Thursday, February 19, 2009

Establish What You Believe

The Lord has clearly established in his word, through historical precedent, what he uses as tools of his wrath. One example of many:

Ezekiel 6:12 He who is far off will die by the plague, and he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus will I spend My wrath on them. I also want you to note the way the words are put together. First, the items that compose the wrath are listed: plague, sword, famine, then at the end, he says this is how my wrath will fall on them.

Note with me that this is exactly how Revelation 6 is written. All the seals are listed.....sword, famine, death and hell, attacks by the beasts of the earth, then, at the end, he says "For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?," exactly like it does in Ezekiel. Notice also that it says "okay, we are now in the day of his wrath." They say....they say, hey, we are in the day of the Lord's wrath!" Why do they say this? Because seals 1-6 convinced them.
Anyone who tells you that sword and famine are not methods God has used, and will continue to use as tools of his wrath, have never read the bible, or are willfully ignoring 'inconvenient' large portions of it. Why is it important to nail down/establish what we believe about the escape/rapture? Because the Lord has clearly shown us that as we believe/have faith, so things are done to us. Examples are the centurians servant healed, the woman with the issue of blood healed by touching the Lord's cloak, and there are many more. Faith carries power. Here's another thing to note about our belief about the escape. If the "pre-wrath" or "post-trib folks" were right, what would it matter? We are followers of Christ Jesus to the very end, regardless.

I also have personal reasons to believe that the escape will be before the wrath expressed from the 1st seal of Rev 6 and afterwards. I have asked the Lord over and over again, should I stock supplies? Should I buy a gun? Should I build a bunker and hide in the desert somewhere? etc etc etc. I can tell you that I do not have the slightest twinge in my spirit, not even an inkling to do any of that stuff. I've purchased some supplies for very short term situations, but that is something I did on my own, without any prompting. The life I have lived up to this point has been one of guidance by the Holy Spirit. Maybe 2-3 times in my life, I went far enough down a road that the Lord did'nt want me on that he really reached down, twisted my guts and said "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? STOPPPPPPPPPPPP." I find this quite an interesting clue, I see how close we are to complete societal meltdown, yet no inkling to "get survivalist" anytime soon? Why not??? We live by faith, not by sight. I know how to hear the Lord's voice, and I've had my chain jerked enough times by him to know when I've blown it and I need to just stop, listen, and re-direct my path. So far, silence on the preparedness bit. Don't you think if we were going to be around for half or more of hell on earth we would be getting something from the Lord relating to earthly preparatory actions etc. I recognize that if you believe you will be here during all hell on earth, you have good reason to get stocked up. As you believe, so things are done unto you...

Anyhow, the personal observation is just gravy on a dish made hearty by the word of God that tells us 1. We are not destined for wrath, and 2. Wrath starts immediately in Rev 6:1, which by the way is immediately AFTER we see a door open in heaven, then redeemed, rewarded men in heaven (Rev 4-5). Rev 4-5 is immediately after Jesus has his "heart to heart" with the churches to tell them where they are ok, and where they need some work. The macro view could not be any clearer and fits perfectly into the overall structure of the bible. The book of Revelation intertwines with Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah and others to give us a picture. The coming 7 year period is the time of Jacob's trouble, does anyone debate that? The Lord warned Israel over and over and over again regarding what he would do to them, where over 95% of the "day of the Lord" passages found? You got it, the Old Testament! Whyyyyyyyyy? Rev 1-5, the Lord speaking specifically to the church, Rev 6-wrath, Rev 7-the Lord sealing his servants on earth, 12 tribes of Israel...no more talk of the church till the very end of Revelation. Really, the picture could not be clearer.

The Lord tells you to pray that you may be counted worthy of the escape from all that's coming. I marvel at all the people out there today who refuse to obey this command. They refuse to pray this specific prayer, because they don't believe there is an escape from all! In other words, they have come to the conclusion that their understanding of the bible precludes this piece of the bible from being true/worthy of obedience? Why would someone pray for an escape from all when they debate, argue and scrap it out daily to convince anyone and everyone that there is no escape from all that's about to happen. This is a clear case of men's "belief's" trumping God's word. I debated pre-wrath, mid-trib, post-tribbers for years, and not one of them, ever, had an answer for Luke 21:36, so now they just ignore it. That is why I make it a cornerstone for the rest of the "escape all" framework laid out in the bible.

Like I've said in the past though, different people are in different places in their walk on this earth. Most people will be going through the tribulation, most people won't live through it, most people won't enter the narrow gate that leads to life (ref Matt 7:14+, and Matt 7:21+). Hard truths yea? Stuff people don't want to hear right? Which is precisely why the Lord has given me this narrow niche, this specific task to do. The prophets of old spoke the word of God to Israel and they killed them, mocked, ridiculed them etc for it. Why would religious people today be any different? Are people today "better" in some way than people in the past?

Time is short guys. If the crisis in the world was limited to financial, I doubt we would be talking about the end times like this. There is so very very much more going on today on every front imaginable that points to the near term, short term revelation of anti-christ to the world. The groundwork is being laid in direct proportion to the amount our God allows to be laid, and today, he's allowing ALOT. Satan has been pressing and scheming and conniving from the very beginning to do what he is doing today, and every time our God nipped his plans and cancelled the satanic paradise on the spot. We can see with our very eyes how far along we are this time. The preparation for satan's final 7 year free-for-all are in the final stages. That means this time, our Lord allowed it to advance to this stage, and if he allowed it, where does that place us on the prophetic timeline? The Lord is speaking to the churches TODAY. Go re-read Rev 2-3.

The world is already tilting, and its ready to flip upside down. i do not conside myself a "pre-tribber" because that's something men made up. I do consider myself an "escaper." That's something the Lord tells us is coming. Its a nondebatable fact of scripture. Lot did'nt stand in Sodom and dance around falling brimstone, Noah did'nt put on his duck floatie and tread water while the Lord sailed the ark in, and we won't get hammered with the wrath and judgement coming on this entire earth either. That's a fact, not because I said it, but because he said it.
We are told to pray that we may be counted worthy. This worthiness should be a prayer we have and a goal for us every day we wake up now. If a prayer you said 20 years ago was enough, Jesus would'nt be telling you to pray that you may be counted worthy in the future now would he? Yea, its true, you have to "do" something to be counted worthy. The first thing is to obey the command to pray. How many people will be dissapointed on "that day" when they are left here on earth? It's a sobering thought, and I'm not laughing. Does anything else get more serious than this? The only thing worse than living though the Lord's wrath on earth would be eternal torment in hell.

From what I can see of what's coming, this world will soon be unrecognizable by many people. Satan's "interior decoration" staff is already in this world throwing up plans and prints and moving furniture around for their boss when he shows up soon. Do you like what you see so far? This world has'nt seen anything yet, not even the tip of the iceberg. Go rent every movie produced in the last 5 years relating to "supermen" "aliens" and "end of the world" themes then stir them all around till mixed well and you'll have an inkling of what's coming.

Don't get scared, get motivated. Purify your heart, remove any wickedness from your spirit. Ask the Lord for power, for strength, for wisdom to both know and do his will. This is all about our God's agenda, not Satan's playland on earth. Every time Satan has done something where he thought "score 1 for me" it has turned out to be a crushing clobber over the head for himself. The most notable example being the crucufixion of our Lord. Did'nt work out as well as Satan thought...

Ok, I have more to say but no more time. You are dearly loved. Yea, hell on earth is coming, but it was never intended for you (the true believer). Do you believe that there is an "escape from all" coming (Luke 21:36) or do your beliefs leave you doubting the very word of God?

Matthew 8:13 And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall be
... Jesus told the officer, "Go! What you believed will be done for you." And at that moment the servant was healed.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you and may he grant you peace.