Friday, January 30, 2009

Encouragement..The Escape..A Few...Scoffers

Psalm 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

Interesting words used there "Thou art my hiding place"....Our Lord is a very real refuge from the storm we see all around us. He shall preserve me from trouble, He shall compass me about with songs of deliverance. Who will deliver us, preserve us? He will.....

1 Peter 3:20 Who once were disobedient, when the patience of God ...
... who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently while the ark was being built. In it a few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water.

Luke 17:26 "And just as it happened in the days of Noah,
... "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so itwill be also in the days of the Son of Man:

Noah had an ark, we have the Son of God. "in Christ" we are in the ark. The Lord promised us an escape from all that's about to happen. As the storm clouds move over us we get closer to the time of Jacob's trouble, more and more people will begin to wonder whether the Lord meant what he said when he declared:

Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Those who are counting on the escape face a growing barrage of ridicule from the atheist, the godless and outright hate from the pre=wrath, post-trib crowd. I liken all of these people to those who stood around while Noah was driving nails and cutting boards for the Ark. They all stood around mocking and criticizing. Things won't be so funny though on the day the ark rises up above the earth and some of us are nowhere to be found.

Today I want to encourage you to walk in uprightness and righteousness with the Lord so you are found worthy of the escape that's coming. Satan and those who serve him go immediately after your faith by first creating doubt...."did God really say....?" Did God really say to pray for an escape from all that shall come to pass? Unless my eyes are deceiving me, YES he did tell us to pray for the escape. Is that being "escapist" YEA, IT IS.

There seem to be many people these days who believe that they need to go through the tribulation for one reason or another...maybe they do. We each need to be firmly convinced of what we believe because what we really believe will be tested.

The Lord told me years ago "we can do this the easy way or the hard way" referring to some changes in thinking and behavior on my part. The easy way is for us to engage our mind, willpower, heart and rear end to come into conformity with God's will. The hard way is for the Lord to impose external pressure on you to get you to the same place. Same destination, two different ways of getting there. Today there are people on the earth whose attention does not belong to the Lord..yet. There is a pressure cooker coming though, called the tribulation, that will burn off the impurities with fire and bring them "in Christ." These are known as the tribulation saints. For those living in todays pre-tribulation world, who are "in Christ," who have chosen the "easy way" of willingly and obediently following the Lord, its already mission accomplished if they continue "in Christ" up to the point in time of the escape. What difference is there between those who have died "in Christ" up till now, and those of us living today "in Christ?" If those who died before us "in Christ" did not go through "the" tribulation, give me a good argument for why we should? If never heard one yet, and I've heard about everything out there.

The pre-tribulation "escape" will be a double edged sword. On one hand, it will devastate the apostate church. The day however many of us "escape" and they don't what's going to happen? What happens the day all the apostate preachers and teachers are still here, and we are not? There will be widespread defection and destruction of so called christianity aided by the persecutions coming, aided by the great deception sent by the Lord himself to deceive those who refused to believe the truth. As history has proven, then as now a few will be saved through it all. It's always a remnant, its always a few that make it "in Christ" no matter how you want to look at it.

Romans 9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "THOUGH THE NUMBER ...
... Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED

Romans 11:5 In the same way then, there has also come to
... So it is at the present time: there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

I did'nt make this stuff up guys. Go to an online bible search engine and type in "remnant" but make sure you pack a lunch because you will see it over and over and over again.

What does that mean? Always a remnant? It means its always a FEW that "get it."

Matt 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

^^^^^that's what it means. Writing these things to you is the core of what the Lord has given me to do in this life. Remind you of what's already been written. The wrong time to be reminded of these things is after the escape, or after you die, whichever comes first.

I know much of what is written here is not pleasant to read, but my task is to put it out there. If one soul is turned away from their sin, what's that worth? Its priceless..beyond measure. Each soul is unbelievably precious.

Predictably, just as the bible said, scoffers are on the increase. Anyone who points to Jesus alone (which in fact is "the Word of God") is hated. We are not surprised by the hatred because if the master was hated to the point of being murdered, should we expect the people around us to dance a joyful jig when we come saying the same exact things that got our Master crucified?

This alone puts the messages preached at the "mega churches" into perspective. Mr. Joel Osteen goes out of his way to make sure there's nothing offensive to anyone in anything he says. Results? The largest so called christian church in America. Contrast the message of Osteen (and all those like him) to the message that got our Lord crucified...could they be any more different? One set of words leads to throngs worshiping you, the other set of words gets you killed. You figure it out....

Time is short guys. The coming reality for this world is stranger than fiction. I wonder if we'll be around for the soon coming day when "the powers that be" disclose to the world that alien life has been here on earth for quite some time. I wonder what it will be like when these things/superheroes/aliens/demons in disguise get wheeled out. I don't want to know, but that's what's coming. The bible clearly tells us that mens hearts will fail them from fear of seeing these things that are "coming on the earth."

Luke 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Coming on the earth? From where? ...for the powers of heaven (THE HEAVENS) shall be shaken. Outer space, that is, outside the earths atmosphere is where the heavens are.

We have before us both the carrot and the stick. We can choose what pleases our Lord today, or some can choose it later under a pressure that will melt the earth. Pray that you may be counted worthy of the escape from all that's coming and stand before the Son of Man.

A clue to the physical location of where we escape to: Where is the Son of Man? Answer: sitting at the right hand of the Father. Where is the Father? Answer: sitting on his throne in the highest heavens. Which means when you escape and are standing before him who sits at the right hand of the Father, you WON'T be here on earth....grace and peace