Tuesday, June 2, 2015, 8:15 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Arise & Shine.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Corinthians 13 (ESV).
By the Power of God
So, what is going on here? Paul just wrote an entire letter to the church in Corinth, in which he addressed several different topics, but in which the overall central theme was the fact that false apostles had slipped in among the church and were trying to lead the church astray. These false apostles were working diligently to try to discredit Paul and the other apostles so that they could gain the trust of the people, and so they could deceive them with their lies. And, to some extent, it was working. The church was tolerating these who masqueraded as servants of righteousness and as apostles of Christ. So, Paul came to the defense of the gospel, and to his own defense and that of the other true apostles in order to try to regain the trust of the church in Corinth, and to prove to them that they were God’s true messengers, and that they should listen to them, and not to these false teachers.
Another main theme that was central to this letter to the church was unrepentant sin going on within the church, whether committed by those who falsely called themselves Christians or by those having genuine faith in Jesus Christ, or both, is not perfectly clear, though the indication is he is writing to the church, and it is to correct them, but also it is for their strengthening and for building them up in the Lord. So, it would appear he is speaking to genuine followers of Christ, some of whom had fallen into sin (See: 2 Co. 11:28-29), though among them could certainly be those who had a false confession of Christ, for in the next section he asks them to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith (See: 2 Co. 13:5-7). And, this could be tied in with these false apostles, as well, for they may have been preaching a more libertine approach to Christianity, which gave the believers the freedom to sin without guilt and without remorse, for they were teaching them “another Jesus.”
So, Paul was writing this letter ahead of his third visit to them in order to warn them, but also to encourage them to settle these matters ahead of his visit, i.e. to insist that they repent of their sins, that they stop listening to these false teachers, and that they listen to what Paul and the other true apostles had taught them, for they had the very words of God, which were the words of life to them. The warning was that if they did not repent of their sins, when Paul visited them this third time, some type of church discipline was going to take place, yet he let them know that he would not be acting on his own accord, but that this would be Christ working through him, and that Jesus Christ lives by God’s power, so they were not to see Jesus as weak at all, which apparently some of them were.
The Church Today
The Lord Jesus has given me a practical application of this passage of scripture to today. I believe, first of all, that this situation with the church in Corinth sounds much like the situation with the church in America today. Many, many false teachers have slipped in among the church and have already led a vast majority of the church astray. So many people are teaching a false Jesus and a false gospel of salvation and are giving people the impression that they can be saved and still live (conduct their lives) in sin and still have the hope of heaven when they die. And, that is just wrong! And so, the vast majority of the church here in America has fallen prey to these false teachers, and they are putting up with them easily enough, and many are being led into sin by this teaching that says that repentance and obedience are not required for salvation. So, people within the gatherings of the church are living in spiritual adultery, and in idolatry, and God is not looking the other way. He intends to pay the church in America a visit very soon, I believe, and he will demonstrate to the church here that he is not weak, as some believe he is.
We have to realize that we live in a time of great deception, and that lies abound, but not only in the church, but in government and in the media, too. If you have been following world news for even the past 10 to 15 years, and if you have paid close attention to the language used in various news articles with regard to “terrorism” and “factions” and “uprisings,” etc., and if you have done so with any amount of spiritual discernment, you will have to realize that not everything you read and hear in the news is true, and that much of it is a fabrication of those whose motives are evil. You will also have to realize that what has happened in the Middle East and in North Africa, in particular, is now happening here in America. The signs are everywhere. We just have to have eyes to see and ears to hear.
What the Lord Jesus is showing me in particular this morning, with regard to all the afore mentioned, is completely consistent with what he has been showing me the past 11 years. The United States of America and their political allies form an alliance of nations (the beast) which has been very busy throughout the world conquering nations, overthrowing governments, taking lands and properties not their own, and stealing other nations’ natural resources, etc. (See: Habakkuk 1). In order to do this they make use of much deception and trickery, utilizing false flag operations, faking uprisings, stirring up dissension among people’s, and utilizing weather manipulation, too. All this is done with one ultimate goal, which is to bring the entire world underneath one dictatorial global government (the beast).
The U.S. and their allies are meeting in Paris today, supposedly under the guise of discussing strategies to battle ISIS. If you have ever studied Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology, you may know that Isis is the Egyptian Queen of Heaven and the mother of Horus. If you know anything about U.S. national symbols, you will recall that the “All-seeing eye” on our Great Seal is the “Eye of Horus” and it sits atop an unfinished Egyptian pyramid, though presently detached. Supposedly the Statue of Liberty was patterned after Isis. You can search this out for yourself, but basically ISIS is not what they say it is. It is a fabrication of the U.S. and their political allies, i.e. this alliance of nations, also called the New World Order. An internet search on “New World Order” should give you much information on this, especially if you combine it with the United Nations. So, basically ISIS is this alliance of nations (the New World Order “Beast”), and they are the ones doing what they accuse ISIS and Islamic extremists of doing. I believe they were prophesied concerning in Habakkuk chapter 1, and that this speaks of the time of the end.
So, when the U.S. government-controlled media tells us that the U.S. and its allies are going against this terrorist group called ISIS, it is a lie, for they ARE ISIS. They are the ones coming against Christians and are killing them and persecuting them, and this is headed to America very soon, I believe. They give the impression that their goal is to bring peace, but the kind of peace they are talking about comes at a great cost – the cost of many human lives, and it is a false peace, for it is not really peace at all, but it is war. The kind of peace they are after is the kind represented by the history of the peace symbol, which is a satanic symbol, which represents the brutal persecution of Christians and the death of man. And, they have been planning this for a very, very long time. The course is fixed. It is written about in Revelation. And, it will mean the destruction of the American government and the persecution and death of many Christians here in America, and other human lives, too.
Yet, I believe what the Lord Jesus is showing me here, and has been showing me, and has been having me write about for a very long time now, is that this will come as a judgment of God against this nation, but in particular against the church in America because of her sinful ways, her idolatry, her spiritual adultery, and her refusal to repent. She is so much like what Paul described in this letter of 2 Corinthians. There are people here who are walking with the Lord in obedience to his commands, but we are in the minority. The vast majority has gone the way of the world and they are following after these false teachers who are masquerading as servants of righteousness, because they tell them what their itching ears want to hear. And, so God is coming to America to judge us (See: Rev. 2-3), but not to destroy us, but to purify us and to make us a holy people prepared for the return of her bridegroom. Therefore, we need to examine our hearts before Almighty God.
Examine Yourselves
Only God knows how many of those who meet regularly with the church are genuinely saved and how many are not, but he does let us know in his word how we can know if we truly know him or not, so we must test ourselves against the word of God to see if we are truly in the faith. Scripture is real clear that Jesus “condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live” (conduct our lives) “according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (See: Ro. 8:3-14). As well, scripture teaches us that Jesus died so we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave himself up for us (2 Co. 5:15). And, God’s grace which brings salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (See: Tit. 2:11-14).
In Good Working Order
So, the Lord Jesus is warning us here of impending judgment on America, and on his rebellious church in America, but he is also calling us to repentance, and to renewed faith, and to living the lives for which he saved us, holy and pleasing to him, which is our reasonable service of worship of him, no longer conformed to the ways of this world, but transformed in the renewing of our minds, so that we can prove what the will of God is.
Arise and Shine / An Original Work
March 6, 2014 / Based off Isaiah 60
Arise and shine; your Lord has come.
Allow His light to flow through you,
For many walk in wickedness.
Show them the way to life anew.
Arise and shine. Your Lord loves you.
Lift up your eyes, and look about.
Some do believe, while others doubt.
Believe in all God’s promises.
The many will, In Christ, find rest.
Lift up your eyes, and you’ll be blessed.
Arise and shine; salvation comes
To all who trust in Christ, God’s Son.
Forgiven of their sins, they’ll be,
When they repent on bended knee.
Arise and shine, so all will see.
Lift up your eyes, and see your Lord.
He will revive his church, forlorn.
Though humans have forsaken you,
They will find Christ, and walk in truth.
Lift up your eyes; God honors you.
By the Power of God
This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them— since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
So, what is going on here? Paul just wrote an entire letter to the church in Corinth, in which he addressed several different topics, but in which the overall central theme was the fact that false apostles had slipped in among the church and were trying to lead the church astray. These false apostles were working diligently to try to discredit Paul and the other apostles so that they could gain the trust of the people, and so they could deceive them with their lies. And, to some extent, it was working. The church was tolerating these who masqueraded as servants of righteousness and as apostles of Christ. So, Paul came to the defense of the gospel, and to his own defense and that of the other true apostles in order to try to regain the trust of the church in Corinth, and to prove to them that they were God’s true messengers, and that they should listen to them, and not to these false teachers.
Another main theme that was central to this letter to the church was unrepentant sin going on within the church, whether committed by those who falsely called themselves Christians or by those having genuine faith in Jesus Christ, or both, is not perfectly clear, though the indication is he is writing to the church, and it is to correct them, but also it is for their strengthening and for building them up in the Lord. So, it would appear he is speaking to genuine followers of Christ, some of whom had fallen into sin (See: 2 Co. 11:28-29), though among them could certainly be those who had a false confession of Christ, for in the next section he asks them to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith (See: 2 Co. 13:5-7). And, this could be tied in with these false apostles, as well, for they may have been preaching a more libertine approach to Christianity, which gave the believers the freedom to sin without guilt and without remorse, for they were teaching them “another Jesus.”
So, Paul was writing this letter ahead of his third visit to them in order to warn them, but also to encourage them to settle these matters ahead of his visit, i.e. to insist that they repent of their sins, that they stop listening to these false teachers, and that they listen to what Paul and the other true apostles had taught them, for they had the very words of God, which were the words of life to them. The warning was that if they did not repent of their sins, when Paul visited them this third time, some type of church discipline was going to take place, yet he let them know that he would not be acting on his own accord, but that this would be Christ working through him, and that Jesus Christ lives by God’s power, so they were not to see Jesus as weak at all, which apparently some of them were.
The Church Today
The Lord Jesus has given me a practical application of this passage of scripture to today. I believe, first of all, that this situation with the church in Corinth sounds much like the situation with the church in America today. Many, many false teachers have slipped in among the church and have already led a vast majority of the church astray. So many people are teaching a false Jesus and a false gospel of salvation and are giving people the impression that they can be saved and still live (conduct their lives) in sin and still have the hope of heaven when they die. And, that is just wrong! And so, the vast majority of the church here in America has fallen prey to these false teachers, and they are putting up with them easily enough, and many are being led into sin by this teaching that says that repentance and obedience are not required for salvation. So, people within the gatherings of the church are living in spiritual adultery, and in idolatry, and God is not looking the other way. He intends to pay the church in America a visit very soon, I believe, and he will demonstrate to the church here that he is not weak, as some believe he is.
We have to realize that we live in a time of great deception, and that lies abound, but not only in the church, but in government and in the media, too. If you have been following world news for even the past 10 to 15 years, and if you have paid close attention to the language used in various news articles with regard to “terrorism” and “factions” and “uprisings,” etc., and if you have done so with any amount of spiritual discernment, you will have to realize that not everything you read and hear in the news is true, and that much of it is a fabrication of those whose motives are evil. You will also have to realize that what has happened in the Middle East and in North Africa, in particular, is now happening here in America. The signs are everywhere. We just have to have eyes to see and ears to hear.
What the Lord Jesus is showing me in particular this morning, with regard to all the afore mentioned, is completely consistent with what he has been showing me the past 11 years. The United States of America and their political allies form an alliance of nations (the beast) which has been very busy throughout the world conquering nations, overthrowing governments, taking lands and properties not their own, and stealing other nations’ natural resources, etc. (See: Habakkuk 1). In order to do this they make use of much deception and trickery, utilizing false flag operations, faking uprisings, stirring up dissension among people’s, and utilizing weather manipulation, too. All this is done with one ultimate goal, which is to bring the entire world underneath one dictatorial global government (the beast).
The U.S. and their allies are meeting in Paris today, supposedly under the guise of discussing strategies to battle ISIS. If you have ever studied Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology, you may know that Isis is the Egyptian Queen of Heaven and the mother of Horus. If you know anything about U.S. national symbols, you will recall that the “All-seeing eye” on our Great Seal is the “Eye of Horus” and it sits atop an unfinished Egyptian pyramid, though presently detached. Supposedly the Statue of Liberty was patterned after Isis. You can search this out for yourself, but basically ISIS is not what they say it is. It is a fabrication of the U.S. and their political allies, i.e. this alliance of nations, also called the New World Order. An internet search on “New World Order” should give you much information on this, especially if you combine it with the United Nations. So, basically ISIS is this alliance of nations (the New World Order “Beast”), and they are the ones doing what they accuse ISIS and Islamic extremists of doing. I believe they were prophesied concerning in Habakkuk chapter 1, and that this speaks of the time of the end.
So, when the U.S. government-controlled media tells us that the U.S. and its allies are going against this terrorist group called ISIS, it is a lie, for they ARE ISIS. They are the ones coming against Christians and are killing them and persecuting them, and this is headed to America very soon, I believe. They give the impression that their goal is to bring peace, but the kind of peace they are talking about comes at a great cost – the cost of many human lives, and it is a false peace, for it is not really peace at all, but it is war. The kind of peace they are after is the kind represented by the history of the peace symbol, which is a satanic symbol, which represents the brutal persecution of Christians and the death of man. And, they have been planning this for a very, very long time. The course is fixed. It is written about in Revelation. And, it will mean the destruction of the American government and the persecution and death of many Christians here in America, and other human lives, too.
Yet, I believe what the Lord Jesus is showing me here, and has been showing me, and has been having me write about for a very long time now, is that this will come as a judgment of God against this nation, but in particular against the church in America because of her sinful ways, her idolatry, her spiritual adultery, and her refusal to repent. She is so much like what Paul described in this letter of 2 Corinthians. There are people here who are walking with the Lord in obedience to his commands, but we are in the minority. The vast majority has gone the way of the world and they are following after these false teachers who are masquerading as servants of righteousness, because they tell them what their itching ears want to hear. And, so God is coming to America to judge us (See: Rev. 2-3), but not to destroy us, but to purify us and to make us a holy people prepared for the return of her bridegroom. Therefore, we need to examine our hearts before Almighty God.
Examine Yourselves
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Only God knows how many of those who meet regularly with the church are genuinely saved and how many are not, but he does let us know in his word how we can know if we truly know him or not, so we must test ourselves against the word of God to see if we are truly in the faith. Scripture is real clear that Jesus “condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live” (conduct our lives) “according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (See: Ro. 8:3-14). As well, scripture teaches us that Jesus died so we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave himself up for us (2 Co. 5:15). And, God’s grace which brings salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (See: Tit. 2:11-14).
In Good Working Order
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
So, the Lord Jesus is warning us here of impending judgment on America, and on his rebellious church in America, but he is also calling us to repentance, and to renewed faith, and to living the lives for which he saved us, holy and pleasing to him, which is our reasonable service of worship of him, no longer conformed to the ways of this world, but transformed in the renewing of our minds, so that we can prove what the will of God is.
Arise and Shine / An Original Work
March 6, 2014 / Based off Isaiah 60
Arise and shine; your Lord has come.
Allow His light to flow through you,
For many walk in wickedness.
Show them the way to life anew.
Arise and shine. Your Lord loves you.
Lift up your eyes, and look about.
Some do believe, while others doubt.
Believe in all God’s promises.
The many will, In Christ, find rest.
Lift up your eyes, and you’ll be blessed.
Arise and shine; salvation comes
To all who trust in Christ, God’s Son.
Forgiven of their sins, they’ll be,
When they repent on bended knee.
Arise and shine, so all will see.
Lift up your eyes, and see your Lord.
He will revive his church, forlorn.
Though humans have forsaken you,
They will find Christ, and walk in truth.
Lift up your eyes; God honors you.