Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Last Days, Perilous Times

(updated once since original posting)

2 Timothy 3:1-5. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Sometime over this past week, the Lord put this question in my mind, and after a day or two I forgot about it. This morning he put it right before my eyes again, and this time I'm presenting it to you. We see in 2 Timothy above that in the last days, perilous times shall come. The bible then goes on to explain why these times will be described as "perilous."

Why is it (there's that word again..."why") that the last days will be so perilous? Because people make it perilous. How? They love themselves. Love of self is what pride is, and pride was the original sin. This love of self pervades our entire society, from top to bottom. A survey was performed recently and the results showed that this generation (especially the kids) are the most narcissistic generation ever. Do we need a survey to tell us that? No, the word of God clearly told us it was coming.

I want you to notice that the first thing mentioned was love of self, and everything listed after love of self was an offshoot, a secondary effect of self-love/pride all the way down till you get to this: Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Notice that self-love/pride is described throughout, then its capped off by this idea that people will have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof.

What does the bible say about these people with a form of godliness who deny the power thereof? It says have nothing to do with them:

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

What's the implication there? If you are "going to church" and you are surrounded by people who "have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof," should you remain in fellowship with them? Is that what "turn away from them" means?

What does it mean to have a "form of godliness?" Well, it has something to do with God right? These people have an outward show of something to do with God. How about all the people who "play church" in these last days? They "go to church" instead of "being the church." From such, turn away. I did not say to turn away from them, the LORD DID. Is that unpopular with todays so called christianity? You bet it is.

Here's another question for you, how can you turn away from people if you haven't judged their actions? At some point, in order to obey this command, you have to identify these people with a "form of godliness who deny the power thereof." Once you identify them, you are then told to turn away from them. I can hear the screaming already "WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE!" Ummm, how about a servant of the Most High God, a son, an ambassador of Christ, and one told to turn away from those who practice a form of godliness but denying its power? If he instructed us to identify and turn away from such people and we refuse to, what does that make us? It would make us disobedient servants.

In the same way you've never heard your hired hand spiritual employee (pastor) teach you about Matt 7:14 and Matt 7:21+, you also don't hear them speaking about turning away from those with this "form of godliness." These "form of godliness" people are the people you see sitting all around you in the babylonian temples you attend (so called churches) with their attendant priests of babylon (pastors).

Hey man, that's pretty harsh! The Lord showed me something else recently and it was this: the truth only hurts for those who are condemned by it because their actions are sinful. The truth is not harsh for those who live and walk in truth.

Back to this "form of godliness..." What does it mean to "deny the power thereof." In order to answer that question, we have to ask, where does the power in true godliness come from? FAITH.

^^ There it is again, same theme, different day. Faith, is what affirms the power in our form of godliness. If you don't really believe, if you don't really have faith, you deny the power in the very form of godliness you profess. From these people, we are commanded to turn away.

2 Timothy 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Notice that these people with this "form of godliness" are lumped into the same batch as traitors, the heady and highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God...no distinction is made between them...from ALL such..turn away.

Are you saying "break fellowship" with these people? Answer it for yourself, what does "turn away" mean? This isn't rocket science folks. Once again, perhaps it's beginning to dawn on you why so few will be saved, why the gate is small and the path is narrow that leads to life. Perhaps you understand why those who speak the truth in this world have been killed, mocked, spit on, ridiculed. STOP CONFRONTING US WITH THE HOLY ONE has been the same refrain from men's mouths from the very beginning. Perhaps you can begin to understand why throughout the history of Israel it was always a remnant that was saved, not the majority.

Men do not want to turn away from their social circles, from their feel good buddies on Sun-day mornings. It doesn't matter that their buddies don't really believe because the fact that the social circle makes them feel good is enough.

Disobeying the Lord's command to turn your back on those with todays "form of godliness" is the same exact sin that Saul committed. I want you to read the story below, don't skim through it. Read and heed. See how the Lord sees, that you may judge things the way he judges them:


1 Samuel 15

1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD. 2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. 6 And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
10 Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, 11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night. 12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. 14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? 18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. 19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Notice here...Saul refused to destroy the seemingly "good things" that the Lord told him to utterly destroy. Saul's heart disobeyed the Lord for seemingly "good things." The Lord tells us this rebellion/refusal to do what the Lord commanded as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. People's refusal today to turn away from the babylonian form of churchianity, with its idolatrous pastoral system is as the sin of witchcraft. Their stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. The nicolaitan system that Jesus says he hates, men love. Because men love the "clergy/laity" system they refuse to turn their back on it. This world loves its idols, especially America. We are the home of "American Idol" in more than just a television show. Men lift up other men (pastors) to be their spiritual idols. A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him, and when a religious system instead of Christ Jesus has become your master, you have real problems.

Don't take my word for any of these things, look around you. This world has become a cesspool of wickedness, filth and every form of evil known to man, and America is ground zero for all of it. The wickedness that walks openly in America today stands up as a witness against the hundreds of thousand, maybe millions of supposed churches that dot the American landscape today. If something claims to be salt, but does not taste or preserve like salt, then its not salt. If something claims to be light, but does not drive out darkness, THEN ITS NOT LIGHT. Open your eyes people...

Judgement begins with the house of God:

1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

People don't want to hear about judgement coming to their house. They are fine with judgement coming to the entire world as long as it doesn't make a stop at their door. People want the world to change but they don't want to change themselves.

If we are indeed in the period of Rev 1-3 right now, then the Spirit is speaking to the churches. What I have been hearing the Spirit say now for weeks is its time to return to fundamentals. Prayer, reading the bible for yourself, faith, belief. Does it sound to you like the things written here are a dismantling of the entire religious system calling itself "christianity" today? It should sound like that. People "go to church" because that's what people have done for generations, but where are the people who have stopped to ask why? WHY, does the bible tell us to assemble together? To encourage one another. Does the bible say we assemble together so your "pastor" can encourage us? No, it does'nt, it says so we can encourage each other. With that's said, let's dissect a typical "service" shall we? When you show up to get "serviced" by your hired hand, what happens? You are expected to be silent while the hired hand speaks. He does all the talking, you do all the listening. If you were to try to say anything (except shout AMEN) you would be promptly escorted to the door.

So some guy gets up and pontificates while you are expected to be silent and that = us encouraging one another? The purpose of assembling together is stated explicitly, for US to enourage EACH OTHER, no mention of "pastor" anywhere. Where can WE encourage one another/assemble? My house? Your house? Outback steakhouse? Starbucks? Does it matter? But your babylonian pastoral priesthood has a real problem with that. How will they pay the mortgage on their monument to mankind buildings (so called churches)? How will they fleece you if you are'nt there to pay the Levitical tithe that you don't owe anymore? How will you be institutionalized by a dead and idolatrous system if you don't "go to church?"

The bible does not say anything about "going to church" ANYWHERE. It says we (not your hired hand clergy) should assemble ourselves together for the express purpose of encouraging one another...PERIOD. That is a rapier through the heart of the babylonian system masquerading as christianity today..

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the ...
... not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. ...

So called christianity today is a fraud. What is fraud? Its promising one thing and delivering another, or nothing at all. Having a form of godliness but denying its power is fraud. So called christianity advertises itself to the world as a the body of Christ. It presents a form of godliness to the world, but when the world probes it, they find that churchianity has no power. Why does it lack power? Read the list:

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

You are commanded to turn away from people who have this "form of godliness" but deny its power. In order to turn away from them, you must first identify them. Most people will refuse to do this because their "pastor" is like King Saul who refused to turn away from seemingly "good" things. That is witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry.

The truth never made men popular, it just gets them killed. Our Lord came preaching the truth and men screamed "crucify him!" Few will enter the small gate that leads to life, ask yourself why then don't run away from the answer when you get it...