Flee the Wrath

What are stumbling blocks? The Websters definition of a stumbling block is an obstacle, impediment or hindrance”

In the book of Ezekiel we see the prophet speak of a stumbling block that has caused the people to err from the way of righteousness.

As the prophet declares Gods indignation toward the iniquity of the people we read the following words;

Ezekiel 7: 19 ‘They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.

Question ! What was it that became the stumbling block of their iniquity?

It was their Gold and Silver! Well, Yes and No. Not the gold and silver itself, but rather the fact that the people had placed their trust in their gold and silver, riches and wealth.

For we see Ezekiel declare :

Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them, In the day of the wrath of the Lord.

In no uncertain terms, the One whom they ought to have trusted, will leave them to seek shelter in their wealth in the day of His wrath, but they shall not find it.

What an awful day that must have been, and alas, shall be once more .

Today in our western culture we have not before seen such an increase in the abundance of wealth and prosperity amongst the people. The past 20 years has been an era of financial growth, growth and more growth. Along with this the churches of western culture have also become rich, and have need of little.

The thing I don’t understand is this! Christ taught so often and so clearly about forsaking the “stumbling block” of riches, and following Him, and yet we still pursue this twisted idea that God seeks to give us financial prosperity, and abundant supply, more than we can think or imagine.

I guess He must be hoping we make the same mistake every generation before us has made, that we will build for ourselves idols, strong towers and shields from our gold and silver, and forsake Him – NOT

God in Christ clearly outlines a preferred path of obedience to the faith, and if we will obey His words we will not make the same mistake the generations before us made. There will be no place for the stumbling blocks of gold and silver which caused the previous generations to err.

Luke 12:33 Sell what you have, give alms to the poor and follow Me.

And by the way, He asked this of all His followers, not just the rich young ruler.

In this day and age there are indeed great signs and wonders upon the earth. To my way of thinking the most wonderful of these signs is the sign of a changed life which has been transformed by the Holy Spirit.

A life which has forsaken those things which are seen by the naked eye, which has counted as nothing the material world of taste, touch and smell, and replaced it with a value system that finds comfort, hope, peace and joy in the pursuit of a kingdom which is not visible. In pursuit of a kingdom which cannot be grasped hold of by the hand, nor tasted with the tongue, but is perceived and known only by the revelation knowledge given by the Holy Spirit. A life transformed by the power of God………..this to my way of thinking is the greatest miracle today.

When Christ walked His earth, He performed the greatest signs and wonders amongst the people, that they might believe. Furthermore, that they might know the love of God , in Christ. Here is the God who forgives, who heals, who sets those held captive free. God has not changed, He is still the One who heals, who delivers, who forgives and I for one don’t want to forget that.

One has to wonder how it comes to pass that at the end of the age, in the Day of the Lord, many would come to Christ declaring their great works on His behalf, expecting salvation and He will say to them “I never knew you”

Surely the people have been deceived, they have thought God is with me for I am able to perform these miracles, therefore I am His. Only to discover that they were never His. Oh what and awful day that shall be.

The first thing to note is this, signs and wonders do not vindicate a ministry. Do not be ignorant Christian. You may be casting out devils and praying for the sick, seeing them healed, and yet you yourself may be fit only for destruction. It is God who heals, and it is the power of the name of Christ which delivers.

Secondly, Christs’ explanation as to how we would know His people was by their fruit. But surely you say, these men do the works of God. Yes the works of God maybe, but do they manifest the fruit of righteousness of a life transformed by the Holy Spirit. Clearly this is the point of differentiation. The fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately due to our carnal, prideful nature we desire to go forth amongst the peoples performing great signs, this is admirable, but the true power of God is to be found in the one who has allowed himself, herself, to be consumed and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Transformed to the degree that they bear the fruit of the Spirit. Galations 5:22 ; love, Joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance.

Transformed to the degree that they have forsaken the former things, now place value in the unseen things, seek first the kingdom of heaven and keep themselves unspotted from the world.

That’s why when Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:5) about the perilous times of the latter days he said that it would be marked by a multitude “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”

The form of godliness is to be found in that they do the works of God, but they deny the power of the Holy Spirit to transform there lives to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, which is righteousness. It is the sanctification part of the deal.

That doesn’t mean you won’t have miracles amongst the body of Christ. He still desires to manifest Himself as the God who lives, who loves and who forgives. But we must be careful to give the glory to God alone, direct people to Christ alone, and command them to be transformed into vessels of righteousness, by the leading of the Spirit.

I fear as others do that today in our lukewarm, western, soft, fluffy, Jesus accepts everything culture, we tend to leave out the latter, the command to be perfect. If we do this we shall certainly end up with a church that Paul speaks of, that “takes pleasure in unrighteousness” therefore the Lord says, “I will send them strong delusion, that they might believe the lie”

Christian, ask for eyesalve, that you might see.

When I read the parables of Christ, and some of His sayings, I have to admit to feeling a certain amount of anxiety.

I think of the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. I can picture in my minds eye that final scene in the parable when the 5 foolish virgins, fully expecting to be allowed to enter into the wedding are told “assuredly I never knew you”.

I suppose what really gets to me about this parable is that the 5 foolish virgins had believed all along that they were Christs’. How could they have got that far, believing they were His, only to have the door closed to them.

And then I wonder, God, am I yours?

Or those words of Jesus, speaking of finding eternal life He says : enter by the narrow gate, for “few” will find it.

That word few, it means not many. And He tells us that most will go the way of destruction.

And I ask Lord, am I one of the few?

Or again, that story Christ tells, which is neither a story or a parable but a reality of a day fast approaching.

Many 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?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matt. 7:21-23)

I Imagine just for a moment that awful scenario of coming face to face with the Lord, and heaven forbid, hearing those words spoken to myself. I can tell you now, there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In this day and age of so many being so absolutely assured of their salvation, I wonder if there is something wrong with me.

But I found this scripture the other day, and in it, some comfort :

Isaiah 66:2 But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

I do have some serious misgivings about my own humility, but at least I can say one thing! I do tremble at His word.

A quick Google of the words “Third Temple” will find you many websites concerned with when, how and why a third temple will be built in Jerusalem as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Having studied the scriptures for many years, and especially how events unfold on the earth in the last days, I would stand in agreement with those today who who teach that the fulfillment of this prophecy occurs through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant believers.

That is to say that the third temple is a living temple, consisting of the body of those who have placed their faith in Christ.

This of course is in direct opposition to a belief that God shall now establish a third temple in Jerusalem as a final act prior to Messiahs return.

The concern I have with the constant looking toward Israels third temple as the fulfillment of end time prophecy is that much of western Christianity has taken it’s eyes off what God is most concerned about at this time, His living temple.

We are all standing back and saying everything is just great, the Jews are about to build the third temple, and satan is going to make his place in this temple and bring an end to sacrifice. And we righteous Christians are all going to watch and look and wait and we’ll know it’s about to end. And those silly Jews will be deceived again, by antichrist.

The scripture clearly says of Lucifer (Isaiah 14:13) that he desires to usurp the worship that belongs to God, to the Savior. Is Lucifer so dumb that he is going to set himself in the temple of Jewish believers, declaring himself to be God, as in 2nd Thessalonians. Of course not, Lucifer desires to dwell upon the mount of the congregation, amongst believers, who confess Christ.

If he can lead those who confess Christ into obeying him, then this will usurp the worship of God.

At this time in western Christianity, a time when the church pretty much looks and lives like the world I can’t help wondering if indeed Lucifer has made substantial headway in pursuit of his goal. If he has, then we may well be closer to the return of Christ than we realise.

What Western Christianity needs now, is a recognition that we are blind, naked and in need of Gods help. These are the days of “strong delusions” of “perilous times”.

I would say STOP looking to Israel as the fulfillment of the Third Temple. The Third temple is here and now and we ought to be concerned about this temple. Each one of us who make up this temple ought to be sure we are living lives which are Holy, acceptable and pleasing to God.

The Great Apostasy

2 Thessalonians 2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

You’ve probably never heard the rich young ruler being described as wise. Most bible teachers would tell you this young man was a fool for refusing to follow the Saviour.

In light of modern Christianity I’d argue that the young mans reasoning was honorable. At least he was honest enough to recognise that the cost of following the Saviour was His possessions, and all the things in this world that he had come to find comfort in.

Did Christ run after that young man imploring him to follow, and that we could work this thing out, saying C’mon, follow Me, it’ll all be ok.

No, I think Christ preferred that the young man recognise that he was not perfect according to Gods standard of righteousness, have him walk away, reflect on his imperfectness and repent thereof.

In this encounter we are given insight into Christs concern for His lukewarm church. To them He says I’d really rather that you were cold, than this false belief that you can follow Me and keep the world. Now therefore because you refuse to see this, as I have plainly taught from the beginning. I am going to have to spew you from My mouth Rev 3:16 and it’s going to get pretty bad for you. Maybe then you’ll repent and I’ll save you. (my own emphasis added)

Lets stop paying out on the rich young ruler and recognise that at least the guy was honest. Maybe it’s time to take a leaf out of his book, be honest about our faith. Then perhaps Christ will grant us the eyesalve to see the true state of our righteousness, or lack thereof.

Matthew 19 :20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Luke 12:32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 “Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.

I can’t say I’ve ever asked many Christians this question, but I suspect in these days of war on terrorism, of fear of Islamic extremism, quite a few Christians would suggest Islam or Islamic extremists are our enemies.

Perhaps today many US Christians might say Iran is our enemy. Perhaps many Christians who are climate sensitive might say global warming and polluting industry is our enemy. Perhaps many Christians might say the threat of a collapsed global economy is our enemy.

I would suggest that the real enemy of the Christian today is none of these, but in fact is the Spirit of Belial.

If we fail to recognise the true nature of this fight and willingly hand ourselves over to the spirit of this age, Belial, then God will grant authority to worldly powers, and environmental influences such as those mentioned above, to overcome His people, who are no longer His people. Read Hosea 2.

Wasn’t it the apostle Paul who said : For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

I don’t intend to undertake a detailed study at this time but suffice to say that the spirit of Belial is that demonic spirit which ruled over Babylon of old, and today rules over Spiritual Babylon, which we western Christians inhabit.

Many of the Jewish prophets understood how Belial was able to influence Gods people. If you undertake an old testament study you will see the Spirit referred to as Bel, or Belial, or Beliar. This spirit drew the affections of Gods people away from the One true God by various means.

The dead sea scrolls found at Qumran identify the spirit of Belial as deceiving Gods people through fornication, wealth, and pollution of the sanctuary. Studying the old testament writers would lead us to conclude that this is worldliness, licentiousness, sexual immorality, greed and selfishness and idolatry.

The apostle Paul teaches as follows:

2Cr 6:15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

2Cr 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.

The reality is that God is the one who raises enemies against us, enemies like drought, like famine, like nations that hate us, like financial depressions. It is He who gives satan authority, because of our unrighteousness.

In the days ahead we will look and see all these things coming against us, that are already appearing before us and wonder how long we’ll be able to withstand the onslaught.

And we’ll wonder why God has forsaken His people, once again. Because we, just like the Hebrews who were led astray by the Spirit of Babylon, the spirit of this world. We also bowed down to a god that was not God.

Belial is our real enemy. The events which are unfolding in our day, those things we think are our enemies, these are just consequences.

Noah was well aware that the day in which he lived there would shortly come upon the earth such a transformation in weather extremes that the whole earth would be flooded. Noahs equivalent of global warming.

Did Noah Preach A or B (select the appropriate answer)

A. We can make substantial changes to the way in which we pollute our world. Lets be good stewards. We can save ourselves.

B. God has determined to destroy this generation of the earth by flood but if you come with me, if you believe me, you can be saved.

The following scripture of Isaiah 24 paints a fairly horrendous scenario for this world. I guess we can play the game the world is playing (answer a) or we can wake up and start to warn the people of the wrath that is to come (answer b) and be like Noah in this generation. Sure some may not believe you, no one believed Noah either.

But at least they were all given an opportunity to be saved. God would desire us to extend His hand of grace to all men. What they decide to do with it is up to them.

Isaiah 24 :4

The earth mourns and fades away, The world languishes and fades away; The haughty people of the earth languish.5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant.6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate.Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men are left.

Consider for a moment sin, consider sexually immoral behaviour, consider theft, murder, lying, consider all manner of sins known to man and we have a concience which declares a line in the sand. Overstep that line and we know instinctively we have darkened the doorways of sin.

But of greed and selfishness, I personally find it much more difficult to measure, difficult to be so absolute in my discernment. When have I crossed the line? When is enough enough?. When might my God look down upon me in displeasure at my lack of goodwill or generosity.

The God of Israel, the creator of all things spoke loudly and clearly to His children in ages past, declaring His indignation toward those of His nation who looked the other way when poverty came close, who turned their back on a poor brother, who sought to gather more and more and more, ignoring the plight of others.

I have to ask you, based on your knowledge of what is good and what is just and what is right…should for example, a wealthy western church install a half million dollar chandelier in their entry hall whilst people of third world nations go hungry. Let me ask you does that sound right? I for one wouldn’t be comfortable about it.

Was John the Baptist off his face, or drunk in the Spirit when he declared a standard of repentance like this…“The people asked, what shall we do, how shall we repent, John replied, well you have two tunics don’t you…give one of them away…..”

And the Saviour declared to His followers…”sell what you have, give alms to the poor, then follow Me.”

So how do we measure greed and selfishness. The scriptures declare that the eyes of a man are never satisfied, so it ought to be important to know when enough is enough.

How do we measure, what is the standard….

I have to wonder if the measure of greed and selfishness we Christians might use to day, is the same measure the world uses. Is the Christian yard stick for giving and generosity based on a worldly benchmark, is it based on how we see the world around us living, how we see others giving.

The world says work 40 hours, the world says get a loan, the world says buy a new this or a new that, the world says invest in the temporal, the world says you must have superannuation, retirement savings, investment homes, the world says you must have life insurance, the world says, the world says, the world says see, look, focus upon and live like this…and for the most part I think we do.

So if we live like the world, do we also give like the world!

The bible says that we should model our lives on the Saviour, who gave all for the Glory of God and the good of others…

I am going to stick my neck out and suggest that many of us in the affluent Western churches look around at our neighbour, we see how this society lives and we measure ourselves according to this standard. Well my neighbour has this, this and this, so thererefore I also can feel justified in having this and this and this, perhaps I won’t be quite so extravagant, after all I am a Christian….

According to statistics found at http://www.generousgiving.org , Eighty percent of the world’s evangelical wealth is in North America—and the total represents way more than enough to fund the fulfillment of the Great Commission.⁶

Who is truly leading us I wonder, the world or the word?

Luke 3: 11 John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

Luke 12: “Sell your material possessions, and give the money to the poor. Make yourselves wallets that don’t wear out! Make a treasure for yourselves in heaven that never loses its value! In heaven thieves and moths can’t get close enough to destroy your treasure.

Urgency of the hour

Saturday July the 5^th 2008. The front page of the Sydney Morning Herald declares “Adapt or Perish” in bold font. The scenario – unless we change our way of life with regard to greenhouse emissions and confront the terror of Global warming we shall soon perish.

As usual the newspapers are half right…the heading should have declared “Repent or perish”. But such is the nature of this world.

The point however is that at this time many are well aware of one significant fact “all is not well in this world, at this time” This “Global warming” is but one issue. Consider Peak oil, consider the threat of a global food shortage, now referred to as peak food, consider the present threat of substantial economic hardship in much of the US and Europe, consider the threat of extremist terrorism and the ongoing war on terrorism. These are the days in which we live.

Though I suspect that throughout history men have often considered their day, to be in a perilous state of worldly affairs, never was it more loudly proclaimed than it is today. Never have the nations of the world been more determined to work together to create an order of peace, of economic sustainability, of prosperity, a harmonious world.

And it’s almost as though the harder they try, the more difficult it becomes and the further the dream slips away.

Today we send satellites to the furthest reaches of space to seek a new world, to understand our beginnings, we tinker with genetics, dream about creating life and of improving life, more perfect, without defect, a world without sickness. This distant dream in which man is able to, according to his knowledge, create a new, better, more perfect world, just like heaven.

Why do men do this? you may ask. Ecclesiastes 3:11 : For God has put eternity into the hearts of men

The natural man, unregenerate, and without the knowledge of His creator, and His purposes, will once more attempt to establish Babel, that worldly, earthly kingdom that does it’s best to imitate heaven.

And in like fashion, it’s my hypothesis that when you see the city of Babel, this new world order, once more reach to the heights of heaven, you will know that the end is near.

Sydney Morning Herald ref article : http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/australias-harsh-reality-adapt-or-perish/2008/07/04/1214951042626.html