are earthquakes.

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” Matthew 24:6-8

A magnitude-6.3 earthquake and strong aftershocks have killed more than 2,000 people in western Afghanistan, according to Taliban officials. It’s one of the deadliest earthquakes to strike the country in two decades.

UNLESS YOU REPENT YOU WILL PERISH

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“And Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:2-5

Twice in this verse, Jesus makes it clear that ALL who do not repent and realize that Jesus is the only way back into a relationship with our Heavenly Father will perish.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Paul’s conversion is a good example of true repentance, a complete change of heart from a man who was persecuting Christians to proclaiming and proving Jesus was the Jews prophesied Christ, the Son of God.

“For some days he (Paul) was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.” Acts 9:19-22

The next verse is amazing: when we repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, God the Father sends the third person of the Trinity to indwell our Spirit to be our Counsellor, Teacher, and Comforter. We are thereby a new creation in Christ Jesus enabled by the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

David got it right when he repented after he had committed a grievous sin with Bathsheba and killed her husband Uriah.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ” Psalms 51:10-17

David was punished by God for his sin and He did so threefold. David would never again have peace in his house, he would be publicly shamed for his private sin, and, at the apex, his son would die. Although God did not kill David for his evil deeds, the punishments he received caused him to live in shame. David did not get off easy. Remember that.

“‘Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes, I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel. . . . The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.’” 2 Samuel 12:10-14