Flee the Wrath

It’s all getting pretty crazy out there now. Every other week I hear of some news out of the U.S. and just think “You’ve got to be joking”

Two  weeks ago it was news of O’bama’s Brownshirts legislation, HR 1388 that had my attention. Last week it was it was the likelyhood of nationalizing GM (Government Motors) that had me thinking, and this week it’s HR 875. The legislation which has the potential to stop you from growing vegetables in your backyard veggie garden.

I don’t live in the U.S. but I would also be fairly sure also that like Australia at this time, you are seeing an order of control unveiled as a result of this so called potential apocalytic pandemic, Swine Flu.

Pretty soon there will be no area of your life which is free of potential government intervention. The New World Order Beast is marching onwards and things seem to be moving along quickly now. Government takeover of industry, internal security forces, big brother style draconian legislation and worldwide pandemic scare campaigns. The Beast New World Order may be here sooner than we imagine.

Where are you church? Are you asleep in the light? Are you warning your people of the dangers that lay ahead? Are you asking them to take a stand for  righteousness?  Are you suggesting that they earnestly seek God and pray, turn away from serving their worldly idols and bowing before gods that are not gods. Or are you more interested in satisfying  itching ears with your lukewarm messages and maintaining your large congregations and international ministries?

Could it be, heaven forbid that history is about to repeat, and like the false teachers of Israel saying peace and safety, all is well, you also refuse to accept the possibility that the Lord your God could be about to discipline his wayward children.

Not so long ago I wasn’t so sure, but now it seems increasingly likely as many have said in the past, that the greatest Christian persecution to occur in history of the world is likely to take place in the land of the free.

Because you are Lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I’m about to spew you from My mouth. Revelation :16

There is plenty of information out there on these legislative changes HR 1388 and HR 875. Here are a couple of videos that will fill in the gaps if you are not familiar with them.

As you can see I wasn’t quite sure what to call this post so I’ve kinda given it two names, as above.

There’s a classic Australian movie that’s been around for a few years called “the castle“. It’s a very funny story about an Ozzie family that are about to be evicted from their home, as developers attempt to buy up the property for an extension to the airport next door.

It’s full of Aussie humour, and there’s a classic line that is revisited throughout the movie, “tell him he’s dreamin”. One of the kids in the family, Steve, is an avid reader of newspaper classified ads. Steve comes to dad regularly with the prospect of purchasing a bargain at such an such a price, he reads his dad the ad, and dad’s reply is always “tell him he’s dreamin”

To put it another way, they’re kidding themselves, it just aint worth that sort of money.

As I read an article today in our Australian media, in which the reserve bank governor is suggesting the strong possibility of an economic recovery in the not too distant future, I would just like to say this  “tell him he’s dreamin” (RBA Chief Glenn Stephens upbeat on recovery)

It’s not going to happen, Glenn Stephens’ is kidding himself. The US economy is going down and she’ll be taking a whole bunch of other nations down with her, Australia included.

In the very short term there may seem to be a recovery in the stock market, but in my opinion, for what it’s worth, as soon as the markets recover sufficiently, many of the big investors are going to pull out in an attempt to recover some of the losses that they have born over these last few months.

I guess we can talk this thing up and hope for the best, I understand that Glenn is just doing his job, but if you are willing to look at the US economic fundamentals such as foreign debt, money supply, productive capacity, you will see that the world has changed, and will change profoundly as a result. It’s a little like watching the Titanic sail on with the passengers and crew in denial that such a ship could ever sink.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough that there are no lifeboats to get out of this one either.

As to Glenn Stephens supposed recovery. Someone, tell him he’s dreamin.

Here are a couple of vids if you are interested in this stuff.

Ever noticed the way we portray Jesus in images, like photo’s, paintings and websites. Usually attractive, or at the very least, pleasant to the eye.  Often fair skinned, and likely to have western facial features, sometimes even blue eyes.

The thought came to mind this week that we tend to picture Him as someone we can relate to, someone in whom we see a likeness of ourselves.  In our western culture, Jesus so often looks like one of us, a westerner.

The reality however is probably quite different in that Jesus most likely had darker skin, middle eastern facial features, shorter hair, and  brown eyes. The scriptures say that he was not particularly physically attractive,  and yet rarely is He depicted otherwise in our paintings and images.

And here is the thought that keeps coming to mind. We often tend to portray  Christ in our own image. That is to say, we make Christ look like us, or what we would like Him to look like. And I have this sense that we probably also apply this kind of thinking to the character of Christ as well, that is to say, His attributes. We assume that God would see things in a particular way, we imagine that God would seek to act in a particular way, according to what we know of ourselves.

Yes we were created in the image of God, and we are given some insight into His character according to the way we have been created, but the overwhelming thought is this;  how easily we are able to make God and His Christ into the image of someone who looks like me.

In this day in which humanism is infiltrating the church, it is vitally important that we know who our God is, and that we take His word as to His character, as truth, even if we are having some difficulty reconciling it with our natural mind.

I recall Oprah Winfrey stating once that she couldn’t reconcile the Christian God as being a Jealous God, to her way of thinking. It just did not make sense, so she threw the baby out with the bathwater. In light of her spiritual awakening she has since determined what seems most fitting, as to the character of God. And sadly she now enlightens her viewers with a new age humanistic kind of God, who is able to be accepted by many. Oprah’s picture of God, looks just like she does, all fits nicely together and is a replica of Oprah’s natural understanding. In a sense, the same way that we sometimes depict Jesus in paintings, making Him look like a North American white skinned Christian with a goatee and long hair.

As to the Character of God, know this Christian. The Lord your God is a wrathful God. This may  sit a little uncomfortably with our “God is Love” thinking, but regardless, we cannot ignore it and turn a blind eye to it, lest we also become a stumbling block to this generation.

I’ve grabbed a handful of scriptures from the New Testament concerning this particular characteristic of God. I hope you may take a moment to prayerfully read them and think upon them as to who your God is, and what He is like.

Mat 3:7      But when he (John) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Jhn 3:36       He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Rom 1:18       For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Rom 2:5       But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Rom 3:5       But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? [Is] God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)

Rom 5:9       Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath

Rom 9:22       [What] if God, wanting to show [His] wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

Eph 2:3      among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Eph 5:6       Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Col 3:6       Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,

1Th 1:10       and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, [even] Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Rev 6:16       and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

Rev 6:17       For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Daniel 11:32 says; “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

Know your God Christian!

Is it a co-incidence that this last 50 years has seen a reformation and reawakening of the Islamic faith on a worldwide scale, whilst at the same time Christendom has undergone a falling away from the faith?

I’ll get back to that question shortly.

Those of us who hold fast to our Christian faith, who know that the Lord is God, we reside in the midst of Christendom and lament what’s going on around us. Our culture is doing all it can to abandon it’s Christian heritage. I think of the words of the psalmist who penned;

Psalm 2 “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from this slavery.“

This is precisely what we are doing at this time in my nation, and I am sure most of Christendom likewise. We are seeking to break the bonds of righteousness, to which this wicked generation likens to being bonds of slavery.

Today in my nation the media generally seek to belittle their Christian heritage, and undermine the faith. They speak on things which they do not understand, nor do they care to. They so often mock the Christian faith and use words such as “fairytales” to describe the word of God.

Yet in the very same breath in which they belittle the Christian faith, they embrace the Islamic faith as an valid faith to behold, and refuse point blank to look upon the sad reality of what the religion of Islam will offer a culture which values it’s freedoms.

Woe to you foolish people.

Back to my original question, is it a co-incidence, that the rise of Islam has occurred at the very same time that Christendom is reaching the fullness of it’s apostasy.

Of course it’s no co-incidence!

I imagine that this day is likened to the day of Jeremiah, for it is just the same in that Jeremiah had to tell the people that their wayward hearts and backsliding ways had bought the nation to a place of judgment.

Jeremiah 5:15 “Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an enduring nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.

Those of us in who hold fast to our Christian faith in the midst of this apostasy know full well that there must come a day of reckoning. We see it approaching rather rapidly at this time. We know full well that in order for a loving father to correct the waywardness of a disobedient child, one must discipline sternly. We who hold to any godly wisdom know this full well.

Those of us who hold fast to our faith in this generation also see something perhaps more troubling. We see so many of our churches preaching another gospel, a gospel that is altogether different from the Gospel of our Lord.

At the same time as the prevailing culture has embraced humanism, this same humanism has made it’s way into much of the church. We see man being exalted from our pulpits, we hear a new gospel that seeks to make man the centre of all things, and God, as the one whom ought to respond to our needs according to our carnal hopes, dreams and desires.

I am saddened to say that so many in our churches are no longer able to discern the error in these new teachings which are so often embraced by the hearer, with no critical thought given to biblical truth. Worldliness is dressed up in a gown of righteousness and we buy it, no questions asked.

Paul said in 2 Thessalonians that the day will come when there is a falling away from the faith, an apostasy, and at that time the son of perdition (man of sin) would sit in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. And this man of sin would opposeth and exalteth himself above God.

This is that day!

I believe that Paul is referring to this day in which we live Christian. And I believe this scripture is applied to Christendom.

Sadly there are no co-incidences going on here. The rise of Islam is to suit the purposes of God. Did Christ not say that He would spew the lukewarm church out of His mouth, did Paul not say that we were to hand over the adulterer to satan for destruction of the flesh, in the hope, in the hope, that in the day of the Lord, his spirit would be saved.

Luke 21:36 Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Having said that remember this, that the Lord may be with Islam at this time in regard to her increase, He is allowing her to flourish for a season, to suit His purposes.

Christian, be not soon shaken or troubled as you see all of these things come to pass.