Friday, March 06, 2009

You Must Know Him

There are many people in the world today who claim the title of "christian," yet only a few will be saved (matt 7:14). Many people claim to be "christian," yet on that day when they stand before Jesus, many will be told "away from me you evildoers, I never knew you (Matt 7:21)."

I am absolutely amazed that when I look back at all the years I spent within institutionalized churchianity I never once heard that preached....EVER. Don't you think that might be important for people to know? Why was it that most people in Israel were killed over and over again and only a remnant was spared by the Lord? Why was only Lot and his family counted worthy to escape Sodom? The Lord agreed to spare the city if 10 righteous men could be found in it!!!!! Guess what? 10 righteous men could not be found in the entire city.....

Gen 18: 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

Same thing in Noah's day, only Noah and his family were counted worthy out of the known world at that time to enter the ark. One family in the world....

And yet you hear religious "leaders" today whispering sweet nothings into people's ears as if it will be one big party on the day of the coming escape. I have written to you recently that the Lord has shown me how I have been prepared over a lifetime to warn people of these days we are living today. The Lord has others who I am sure have been prepared the same way, for whatever it is our Lord has for them to do. The Lord always warns first. He is patient, and he is gracious, but he does'nt warn forever. Eventually he will act, and when he does, many will learn the lessons they should have learned earlier in a hard way.

10 righteous people could not be found in an entire city....think about that. Do people think that because there are religious buildings on every corner people are any better today? Mankind tends to read history with a sense that somehow, because we live later on the world's timeline, that we are somehow better than those people who preceeded us. Has human nature changed at all from the time of creation? Do men not love, hate, get angry, show kindness, feel envy and greed, feel lust and desire any more? Yes they do, just like they always have. What does that mean? It means that men today have every reason to take seriously every warning made to every past generation because they are no better than the men who preceeded them.

This brings us back around to why only a few will find the narrow gate that leads to life, and why the Lord will tell many "away from me, I never knew you." What does it mean to know the Lord? Let's take a look:

John 8:55 And you have not come to know Him, but I
... You don't know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I don't know him, Iwould be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come,
... And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus

1 John 2:3 By this we know that we have come to know
... This is how we can be sure that we have come to know him: if we continually keep his commandments.

That last one is huge. How can you be sure you know him? You continually keep his commandments..Is that a big red neon slap in the face to the "once saved always saved" crowd who tells you that you don't need either faith or obedience to be "saved" after you have "made a decision" for Jesus? Yea, that's a wrecking ball to their entire argument and one more reason that only a few will make it through the narrow gate that leads to life.

Why is it that when Jesus was asked about his coming back to this world, he started off with "be not deceived?" Because deception, and whispering honey coated, sweet sounding lies from the pits of hell would be the hallmark of our days. If you claim that you know him and you don't obey his commands, you are a liar. Wow, that sounds pretty harsh does'nt it? Where did that come from? John 8:55 And you have not come to know Him, but I ... You don't know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I don't know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word.

Those who have been prepared for the days we are in today, would rather be hated for the sake of the truth, than loved for the sake of lies that self-promote. Our master was spit on, hated, and eventually crucified for the sake of the truth, by men who are just like men today. If the relgious leaders of yesterday shouted "crucify him, crucify him" to pilate, then the religious leaders of today would do the same thing. You don't think so? Ask yourself what would happen if Jesus went into any church building today and told the pastors they were practicing idolatry-sell the buildings and all their monuments to self, then turned around and told the people to follow him and never return to their institutions again, what do you think would happen? I can hear the cries already "crucify him! crucify him!"

When following the Lord costs you your social circle, causes you to be hated and despised by the world, makes you stand (seemingly) alone many times in your life, are you still willing to follow him? What's going to happen in the days to come when anti-christ lines people up by the hundreds and thousands to be "marked" and the line to accept the mark is miles long, and the line to reject the mark (and be killed) is empty? Will these people have the faith it takes to walk ALONE to the empty line while the world watches with contempt? What people don't realize is that the Lord and angels will be standing beside the few in the "reject" the line.

Our faith is being tested today. We are coming face to face with the tribulation hour, it stands right before us, can't you see it? We will look it in the eye, face to face, get a close up view of all that's about to happen just before the escape. Noah and Lot both had an eyefull of the world just before the Lord destroyed it, and we will too. As we get closer and closer to "that day" people will begin to doubt, some people might even become fearful, wondering if the day of the Lord has already begun. Did the Lord anticipate that? Yes, he did:


<< 2 Thessalonians 2 >>King James Bible

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

What's Paul saying there? He mentions 2 things, not one......1. our gathering together to Christ, and 2. The day of the Lord. What does he tell us about "that day" which is the day of the Lord? He says DO NOT BE TROUBLED.....He says don't worry about the day of the Lord. There is obviously a close line between our "gathering together" with Jesus and the day of the Lord since they are mentioned in the same sentence. They are obviously not the same event. Paul says "that day" won't happen until the falling away and anti-christ are revealed. Does Paul say our "gathering together" with Jesus won't happen until the apostasy and anti-christ are revealed? No, he does'nt, he says "that day" (day of the Lord) won't come until those things happen, huge, huge, monumental difference. The trick is, what happens when these two events happen on the same day, or within days of each other?

Let me ask you, is it possible that the escape happens in the early pre-dawn hours of some day in the future, then around 8 am that same day, the anti-christ shows up on TV screens across the world fulfilling the coming "covenant with many for one week", then that afternoon, that same day seals 2,3,4 start showing up? Is it possible?

Where and how do the coming Noah and Lot experiences, that the Lord promised, show up in the future? There is an escape from all coming that fits hand in glove with how Noah entered the ark, and how Lot left Sodom. The words of the Lord are not idle, they were specifically chosen to convey a meaning that our God meant for us to understand. A time of eating and drinking, planting and building, right up to the point where the Son of man shows up, we are in a place of safety (just like Noah and Lot) and destruction falls. Do you remember the conversation between Abraham and the Lord?

Gen 18: 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

The anti-christ shows up in the first seal of Revelation 6 to conquer. Death and hell, famine and attacks on men by wild animals account for 25% of the earths population slain. Make no mistake about this, the Lord our King was the only one found worthy in heaven, earth, or below the earth to open these seals....they are HIS seals, he opens them. Far be it from our God to slay the righteous with the wicked...Abraham was known as the father of faith, he said that. Your faith is your treasure, your faith is what will determine what happens to you in the days ahead. Your faith is a target, a big bullseye on your head like a beacon that the enemy hates. He will stop at nothing to steal from you, destroy you, kill you. Stand your ground, in faith, because if you do not stand on your faith, you will not stand at all.

Isaiah 7:9, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

Time is short, pray for all the brothers, you are dearly loved. grace and peace