Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Do We Know Him?

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

As I was reading this the some days ago, it struck me that our Lord tells us that he has already given to us all things we need for life and godliness. Now think about this...we have been given all things, not some...all. Some people would say to this "yea, will it sure doesn't look like he's provided everything to me!" To that I would ask...."How well do you know the Lord?" What? Let me ask it again, how well do you know the Lord? Why do I ask? Because the Holy Word tells us that we are provided everything through our knowledge of him...

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Its so easy to just read right through that and not catch it. To those who may think this is a minor detail, think again. Us knowing the Lord, and more importantly, the Lord knowing us is a really really big deal. Consider this statement:

Matt 7:21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

On a different note..

It was posted on this site earlier that I rarely feel the urge to write about apostate christianity anymore. It was also written here that the Lord has led me to grow, to become more each day than the day before (parable of the talents, Matt 25..do something with what you've been given). In light of these things, I asked the Lord whether this small growth away from writing about apostasy means things written here before should be removed? like...the idolatry of the pastoral system, what has been called "churchianity" etc, should I delete these things from the site?

The answer that I perceived went along the lines of "the reason you do not sense the urge to write on some things now is because the things needed to be written about pastors, church "services" "tithing" the nicolaitanism of todays christianity etc etc, have been written. Delete nothing."

The Lord greatly encouraged this writer by confirming in a small way that the writings posted on this site have been (at least in some fashion) inspired by Him, although the tone of some of the messages could have been toned down, I do believe with my whole heart that the Spirit of God inspired at least some of the writing here with the goal of reaching some who can be reached. To him be the glory.

With this confirmation, let me restate some points the Spirit has impresssed upon this writer:

The rapture/escape of the church will be before the tribulation/time of Jacob's trouble etc. The old testament is a pattern that confirms things in the New Testament. Enoch was caught up to heaven before Noah and Noah was in the ark during the flood. Likewise, Lot was spared all the fire and brimstone of his day. The key word is "all."

The overwhelming majority of what calls itself christianity today is nicolaitan and idolatrous to its core. The pastoral system setup by men is human government inserted to replace the government of the Holy Spirit. Men have time and time again, rejected God for their own ways, and the Lord lets men have their way...for awhile. The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God...period. The sons of God are not led by pastors, bishops, priests or popes, they are led by the Spirit of God. Yet the overwhelming majority of people today voluntarily place themselves under the human governments within churches to be ruled by "pastors" and their ilk. Why?

Our God does not think the way men think. Men want one way, God wants another. The wise will follow the Spirit of God and his unusual ways regardless of how much it cuts against the grain of humanity's customs traditions and doctrines. Following the Spirit will cost men many of the things that people cherish in this life, but it will gain them CHRIST JESUS.

When a person walks away from the babylonian, anti-christ, nicolaitan form of christianity present in the world today, questions naturally arise. For every question that arises, like "how does the church work without a pastor?" The answer every single time is "follow the Spirit of God." That will take faith, discipline, and patience, all of which are in short supply in today's world.

The path that leads to life is a narrow path (re-read Matt 7:13-28). There are few people on that narrow path (Jesus' words, not mine). So when people look around at the other people on their path, do they see few or many? The answer should be very revealing. Make every effort to "know God" so that "everything you need for life and godliness" is there for you. Let us all pray that we are "known by God" so on that day that we stand before him we are not sorely dissapointed.

grace and peace