The Power of Praising God

Posted by & filed under Mikes Blog.

America, want to drive evil leaders mad? Then we, who are called by the Name of the Lord must start praying, signing songs of who our God is. Then we will drive them mad!

 

2 Chronicles 20:21-22
“After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising Him for His holy splendor. This is what they sang: ‘Give thanks to the LORD; His faithful love endures forever!’ At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.”  

Terror to Triumph – Part 11

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY continued:

If you were to go to a concordance and look up the word “character” you would find that the word is listed approximately 5 times in the NIV Bible. Although the word character is not found as the word “character,” the thought and teaching of what character means runs throughout the Bible.

 

The idea of character in the New Testament is a sense of being proved, tested, tried and basically found trust-worthy. We find an example of this in the Old Testament when the children of Israel came out of Egypt. It says in Exodus 13:17-18, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”

 

This is an interesting Scripture that brings out the need for character. God did not take them into a place where there would be conflict, although that would be a shorter route to the Promised Land but took them instead where they would not have conflict. What is interesting to me in this passage of scripture is to see how God knew that they did not have the character, they had not been tested, tried for war, but we read that they went up out of Egypt armed for battle.

 

In other words, they had the external things for battle: swords, shields, spears, etc., but they did not have the inner fortitude to be able to press on. They didn’t have “character.”

 

So much of what we face in the Christian life today is just like this. We have people who have the external things like diplomas, degrees, the right words, etc., but do not have what it takes inside to not only face the enemy, continue on in the midst of the battle and finish the task. In other words, they do not have “character.”

 

In the early days of the church when Paul was giving instruction to Titus and Timothy to appoint elders in the churches that had been established, he told them what “an elder must be…” (Titus 1:6) and then went on to tell them what that “must be” is: character. Our problem today is that we have turned “must be” into “that would be nice.”

 

An example of character is a man I’ve mentioned before by the name of William Carey who started what is known as the Modern Missionary Movement. William Carey was a man of perseverance. William Carey said, “Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God.” This was over two hundred years ago in the early part of November 1773, when William Carey (along with his wife and four young boys, his wife’s sister and fellow missionary John Thomas) traveled east. Obstacles were numerous when they arrived in India.

 

They were unknown, had no influential connections, no means of livelihood, they entered India as illegal immigrants, they faced life threatening diseases and the language and culture were largely unknown to them. In forty years William Carey had translated the whole Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit and Assamese, the New Testament and other portions of Scriptures into 33 other languages. He started Serampore college, which later became a university. He started a net-work of more than 125 village schools. He pioneered the education of women. He brought the modern printing press to India. He founded India’s first newspaper: Samachar Darpan (News Mirror) which is still published today. Even the oldest English newspaper in India today, THE STATESMENT, traces its roots back to Carey.

 

William Carey, like Elijah was a man like us, but he prayed and took steps of faith. When we see what is happening around us and the doors that God has opened, can we do anything less?

Spirit of Suffocation

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

America’s strength is being squeezed out by the “suffocating spirit of python.”  God calls divination the “spirit of python” because false prophesy, false narratives, false messages – believed – will suffocate the life of its victims/prey.

 

Divination is the counterfeit of a true anointing from God. Satan has always worked that way to deceive people. Divination has a deceptive flattering way of drawing in its victims – head first. Coiling and squeezing life out. We hear from socialists running for president what they will give us if they are president. Flatteries to draw us to them (voting for them) but the end result will be “suffocation.”

 

The Python has a forked tongue that detects flesh that it wants to devour. Tongue/words/message: we are taught in the Word of God that the “tongue has the power of life and death.” What “words/messages/narratives” are you listening to and believing?

 

Right now we are suffering from the Coronavirus which kills by suffocation. This is why breathing machines are needed, and now being manufactured. Something to think about! Something to pray about! Especially praying for our President and his administration to see correctly and make the right moves and decisions concerning this virus in America.

 

With the call to “shut-doors” to public places, shutting down businesses, schools, churches, etc. there is a suffocation of America’s economy taking place. Python spirit is suffocating the strength from America. Yet, as we REPENT of OUR wicked ways, and HUMBLY pray to the Lord our God – it will end so that the spirit of Python will be choked out and America can regain her purposed strength from God.

 

2-3 months of “shut-down” and “shut-in” will cause us all to begin thinking differently; thinking outside our boxes; preparing for far worse as we’ve been warned by the Lord in the Word of God – to expect as His Day approaches.

 

God’s people are already SEEING in this pandemic the opportunities and opened doors that God will always give His people in times of trouble/tribulation/threat/temptation.

 

The Python has bad vision and limited hearing. We are in the year 2020, which has been referred to as the year of PERFECT VISION. Those who are listening to the wisdom of God’s Holy Spirit are HEARING correctly about how to walk by faith in God through this time. They SEE correctly because they are looking into what God says by His Word and Spirit, so not to be deceived and filled with fear, making bad choices and decisions as a result.

Project Fear vs. Project Hope

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

I thought this was good to pass on, and I’ve added my own thoughts to it:

 

PROJECT FEAR HAS TOTALLY OVERTAKEN THE WORLD LEADERS AND IT IS SUCH A DESTRUCTIVE (DE-)MOTIVATOR. The antidote to fear is faith – or hope – as King David alone had faith in his God when all of Saul’s armies were quaking in their boots in fear of Goliath. Of course this virus is dangerous but promoting fear is not the way to tackle it. President Trump at least now seems to be the only world leader promoting some kind of cautious ‘hope’ with his post about the “anti-malarial and anti-arthritis” drug called chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine which will become immediately available.

 

Politicians should stop feeding the panic ‘fear-monger’ hype presently going on especially from the media, and tell people to calm down. They should instead stress healthy eating to build up the immune health which will itself combat the Coronavirus.

 

President Trump with his hopeful outlook in trying to calm people. He is also quite right on insisting that the virus has a Chinese origin. It obviously does. It might be kinder to the suffering Chinese people, however, to specify and not call it the Chinese virus but rather their ‘leaders’ virus.’ Their leading cartel is the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) so it should be specified as the ‘CCP virus.’ We should refresh our memories that Communism wants to own ‘all means of production’ which they see as being in ‘capitalist hands,’ and abolish ‘private ownership’ and ‘private enterprise’ in exchange for installing a ‘state socialist’ system. It wants to destroy healthy trading ‘capitalism of the free world’ which gives independence to individuals. Communism wants total state control. Their maxim is: individual liberty MUST be sacrificed on the altar of ‘the greater good of the majority’ whom, of course, they, the CCP, claim they represent.

 

In other words, a few ‘elite’ people at the top want total control over the masses. We see the Democrat party continually at work to take control over Americans with BIG GOVERNMENT, which is nothing less than ‘socialism,’ working its way to ‘soft-socialism’ which automatically leads into full-blown ‘communism.’ And sadly, most of these socialist politicians running for the presidency don’t even see where it will take us, being so blind and deceived. And yet, there are a few who do see and do want all-out communism, such as Bernie Sanders who has great respect for communism and who has convinced the young that America’s ‘capitalism’ is threatening and all together evil. Here we see what our Lord warned us of in the last days, that evil would be seen as good, and good seen as evil.

 

Unfortunately, over the last 100+ years the ‘free world’ has been so disastrously subverted by ‘soft socialism’ at all levels – and most especially at media level – that there are plenty of internal sympathizers who would welcome the success of such an offensive. So we need to keep speaking the truth to combat the lies. The economies of the ‘free world’ are going to be badly trounced if SWIFT HOPEFUL action is not taken – perhaps irrevocably by this panic-alarm reaction.

 

This day calls for true wisdom! “

 

“We speak a message of wisdom among those who are established in godly wisdom. We do not use the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare GOD’S wisdom…. THIS is what we speak, not in words taught us by ‘human’ wisdom (worldly wisdom) but in words taught by the Holy Spirit, explaining spiritual realities.” 1 Corinthians 2

 

Spiritual realities: things at work that are UNseen, and for most UNknown, because to ‘see and know’ what is really happening and what is altogether true – comes only by the revelation and teachings of God’s Spirit and Word. There are “spiritual realities” of the evil works of Satan (the demonic) that people don’t see or understand when a personal or national crisis hits, when something is troubling them requiring a decision or action to be taken; they don’t see or understand the devil’s evil works that are against them and not for their good at all. They are also unable to see that which is ‘good from God’ for them and for man’s future existence. Neither can they see, nor understand what God is doing to save them from the dark powers at work in our world, nor can they understand how faith in Jesus Christ can save them, and prevent them from going the way of the world that follows the “god of this world,” a.k.a Satan.

 

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” 1 Corinthians 3:19

 

“The wise understand where they are going, but fools deceive themselves.” Proverbs 14:8

 

 

How Much More Time?

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

2006 was an unusual year for me. In my 60 years of ministry I had no year like that one. I cannot go into all the details of what happened, but ten days before Pentecost Anneli and I spent more time in prayer for that particular day.

 

I asked the Lord how much time we have and immediately what came to mind was Pharaoh’s dream of seven good years and seven bad years. I thought that was interesting and I begin to ask the Lord when did the seven good years start, but there was no answer.

 

March 16, 2010 in my morning devotions the Lord led me to read the book of Exodus. I knew that He had a word for me and so in anticipation I started reading Exodus. Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 and so on until I came to Exodus 12:2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

 

I sensed immediately that this was the word for me that morning of March 16, 2010. When I looked up to see what day and what month in the Hebrew calendar this was, it happened to be the first day of Nisan. Not the second day or the third day of Nisan, but the first. Coincidence? No! There is no coincidences with God. I gather from this that I was to look at time from Hebrew calendar and not from the Gregorian calendar we use.

 

It was the nomination of Donald Trump in November of 2016 to be the 45th president of the USA that the Lord was showing me when the seven good years started that was given to me in 2006 (ten years earlier).

 

However, I was not to count time from November when he was nominated, but from 1st of Nisan of 2016 which happened to be Nisan 1, 5776 or April 19, 2016.

 

7 years would take me to the 1st of Nisan 5783, which in the Gregorian calendar is our March 23, 2023, and then the seven bad years start. God was also showing me that we, the church, the Bride of Christ, would go through the first 3 ½ years of those seven bad years. 3 years then would take us to the 1st of Nisan 5786 or March 19, 2026 but adding the six months would be another 180 days. Bible Chronology looks at 30-day months or 360 days in a year, and not the 365 we have with the Gregorian calendar. This brings us to September 15, 2026.

 

The seven feasts of Israel (four in the spring and three in the fall) have significant importance. Christ’s first coming was feasts in the spring and His second coming, which also includes the rapture of the Bride of Christ, are the fall feasts.

 

Paul in teaching the church of Thessalonica about the rapture said this: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

 

How does this happen? Paul goes on to explain: 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

 

The first of the ‘fall feast’ is what is known as The Feast of Trumpets: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’” (Leviticus 23:23-25) “And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets.” Numbers 29:1

 

We see in Thessalonica that Christ descends from Heaven, but He does not come down where His feet touch the ground. He comes later and His feet will touch down on earth. It is believed by many that this is when the rapture will take place. Christ comes for His Bride to take them back with Him. We see that these feasts are a shadow of what is to come. (Colossians 2:16-17) “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”

 

If this is the case, then is the Feast of Trumpets in the year 2026? September 12, 2026 is the first day of Tishrei 5787, which is the 7th month in the Jewish calendar, the beginning of the Feasts of Trumpets.

 

After all this I was sent the name of a book called “God’s Keys of Time,” which I purchased. The author Dereck Walker brought out how when understanding how God views time, we can get a timetable of where we are in God’s overall program.

 

What are the keys?

 

The 1st has 2 KEYS revealing the divinely ordained Blueprint or Framework for Time, which governs the progression of God’s Plan: *KEYS 1 and 2: The Blueprint is a WEEK of 7 DAYS of 1000 years each.

 

KEY 3: At the end of every Jubilee Cycle of 49 actual years, God adds a special 50th year of grace. This must be a measurement in the Redemption Chronology.

 

KEY 4: The Principle of Unreckoned Time. God does not count times when His people’s sin causes His Plan of Redemption to be suspended.

 

When Israel and now the church is out of fellowship with God (rebellion has come in) then God’s redemption timetable is stopped.

 

We see this with us individually.

 

Dereck Walker brings this out in his book: “This is also a revelation of the total forgiveness of God. ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to FORGIVE us our sins and to CLEANSE us from ALL unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) He remembers our sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12, 10:17) “He blots them out. (Psalm 51:1,9) Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. (Acts 3:19) I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25) I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. (Isaiah 44:22)’ If God completely blots out our sins, He must also blot out the TIMES of SIN, and so He blots certain times of history out of His Redemption Chronology! This principle shows that God deals with man in forgiveness.”

 

This is why it is important to have, like Paul, a clear conscience before God and man. How we need to maintain constant fellowship with God, and when sin does come – we confess immediately.

 

Dereck Walker using these keys show that from Adam to Abraham there are 2000 years (2 days) and from Abraham to Resurrection of Christ another 2000 years, or 2 days. (A thousand years is as a day with the Lord.) This means that the fourth day, or 4,000 years, ended 33AD with Christ’s resurrection. Two more days takes us to the end of the sixth day (our year 2033, 6,000 years) of the length of man’s rule, and brings us into the 7th day (1000 year) of Christ reigning on the earth.

 

WE know that Daniel’s 7th year, or what is known as the Great Tribulation (especially the last 3 ½ years), takes us to our year of 2026. Being “pre-tribulation,” the Spirit-filled church will not go through the tribulation but be taken (raptured) out. Those left behind will go through the first 3 ½ years of the Daniels 7 years. This is called the Great Tribulation of the saints.  Many left behind will come to Christ, but many will die a martyr’s death in this time called the worst time on earth.

 

I believe that the Coronavirus that we are now going through is a “harbinger” of what is to come. The world is now changing and getting ready for the return of Christ.

 

Going to the grocery store early this morning I was struck with so many shelves being empty. In my 80 years I have never seen this before.

 

I (we) realize that having 6 years to do what the Lord gave His church to do; what does the Lord want me to do in these six years? May the Lord’s faithful disciples be doing the will of the Lord until He comes.

The Gift of God’s Holy Spirit

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

Reading in Luke 2 about our Lord’s birth the Lord opened up verses 25-35 as to the purpose and work of His Holy Spirit. Here with Simeon, a righteous and devout man in Jerusalem, I saw all that the Holy Spirit is to accomplish in the lives of those who love Jesus Christ.

 

“The Holy Spirit was ON Simeon.” Before our Lord’s first coming into the world, the Holy Spirit “came upon” chosen individuals – to do the will of God for God’s purpose in this world.

 

“He (Simeon) was WAITING for the consolation of Israel.”  Because of the Holy Spirit on Simeon he could patiently WAIT for the coming of God’s Son into the world, according the Scriptures that Simeon knew.  God’s people today are WAITING for God’s Son to “come again,” because we ‘know’ what the Scriptures say about the second coming of Christ. As we WAIT, we are told to endure “evil intensifying rapidly” in the world, to pray without ceasing, as we faithfully testify about the Savior of the world. The Holy Spirit is the POWER of those who walk with Jesus Christ.

 

“It had been REVEALED to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” Holy Spirit reveals God’s timing for things to come, things prophesied by God’s appointed prophets then and now. The Holy Spirit REVEALED to Peter how he would die. The Holy Spirit REVEALED to Paul where to go and not go. The Holy Spirit REVEALED to John what to write (book of Revelation) so every generation would have the truth about the time of the end, and every disciple ready and prepared for Him.

 

God’s Holy Spirit is the One who REVEALS truth. He teaches us directly as we read God’s Word because He dwells within us, so that we don’t need anyone to teach us, says the Lord, who is the Spirit. Holy Spirit REVEALS truth from God’s Word when we need it, so we can expose all lies (the devil’s and the world’s).

 

God’s Word and God’s Spirit work perfectly together. If you read the Word of God without the Holy Spirit your understanding will be wrong, or in the least it will be a ‘simple knowledge,’ but without any POWER in your life.

 

If you say the Holy Spirit speaks to you and you do not read and study God’s Word in order to know Him and how He works – then it’s not the Holy Spirit who is speaking to you as you thought; it is a “counterfeit” spirit that intends to lead you away from the truth and will of the Lord.

 

It’s the Holy Spirit in me that makes me hunger for God’s Word, and thirst for the intimate private fellowship with my Lord each morning.

 

In Hebrews 6:1-6 we learn that our Father requires His children to move on to “spiritual maturity” which has to do with the Holy Spirit’s gifts and work in me.  If we do not go forward with the indwelling Holy Spirit to our required “maturity” in Christ, we will not grow as we should so that God can use us the way He desires to. We become stagnant. We remain infants. We are spiritually deformed.

 

For He says, “Anyone who lives on the milk (the foundation of faith) of repentance from acts that lead to death, faith in God, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the [Holy Spirit’s] teaching about righteousness. Solid food is for the mature, who by constant (daily) use have TRAINED THEMSELVES to distinguish good from evil.”  (Hebrews 5:12-14)

 

We can always learn from each other, no matter how old in the Lord we are, but it’s the Holy Spirit who trains our ears to hear what we need to hear, and gives us eyes to see what we need to see, and the wisdom to understand and do – what we need to know and do. Holy Spirit is whom we listen to first and last on all things about life and eternity. Holy Spirit trains us to do the Lord’s will. Holy Spirit is the helpmate of the Lord, they are ONE in all things.

 

Jesus wants His people to mature and walk with Him on HIS PATH, and not anyone else’s path, no matter how godly they seem to be.

 

“MOVED by the Holy Spirit, Simeon went into the temple courts (where Simeon saw the baby Jesus).” God wanted Simeon to be the one to proclaim ‘at that moment’ who this child is as the prophesied One. Imagine how Simeon must’ve lived day to day, WAITING and HOPING for that day.  I’ll bet he seriously watched what was happening in Jerusalem, world events of his day, praying and making himself ready for it to be fulfilled ‘in his day.’ How many churches are doing the same today?

 

I’d have to say that most churches aren’t living as Simeon because they really don’t believe it will happen in their day, yet the Holy Spirit has ‘generationally’ kept the coming of our Lord a reality, so that each generation of faith in Jesus Christ would be READY and PREPARED for Him. If you really don’t believe you are the generation who sees the return of Jesus Christ, you won’t be ready to see the Lord as you had hoped to!  (In one of His parables, Jesus tells us about the wise and foolish ‘virgins:’ those who were ready and those who were not – when it was time to see the Bridegroom. Matthew 25)

 

“Then Simeon BLESSED Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus…”

 

Another responsibility of the Holy Spirit is to BLESS those whom God chooses for His purpose in any and all generations.

 

The Bible teaches us that the day will come when the Holy Spirit has been finally broken off from the earth. (as Daniel put it in chapter 12) As it is, the wrath of God (Bowls of His wrath poured out) cannot come until His Holy Spirit is ‘taken’ from the world, no longer allowed to do all that the Holy Spirit has been doing to provide the grace and mercy of the Lord in the world.

 

Apostle Paul wrote about the ‘last’ anti-Christ and what he will do: “And you know what is holding him back, so that he (the devil personified) may be revealed at THE PROPER TIME. For the secret power of lawlessness (in accordance with how Satan works) is already at work; BUT THE ONE WHO NOW HOLDS IT BACK WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO TILL HE IS TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY.” (Paul is referring to the Holy Spirit) “THEN the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will OVERTHROW with the breath of His Mouth and destroy by the splendor of HIS COMING (our King of kings and Lord of lords – Revelation 19).” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8

 

The Holy Spirit is the One who sets up our appointments to hear the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to convict us of sin and the judgment to come, so that we can be forgiven and saved. The Holy Spirit is the One who grants us our spiritual gifts for our individual callings from God. The Holy Spirit also takes our prayers before the Throne of God, to be heard and answered by our Father God.

 

Jesus spoke about His Holy Spirit replacing Him at the Day of Pentecost: “When he comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in Me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world (Satan) now stands condemned.” John 16:8-11

 

So, as we learn, God’s Holy Spirit is far more vital, powerful, involved and intimate – than most people know. No wonder the Holy Spirit is called “God’s Gift.”  How BLESSED we are with His gracious presence still in the world! But the day is soon upon us when HE, the power of God’s holy people, will be taken from the earth, and with Him – the Bride of Christ a.k.a. the Spirit-filled faithful saints.

 

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!

Truth vs. Ideologies

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

The world comes up with (imagines) all kinds of ‘ology,’ but God gives us ‘truth.’ What a pitiful shame to spend all your life on an ‘ology’ of some kind and never go to the Word of God for truth and reality.

 

When a personal or national crisis hits – look at how stupid people are in what they imagine they should do or not do simply because they have rejected the truth and forfeited the wisdom to know what to do or not do. This is the life-altering differences between an ‘ology’ and ‘truth.’

 

Uncertainty and chaos goes with all the ‘ologys.’ Wisdom goes with ‘truth.’  Fear of uncertainty and chaos goes with any ‘ology’ because an ‘ology’ has no effective solution, no promise or hope that ‘truth’ has.

 

So, what do you trust in?

Being Prepared for Future Disasters – Wise Builders

Posted by & filed under Carols Blog.

Luke 6:46-48 “’Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,” and do NOT DO what I say? As for everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and puts them into practice (practical=wisdom), I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood (disaster) came, it struck that house but it could not shake it (overcome it), because it was well built.’”

 

There is great wisdom here in both spiritual and practical ways; for the spiritual and physical are connected, working together, as Jesus always taught – in using the physical life to teach the spiritual life.

 

Here in this parable of the wise and foolish builders I see a truth application for the WISDOM needed for our day; a prophesied time that Jesus said we (His people) should expect, as His Day approaches.

 

What should we expect? PANDEMICS! NATURAL DISASTERS! CHAOS! WARRING! PERSECUTION! And “all the more,” Jesus said, as His Day approaches.

 

Here in America God’s people (His Church) for the most part, are NOT ready for what is coming, not in practical ways that is. They are under the delusion that there is no need to prepare in practical ways because God will meet their needs no matter what happens. Certainly, God has given us promises, but all His promises come with conditions because the spiritual and the physical work together.

 

If you are not prepared in practical ways, how will you be one whom God can use to help others in times of disasters, chaos and persecution? When you are not prepared in physical ways as well as spiritual ways – how can God use you to be His vessel to help people who are not prepared? There’s a very good reason God allows these things to happen on the earth. He uses it to draw people to Himself; for it is His will that none perish in their sins, but that all be saved by faith in Christ Jesus, the Savior of the world.

 

Why should God’s people be the ones ‘unprepared’ because they did not listen to the Holy Spirit and “do what He says”? (Luke 6: 46) God has always ‘prepared’ in advance for what would come against His people one day.

 

We have many examples in the Bible of how God prepares. God prepared in how baby Moses was saved from death and then raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, and later to become the deliverer of God’s people in Egypt 400 years later when they were slaves.

 

Jacob’s 11th son, Joseph, who was hated by his jealous brothers and sold to gypsies, later imprisoned – became Pharaoh’s right arm, trusted with all of Egypt’s power and prosperity, that Joseph would later be the help for Joseph’s family (God’s chosen people) in time of famine.

 

God prepares, and so should we by listening to the voice of God’s Spirit in our day, because of what is inevitably coming against the Church of Jesus Christ in America, as it has to His people in other parts of this world.

 

I believe the church in America needs to apply the Lord’s rebukes in His letters, about being rich (in comparison) and very spoiled and self-centered, about tolerating the spirit of jezebel in our homes and churches where women dictate and lead men and abort their babies (child sacrifice), about running God’s church like a business for ‘religion’ and worldly gain, about denominational ‘hierarchies’ dictating rules and regulations for worship, about social apathy, about sexual immoralities, about Israel’s land and who are true Jews, about having left your first love Jesus Christ, and the things you did for Him when you first knew Him wholeheartedly.

 

Here in America – we God’s people – have A LOT to repent of! To whom much has been given, as God has done in America to bless us, much is required from us – by God as well. He’s not about spoiling us but about being able to use us for His good purposes.

 

If we think that because we live in America – we won’t need to do anything different to prepare for anything that would happen that could (and will) alter our lifestyles – we are foolish, just as Jesus taught in this parable about the FOOLISH builder who did not do what the Lord said to do, compared to the WISE builder who did what the Lord said to do.

 

With this Coronavirus that they are calling a pandemic – we are getting a ‘small taste’ of things to come. Now we are seeing our lives ‘somewhat’ altered because of the fear of the virus spreading throughout our nation, but we should understand what God is wanting us to realize and learn from it, to pay attention to what the Spirit is saying, because those who are wise will SEE and take advantage of the ‘opportunities granted’ by God in any time of disaster and persecution.

 

“See, I have placed before you an ‘open door’ (opportunities) that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept MY WORD and have not denied MY NAME…..Since you have kept MY COMMAND to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the ‘hour of trial’ (Great Tribulation) that is going to come on the WHOLE world to TEST the inhabitants of the earth.” (Revelation 3:8,10 – to the Philadelphia Church a.k.a. New Jerusalem: the Faithful Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus Christ.)

Terror to Triumph – Part 10

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY – continued

 

“The one thing that God is after is character.” Oswald Chambers

 

It would seem that in every one of our presidential campaigns or even when some of our other politicians are running for election or re-election how little emphasis is given on character. I was surprised when many who responded and said that character is not what counts. “It is the issues that count.”

 

One would hope that it is only a few people that would believe that character is not important, but it seems that this is something that’s becoming more rampant in our public offices as well as in our religious establishments. How can we say that character is not important? Everything we do springs out of character. Real leadership comes out of character or from lack of it.

 

I would like to quote an article by Chuck Colson regarding the importance of character and when there is a lack of character what it can lead to. In his magazine “Break Point” Chuck Colson said this:

 

“There’s an issue that crops up in every major election campaign: Does a candidate’s private morality have anything to do with his public life? For years, liberals have said no – people can do anything they like in private and it doesn’t affect their ability to govern. And now a conservative leader John O’Sullivan, editor of national Review, has said the same thing, writing that he’d rather be governed by a competent sinner than by an incompetent saint. The assumption here is that governing requires only technical competence. But that’s a mistaken assumption. ln reality, governing involves a whole philosophy of life – and that in turn involves our personal choices and behavior.

 

“Let me give you just one example – a very important one. Nearly all forms of modern philosophy borrow from the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau, an 18th century French writer.  Rousseau’s political ideas are described in his book The Social Contract, where he says the ideal state is one that demands total allegiance. Rousseau wanted the state to take responsibility for raising children so it could indoctrinate them to devote their whole selves to its service.

 

“These were the ideas that fueled the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. They were adopted by Marx and Lenin and became part of communism.  They even influenced Pol Pot and his cadre of Paris educated communists, who slaughtered a quarter of the Cambodian population in their pursuit of the totalitarian state.

 

“Where did Rousseau get such an awful view of the state? “If we look at his life, the answer becomes clear. Rousseau was a drifter and a Bohemian. He had several affairs and lived most of his life with a mistress, a young washer woman, named Therese. When Therese gave birth to a baby, Rousseau faced a major challenge: Would he settle down and accept the responsibilities of family and fatherhood? The answer was a flat no. Children, Rousseau said, would cramp his lifestyle, would undercut his celebrity in the high society of the day.

 

“He persuaded Therese to give up the infant to an orphanage. (Today it would be an abortion). Over the years Rousseau had five children. Each one was deposited on the steps of the orphanage. When his friends criticized him, Rousseau tried to justify his actions. He hit upon the argument that giving up his children was actually the best thing for them – that the state could do a better job of raising and educating them; that the state was a better father.

 

“These ideas later became a key plank in Rousseau’s political philosophy. Having asked the State to be a father to his own children he devised a theory of the state as father to us all. The state should be responsible for forming our minds and our loyalties. In the words of historian Paul Johnson, Rousseau portrayed all citizens as “children of the paternal orphanage.”

 

Rousseau might have been appalled if he had known that so much of the barbarism of the 20th century – the Concentration camps, the mock trial, the genocide – resulted from his efforts to justify his own irresponsibility.”

 

Everything stems from character.

Terror to Triumph – Part 9

Posted by & filed under Franks Blog.

CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY continued

 

Romans 5:3-5 “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

 

In these next few chapters I would like to concentrate upon one of the important things that we will be faced with in the 21st century and that is: men/women of character. We are born with a personality, but not character. Character is something that is developed on how we respond to life situations that come our way daily. I would like to mention a few things that different people over the years have said about the importance of character.

 

“THE WORLD NEEDS MEN AND WOMEN…who can’t be bought; who keep their promises; who value character over riches; with an opinion and a will; who value inner greatness over visible career; who readily take steps of faith; who retain their identity in a crowd; who do not compromise themselves with falsehood; whose personal ambitions are not limited to personal gain; who do not say, ‘We do it because the others do it;’ who remain loyal to their friends through success and failure; who believe that tricks, calculation and cunning are not the only keys to success who are not afraid of standing up for the truth, even if it is unpopular; who can decisively say ‘no’ in the face of a world saying ‘yes.’” (Source: Dr. Elijah Morgan &Peter Riederer (http://www.yell.ch) in “Schweizer Arbeitgeber,” 14/2002) ”Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

”Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” –Abraham Lincoln

 

”Integrity is its own reward.” –Laura Schlessinger

 

”Character is doing what’s right when nobody’s looking.” –J.C. Watts

 

”It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.” –Mark Twain

 

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.’” –General H. Norman Schwartzkopf

 

”Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.” –Aesop

 

”You must look into people, as well as at them.” –Lord Chesterfield

 

“Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.” –Benjamin Disraeli

 

”Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.” –Henry Clay

 

”Man’s character is his fate.” –Heraclitus

 

Oswald Chambers said: “No man is born with character; we make our own character. When a man is born from above a new disposition is given to him, but not a new character; neither naturally nor supernaturally are we born with character. Character is what a man makes out of his disposition as it comes in contact with external things. A man’s character cannot be summed up by what he does in spots, but only by what he is in the main trend of his existence. When we describe a man we fix on the exceptional things, but it is the steady trend of a man’s life that tells. Character is that which steadily prevails, not something that occasionally manifests itself.”

 

We see what people down through the ages have to say about character. The person that God uses is a man/woman of character. With all of our getting; get character.