Loyal
The Lord Jesus led me to read Matthew 11 (Select vv. NIV).
I believe the Lord has a message here for the church in America, particularly for its leaders. I believe he has sent us many messengers throughout the years, and including still today, to speak his words to our hearts, and to show us the way to true faith in Jesus Christ, via repentance, i.e. via turning from our sins and turning to Jesus Christ to walk in his ways and in his truth.
But, so much of today’s church has rejected those messages and they have gone the way of the world instead, and they have bought into a false grace gospel which tells people what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
So, the present spiritual condition of the church, overall, but not speaking of the entire church, is problematic. It is a mess. What is spiritually alive, pure, and is wholesome is scarce, while what is lewd, worldly and immoral is rampant (widespread) within the church and within our nation. And, yet they are arrogant. They are proud. They are haughty.
The messages coming forth from this worldly church are inconsistent, all over the place theologically, and divisive. Much of what is being taught is contrary to scripture. And, the church is on a huge spiritual and moral decline and is plunging further and further into oblivion and degradation.
On a surface level, it does not appear to be as bad as what it really is, but below the surface, much evil and immorality exist and are often ignored, so they are allowed to continue to go on unchecked. Yet, the more you dig down to see what lies underneath, the more you are able to see all the filth, the immorality and the lewdness. A very large majority of pastors, church leaders and heads of households are addicted to or are regularly entertaining themselves with pornography, sensuality, masturbation, extra-marital affairs, lust, prostitutes, homosexuality, and/or other sexual perversions.
These sins are not confined to just men, but I believe the Lord is addressing men primarily here, because they are the ones given the responsibility for the spiritual protection and guidance of the church and of the home. And, the Lord is telling them that they need to clean up the mess. They need to get rid of all this filth in their lives, in their homes, and in the church, and they need to replace this filth with what is pure, holy, righteous, and moral. And, they need to love their wives and their congregations with the love of Christ instead of being self-serving, feeding their own flesh (See: Ez. 34).
One of the reasons sin has been allowed to go unchecked in the church and in the home is because of all the lies and the deceptions that are also running rampant. Many are self-deceived and they have been able to convince others of their lies. But, when we get to the bottom of it all, and our eyes are opened to the truth, and we see what is really going on, we need to stand up and say “NO!” We need to no longer tolerate all the lies and deception, but we need to speak out about it. And, we need to confront the lies and open people’s minds to the truth, so that they can see, too.
We need to be the people of God who stand on the truth, who stand up for what is right, and who refuse to be intimidated or shamed into believing the lies and into joining in with what we know is not of God, but is of Satan.
Yet, when we choose to stand for what is right and against what is wrong, and we expose the lies and the deceptions and the dilution of the gospel, we can expect to face much opposition. And, we can expect to be verbally or even physically attacked, too. We can expect people to make comments to us which are disparaging, taunting, intimidating, and boastful. Again, they will do this to try to shame us into compromise, and to try to get us to disobey God and his Word. They will try to make us look bad so that we will feel guilty, but we have to know that trick, and not fall for it. Instead, we have to say we will have none of it, but we will continue to obey our Lord.
A lot of this opposition comes from the US government, which serves in a subservient position to the de facto government of these United States, which is a small privileged class of people, the elite of the world, i.e. a shadow government. And, this small group of elite, wealthy and powerful, are the ones truly running the world, who are bringing the world into a New World Order, i.e. into a global government with a global one-world religion. The US government serves this N.W.O. in conquering nations, peoples, Christians, lands, property, and natural resources in these nations.
Much of this opposition, though, comes from within the institutional church, which is comprised of the church in an unholy union with the government, i.e. in an adulterous relationship with the government, who they have made their head in place of Christ. And, thus, many have turned the church into a place of business, and they are marketing it just like any other business, and so they plan their gatherings to appeal to the masses and their message to appeal to human flesh, rather than to be in concert with the Holy Spirit.
And, so they try to get the Lord’s servants, the teachers of the Word, to compromise with the world and to bring forth messages which are sometimes mocking of God and of spiritual matters, which are often misleading and deceptive, and which are fashionable, i.e. “cool”. They want to convince us to preach what is popular and that which is pleasing to the ear. They also want us to pad the gospel message with humor, and even with that which is borderline profane. And, they want us to show movie clips from movies which are sometimes sexually provocative. And, all this is because they want the church to turn to that which is of Satan and to reject that which is of God. This is the agenda of the New World Order.
So, we must cry out against such perversions of truth and such blasphemy of God and against all the filth and immorality going on inside the walls of Christianity. We must cry out against all the lies, deceptions, and trickery, and the diluting of the gospel which is intended in order to appease the flesh of man and to lead people away from Christ. And, we must not yield to their intimidation tactics which are intended to try to get us to back down from the truth and to compromise with the world. And, we have to stand strong on the Word of Truth, for only in it will people be able to find true life.
We have to open our eyes, too, to this enemy which is hidden within the walls of institutional Christianity, which is there to destroy the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to realize that the church, for the most part, has partnered with the antichrist, and she is allowing the antichrist to destroy the church from within. We, as the church, have to stop dancing to the tune of this “Pied Piper,” and we must come out from among her, so that we don’t share in her sins and in her punishment, and so the Lord will receive us (See: Rev. 18:4-5; cf. 2 Co. 6:14-18).
And, instead, we must follow the leading of Jesus Christ and his Spirit. We must know what the Word of God teaches on these matters, and we must follow the truth, and reject the lies. We need to turn to the Lord for our support and as our sanctuary, not to men, and not to the government. And, we must learn from the Lord and not from humanistic philosophies, which are contrary to God’s Word.
Oh, I pray with all my heart that God would open the eyes of the deceived and that they would follow Jesus Christ in purity of heart and devotion and forsake all their idols.
Near the Cross
Fanny J. Crosby / William H. Doane
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.
Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
Thursday, December 28, 2017, 7:24 a.m. – Thank you, Jesus, for this teaching from your Word. Show us the truth, I pray. Amen!
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’” V. 10b
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.” Vv. 12-15 NIV84
who will prepare your way before you.’” V. 10b
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.” Vv. 12-15 NIV84
I believe the Lord has a message here for the church in America, particularly for its leaders. I believe he has sent us many messengers throughout the years, and including still today, to speak his words to our hearts, and to show us the way to true faith in Jesus Christ, via repentance, i.e. via turning from our sins and turning to Jesus Christ to walk in his ways and in his truth.
But, so much of today’s church has rejected those messages and they have gone the way of the world instead, and they have bought into a false grace gospel which tells people what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
So, the present spiritual condition of the church, overall, but not speaking of the entire church, is problematic. It is a mess. What is spiritually alive, pure, and is wholesome is scarce, while what is lewd, worldly and immoral is rampant (widespread) within the church and within our nation. And, yet they are arrogant. They are proud. They are haughty.
The messages coming forth from this worldly church are inconsistent, all over the place theologically, and divisive. Much of what is being taught is contrary to scripture. And, the church is on a huge spiritual and moral decline and is plunging further and further into oblivion and degradation.
On a surface level, it does not appear to be as bad as what it really is, but below the surface, much evil and immorality exist and are often ignored, so they are allowed to continue to go on unchecked. Yet, the more you dig down to see what lies underneath, the more you are able to see all the filth, the immorality and the lewdness. A very large majority of pastors, church leaders and heads of households are addicted to or are regularly entertaining themselves with pornography, sensuality, masturbation, extra-marital affairs, lust, prostitutes, homosexuality, and/or other sexual perversions.
These sins are not confined to just men, but I believe the Lord is addressing men primarily here, because they are the ones given the responsibility for the spiritual protection and guidance of the church and of the home. And, the Lord is telling them that they need to clean up the mess. They need to get rid of all this filth in their lives, in their homes, and in the church, and they need to replace this filth with what is pure, holy, righteous, and moral. And, they need to love their wives and their congregations with the love of Christ instead of being self-serving, feeding their own flesh (See: Ez. 34).
One of the reasons sin has been allowed to go unchecked in the church and in the home is because of all the lies and the deceptions that are also running rampant. Many are self-deceived and they have been able to convince others of their lies. But, when we get to the bottom of it all, and our eyes are opened to the truth, and we see what is really going on, we need to stand up and say “NO!” We need to no longer tolerate all the lies and deception, but we need to speak out about it. And, we need to confront the lies and open people’s minds to the truth, so that they can see, too.
We need to be the people of God who stand on the truth, who stand up for what is right, and who refuse to be intimidated or shamed into believing the lies and into joining in with what we know is not of God, but is of Satan.
“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
“‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” Vv. 16-19
“‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” Vv. 16-19
Yet, when we choose to stand for what is right and against what is wrong, and we expose the lies and the deceptions and the dilution of the gospel, we can expect to face much opposition. And, we can expect to be verbally or even physically attacked, too. We can expect people to make comments to us which are disparaging, taunting, intimidating, and boastful. Again, they will do this to try to shame us into compromise, and to try to get us to disobey God and his Word. They will try to make us look bad so that we will feel guilty, but we have to know that trick, and not fall for it. Instead, we have to say we will have none of it, but we will continue to obey our Lord.
A lot of this opposition comes from the US government, which serves in a subservient position to the de facto government of these United States, which is a small privileged class of people, the elite of the world, i.e. a shadow government. And, this small group of elite, wealthy and powerful, are the ones truly running the world, who are bringing the world into a New World Order, i.e. into a global government with a global one-world religion. The US government serves this N.W.O. in conquering nations, peoples, Christians, lands, property, and natural resources in these nations.
Much of this opposition, though, comes from within the institutional church, which is comprised of the church in an unholy union with the government, i.e. in an adulterous relationship with the government, who they have made their head in place of Christ. And, thus, many have turned the church into a place of business, and they are marketing it just like any other business, and so they plan their gatherings to appeal to the masses and their message to appeal to human flesh, rather than to be in concert with the Holy Spirit.
And, so they try to get the Lord’s servants, the teachers of the Word, to compromise with the world and to bring forth messages which are sometimes mocking of God and of spiritual matters, which are often misleading and deceptive, and which are fashionable, i.e. “cool”. They want to convince us to preach what is popular and that which is pleasing to the ear. They also want us to pad the gospel message with humor, and even with that which is borderline profane. And, they want us to show movie clips from movies which are sometimes sexually provocative. And, all this is because they want the church to turn to that which is of Satan and to reject that which is of God. This is the agenda of the New World Order.
So, we must cry out against such perversions of truth and such blasphemy of God and against all the filth and immorality going on inside the walls of Christianity. We must cry out against all the lies, deceptions, and trickery, and the diluting of the gospel which is intended in order to appease the flesh of man and to lead people away from Christ. And, we must not yield to their intimidation tactics which are intended to try to get us to back down from the truth and to compromise with the world. And, we have to stand strong on the Word of Truth, for only in it will people be able to find true life.
We have to open our eyes, too, to this enemy which is hidden within the walls of institutional Christianity, which is there to destroy the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to realize that the church, for the most part, has partnered with the antichrist, and she is allowing the antichrist to destroy the church from within. We, as the church, have to stop dancing to the tune of this “Pied Piper,” and we must come out from among her, so that we don’t share in her sins and in her punishment, and so the Lord will receive us (See: Rev. 18:4-5; cf. 2 Co. 6:14-18).
And, instead, we must follow the leading of Jesus Christ and his Spirit. We must know what the Word of God teaches on these matters, and we must follow the truth, and reject the lies. We need to turn to the Lord for our support and as our sanctuary, not to men, and not to the government. And, we must learn from the Lord and not from humanistic philosophies, which are contrary to God’s Word.
Oh, I pray with all my heart that God would open the eyes of the deceived and that they would follow Jesus Christ in purity of heart and devotion and forsake all their idols.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Vv. 28-30
Near the Cross
Fanny J. Crosby / William H. Doane
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.
Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
Thursday, December 28, 2017, 7:24 a.m. – Thank you, Jesus, for this teaching from your Word. Show us the truth, I pray. Amen!