My Longing for True Government Officials

It's been a long time since my last post, and the world has turned even more insane than I could have possibly imagined.  I have read the Bible and the descriptions of the end times and thought, "I'll not live to see this madness happen.  It's a long time away from now."

We're now seeing madness taking place in my country I never thought I would ever witness.

From my Bible reading a few days ago, I thought I would share a brief ditty that has been in my thoughts since then.  From Daniel 6:1-5.......

"It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”

Because Daniel was an exceptional government official and was going to be set to rule over the whole kingdom, this raised the ire and jealousy of the other government officials.  These officials, living in a world of corruption and intrigue, were not able to find anything wrong with Daniel because he was neither corrupt nor negligent.  The only thing they could get on him had to do with his religion, so they hatched a plan to be rid of him through his religion.

This makes me think of our government and the many officials that rule our land.  Imagine if we had leaders like Daniel, who were trustworthy, and neighter corrupt nor negligent.  This sparked in me the realization that I want leaders who are this way, and I know there are none (that I know of) who are.  I have no trust in any government official to act rightly.  This makes me long for the millenial reign of Christ, where He will rule justly and in righteousness.  He will be the fulfillment of the many longings I have.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Comparing a Modern Day "Prophetess" with a Real Prophet

I've been seeing lots of these types of so called "prophetic utterances" showing up in my Facebook feed.  So I thought it would be interesting to compare one of these with a real prophet of God.

Lana Vawser vs. Ezekiel

It's a bit of a long one, but it is interesting nonetheless.  First up - Lana Vawser.  This is taken from her Facebook page just today. 



"FORERUNNERS ARE MOVING FROM PREPARATION TO PRESENTATION AND DEMONSTRATION
Lana Vawser
www.lanavawser.com
This afternoon the words have been going over and over in my spirit "It has been a time of preparation, now it’s the time of presentation and demonstration" and I kept seeing the face of Esther before me.
The atmosphere around me was pregnant with "For such a time as this" and I could feel hope and anticipation arising in the Spirit.
As I pondered what I had heard, I felt the Lord highlight the forerunners and those who have yielded themselves to the process and to the fire of God. That there has been an intense time of preparation. There has been fire on levels that many have not known before. Prophets have been facing fires that are seven times hotter. Forerunners and forefront leaders taken into a season of intense shaking, moulding, pruning and purging. I felt the Lord highlighting those who have said YES, those who have embraced the fire and embraced the process to which He has been leading them on, EVEN when they don't understand that the season of preparation for the next step of destiny has come to an end. There is a shifting that is taking place in the spirit right now.
It's time for the PRESENTATION and DEMONSTRATION. The Lord has been fashioning hearts, hearts of purity to seek Him and Him alone. To be in the place of truly seeking to know His heart, and to hear His voice, to BE WITH HIM, simply just to BE with Him. He has been developing DEEP DEEP levels of intimacy in the fire and in the shaking and the process many have walked has led them to a greater place of surrender and humility before the Lord which has opened up a glorious new level of divine romance with the King of Kings.
There has been a 'hiddenness' that many have been in as the Lord has dealt with the heart and shaped character. The Lord is looking for pure hearts and pure motives and as the forerunners and those in the body of Christ have yielded to the process, they are now moving into the season of PRESENTATION and DEMONSTRATION.
Get ready to be called for! Get ready for huge doors of favour to open up to you that you could not even imagine and DO NOT BE SCARED FOR YOU HAVE BEEN PREPARED.
Your intimacy with Him and what He has done in your heart in the season of preparation has made you 'steadfast' in Him. DO NOT be scared!
The Lord is about to place the forerunners and those who have yielded to His process on platforms of favour, I saw huge levels and doors of favour opening up over night for some, incredible connections with people of influence and destiny doors not just opening a crack but swinging WIDE open BECAUSE He wants to DEMONSTRATE His POWER, His GLORY, His GOODNESS and His LOVE in SIGNIFICANT ways.
In the fire character has been developed and strength has been developed, not in one's ability but IN HIM!!! The place of deep surrender and humility, the Lord is releasing many into their PRESENTATION and DEMONSTRATION season that is going to see the greatest harvest of fruit released from their life that they have ever seen. As they have been through the fire, and yielded they have come to a place of giving ALL GLORY to Him. A heart cry for HIM to be seen!!!
The power of God is going to move through these ones in ways they have never imagined and in places they could never have dreamed of, flowing from the divine dance of love with Him. A fresh expression of His LOVE and POWER will be demonstrated. The King of Kings is taking the stage in the lives of the forerunners to SHINE, SHINE, SHINE!
These ones arising are arising with MOUTHS FULL OF HOPE!!!!! The demonstration of Jesus through them in power, is going to shift the most impossible circumstances as they step forward into their destiny, free of striving but in the slipstream of grace.
You have been prepared for such a time as this!! (Esther 4:14) The preparation season you have walked hasn't been for nothing. The opposition of the enemy has been relentless because he has been terrified of what you are stepping into.. YOUR PRESENTATION AND DEMONSTRATION SEASON!"

Whew!  Okay.  Next up - Ezekiel.  I'm going post the entire 13th chapter. 

Ezekiel

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord God. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God. Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.

“And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds. Your veils also I will tear off and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life, therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Well?  What do you think?  Modern day "prophetess" vs a real prophet.  I've noticed some differences.

I'll leave it with you.

It's Not Mine

It's been a LONG time since I've put anything on the blog.  I was reading 1Corinthians this morning which then made me think of the passage in Matthew.  When I was thinking about these things together is made me think of the Philippians passage.

"So?", says I, "Why not put this on the blog?"  Why not!

1 Corinthians 3:16, 17 "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple." 

Matthew 23:16-22 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

In the Matthew 23 passage, the temple and the altar are what make the gold and the gift sacred.  In and of themselves they are as they always were - normal, everyday gold and ....gift(whatever the gift might be).  They are MADE sacred by their relationship with the temple and the altar.

So to with us.  Like the gold and the gift, in and of ourselves we are nothing - and we most certainly are NOT holy!  But because God's temple is holy (because He dwells there, making it holy) and His Spirit dwells in us, we are His temple and are made holy because of Him - it is God who makes us holy.

That reminds me of another passage...

Philippians 3: 8, 9 "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - ...".

That "not having a righteousness of my own" portion reminds me of another passage... 

Matthew 22:10-14 "And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.  “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.  And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I'm a Christian...and It's Not Because I'm An Awesome Guy!

 It's been awhile since I've posted anything here.  I needed to get some thoughts out of my head due to all the stuff going on in "the world" today so here's a bit of a rant.

I am a Christian only because I believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News of the gift of salvation from God.  There is nothing good in me.  I am a wretched sinner whose only hope for rescue is by coming to God begging for His mercy on me.

Even before I heard the Gospel I KNEW I was a sinner and lost, doomed to Hell when I died.  Even though I would have denied it if you had asked me deep down inside I knew I was.  When I heard the Gospel message it confirmed what I already knew about myself.  How did I believe in Hell?  I don't know, I just did.  My life when I heard the Gospel was a small glimpse, a taste, of what Hell was going to be.  The Bible tells me that ALL are sinners in the eyes of God, and everyone's life proves this to be true.  The Bible also tells me that if all sinners do not repent and believe the Gospel while here on earth, when they die they will stand before God and be judged and sent to Hell.  Right now God is the enemy of every sinner and every sinner stand condemned already.  Every sinner is to be punished for sin - the judgement is held off for the time being until they die.  The Gospel is that Jesus Christ took the punishment of God that I rightly and justly deserve.  He took this punishment in my place, He paid my debt to God and rescued me.  By doing these He made peace with God on my behalf.  I believe this with my whole heart and I am SO thankful and grateful to my Lord and Savior.  How do I believe this?  I don't know, I just do.  I heard the Gospel and it was like a light went on.

The world that I live in right now is going through tremendous turmoil.  All people are sinners and when a Christian brings the Gospel message to a person, or takes a stand against a sinful lifestyle and offers a reason why they are against sin, they are violently dismissed, screamed at, raged against, taken to court, fined, etc., for being intolerant, haters of people, bigots.  It is truly fascinating, sad and scary to watch it all unfold.  People do not want to hear the truth that they are sinners.  People want to have their lives and lifestyles affirmed, to be told their lifestyles are acceptable in God's eyes.  The scary thing is that if they do not repent then they will die in their sin and be sent to Hell.

The professing church in the world I live in right now is also going through massive change.  As professing Christians continue to run away from the teaching of the Bible, sound doctrine and a life marked by repentance they are embracing what the world outside the church accepts and embraces already.  Homosexuality is the big thing now.  The absolute crazy thing here is that well known leaders in the professing church are telling sinners that their sin is acceptable in the eye of God.  Whole denominations are going this route, to the applause of the world.  We are seeing the Great Falling Away taking place before our eyes.

Christians do not come from any moral high ground AT ALL - how can they?  A Christian recognizes they are sinners who stand before God condemned for their sin but for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on their behalf.  When a Christian takes a stand against "the world", it's because they recognize sin for what it is and what it does and what it brings.  It's not because they are "holier-than-thou", or somehow "better than" others.  When a Christian tells you the Gospel it's because they are concerned for your very soul and want you to be saved from the punishment of God that will one day be yours in all its fury.  Don't be fooled - God does not love sin!  He hates it and will punish it.  If you don't believe that, look to what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

What Kind of Love?

John 3:36 - “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

We were watching an episode of The West Wing the other night. The President is visiting a small town in Oklahoma that a tornado has just destroyed. He is in a shelter and speaking with a female volunteer about what has happened. She tells him she used to drive the school bus and that a number of the children who took her bus to school had been killed by the tornado. She then questions how a loving God could do this to people. They try to do the right thing. They do good. They go to church. How could He do this?

This verse, John 3:36, came to my mind. The wrath of God REMAINS on all who do not obey, who reject the Son. The Son takes away the wrath of God from all those who believe. As Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace with God. Think about that statement for a moment. Is God our enemy? The fact that we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ did implies there was no peace before. Wait a minute! I thought God loved us all?

Of course it's a terrible thing when a tragedy strikes. I know people question these things and invariably lay the blame at the feet of God for such disasters. This shows how great the deception is that humanity is under. The craziness of this deception is that we are the ones who are fallen, sinful, corrupt, and enemies of God. His wrath is upon us and we stand condemned already. Yet when tragedy strikes we point the finger at God, wondering how He can do this to us; thinking ourselves the innocent ones and He the villain. We hear all the time that “God is love.”, and this is used to trump and justify all wrongdoing, all sin. “Aside from a few bad apples we're all pretty much good. Sure, we're not perfect, but God loves us.” We never hear, “If you reject Jesus Christ, the wrath of God REMAINS on you!” It's there ALREADY! It doesn't just come on you at some future time. You're in it RIGHT NOW! At any moment He can strike you down and be perfectly justified in doing it. As John 3:18 says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is CONDEMNED ALREADY, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” A tornado, a car accident, a fire, some illness, old age. Sooner or later, one way or another, we are all going to die. How could a loving God do this to people?

I found myself thinking of a different question. Knowing what the Scripture says of fallen man's position before God, I wondered, “Why does a loving God allow people to keep on living?” The fact that the rejectors and blasphemers of Christ remain alive and live their lives apart from Him, enjoying the many blessings they do, is a testament to the patience and grace of God. What's more, every breath we take is a gift of God (Acts 17:25 “...since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”) and a proof of His grace bestowed upon sinful, fallen humanity. Romans 2:8 throws a sobering light on the future of those who reject Christ: “...but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” The meaning of “wrath and fury” as copied from the Strong's speak of “passion (as if breathing hard):--fierceness, indignation, violent passion (ire, or (justifiable) abhorrence); by implication punishment:--anger, indignation.” I picture God coming after His enemies in vengeance, breathless in His wrath. Thinking of God like this, as the Bible presents Him, scares the crap out of me!!!

Knowing this is what makes the Gospel the Good News. Jesus came to take the wrath of God upon Himself in the place of the elect. He came to take the punishment from God that we all deserve. For those who believe, the elect, He suffered the wrath of God in their place. Because of this, the truth of Romans 5:1 comes to those who believe – we have been justified by faith, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is no longer our enemy, breathless in His wrath as He comes after his enemies. Because of what Jesus did we have peace with Him. As it says in Romans 4: 7, 8

“Blessed are those

whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the one

whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

Memory Lane

This was kinda what it was like for me when I was first introduced to Calvinism.

(Special thanks to Dan Phillips of Pyro for this vid.)

From a slave to his Master

I am as You say I am. I do not have any problem whatsoever agreeing with You on my condition. I am filthy and corrupted. Over and over again I prove that I can do nothing that is spiritually good for anything. You are holy, and righteous and good. You are full of grace, mercy and truth. You hate sin, are at war with the sinner, and Your judgement has already been pronounced – GUILTY! There is none like You – NONE! Every religion, every god, every ethic, every belief system – you are found in none of these. These are empty. These are a distraction - a wide road among many that is so easy to follow. Do I honestly believe that if I do a thing, or don't do a thing, that this somehow saves me from Your wrath? I can only run to You and throw myself at Your feet knowing that only You can save me...from You – Your full wrath poured out on me. What can I bring, apart from Your enabling, that will make You find favor with me? There is nothing. What can I do, apart from Your work in me, that would bring You pleasure? There is nothing. Is not all of MY righteousness as filthy rags? Or, as the original language puts it – used menstrual cloths. I agree with You – this is the best that can be said about ALL of my righteousness. 

 

Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to Christ Jesus! Clothed in His righteousness, You are the one who justifies the sinner. You do it. Not I, the sinner. It is Your righteousness, not mine. I am the slave in the slave market - completely bound, owned by sin and utterly helpless. You purchased me. I am your slave, but what a poor slave I am. It is unfathomable to me – You, my gracious Lord, took the full wrath of God's anger against me. You took ALL of it in my place and in exchange clothed me in Your righteousness. And then the pronouncement - “Paid in Full!” You declared me righteous. You did. I know I am not, but You declared it. All because You saved me...from You.

From: a lowly slave, with immense thankfulness, to his glorious Master.