Monday, June 23, 2008
PORN IS EVIL
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT.....
PORNOGRAPHY?
By Betty Miller
Song of Solomon 2:15 says, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Foxes sometime in search of food would enter into the grape orchards and devour the grapes and spoil the crop. However, the little foxes were too small to reach the grape bunches so they would chew on the vines and it would kill the whole vine. Instead of the farmer just losing his crop, he would lose his vine which was more disastrous. Spiritually some things we do or allow that we might think are little or insignificant can also be disastrous for us.
One of the most devastating problems that has ensnared many good people is the sin of pornography. Many of these same people will testify that they were ensnared with just a "peek." This one "little fox" led to their downfall. Many, out of curiosity, just went to a site to see what was there. This is one of the devil's tricks to get people ensnared. Satan, is the power behind this attraction to forbidden sexual images. People that are trapped today can tell you there is an evil "drawing" that compels them to return again and again. Many are desiring to be free, but seem hopelessly gripped by this evil desire. We want to share the good news -- there is a way out through Jesus Christ.
In the U.S.A., as well as many other nations of the world, our societies have become the most sexually saturated societies in human history. Sodom and Gomorrah might be the only exceptions. America's pornography industry is not only pervasive, but powerful as well. It generates more than $12 billion in revenue annually. In 1997, more than 665 million pornographic videos were sold. On the Internet, there are more than 72,000 pornographic sites. Sexually explicit "900 number" phone calls are a $2.4 billion-a-year industry. ¹
From the Internet to video stores to magazines and "900 numbers," pornography can be easily accessed nearly anywhere in America. This involvement is not limited to world at large, as surveys reveal the Christian community is highly involved in this evil snare of perversion too. How did this happen? What can be done to help people get free from this bondage? What does the Bible offer as hope to those ensnared in sin?
God has called the church to be the answer to the problems facing those addicted to pornography. God hates this sin, but He loves the sinner and wants to set them free. Many marriages are being destroyed by this evil, as after the addiction of pornography has set in, then the normal marital relationship with their spouses is no longer satisfying. Many husbands then want their wives to partake in bizarre sexual behavior with them or use sexual toys as stimulants. Some couples even watch erotic videos together to arouse each other before they engage in sex. These abnormal approaches to what God intended to be a wonderful relationship, defiles them. Instead of finding satisfaction... guilt, shame, and dissatisfaction set in. True love and intimate sharing is replaced with raw lust. What God meant to be the most beautiful experience between two people becomes a hellish depravity. God can, and will restore this relationship if they will call on Him. There is absolutely nothing that is outside of God's ability to forgive, deliver, heal and restore.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
How did our world arrive at a time in history that has so much emphasis on sexual perversions? This did not happen overnight. When the church failed to maintain a holy standard and example to the world, the world's evil influence gained momentum and now has saturated our society. Little by little, the church lowered her standards. Instead of the church influencing the world, the opposite happened, the world influenced the church. The church began to watch movies that each year became a little more dirty, a little more violent, a little more immoral, a little more deviant, a little more crazy and a little more erotic. Now today, there are unspeakable things on film that come directly from hell. They were inspired by the devil himself. These "little foxes" are now raging wolves. Sin and evil are progressive. Several layers of gray have now become black.
An example of how this happened in the area of women's dress, would be to observe the progression of women's styles. Women's hem lines have gone up while the necklines have gone down. It didn't start by going from ankle length to above the knees overnight. It took years for the ladies in the church to gradually adopt this revealing attire that others were wearing. Most Christian women on stage look no different than those in Hollywood. I am not saying that we should wear our hair in buns with no make-up. However we don't have to look like the women of the world. We can be stylish and attractive without being immodest and lustful in our dress. Today young girls come to prayer meetings in shorts and crop tops and never think any thing about it. Before you call me prudish ( I will admit I am old fashioned, yet in my school days we didn't experience the sexual violence that is happening today), let me share where I am going with this.
My husband and I, while pastoring the church, prayed with many young and not-so-young men, who were deeply disturbed as they were having problems keeping their minds on the Lord. The distraction ---- pretty young girls who would attend services in shorts, ultra tight jeans, short skirts, or low cut dresses. The men did not want these lustful feelings and were sincerely fighting to keep their thoughts pure. Most of the young girls were totally oblivious to the fact that they could be contributing to a man's temptation toward lust. I remember an incident when several people were gathered around a man to pray for him for healing. One of the young girls who wore a sleeveless and low cut top kneeled down at his feet while others stood in a circle around him to pray. I happened to be standing over her and looking down as we started to bow our heads and pray I could see her breasts above her low cut bra. The thought came to me how these young men must struggle to pray when they could see the same view as I saw.
WHAT CAN WOMEN DO TO HELP MEN GET FREE FROM THIS BONDAGE?
Most of the indulgence in porno is done by men, although some women come under its power too. However, since this affects everyone in the family, it is a family problem. It must be addressed as a family issue. One of the things that I believe women are doing today, that is adding to this problem, is the way in which they dress. The goal of many young girls today is not dressing to be well groomed and attractive, but rather to be sexy. Sex crimes and rapes have soared in numbers and women's dress habits have contributed to this problem. I believe because we have not taught our daughters to dress modestly it has contributed to these crimes. We must teach our sons and daughters morality and return to Bible standards if we are to see this problem reversed.
Men no longer have to go to houses of prostitution to see women's unclad bodies. They can go to any beach or public swimming pool in the world or just watch the ads on T.V. It is really a disgrace to the church when our young daughters are allowed to wear bikini swimsuits and many of the mothers wear them too. I am not excusing men and their porno habits but we women must also change if we expect the men to get free from their sin. The Bible speaks about how women should be attired:
Proverbs 11:22, "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion."
1 Peter 3:1-5, "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands."
How To Be Free From Pornography
(1.) You need to first of all repent of your sin and ask Jesus to come into your heart and cleanse you and deliver you from this evil. No sin is too black or wicked that the blood of Jesus cannot cleanse you from it. The Bible says in:
1 John 1:9-10, 2:1-2: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
(2.) Because pornography is a spiritual problem you will need spiritual help in getting free from it. By partaking of this evil you have opened yourself up to demonic control. You may need someone who has the gift of the Holy Spirit to pray deliverance over you. You should seek out a Bible believing church that believes in deliverance and knows how to deal with demons. The Lord will lead you in this matter if you ask Him. Do not allow pride to prevent you from getting help and getting free if you need it.
James 4:7-8, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."
(3.) As you commit your life to Christ and obey Him you can get the victory because you are not fighting this battle alone, but you have access to the power of Christ and what He did for you.
Romans 6:12-18:
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
(4.) Today men and women must war in this culture to maintain their sexual purity. This battle is a battle in the mind. You must cast down imaginations that do not agree with the Bible and quote the Word of God over your body and mind.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
(5.) You must stay away from the area of temptation and destroy all videos, games, magazines, etc. that are pornographic. If you must use the computer in your work environment, you should employ a filter service for your ISP or software that filters out those evil invitations so they do not enter your e-mail and cannot be accessed by your browser.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20: "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
(6.) Should you stumble or fall, do not stay down. Just ask the Lord to forgive you and start again in your walk with Him. Ask Him to empower you to overcome. You cannot do it in your strength. Just remember that in Him you can do all things.
Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
(7.) If you need prayer we will stand with you for your victory. You can write us through the prayer room. You need not give your name. The Lord will know who you are. Remember, the Lord loves you and so do we. Blessings!
(8.) If your life or marriage has been devastated by sexual addiction we highly recommend a book that has been helpful to many called An Affair of the Mind by Laurie Hall. This amazing book is published by Focus On The Family and written from the first-hand perspective of a wife whose husband was addicted to pornography for over 20 years. This powerful book delves deep into many facets of sexual addiction. The principles in this book, if applied, can save many marriages and restore even those who are most bound to sexual addiction.
In summation, many are snared by just a "peek" or just a little curiosity in regard to pornography. Don't allow any little things that could lead to a pornography addiction. Calendars or pictures of naked women, Playboy magazines or movies with erotic sexual scenes are just a few of the things that can open the door for a greater entanglement into the pornography trap.
http://www.bible.com/bibleanswers_result.php?id=222
PORNOGRAPHY?
By Betty Miller
Song of Solomon 2:15 says, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Foxes sometime in search of food would enter into the grape orchards and devour the grapes and spoil the crop. However, the little foxes were too small to reach the grape bunches so they would chew on the vines and it would kill the whole vine. Instead of the farmer just losing his crop, he would lose his vine which was more disastrous. Spiritually some things we do or allow that we might think are little or insignificant can also be disastrous for us.
One of the most devastating problems that has ensnared many good people is the sin of pornography. Many of these same people will testify that they were ensnared with just a "peek." This one "little fox" led to their downfall. Many, out of curiosity, just went to a site to see what was there. This is one of the devil's tricks to get people ensnared. Satan, is the power behind this attraction to forbidden sexual images. People that are trapped today can tell you there is an evil "drawing" that compels them to return again and again. Many are desiring to be free, but seem hopelessly gripped by this evil desire. We want to share the good news -- there is a way out through Jesus Christ.
In the U.S.A., as well as many other nations of the world, our societies have become the most sexually saturated societies in human history. Sodom and Gomorrah might be the only exceptions. America's pornography industry is not only pervasive, but powerful as well. It generates more than $12 billion in revenue annually. In 1997, more than 665 million pornographic videos were sold. On the Internet, there are more than 72,000 pornographic sites. Sexually explicit "900 number" phone calls are a $2.4 billion-a-year industry. ¹
From the Internet to video stores to magazines and "900 numbers," pornography can be easily accessed nearly anywhere in America. This involvement is not limited to world at large, as surveys reveal the Christian community is highly involved in this evil snare of perversion too. How did this happen? What can be done to help people get free from this bondage? What does the Bible offer as hope to those ensnared in sin?
God has called the church to be the answer to the problems facing those addicted to pornography. God hates this sin, but He loves the sinner and wants to set them free. Many marriages are being destroyed by this evil, as after the addiction of pornography has set in, then the normal marital relationship with their spouses is no longer satisfying. Many husbands then want their wives to partake in bizarre sexual behavior with them or use sexual toys as stimulants. Some couples even watch erotic videos together to arouse each other before they engage in sex. These abnormal approaches to what God intended to be a wonderful relationship, defiles them. Instead of finding satisfaction... guilt, shame, and dissatisfaction set in. True love and intimate sharing is replaced with raw lust. What God meant to be the most beautiful experience between two people becomes a hellish depravity. God can, and will restore this relationship if they will call on Him. There is absolutely nothing that is outside of God's ability to forgive, deliver, heal and restore.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
How did our world arrive at a time in history that has so much emphasis on sexual perversions? This did not happen overnight. When the church failed to maintain a holy standard and example to the world, the world's evil influence gained momentum and now has saturated our society. Little by little, the church lowered her standards. Instead of the church influencing the world, the opposite happened, the world influenced the church. The church began to watch movies that each year became a little more dirty, a little more violent, a little more immoral, a little more deviant, a little more crazy and a little more erotic. Now today, there are unspeakable things on film that come directly from hell. They were inspired by the devil himself. These "little foxes" are now raging wolves. Sin and evil are progressive. Several layers of gray have now become black.
An example of how this happened in the area of women's dress, would be to observe the progression of women's styles. Women's hem lines have gone up while the necklines have gone down. It didn't start by going from ankle length to above the knees overnight. It took years for the ladies in the church to gradually adopt this revealing attire that others were wearing. Most Christian women on stage look no different than those in Hollywood. I am not saying that we should wear our hair in buns with no make-up. However we don't have to look like the women of the world. We can be stylish and attractive without being immodest and lustful in our dress. Today young girls come to prayer meetings in shorts and crop tops and never think any thing about it. Before you call me prudish ( I will admit I am old fashioned, yet in my school days we didn't experience the sexual violence that is happening today), let me share where I am going with this.
My husband and I, while pastoring the church, prayed with many young and not-so-young men, who were deeply disturbed as they were having problems keeping their minds on the Lord. The distraction ---- pretty young girls who would attend services in shorts, ultra tight jeans, short skirts, or low cut dresses. The men did not want these lustful feelings and were sincerely fighting to keep their thoughts pure. Most of the young girls were totally oblivious to the fact that they could be contributing to a man's temptation toward lust. I remember an incident when several people were gathered around a man to pray for him for healing. One of the young girls who wore a sleeveless and low cut top kneeled down at his feet while others stood in a circle around him to pray. I happened to be standing over her and looking down as we started to bow our heads and pray I could see her breasts above her low cut bra. The thought came to me how these young men must struggle to pray when they could see the same view as I saw.
WHAT CAN WOMEN DO TO HELP MEN GET FREE FROM THIS BONDAGE?
Most of the indulgence in porno is done by men, although some women come under its power too. However, since this affects everyone in the family, it is a family problem. It must be addressed as a family issue. One of the things that I believe women are doing today, that is adding to this problem, is the way in which they dress. The goal of many young girls today is not dressing to be well groomed and attractive, but rather to be sexy. Sex crimes and rapes have soared in numbers and women's dress habits have contributed to this problem. I believe because we have not taught our daughters to dress modestly it has contributed to these crimes. We must teach our sons and daughters morality and return to Bible standards if we are to see this problem reversed.
Men no longer have to go to houses of prostitution to see women's unclad bodies. They can go to any beach or public swimming pool in the world or just watch the ads on T.V. It is really a disgrace to the church when our young daughters are allowed to wear bikini swimsuits and many of the mothers wear them too. I am not excusing men and their porno habits but we women must also change if we expect the men to get free from their sin. The Bible speaks about how women should be attired:
Proverbs 11:22, "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion."
1 Peter 3:1-5, "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands."
How To Be Free From Pornography
(1.) You need to first of all repent of your sin and ask Jesus to come into your heart and cleanse you and deliver you from this evil. No sin is too black or wicked that the blood of Jesus cannot cleanse you from it. The Bible says in:
1 John 1:9-10, 2:1-2: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
(2.) Because pornography is a spiritual problem you will need spiritual help in getting free from it. By partaking of this evil you have opened yourself up to demonic control. You may need someone who has the gift of the Holy Spirit to pray deliverance over you. You should seek out a Bible believing church that believes in deliverance and knows how to deal with demons. The Lord will lead you in this matter if you ask Him. Do not allow pride to prevent you from getting help and getting free if you need it.
James 4:7-8, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."
(3.) As you commit your life to Christ and obey Him you can get the victory because you are not fighting this battle alone, but you have access to the power of Christ and what He did for you.
Romans 6:12-18:
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
(4.) Today men and women must war in this culture to maintain their sexual purity. This battle is a battle in the mind. You must cast down imaginations that do not agree with the Bible and quote the Word of God over your body and mind.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
(5.) You must stay away from the area of temptation and destroy all videos, games, magazines, etc. that are pornographic. If you must use the computer in your work environment, you should employ a filter service for your ISP or software that filters out those evil invitations so they do not enter your e-mail and cannot be accessed by your browser.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20: "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
(6.) Should you stumble or fall, do not stay down. Just ask the Lord to forgive you and start again in your walk with Him. Ask Him to empower you to overcome. You cannot do it in your strength. Just remember that in Him you can do all things.
Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
(7.) If you need prayer we will stand with you for your victory. You can write us through the prayer room. You need not give your name. The Lord will know who you are. Remember, the Lord loves you and so do we. Blessings!
(8.) If your life or marriage has been devastated by sexual addiction we highly recommend a book that has been helpful to many called An Affair of the Mind by Laurie Hall. This amazing book is published by Focus On The Family and written from the first-hand perspective of a wife whose husband was addicted to pornography for over 20 years. This powerful book delves deep into many facets of sexual addiction. The principles in this book, if applied, can save many marriages and restore even those who are most bound to sexual addiction.
In summation, many are snared by just a "peek" or just a little curiosity in regard to pornography. Don't allow any little things that could lead to a pornography addiction. Calendars or pictures of naked women, Playboy magazines or movies with erotic sexual scenes are just a few of the things that can open the door for a greater entanglement into the pornography trap.
http://www.bible.com/bibleanswers_result.php?id=222
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Matthew 7:15
I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Acts 20:29
I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Acts 20:29
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Watch what you eat
Watch What You Eat
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. Rev 2:14
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Rev 2:20
In Revelation, Jesus sent seven letters to the seven churches of Asia detailing each of their strengths and weaknesses. These seven church fellowships represent the complete body of Christ in the earth. All seven are still with us today and so are the problems outlined in each letter.
Both the church in Pergamos and the church in Thyatira had similar problems. The source of the problems was different in each case but the result was the same. Much of the church today suffers from these same afflictions, fornication and eating things sacrificed to idols. Let’s first look at the church in Pergamos. Their problem was a result of faulty doctrine.
The story of Balaam is found in Numbers chapter 22. Balaam was a prophet who was hired by the king of Moab to curse the children of Israel. Ultimately Balaam found that he was unable to curse Israel but he did show the king of Moab how to get the children of Israel to bring a curse upon themselves.
The children of Israel had been instructed by God not to mix with the heathen nations around them. They were especially prohibited from taking wives from these nations. As Israel was coming into the land and expanding, the children of Moab began mixing with the children of Israel. Hebrew men took pagan wives and Hebrew women were given as wives to the men of Moab. Along with these marriages came pagan religious practices. Eventually the children of Israel were turned from worshipping the true God to worshipping idols. It was a gradual process that brought Israel into idol worship without them even realizing it. They mixed idolatry with truth to such an extent that their discernment was lost. If you’d have asked them they would have told you that they were worshiping Jehovah, the true God. But God saw it differently. He saw it as fornication, spiritual adultery.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Cor 6:14
Much of the church today holds to doctrine that fails to require separation from the worldly culture around us. In fact many churches today are in a headlong rush to make them selves more and more like the world. The emergent, seeker sensitive, purpose driven churches are all guilty of this. They believe that by bringing unsaved people into the church, the unsaved will eventually be conformed into the image of Christ. The truth is that the opposite is happening.
Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits. 1Cor 15:33 NKJV
God requires his children to separate from the culture of the world. When we fail to do that we become spiritual fornicators serving the god of this world, Satan, rather than the God of heaven.
Spiritual fornication then is pretty obvious but what does it mean to eat something sacrificed to idols? Here is what I believe God showed me.
God’s word is referred to in several places as meat.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 1Cor 3:2
Jesus said his flesh is meat.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. John 6:55
And we know that Jesus himself is the word of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
Jesus said we must eat his flesh and drink his blood if we are to have life.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. John 6:53
When man takes the meat of Gods word and perverts it to fit his own doctrine or agenda, he is sacrificing that meat to an idol. And since Jesus is the word what they are really doing is sacrificing Christ himself to an idol.
Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin…………Which have forsken the the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam…… 2 Peter 2:14-15
Take for example the parable of the sower found in Mark chapter 4. We’ve written about this before. The parable of the sower has nothing to do with money. Jesus said the seed is the word of God. The parable of the sower is about what happens to you when the seed (Jesus) is sown in your heart. Every seed produces after its own kind so this parable is about the method by which the character and nature of Christ is produced in you. But wicked men have turned this parable on its ear.
Turn on just about any Christian television broadcast today and you are almost certain to hear some version of the parable of the sower perverted into a scheme to extort money from God’s people. Almost all ministries use this parable to teach you to sow a seed of money into their ministry.
What they have done is taken the meat of Gods word and sacrificed it unto their idol of covetousness. And then they turn around and feed it to you. If you believe them, you are eating things sacrificed to idols. And God says this is wicked.
It is interesting to note that in the letters to Pergamos and Thyatira the wording is reversed.
To Pergamos He says: to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication But to Thyatira he says: to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.I believe that Gods word is very specific and these verses are no exception.
In the case of Pergamos, the faulty doctrine came first and the result was spiritual fornication. Today church leaders pervert Gods word to make worldliness a virtue. They tell us the way to win sinners is to be more like them. They then feed this to the people, causing the people in turn to to commit spiritual fornication. Just like the children of Israel they don’t even realize they are fornicating with other gods. Ask any of them and they will tell you they love Jesus and are serving God.
Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you 2Cor 6:17
In Thyatira, the order is different. First came spiritual fornication which then led to eating things sacrificed to idols. Today, church leaders who love money and serve the god of mammon pervert the scriptures to justify their own covetousness. Having sacrificed these scriptures to the idol of mammon, they then use them to lure other covetous people into their congregations. Again they claim to be worshipping the true god but are in fact joined to idols.
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you 2Peter 2:3
Is that clear enough for you?
The word here translated feigned is the Greek word plastos {plas-tos'} (from which we get our word plastic) meaning to form or to mold as if from clay. By the idol of covetousness they mold and shape words in order to make merchandise of you (to buy and sell or to use a person for gain).
Regardless of how it begins the result is the same. Either faulty doctrine will lead to idolatry or idolatry justifies faulty doctrine. God declares that we must repent of both spiritual fornication as well as eating things sacrificed unto idols.
What happens if we fail to heed this warning?
To Pergamos he says: Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Rev 2:16
This sounds amazingly like Rev 19:15 which describes Jesus returning to earth to smite the ungodly with his sword.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations……
Apparently those in Pergamos who fail to repent will not be saved from God’s wrath and will be appointed a place with the wicked.
To Thyatira he says:Behold, I will cast her into a bed (of sickness), and those that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. Rev 2: 22-23
Wow! Once again it looks like failure to repent from these sins will prevent God’s protection from prevailing upon many who assume they are safe from tribulation.
What do you think? Have you been eating things sacrificed to idols? Maybe it’s time for you to go on a diet!
apostasywatch.com
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. Rev 2:14
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Rev 2:20
In Revelation, Jesus sent seven letters to the seven churches of Asia detailing each of their strengths and weaknesses. These seven church fellowships represent the complete body of Christ in the earth. All seven are still with us today and so are the problems outlined in each letter.
Both the church in Pergamos and the church in Thyatira had similar problems. The source of the problems was different in each case but the result was the same. Much of the church today suffers from these same afflictions, fornication and eating things sacrificed to idols. Let’s first look at the church in Pergamos. Their problem was a result of faulty doctrine.
The story of Balaam is found in Numbers chapter 22. Balaam was a prophet who was hired by the king of Moab to curse the children of Israel. Ultimately Balaam found that he was unable to curse Israel but he did show the king of Moab how to get the children of Israel to bring a curse upon themselves.
The children of Israel had been instructed by God not to mix with the heathen nations around them. They were especially prohibited from taking wives from these nations. As Israel was coming into the land and expanding, the children of Moab began mixing with the children of Israel. Hebrew men took pagan wives and Hebrew women were given as wives to the men of Moab. Along with these marriages came pagan religious practices. Eventually the children of Israel were turned from worshipping the true God to worshipping idols. It was a gradual process that brought Israel into idol worship without them even realizing it. They mixed idolatry with truth to such an extent that their discernment was lost. If you’d have asked them they would have told you that they were worshiping Jehovah, the true God. But God saw it differently. He saw it as fornication, spiritual adultery.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Cor 6:14
Much of the church today holds to doctrine that fails to require separation from the worldly culture around us. In fact many churches today are in a headlong rush to make them selves more and more like the world. The emergent, seeker sensitive, purpose driven churches are all guilty of this. They believe that by bringing unsaved people into the church, the unsaved will eventually be conformed into the image of Christ. The truth is that the opposite is happening.
Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits. 1Cor 15:33 NKJV
God requires his children to separate from the culture of the world. When we fail to do that we become spiritual fornicators serving the god of this world, Satan, rather than the God of heaven.
Spiritual fornication then is pretty obvious but what does it mean to eat something sacrificed to idols? Here is what I believe God showed me.
God’s word is referred to in several places as meat.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 1Cor 3:2
Jesus said his flesh is meat.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. John 6:55
And we know that Jesus himself is the word of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
Jesus said we must eat his flesh and drink his blood if we are to have life.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. John 6:53
When man takes the meat of Gods word and perverts it to fit his own doctrine or agenda, he is sacrificing that meat to an idol. And since Jesus is the word what they are really doing is sacrificing Christ himself to an idol.
Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin…………Which have forsken the the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam…… 2 Peter 2:14-15
Take for example the parable of the sower found in Mark chapter 4. We’ve written about this before. The parable of the sower has nothing to do with money. Jesus said the seed is the word of God. The parable of the sower is about what happens to you when the seed (Jesus) is sown in your heart. Every seed produces after its own kind so this parable is about the method by which the character and nature of Christ is produced in you. But wicked men have turned this parable on its ear.
Turn on just about any Christian television broadcast today and you are almost certain to hear some version of the parable of the sower perverted into a scheme to extort money from God’s people. Almost all ministries use this parable to teach you to sow a seed of money into their ministry.
What they have done is taken the meat of Gods word and sacrificed it unto their idol of covetousness. And then they turn around and feed it to you. If you believe them, you are eating things sacrificed to idols. And God says this is wicked.
It is interesting to note that in the letters to Pergamos and Thyatira the wording is reversed.
To Pergamos He says: to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication But to Thyatira he says: to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.I believe that Gods word is very specific and these verses are no exception.
In the case of Pergamos, the faulty doctrine came first and the result was spiritual fornication. Today church leaders pervert Gods word to make worldliness a virtue. They tell us the way to win sinners is to be more like them. They then feed this to the people, causing the people in turn to to commit spiritual fornication. Just like the children of Israel they don’t even realize they are fornicating with other gods. Ask any of them and they will tell you they love Jesus and are serving God.
Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you 2Cor 6:17
In Thyatira, the order is different. First came spiritual fornication which then led to eating things sacrificed to idols. Today, church leaders who love money and serve the god of mammon pervert the scriptures to justify their own covetousness. Having sacrificed these scriptures to the idol of mammon, they then use them to lure other covetous people into their congregations. Again they claim to be worshipping the true god but are in fact joined to idols.
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you 2Peter 2:3
Is that clear enough for you?
The word here translated feigned is the Greek word plastos {plas-tos'} (from which we get our word plastic) meaning to form or to mold as if from clay. By the idol of covetousness they mold and shape words in order to make merchandise of you (to buy and sell or to use a person for gain).
Regardless of how it begins the result is the same. Either faulty doctrine will lead to idolatry or idolatry justifies faulty doctrine. God declares that we must repent of both spiritual fornication as well as eating things sacrificed unto idols.
What happens if we fail to heed this warning?
To Pergamos he says: Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Rev 2:16
This sounds amazingly like Rev 19:15 which describes Jesus returning to earth to smite the ungodly with his sword.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations……
Apparently those in Pergamos who fail to repent will not be saved from God’s wrath and will be appointed a place with the wicked.
To Thyatira he says:Behold, I will cast her into a bed (of sickness), and those that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. Rev 2: 22-23
Wow! Once again it looks like failure to repent from these sins will prevent God’s protection from prevailing upon many who assume they are safe from tribulation.
What do you think? Have you been eating things sacrificed to idols? Maybe it’s time for you to go on a diet!
apostasywatch.com
jeremiahproject.com WAKE UP AMERICA
Wake Up!
Like the loving parent who gently shakes a child to wake him up, God is shaking the world today in an attempt to wake us from our slumber. And like the child who doesn't wake up immediately, the shaking becomes a bit more firm and serious. If America and, for that matter - the world doesn't wake up soon, that shaking will become stronger and more severe.What will it take to wake up America? Our tallest buildings have been toppled. Our shorelines have been battered, and a major U.S. city has been flooded, turning thousands of Americans into refugees. God is shaking our world trying to wake us up!
There is a storm coming!
The faithful, as they see the intensification of the signs around us, will know that the day of the Lord's return for them is quickly "approaching" (Hebrews 10:25) and will be those who stand firm in their faith through all the end-time distress (Matt. 24:13). They will be the ones who have applied the power of Scripture to all the little problems of daily living: anger; frustration with employment; parenting; marital relationships; forgiveness; etc. The Scriptural teaching is that we must faithfully surrender to God in the small things of life before we graduate to the next level of experiencing God's provision:
"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things." [Matthew 25.21]
For others they will have become so comfortable with their life of tolerance, compromise, convenience and appeasement that to accept the lies and deception of an Antichrist will not be difficult for them. If we cannot believe Him and surrender to His power in the daily frustrations of life, how can we have faith and receive His power in the big problems of life? Our lack of faith (acting upon our trust in God's Word and provision through the Holy Spirit) in the small things prohibits us from maturing and growing in faith for the large problems. Thus, when the storm beats against our house, will we have the faith to stand firm?
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 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!' "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." [Matthew 7:21-27]
You see, there will be two kinds of Christians in these last days: the wise and foolish.
There will be one group of believers who will not fall - they will be able to withstand every demonic onslaught that comes on them. Nothing will be able to move them when the storm comes.
There will be another group of Christians whose fall will be great - total, complete, devastating collapse of everything.
They built two different kinds of houses. And the only thing that will hold up in the coming storm is to be the house established on a rock foundation.Many Christians may say, "I'm a believer. I've built on the rock." Yet they don't truly understand what this phrase means. And they will have a great shock and surprise when their relationship with Jesus does not endure the storm. They will be exposed as having no foundation. What are you building our house on now? What is it's foundation? Those things you are building into your faith now have certain characteristics that will determine how you react under pressure in the future.
FaithHopeLove
TrustCommitmentPerseverance
TruthHonestyIntegrity
SacrificeObedienceFaithfulness
The Beginning of Birth Pains
In America we see deepening poverty, racial division, homelessness, crime, physical and sexual abuse, and the disintegration of the traditional family. Alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, and other dangerous behaviors are eating away at society. And these are further complicated by plagues of many kinds, including AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases. Combined with earthquakes, physical storms, and natural disasters of many kinds all across the land, one wonders how much longer before we wake up and recognize their significance and our response to them. Jesus said these are merely a warning of things yet to come.
All these are the beginning of birth pains. [Matthew 24:8]
We are being shaken - gently. But like the birth pains of childbirth, the shaking is getting more frequent and severe.Isaiah prophesies that God will one day rise up and shake the whole earth - more firmly and with eternal seriousness.
See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants-- it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest. They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: "Glory to the Righteous One." But I said, "I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!" Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of the earth. Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls--never to rise again. In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously. [Isaiah 24:1-23]
The prophets Ezekiel, Joel, Haggai, and the writer of Hebrews all concur that God is going to literally shake the earth one more time! See Ezekiel 38:20-23; Joel 3:14-17; Haggai 2:6-9 and Hebrews 12:25-29. He will shake our economy, the stock market, Fortune 500 companies, banks, insurance companies, our education system, our government, our families, our churches - everything we put our trust and confidence in, everything that seems safe and secure.As a matter of fact, it's when people are saying,
"Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant women, and they will not escape. [1 Thess. 5:3]
Peace and Safety
Right now in America, there is a false peace sweeping through churches - a peace that will fail in the troubled days ahead. It is the false peace of stubborn, sin-blinded Christians. Moses called such believers "self-blessed" - meaning, self-deceived. He warned Israel that a curse would come upon all wicked, disobedient children of God who walked in idolatry. He said they would plaster over their sinful ways with a false sense of peace:
And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. [Deuteronomy 29:19]
We have become desensitized to Satan's evil plans. Things that once appalled us now have become commonplace and we've heard so much evil that it doesn't bother us any more. Knowing his time is short he will pour out more of his filth, wickedness and testings beyond anything our minds can imagine. Those testings are now reaching critical mass and we seem to be ignoring it. It will become increasingly difficult for many to distinguish God's truth from Satan's lie as the church spirals into moral relativism.
We tolerate killing our unborn children and call it "freedom of choice."
We tolerate homosexuality and call it "diversity"
We tolerate paganism and call it "multiculturalism"
We tolerate killing of the elderly or sick and call it "compassion"
We tolerate religious segregation and call it "denominationalism"
The liberal humanist agenda is clear: to do away with God by denying the conscience He has given us. Virtue is ridiculed, evil is praised as good and liberating, and God-given moral standards are mocked as the narrow-minded thinking of a past generation. Others have given up, believing that everyone and everything is so corrupt, there is nothing that can be done. As a result, they accept any activity that appears to improve their life.
We accept "affirmative action" as a solution to racism rather than dealing with the condition of the heart that brings about such an evil.
We accept "higher taxes" in order to bail out failed social policies rather than accepting our God given responsibilities to be "our brothers keeper."
We become increasingly indebted to credit card companies, banks, and others rather than accepting our personal responsibility to be "good stewards" of what God has given us.
We accept police intrusion into our homes, businesses and automobiles to rid us of guns and drugs.
We allow the government to regulate with impunity our businesses to give us a sense of security in our business dealings.
We accept censorship of the media so we're not offended, rather than turning our TV's off, throwing away our pornography, and not supporting those companies that sell us their filth.
When presented with alternatives, it's as if many don't even hear them. In fact, they probably don't want to hear them because it would call for them to change.
Like the loving parent who gently shakes a child to wake him up, God is shaking the world today in an attempt to wake us from our slumber. And like the child who doesn't wake up immediately, the shaking becomes a bit more firm and serious. If America and, for that matter - the world doesn't wake up soon, that shaking will become stronger and more severe.What will it take to wake up America? Our tallest buildings have been toppled. Our shorelines have been battered, and a major U.S. city has been flooded, turning thousands of Americans into refugees. God is shaking our world trying to wake us up!
There is a storm coming!
The faithful, as they see the intensification of the signs around us, will know that the day of the Lord's return for them is quickly "approaching" (Hebrews 10:25) and will be those who stand firm in their faith through all the end-time distress (Matt. 24:13). They will be the ones who have applied the power of Scripture to all the little problems of daily living: anger; frustration with employment; parenting; marital relationships; forgiveness; etc. The Scriptural teaching is that we must faithfully surrender to God in the small things of life before we graduate to the next level of experiencing God's provision:
"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things." [Matthew 25.21]
For others they will have become so comfortable with their life of tolerance, compromise, convenience and appeasement that to accept the lies and deception of an Antichrist will not be difficult for them. If we cannot believe Him and surrender to His power in the daily frustrations of life, how can we have faith and receive His power in the big problems of life? Our lack of faith (acting upon our trust in God's Word and provision through the Holy Spirit) in the small things prohibits us from maturing and growing in faith for the large problems. Thus, when the storm beats against our house, will we have the faith to stand firm?
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 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!' "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." [Matthew 7:21-27]
You see, there will be two kinds of Christians in these last days: the wise and foolish.
There will be one group of believers who will not fall - they will be able to withstand every demonic onslaught that comes on them. Nothing will be able to move them when the storm comes.
There will be another group of Christians whose fall will be great - total, complete, devastating collapse of everything.
They built two different kinds of houses. And the only thing that will hold up in the coming storm is to be the house established on a rock foundation.Many Christians may say, "I'm a believer. I've built on the rock." Yet they don't truly understand what this phrase means. And they will have a great shock and surprise when their relationship with Jesus does not endure the storm. They will be exposed as having no foundation. What are you building our house on now? What is it's foundation? Those things you are building into your faith now have certain characteristics that will determine how you react under pressure in the future.
FaithHopeLove
TrustCommitmentPerseverance
TruthHonestyIntegrity
SacrificeObedienceFaithfulness
The Beginning of Birth Pains
In America we see deepening poverty, racial division, homelessness, crime, physical and sexual abuse, and the disintegration of the traditional family. Alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, and other dangerous behaviors are eating away at society. And these are further complicated by plagues of many kinds, including AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases. Combined with earthquakes, physical storms, and natural disasters of many kinds all across the land, one wonders how much longer before we wake up and recognize their significance and our response to them. Jesus said these are merely a warning of things yet to come.
All these are the beginning of birth pains. [Matthew 24:8]
We are being shaken - gently. But like the birth pains of childbirth, the shaking is getting more frequent and severe.Isaiah prophesies that God will one day rise up and shake the whole earth - more firmly and with eternal seriousness.
See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants-- it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest. They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: "Glory to the Righteous One." But I said, "I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!" Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of the earth. Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls--never to rise again. In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously. [Isaiah 24:1-23]
The prophets Ezekiel, Joel, Haggai, and the writer of Hebrews all concur that God is going to literally shake the earth one more time! See Ezekiel 38:20-23; Joel 3:14-17; Haggai 2:6-9 and Hebrews 12:25-29. He will shake our economy, the stock market, Fortune 500 companies, banks, insurance companies, our education system, our government, our families, our churches - everything we put our trust and confidence in, everything that seems safe and secure.As a matter of fact, it's when people are saying,
"Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant women, and they will not escape. [1 Thess. 5:3]
Peace and Safety
Right now in America, there is a false peace sweeping through churches - a peace that will fail in the troubled days ahead. It is the false peace of stubborn, sin-blinded Christians. Moses called such believers "self-blessed" - meaning, self-deceived. He warned Israel that a curse would come upon all wicked, disobedient children of God who walked in idolatry. He said they would plaster over their sinful ways with a false sense of peace:
And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. [Deuteronomy 29:19]
We have become desensitized to Satan's evil plans. Things that once appalled us now have become commonplace and we've heard so much evil that it doesn't bother us any more. Knowing his time is short he will pour out more of his filth, wickedness and testings beyond anything our minds can imagine. Those testings are now reaching critical mass and we seem to be ignoring it. It will become increasingly difficult for many to distinguish God's truth from Satan's lie as the church spirals into moral relativism.
We tolerate killing our unborn children and call it "freedom of choice."
We tolerate homosexuality and call it "diversity"
We tolerate paganism and call it "multiculturalism"
We tolerate killing of the elderly or sick and call it "compassion"
We tolerate religious segregation and call it "denominationalism"
The liberal humanist agenda is clear: to do away with God by denying the conscience He has given us. Virtue is ridiculed, evil is praised as good and liberating, and God-given moral standards are mocked as the narrow-minded thinking of a past generation. Others have given up, believing that everyone and everything is so corrupt, there is nothing that can be done. As a result, they accept any activity that appears to improve their life.
We accept "affirmative action" as a solution to racism rather than dealing with the condition of the heart that brings about such an evil.
We accept "higher taxes" in order to bail out failed social policies rather than accepting our God given responsibilities to be "our brothers keeper."
We become increasingly indebted to credit card companies, banks, and others rather than accepting our personal responsibility to be "good stewards" of what God has given us.
We accept police intrusion into our homes, businesses and automobiles to rid us of guns and drugs.
We allow the government to regulate with impunity our businesses to give us a sense of security in our business dealings.
We accept censorship of the media so we're not offended, rather than turning our TV's off, throwing away our pornography, and not supporting those companies that sell us their filth.
When presented with alternatives, it's as if many don't even hear them. In fact, they probably don't want to hear them because it would call for them to change.
The Great and Final Apostasy
The Great and Final Apostasy
Written by David Wilkerson
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
The apostle Paul speaks of a great apostasy to come upon the earth in the last days. What is apostasy? It is a "rejection of truth once believed and proclaimed." Simply put, it is a falling away from God's truth. Paul writes of the apostasy to come:
"We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word ...as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first"
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).
Recently, the Holy Spirit prompted me to study Ezekiel 16, which speaks about the apostate church. As I read this chapter, I was overwhelmed with the grief of God. It reveals his broken heart over a church that forgot its foundations and turned away from its glorious beginnings.
According to Ezekiel, Israel had grown so corrupt it had become a harlot church, worse than Sodom. This people, whom God had delivered, cleansed and blessed, had now turned against him, rejecting truth they once believed and preached. Their apostasy pierced him.
So the Lord sent Ezekiel to Israel to deliver a scathing message. It is a prophecy with a dual application, speaking both to Israel then and to the church today.
Ezekiel began with these harsh words: "O harlot, hear"
(Ezekiel 16:35). Here was God's message:
"When I found you, you had been cast aside in an open field, abandoned and bleeding. I saved you and loved you, washing you with clean water, and you grew up to be a beautiful woman. I showered you with blessings, clothed you and bejeweled you. And I made a covenant with you, and you became mine. I prospered you, making you known and respected to all the heathen" (16:5-11, my paraphrase).
Think about Ezekiel's portrayal of Israel in this chapter.
Here were a people once delivered from bondage and death, a church adorned with the blessings of a beloved, beautiful bride. Isn't this the testimony of God's people today? We all were bloodied, caked in sin, when Jesus found us, and he cleansed us and made us whole. He has delivered all who come to him, making us new creatures, showering us with blessings and giving us a testimony to the world.
Ezekiel's message to Israel
reflects the glorious beginnings
of the church of Jesus Christ.
As I think of our spiritual fathers in the New Testament church, I think of servants who gave their lives to defend the gospel. From the very beginning, the disciples and apostles preached the whole counsel of God, proclaiming Christ as Messiah to their dying days. The Lord showered his gifts and blessings on that first-century church, and it grew and prospered in spirit and in truth. Soon its influence spread to heathen nations worldwide.
Out of the roots lain down by that early church sprang a tree with many branches. We call these branches denominations, organizations, fellowships, movements, and they take on manifold expressions and forms: Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Charismatics and others. As we study these branches' origins, we find that most were sparked into flame by saintly servants of Christ. Many of these godly founders were martyred for their devotion to the pure Word of God.
In my study are nine volumes by John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church. I believe Wesley was one of the godliest men who ever lived. This man wept over the spiritual condition of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, praying for them without ceasing. His devotion led to one of the greatest revivals in history.
Wesley would rise in the dark and ride on horseback to preach to coal miners at six in the morning, before they went to work. He endured incredible hardships for his ministry, at times being beaten by mobs. Yet Wesley labored faithfully until revival came, transforming British society from the depths of its prisons to the upper reaches of government.
In the early days of America, Methodist preachers held open-air meetings similar to Wesley's, called "camp meetings." These men, fired by the Spirit with zeal like Wesley's, worked as "circuit riders," traveling on horseback throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and the Midwest.
Their meetings were held in the countryside, drawing people from all around. The preaching was so powerful, with deep conviction for sin, that listeners fainted and cried out for forgiveness.
Consider the beginnings of modern-day Pentecostalism. This movement started early in the last century, in a little clapboard church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. The congregation consisted of a few humble blacks and whites who dedicated themselves to prayer and fasting, and out of this the Holy Ghost manifested himself powerfully. The conviction in the chapel was so powerful that many people fell prostrate the moment they entered.
Soon visitors came from all over the city to experience the revival. Then they came from afar, and the Azusa Street revival spread all over the world. Out of that tiny church emerged righteous men and women full of Holy Ghost fire, servants who would not bend to the idols of their generation. And out of the revival sprang many of the Pentecostal organizations we know today: the Assemblies of God, the Church of God, the Foursquare Church and others.
Just as the Lord said of ancient Israel, he could say of most of these groups: "I found you in your time of need.
And I picked you up, clothed you in robes of righteousness, loved you and blessed you. You were poor, but I made you prosperous, and your influence spread to the nations.
"But after this, you became proud and played the harlot.
You misused the gifts I gave you. You forgot how I found
you: naked, forsaken and helpless." "In all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood" (Ezekiel 16:22, my italics).
Here is apostasy in its clearest form: when God's people abandon the truth that saved them. The Lord was telling Israel, in essence, "You once professed and believed, but you've become a traitor to the truth. You have left the old paths, inventing manmade methods. You no longer love me, and you've stopped trusting me. Instead, you're going your own way. And that has provoked my anger."
"As a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband" (16:32). Here, in a word, we see the tendency of God's people. In short, we are bent on backsliding. Many of us, at some point in our walk with the Lord, forgot our beginnings. We forgot what it was like to be found in sin, cleansed, loved and blessed by God. And over time we grew lukewarm or cold in our love for him.
Other loves entered in.
Ezekiel's message is a picture
of the apostate church of today.
You may object, "But this isn't the proper interpretation of Ezekiel 16. The prophet was referring only to natural Israel." On the contrary, Paul states that the Old Testament truths have a dual application, for both then and
now: "All these things happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). Read in this context, Ezekiel's prophecy is clearly a parable, revealing God's heart when his people fall into apostasy.
Let me give you a prime example of where we see this great apostasy taking place today. The Episcopal church has regularly made headlines for some years now. It is one of the oldest and largest denominations in the world, a church whose origins were solidly rooted in biblical teaching. It preached the gospel of a risen Savior, and its pulpits were blessed with prophets and holy preachers. Indeed, the godly influence of the Episcopal church spread throughout the world, from Europe to Africa and the Americas.
Now, however, this once-devoted church has fallen into apostasy. Talk about a people who have moved far away from their beginnings:
€ The denomination is one of the first to ordain a homosexual bishop.
€ Some Episcopal leaders are trying to "debunk" the divinity of Jesus.
€ Recently, bishops and lay members of the national ruling body stated that the church's dioceses could interpret the Trinity however they pleased. God can be a she, Jesus a loving thought, and the Spirit an individual's choice. It is outright blasphemy!
€ The newly elected head bishop is a woman who has adopted the gay agenda, and the denomination is headed for a split.
Local churches are cutting off funds, and African bishops have had enough, crying out that the American churches are apostatizing. Meanwhile, the church's numbers here are dwindling.
In England, we see the same thing happening in the Anglican church. That denomination has dwindled to such small numbers that church buildings which stood for centuries are now closing permanently. This process is called "desanctifying." These magnificent structures once were packed with zealous believers. But the Anglicans' condition has grown so apostate that they've had to sell off numbers of their church buildings, some of which are being turned into nightclubs, occult museums and even mosques.
Consider Harvard and Yale,
at one time two of America's
most biblically based colleges.
Both Harvard and Yale were founded by godly preachers as Bible schools. Great revivals once swept through these colleges, and powerful preachers were sent forth from them.
Yet today these renowned universities are hotbeds of atheism, unabashed deniers of the divinity of Christ. They have become apostate institutions, moving far from their biblical roots.
The same is true of Columbia in New York and Princeton in New Jersey. Both of these colleges were founded by godly preachers, but now they also have grown apostate. God, for a growing number, is no longer a heavenly Father but possibly even a female deity. Christ is no longer upheld as the Son of God but is portrayed as only a good man or a charismatic teacher.
Even in Christian colleges and evangelical seminaries worldwide, the leaven of apostasy has become embedded. It is now a losing battle for these schools to try to stay the course of the old paths, because apostatized professors no longer hold to biblical truth. The new gospel they present dismisses the divinity of Christ, the reality of hell and judgment, and biblical standards of purity and morality.
Consider again God's words to Israel in Ezekiel's day: You have corrupted yourselves more than Sodom. "As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done...as thou hast done.... Thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.... They are more righteous than thou" (Ezekiel 16:48, 47, 52).
The Lord then describes the sins of Sodom and why he
destroyed them: "This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness...neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me:
therefore I took them away as I saw good" (16:49-50).
Notice what Sodom's primary sins were: pride and arrogance.
You have heard of "gay pride." New York City has an annual Gay Pride parade, which numbers up to 400,000 marchers.
Marchers carry signs reading, "God Is Gay," "Christ Was Gay," "Gay and Proud of It." I once saw marchers leap out of the parade to attack a small group who carried signs reading, "Jesus Loves Gays. He Only Hates Sin." That meek group sought only to offer love, but they were cruelly manhandled.
Despite such outright arrogance, God states in Ezekiel 16:
"The pride and arrogance of the apostate church is worse than the pride of gays. Even Sodom never sinned as you have sinned." The fact is, it is utter pride, terrible arrogance, to defame the name of Christ...to call God "she"...to say the church has no heavenly Father. (If there is no Father, then there can be no Son, which is the central lie of Islam.)
What awful depth of pride it takes to remove the divinity of the One who died to save us! Yet now that same awful pride is breaking out in some evangelical organizations, turning the church against the truths of its fathers. It is a wave of total apostasy.
There is something worse in
God's eyes than this gospel of
apostasy, and that is a diluted,
watered-down gospel.
God hates most of all the lukewarm gospel of half-truths that is now spreading over the globe. This gospel says, "Just believe in Jesus and you'll be saved. There's nothing more to it." It ignores the whole counsel of God, which speaks of repenting from former sins, of taking up your cross, of being conformed to the image of Christ by the refining work of the Holy Spirit. It is totally silent about the reality of hell and an after-death judgment.
Isaiah warns of this smooth, non-offensive gospel, which people are clamoring for today. His prophecy applies directly to the present time, because God instructed him to write it "for the time to come" (Isaiah 30:8):
"This is a rebellious people... children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us" (30:9-11).
According to Isaiah, there was no preaching of holiness or repentance. Why? The people didn't want to be corrected or convicted. They refused to hear anything but a smooth gospel. Yet a diluted gospel is no gospel at all.
Ezekiel describes such a gospel: "They have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them" (Ezekiel 22:26). He called the diluted gospel mere whitewash, or "untempered mortar" (22:28). In other
words: "You're building walls with untempered mortar. Those walls may look prestigious and strong now, but the Lord is sending a storm, and it's going to cause those walls to fall." "A stormy wind shall rend it" (13:11).
Ezekiel then outlined a list of awesome judgments, through which God would say to his people: "I'm going to expose your nakedness. Severe judgments are on the way, and when they come, your blasphemous gospel will be exposed as empty and hopeless."
Isaiah prophesied that in that day, "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.... The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11, 15, 17).
Right now, I believe we are facing Armageddon. All around us we see nations trembling and men's hearts shuddering with fear. I tell you, this is no time for a diluted gospel. That gospel is absolutely treacherous, because it will crumble as soon as the winds of judgment blow. God warns he'll judge those who preach this lifeless gospel:
"Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:22-23).
"I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.... Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord God" (16:38, 43, my italics).
When judgment comes, what will happen to those who put their security in a diluted gospel? They'll look in every direction for a true word from the Lord but won't be able to find it. Their apostate preachers will say, "Don't get worked up. The world has seen troubles like these before.
We've seen world wars. All things continue as they have from the beginning. This will blow over."
No, not so! There has never been a day like this one. There are now nuclear weapons in the hands of madmen, deadly missiles that can travel thousands of miles, dirty bombs and germ warfare that threaten to wipe out huge masses of humanity.
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah willingly ignored God's warnings and were judged, the Lord will judge this last-day generation. But many of his judgments are redemptive, and those that fell on Sodom were examples for every
generation: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah...are set forth for an example" (Jude 7).
At the end of Ezekiel 16,
something incredible happens.
This chapter is one of the greatest expressions of God's mercy and grace in all of Scripture. The Lord says that while judgments are falling with fire and fury on all sides, "I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot"
(Ezekiel 16:41). Once again, humankind is going into the fiery furnace. And once again, God will do a supernatural work in people's hearts, turning multitudes from idols and false gods.
According to Revelation, two things will happen as the awful vials of wrath are poured out. First, many hardhearted people will refuse to repent: "Men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.... And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.... And men blasphemed God because of the plague...for the plague thereof was exceeding great"
(Revelation 16:9, 11, 21).
Yet, Scripture says, in the midst of those frightful times, others will turn to the Lord in repentance. Backsliders and the lukewarm, those who had a taste of God's Word, the Lord will convict and woo. Then Ezekiel's prophecy will come to
pass: "I will turn you from your prideful apostasy."
"They shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot" (Ezekiel 16:41, my italics). The judgments at that time will be so earth-shattering, all of humanity will know it is "do or die" time. In that moment, God is going to shake and stir every backslider who's known him and show them the apostasy of their hearts. Many apostate pastors will be driven back to the Cross, turning from their sloth to preach repentance and righteousness. It will be a supernatural work, a manifestation of God's grace that will be evident to all the world.
Meanwhile, Allah will fail to deliver his worshippers from the vials of wrath. Masses of Hindu worshippers will be crushed as they're failed by their millions of deities.
Indeed, the whole world will say, "These judgments are supernatural," and multitudes will cry out for Christ.
(We've already seen this happen, after the devastating tsunami in the Far East.)
"And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63).
God is telling us, in short: "In spite of all your apostasies, all your rejections of me, all your backslidings in the hour of trial that comes upon the earth, I will remember the covenant I made with you in your youth." In other words, it will all happen because of his supernatural mercy.
Beloved, that is the New Covenant, made at Calvary. Think of it: Jesus came to a world that was in total apostasy, dead in ritualism, bound by corruption. He didn't come in answer to man's prayers, because so few were seeking him.
The world at that time worshipped idols and false gods, just as humankind does today. Israel was apostate. Christ's coming was a pure act of mercy, undeserved by anyone.
I believe a great harvest of souls is still to come out of modern Sodom. All around the world, churches will be blessed and amazed by the remnant of hungry believers who come forth out of every nation. These will recognize the voice of the Lord, saying, "I am bringing you back to your beginnings in me." And their hearts will awaken, responding, "Lord, bring me back to my first love for you."
Written by David Wilkerson
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
The apostle Paul speaks of a great apostasy to come upon the earth in the last days. What is apostasy? It is a "rejection of truth once believed and proclaimed." Simply put, it is a falling away from God's truth. Paul writes of the apostasy to come:
"We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word ...as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first"
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).
Recently, the Holy Spirit prompted me to study Ezekiel 16, which speaks about the apostate church. As I read this chapter, I was overwhelmed with the grief of God. It reveals his broken heart over a church that forgot its foundations and turned away from its glorious beginnings.
According to Ezekiel, Israel had grown so corrupt it had become a harlot church, worse than Sodom. This people, whom God had delivered, cleansed and blessed, had now turned against him, rejecting truth they once believed and preached. Their apostasy pierced him.
So the Lord sent Ezekiel to Israel to deliver a scathing message. It is a prophecy with a dual application, speaking both to Israel then and to the church today.
Ezekiel began with these harsh words: "O harlot, hear"
(Ezekiel 16:35). Here was God's message:
"When I found you, you had been cast aside in an open field, abandoned and bleeding. I saved you and loved you, washing you with clean water, and you grew up to be a beautiful woman. I showered you with blessings, clothed you and bejeweled you. And I made a covenant with you, and you became mine. I prospered you, making you known and respected to all the heathen" (16:5-11, my paraphrase).
Think about Ezekiel's portrayal of Israel in this chapter.
Here were a people once delivered from bondage and death, a church adorned with the blessings of a beloved, beautiful bride. Isn't this the testimony of God's people today? We all were bloodied, caked in sin, when Jesus found us, and he cleansed us and made us whole. He has delivered all who come to him, making us new creatures, showering us with blessings and giving us a testimony to the world.
Ezekiel's message to Israel
reflects the glorious beginnings
of the church of Jesus Christ.
As I think of our spiritual fathers in the New Testament church, I think of servants who gave their lives to defend the gospel. From the very beginning, the disciples and apostles preached the whole counsel of God, proclaiming Christ as Messiah to their dying days. The Lord showered his gifts and blessings on that first-century church, and it grew and prospered in spirit and in truth. Soon its influence spread to heathen nations worldwide.
Out of the roots lain down by that early church sprang a tree with many branches. We call these branches denominations, organizations, fellowships, movements, and they take on manifold expressions and forms: Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Charismatics and others. As we study these branches' origins, we find that most were sparked into flame by saintly servants of Christ. Many of these godly founders were martyred for their devotion to the pure Word of God.
In my study are nine volumes by John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church. I believe Wesley was one of the godliest men who ever lived. This man wept over the spiritual condition of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, praying for them without ceasing. His devotion led to one of the greatest revivals in history.
Wesley would rise in the dark and ride on horseback to preach to coal miners at six in the morning, before they went to work. He endured incredible hardships for his ministry, at times being beaten by mobs. Yet Wesley labored faithfully until revival came, transforming British society from the depths of its prisons to the upper reaches of government.
In the early days of America, Methodist preachers held open-air meetings similar to Wesley's, called "camp meetings." These men, fired by the Spirit with zeal like Wesley's, worked as "circuit riders," traveling on horseback throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and the Midwest.
Their meetings were held in the countryside, drawing people from all around. The preaching was so powerful, with deep conviction for sin, that listeners fainted and cried out for forgiveness.
Consider the beginnings of modern-day Pentecostalism. This movement started early in the last century, in a little clapboard church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. The congregation consisted of a few humble blacks and whites who dedicated themselves to prayer and fasting, and out of this the Holy Ghost manifested himself powerfully. The conviction in the chapel was so powerful that many people fell prostrate the moment they entered.
Soon visitors came from all over the city to experience the revival. Then they came from afar, and the Azusa Street revival spread all over the world. Out of that tiny church emerged righteous men and women full of Holy Ghost fire, servants who would not bend to the idols of their generation. And out of the revival sprang many of the Pentecostal organizations we know today: the Assemblies of God, the Church of God, the Foursquare Church and others.
Just as the Lord said of ancient Israel, he could say of most of these groups: "I found you in your time of need.
And I picked you up, clothed you in robes of righteousness, loved you and blessed you. You were poor, but I made you prosperous, and your influence spread to the nations.
"But after this, you became proud and played the harlot.
You misused the gifts I gave you. You forgot how I found
you: naked, forsaken and helpless." "In all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood" (Ezekiel 16:22, my italics).
Here is apostasy in its clearest form: when God's people abandon the truth that saved them. The Lord was telling Israel, in essence, "You once professed and believed, but you've become a traitor to the truth. You have left the old paths, inventing manmade methods. You no longer love me, and you've stopped trusting me. Instead, you're going your own way. And that has provoked my anger."
"As a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband" (16:32). Here, in a word, we see the tendency of God's people. In short, we are bent on backsliding. Many of us, at some point in our walk with the Lord, forgot our beginnings. We forgot what it was like to be found in sin, cleansed, loved and blessed by God. And over time we grew lukewarm or cold in our love for him.
Other loves entered in.
Ezekiel's message is a picture
of the apostate church of today.
You may object, "But this isn't the proper interpretation of Ezekiel 16. The prophet was referring only to natural Israel." On the contrary, Paul states that the Old Testament truths have a dual application, for both then and
now: "All these things happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). Read in this context, Ezekiel's prophecy is clearly a parable, revealing God's heart when his people fall into apostasy.
Let me give you a prime example of where we see this great apostasy taking place today. The Episcopal church has regularly made headlines for some years now. It is one of the oldest and largest denominations in the world, a church whose origins were solidly rooted in biblical teaching. It preached the gospel of a risen Savior, and its pulpits were blessed with prophets and holy preachers. Indeed, the godly influence of the Episcopal church spread throughout the world, from Europe to Africa and the Americas.
Now, however, this once-devoted church has fallen into apostasy. Talk about a people who have moved far away from their beginnings:
€ The denomination is one of the first to ordain a homosexual bishop.
€ Some Episcopal leaders are trying to "debunk" the divinity of Jesus.
€ Recently, bishops and lay members of the national ruling body stated that the church's dioceses could interpret the Trinity however they pleased. God can be a she, Jesus a loving thought, and the Spirit an individual's choice. It is outright blasphemy!
€ The newly elected head bishop is a woman who has adopted the gay agenda, and the denomination is headed for a split.
Local churches are cutting off funds, and African bishops have had enough, crying out that the American churches are apostatizing. Meanwhile, the church's numbers here are dwindling.
In England, we see the same thing happening in the Anglican church. That denomination has dwindled to such small numbers that church buildings which stood for centuries are now closing permanently. This process is called "desanctifying." These magnificent structures once were packed with zealous believers. But the Anglicans' condition has grown so apostate that they've had to sell off numbers of their church buildings, some of which are being turned into nightclubs, occult museums and even mosques.
Consider Harvard and Yale,
at one time two of America's
most biblically based colleges.
Both Harvard and Yale were founded by godly preachers as Bible schools. Great revivals once swept through these colleges, and powerful preachers were sent forth from them.
Yet today these renowned universities are hotbeds of atheism, unabashed deniers of the divinity of Christ. They have become apostate institutions, moving far from their biblical roots.
The same is true of Columbia in New York and Princeton in New Jersey. Both of these colleges were founded by godly preachers, but now they also have grown apostate. God, for a growing number, is no longer a heavenly Father but possibly even a female deity. Christ is no longer upheld as the Son of God but is portrayed as only a good man or a charismatic teacher.
Even in Christian colleges and evangelical seminaries worldwide, the leaven of apostasy has become embedded. It is now a losing battle for these schools to try to stay the course of the old paths, because apostatized professors no longer hold to biblical truth. The new gospel they present dismisses the divinity of Christ, the reality of hell and judgment, and biblical standards of purity and morality.
Consider again God's words to Israel in Ezekiel's day: You have corrupted yourselves more than Sodom. "As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done...as thou hast done.... Thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.... They are more righteous than thou" (Ezekiel 16:48, 47, 52).
The Lord then describes the sins of Sodom and why he
destroyed them: "This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness...neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me:
therefore I took them away as I saw good" (16:49-50).
Notice what Sodom's primary sins were: pride and arrogance.
You have heard of "gay pride." New York City has an annual Gay Pride parade, which numbers up to 400,000 marchers.
Marchers carry signs reading, "God Is Gay," "Christ Was Gay," "Gay and Proud of It." I once saw marchers leap out of the parade to attack a small group who carried signs reading, "Jesus Loves Gays. He Only Hates Sin." That meek group sought only to offer love, but they were cruelly manhandled.
Despite such outright arrogance, God states in Ezekiel 16:
"The pride and arrogance of the apostate church is worse than the pride of gays. Even Sodom never sinned as you have sinned." The fact is, it is utter pride, terrible arrogance, to defame the name of Christ...to call God "she"...to say the church has no heavenly Father. (If there is no Father, then there can be no Son, which is the central lie of Islam.)
What awful depth of pride it takes to remove the divinity of the One who died to save us! Yet now that same awful pride is breaking out in some evangelical organizations, turning the church against the truths of its fathers. It is a wave of total apostasy.
There is something worse in
God's eyes than this gospel of
apostasy, and that is a diluted,
watered-down gospel.
God hates most of all the lukewarm gospel of half-truths that is now spreading over the globe. This gospel says, "Just believe in Jesus and you'll be saved. There's nothing more to it." It ignores the whole counsel of God, which speaks of repenting from former sins, of taking up your cross, of being conformed to the image of Christ by the refining work of the Holy Spirit. It is totally silent about the reality of hell and an after-death judgment.
Isaiah warns of this smooth, non-offensive gospel, which people are clamoring for today. His prophecy applies directly to the present time, because God instructed him to write it "for the time to come" (Isaiah 30:8):
"This is a rebellious people... children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us" (30:9-11).
According to Isaiah, there was no preaching of holiness or repentance. Why? The people didn't want to be corrected or convicted. They refused to hear anything but a smooth gospel. Yet a diluted gospel is no gospel at all.
Ezekiel describes such a gospel: "They have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them" (Ezekiel 22:26). He called the diluted gospel mere whitewash, or "untempered mortar" (22:28). In other
words: "You're building walls with untempered mortar. Those walls may look prestigious and strong now, but the Lord is sending a storm, and it's going to cause those walls to fall." "A stormy wind shall rend it" (13:11).
Ezekiel then outlined a list of awesome judgments, through which God would say to his people: "I'm going to expose your nakedness. Severe judgments are on the way, and when they come, your blasphemous gospel will be exposed as empty and hopeless."
Isaiah prophesied that in that day, "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.... The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11, 15, 17).
Right now, I believe we are facing Armageddon. All around us we see nations trembling and men's hearts shuddering with fear. I tell you, this is no time for a diluted gospel. That gospel is absolutely treacherous, because it will crumble as soon as the winds of judgment blow. God warns he'll judge those who preach this lifeless gospel:
"Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:22-23).
"I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.... Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord God" (16:38, 43, my italics).
When judgment comes, what will happen to those who put their security in a diluted gospel? They'll look in every direction for a true word from the Lord but won't be able to find it. Their apostate preachers will say, "Don't get worked up. The world has seen troubles like these before.
We've seen world wars. All things continue as they have from the beginning. This will blow over."
No, not so! There has never been a day like this one. There are now nuclear weapons in the hands of madmen, deadly missiles that can travel thousands of miles, dirty bombs and germ warfare that threaten to wipe out huge masses of humanity.
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah willingly ignored God's warnings and were judged, the Lord will judge this last-day generation. But many of his judgments are redemptive, and those that fell on Sodom were examples for every
generation: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah...are set forth for an example" (Jude 7).
At the end of Ezekiel 16,
something incredible happens.
This chapter is one of the greatest expressions of God's mercy and grace in all of Scripture. The Lord says that while judgments are falling with fire and fury on all sides, "I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot"
(Ezekiel 16:41). Once again, humankind is going into the fiery furnace. And once again, God will do a supernatural work in people's hearts, turning multitudes from idols and false gods.
According to Revelation, two things will happen as the awful vials of wrath are poured out. First, many hardhearted people will refuse to repent: "Men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.... And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.... And men blasphemed God because of the plague...for the plague thereof was exceeding great"
(Revelation 16:9, 11, 21).
Yet, Scripture says, in the midst of those frightful times, others will turn to the Lord in repentance. Backsliders and the lukewarm, those who had a taste of God's Word, the Lord will convict and woo. Then Ezekiel's prophecy will come to
pass: "I will turn you from your prideful apostasy."
"They shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot" (Ezekiel 16:41, my italics). The judgments at that time will be so earth-shattering, all of humanity will know it is "do or die" time. In that moment, God is going to shake and stir every backslider who's known him and show them the apostasy of their hearts. Many apostate pastors will be driven back to the Cross, turning from their sloth to preach repentance and righteousness. It will be a supernatural work, a manifestation of God's grace that will be evident to all the world.
Meanwhile, Allah will fail to deliver his worshippers from the vials of wrath. Masses of Hindu worshippers will be crushed as they're failed by their millions of deities.
Indeed, the whole world will say, "These judgments are supernatural," and multitudes will cry out for Christ.
(We've already seen this happen, after the devastating tsunami in the Far East.)
"And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel 16:62-63).
God is telling us, in short: "In spite of all your apostasies, all your rejections of me, all your backslidings in the hour of trial that comes upon the earth, I will remember the covenant I made with you in your youth." In other words, it will all happen because of his supernatural mercy.
Beloved, that is the New Covenant, made at Calvary. Think of it: Jesus came to a world that was in total apostasy, dead in ritualism, bound by corruption. He didn't come in answer to man's prayers, because so few were seeking him.
The world at that time worshipped idols and false gods, just as humankind does today. Israel was apostate. Christ's coming was a pure act of mercy, undeserved by anyone.
I believe a great harvest of souls is still to come out of modern Sodom. All around the world, churches will be blessed and amazed by the remnant of hungry believers who come forth out of every nation. These will recognize the voice of the Lord, saying, "I am bringing you back to your beginnings in me." And their hearts will awaken, responding, "Lord, bring me back to my first love for you."
The Reproach of the Solemn Assembly
"The Reproach of the Solemn Assembly"
by David Wilkerson
(Transcribed from a audio tape recordingof a Message at Times Square Church)
Zephaniah 3:18 - "I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. "
This is a dual prophecy by Zephaniah. It has to do with the children of Israel . . and also with spiritual Zion (which is the church of Jesus Christ of the last day). First of all, he was speaking to Jews - that God was going to gather together the dispersed . . . but He was only going to bring back those who had a broken heart for the sad condition of Israel. . . . . He would remember all who carried the reproach. . . all of the horrible things that were going on in God's House. Those who carried the burden of it, He said, "I am going to gather you". He made great promises to these. . .
This prophecy is also to the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel were called to their festivals for seven days. On the eighth day - it was called an Solemn Assembly. That was when they met especially together - putting everything aside in focused worship and praise to the Heavenly Father. The scripture says, "On the eighth day you shall have a Solemn Assembly". This Solemn Assembly is all through the Old Testament representing the congregation that is separated unto God needing to meet the Lord.
This is the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. According to Zephaniah, the House of God in the Last Days is going to be under reproach. The Hebrew word hear means "shame and disgrace".
There is going to be shame and disgrace in the House of God. We are not talking about the backslidden, liberal modern church. . . . The Lord said on the Judgment Day, He will deal with that Church. We can pray for them, but we are not spend any of our grief on that which is not really the Church.
God is looking for a people who will sorrow and grieve over the reproach that is being fostered on the Church of Jesus Christ in these last days. I am talking about the Church that was born at Pentecost. I am talking about the Church that was born in the teaching of the Apostle Paul and the Apostles. The Church born in the doctrine of the Godhead of Jesus Christ. That born-again Church is under attack. That Church is suffering reproach.
It has been prophesied that in this day of reproach, shame and disgrace, God is going to raise up a holy remnant who are going grieve and weep over this defilement. . .
God will have a remnant that will not sit idly by while all of these things invade the Church. God says, "I will have a people that are not going to be satisfied to go their merry way and just ignore what is happening as Charlatans and money-mad false prophets are coming into the House of God and destroying everything in sight."
God is going to gather a people who grieve over this. . . . If you truly love the Lord and you love His Church, you can not look honestly at what is happening today (and I am going to name these reproaches this morning). If after you hear what I have to say about this reproach, and you can walk out of this Church and you can say, "I just stand on Matthew 18 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church', I am not going to worry about, God has everything under control".
That is not enough. God uses people. God uses people to perform His work. He does not send angels. Angels weep over it, but God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes. He uses burdened broken-hearted weeping men and women. . . . . Judgment is at the door, Jesus is coming. The Day of the Lord is at hand.
Wake up elders. Wake up pastors. Wake up shepherds. Take a look at the Church. Get the burden. Carry it. Why should we take on the burden of the reproach of the Solemn Assembly? Joel said, "because there is a rotten seed being planted."
A gospel is being preached that is withering everything that is in sight. Everything that is green and Godly and pure is being withered. The seed is rotten . . . . . there is a famine of hearing the pure Word of the Lord. . . . there is no pasture. The flocks are desolate and hungry. The rivers are drying up. A strange fire is devouring the pastors. Ezekiel says that Shepherds are trampling down the good pasture and eating the best for themselves. What are the shameful disgraceful things that are happening in the Church of Jesus Christ today?
First of all it is the rotten seed that is being preached by covetous Shepherds. This is known as the PROSPERITY GOSPEL.
This is one of the greatest reproaches that the Church of Jesus Christ ever perpetrated since Christ. This perverted gospel is poisoning multitudes - even in China, Africa and all over the world. It is an American gospel invented and spread by rich American evangelists and pastors. Rich!
It alarms me that so many people can hear the tapes and see videos that are coming out of these prosperity conferences and not weep over them. This poison has spread all over the world. Cuba is about to open and they are itching to get in there right now with their Prosperity gospel to tell them, "you have been poor enough now, God wants all Cubans to be rich."
This past week I was given a video tape recently recorded in Kenneth Copeland's meetings. I listened to the speakers and I was dumbfounded.
Folks, you read the New Testament, you will find that Paul the Apostle named those who he believed were false prophets. He warned and he named their names. I am telling you now that if you can listen to what I am about to tell you, and not be grieved, then you are blind. You are spiritually blind. You have a hard heart. A heart with a shield on it so that the pure gospel can not penetrate it. The mind has been so saturated with this unbalanced gospel that you can not come to many of them. You can not preach the truth. You can not show them anything else in the scripture because they have a shield over their hearts. Hard hearted.
Some of you will not receive it. If you have been feeding your soul on Copeland or Hagin's tapes, you are not going to like what you hear. Folks, I am a Shepherd, I've been called by God. I made this church a promise. As long as we are in this pulpit, if we saw wolves in sheep's clothing coming to rob the flock, we would stand up and cry out against it. It is up to you to do something about it.
I sat this week and listened to the speakers at this conference and I was so shocked and hurt. The burden of the Lord came on me. That is why I am preaching this message. Grieve over it.
I quote word for word what was said. All the speakers could hardly get by because all of the people were running up stuffing their pockets with money. The reason they do that is a new doctrine that has just come out that says, "if you want to be blessed, you have to find the most blessed evangelist or pastor you can find because he that has been given much receiveth much, he that has little, even that which he has will be taken from him. If you find the most blessed prosperous preacher and give him money, then you will be blessed. The more blessed he is, if you give you to those that are most blessed. . . ". it is a pyramid scheme. If these men were in the secular world, they would be in jail. Ponzie schemes. Pyramid schemes. The man at the top who appears to be the holiest and speaks the loudest. Hundreds of people were running up until the pockets were bulging. The sinner says, "is this the free gospel? Dollar bills?"
Listen to what was said. The speaker got up and he said, "if a poor widow on welfare hands you $5.00, you better take it. Elijah took the widow's last meal. You are the anointed one, you deserve it, you take it."
The same speaker said, "I live in a 8,000 square foot house. I am going to build a bigger one now. One that King Solomon would be proud of. I just paid $15,000 for a dog. You see this gorgeous ring on my finger, I was in Jamaica and just paid $32,000 for it. I want you know that when the people in my town come past my mansion and they see my Rolls Royce sitting in the driveway, they know there is a God in heaven."
Now, you tell me, that is the gospel? You tell me that you can't weep over that.
One of the speakers got up and said, "We made a covenant along with Brother Copeland that for the next 365 days none of us are going to suffer for a single day. We will not know a moment of discouragement. We will never be sick or in need. We are going to enjoy all the blessings. We reject all suffering, all pain, all financial problems." That is fine if you are on the top of the heap.
Here is what grieves me most. This was preached. "The Holy Spirit can't be poured out upon you until first you are in the money flow. Until you are prospering, the Holy Ghost can not do His work."
Think of it! How does this affect you? What does it do to your spirit when you see poor people who are living from pay check to pay check and suddenly he says, "run for the money" and people are running wildly everywhere and they say as they run, "they are claiming the riches".
Then I see people withering like snakes out of their seats onto the floor. I see the evangelist going up and hissing like a snake and people falling everywhere. Folks, what is going on?
The Reproach of the Solemn Assembly! The prophet called them "greedy dogs, ungodly watchmen". Folks, if you had the heart of God and the burden of the Lord you would be crying out with Isaiah, "they are blind watchmen, ignorant, dumb dogs, sleeping, loving to slumber, yea, greedy dogs which can never have enough."
"I've got 8,000 square foot but I am going to sell it and I'm going to make one now that King Solomon could live in...." Never getting enough.
He said, "Shepherds that can not understand, they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his quarter. Jeremiah spared no words. He said, "My people are lost sheep. Their Shepherds have caused them to go astray. " You say, "Pastor, you have no right to speak so strongly on this subject." If you think I'm strong, listen to Ezekiel 34:1-10. [read this scripture]
You take $5.00 from the widow and you buy a $15,000 dog. You take the pay check from the widow and the poor and you tell them that they do not have enough faith - that is why they are prospering. You take the very wool from off the back of the sheep. You are not out for souls, you are out for money.
"The Shepherds fed themselves and fed not the flock, therefore O you Shepherds, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against the Shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Neither shall the Shepherds feed themselves any more, for I will deliver my flock from mouth that they may not be meat for them anymore".
I am going to deliver my flock from the teeth of these men. My God, help us.
Second, the misrepresentation of the blessed Holy Ghost. This is the worst reproach. It should make us fall on our faces. The way and the manner in which the Holy Ghost is being represented to the whole world.
Sad to say, there is so little discernment left in the church among so many pastors and even church leaders. They don't even know when the Holy Ghost is being misrepresented or blasphemed. There are thousands of Christians that go to crusades and they see things that they think is the Holy Ghost and they don't even know what they are sitting under. They are clapping and praising God while a man stands up there blaspheming and misrepresenting the Holy Ghost and they don't even know it.
Entire Charismatic denominations, including the Assemblies of God, are being torn apart, literally torn apart by pseudo revivals. All kinds of things that are happening - there is something new being introduced almost every week. The leaders don't whether to embrace it or to curse it. They don't know what to do. We get letters from hundreds and hundreds of pastors from all over the world. They say, "what is right and what is wrong?" Where are the leaders? Where is somebody to tell us?
Folks, what we are seeing today in what is called so many revivals and things that are happening attributed to the Holy Ghost can not be found in the Scripture. Anything that can not be found in this Book has to be rejected outright. Totally rejected!
I weep when I see these videos that are sent to me from all over the country. Whole groups of bodies jerking out of control, falling on the floor, laughing hysterically, staggering around like drunkards, writhing like snakes, howling like wild animals. We have evangelists that stand and blow on people to knock them down, as if the breath of the Holy Ghost is now incarnated him. Throws his "designer" jacket at people and says that is the "hand of the Lord".
Now a new Gospel has just hit South America. Folks, it is rude and crude, but I have to tell you. When you get away from the parameters of Scripture, when you get up and say: "Oh, it is a New Thing, God is doing a New Thing? I don't understand it, it is not in the Scripture, but I don't want to stand against the Holy Ghost".
Folks, if it is not in this Book, you must stand up against it. Now the New Thing is that you can't enter the Kingdom of God except you come as a little babe. The people come with diapers under their outer clothing so that they can defecate and urinate in the meetings. This is the New Thing. Folks, where does it end?
A pastor said, "Is it come down to this, that one day some evangelist stands up and says, 'I've got a revelation from the Lord, it is time to add Mary to your worship". That is what it is going to come to.
Another evangelist calls himself the Holy Ghost Bartender. He says, "Belly up to the bar and take a drink of the Holy Ghost." They call that drinking the new wine. I hear ringing in my ears the prophet that said, "The day of the Lord is at hand. Wickedness abounds. Weep between the porch and the altar. Put on sackcloth. Fast and mourn for the backslidding of my people."
Jesus is about to come. The masses are unreached. When I see Christians belly up to what is called the "Holy Ghost Bar", staggering like drunkards, Joel's words come to me loud and clear, "Awake you drunkards and weep all you who drink new wine because the harvest in the field is perished."
Souls are dying by the thousands, what are you laughing about? Anything of the Holy Ghost has to work anywhere on the face of the earth. You have to be able to take it into the most vile wicked places. You have to take it into poverty nations. You have to take it to the dregs of humanity and it has to work there. It can't work just in prosperous America. It has to work everywhere on the face of the earth.
I dare these men take this gospel, the laughing gospel into the Balkans now. Go into the refugee camps where wives are crying because they saw their husbands shot. Their daughters have been raped. Their children are hungry. They have lost their homes and go in there and ask them to "belly up to the bar" - the Holy Ghost wants you to laugh. This so-called revival is coming to Madison Square Gardens this summer. Knowing what you know about the Scripture, carrying the grief and the burden for the Solemn Assembly, how can you even conceive of embracing such a doctrine?
Let me tell you who is laughing. The world. The ungodly, the heathen. It has become a spectacle. In a time so close to the coming of the Lord when the Church of Jesus Christ ought to be shut away in a secret closet of prayer. Where it ought to be weeping for the lost. Where it ought to have the desire to forsake all and follow Jesus. Where there should never be a mention of the dollar bill. The American god. The American idolatry. We have the world looking at this foolishness and do you know what they are thinking now - that the Holy Ghost is a Ringmaster. It is a Charismatic Circus.
I don't care what anybody thinks any more. I don't care if people drop off the mailing list. I care for their souls and the fact that many are into this blindness. I have a duty before God to stand before the congregation that He has called me to minister to and warn you and tell you that these are reproaches of the Solemn Assembly and the Bible says that you are to be sorrowful about it. The elders are to be sorrowful. The congregation, the Pastors, the Ministers, the Evangelists, We should be praying down these strongholds.
Finally, the reproach of downgrading depravity in the Church. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil - that put darkness for light and light for darkness. They put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Jer. 23:15).
I've seen in the prophets a horrible thing. They commit adultery, they walk in lies, they strengthen also the hands of evil doer and non returns from his wickedness."
I received a letter this past week from an irate Christian woman. She said, "My husband, who is supposed to be a Christian, is a big time gambler, in the millions." She said, "I've been so concerned with the crowd and the danger he is in". I thought, "I'll urge him to go to the pastor."
She said, "Brother Wilkerson, you will not believe what happened. I am so angry, hurt and confused. I sent my multi-million dollar gambling husband to my pastor."
He said, "I have searched the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and I can't find one thing in the scripture against gambling. I see no sin in it, enjoy yourself." She was dumbfounded, "How can a man of God say such a thing to my husband?"
This is exactly what Jeremiah meant, "the pastors strengthen the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness." He explains why they have downgraded depravity in their congregation and why they are calling evil good and good evil and bitter sweet and sweet bitter.
He said, "The prophets have committed adultery and are walking in lies." Any man that has sin in his life is not going to get up and talk about sin in the camp. He is convicted by his own adultery, his own sin and his own evil mind.
I am not painting every minister in the country with this brush. The majority of ministers are on fire for God. There young ministers so clean and so pure in this wicked day and age. I've met many of them and I thank God for them. Even in this City I've met some of the most righteous preachers I've ever met in my lifetime.
Multitudes of ministers feel just like I feel this morning and they are looking and waiting for voices to expose that which is evil. "If they had stood in my council and had caused my people to heard my words. . if they were speaking what I really have in my heart. If they were speaking the mind of God, they should have turned the people away from their evil ways and from the evil of their doings"
You can tell if a man knows the Lord. God says of the others, "I didn't send them, I didn't speak to them. They speak their own mind out of their own imagination. Out of the evil of their own hearts."
"They speak of vision of their own heart, I sent them not. I have not spoken to them. They say unto them that despise me, 'the Lord said, you shall have peace' and they say unto every one that walks after the imagination of his own heart, 'no evil shall come upon there.'"
The reproach upon the Solemn Assembly should be the greatest sorrow to every one who loves Christ and His Church. This should be the greatest sorrow in our heart - these reproaches on His name and on His Church. Weep over the condition of the Church.
When you take your stand and when you take on the burden of the Lord, by fasting and prayer. Every child of God needs to be praying that everyone in this snare will be delivered. Don't touch it, don't go near it, if you go in just out of curiosity it will grab you because it appeals to everything of the flesh.
Until you know how to deal with the flesh with the power of the Holy Ghost, stay away from it. Jeremiah said, "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is Mighty. He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing."
Why? Because He has found a people who are sorrowful over the things that sorrow His heart. Who carry the burden that He carries, the Reproach of the Solemn Assembly.
This is going to become a "love-trap" . You will hear this: "We love everybody. It doesn't matter what you preach. It doesn't matter if you are in prosperity. It doesn't matter what your gospel is - or anything else. God is love. Let us all just get together and embrace one another."
How can two walk together unless they be agreed. How can you walk with those when you don't agree with the unscriptural practices, you can not. That is a love trap. They say, "Don't condemn anybody. Don't judge anybody."
That is not what the Bible says. It says that we are to judge righteous judgement. Reprove and rebuke with all longsuffering. I am not on a soapbox, I am on a Rock. God is trying to save you, Church.
What are the riches of God in Christ Jesus? The peace of God, the wisdom of God, the nearness of Christ, all that is in Christ is ours. . . . .
Folks, beware! Beware! Have I scared you? Are you ready to take on the burden of the Lord. You can't do that in your own flesh. Get alone with God!
The time has come to call a Solemn Assembly. If you have any of these tapes or books, get them out of your house. Don't give them away, burn them. If somebody invites you to go to these things, say, "I'm sorry, I don't want a famine of the Word and I don't my heart to whither and dry. I want the pure Word of the Lord that will cause me to grow. I don't want any message that is going to appeal to my flesh or to foster covetousness in my spirit."
God does supply needs and He is a miracle working God, but He does it only His way. Not by misappropriating and not mis-using the scripture.
Abraham was not looking at things on earth, He was looking for a City whose Builder and Maker is God.
by David Wilkerson
(Transcribed from a audio tape recordingof a Message at Times Square Church)
Zephaniah 3:18 - "I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. "
This is a dual prophecy by Zephaniah. It has to do with the children of Israel . . and also with spiritual Zion (which is the church of Jesus Christ of the last day). First of all, he was speaking to Jews - that God was going to gather together the dispersed . . . but He was only going to bring back those who had a broken heart for the sad condition of Israel. . . . . He would remember all who carried the reproach. . . all of the horrible things that were going on in God's House. Those who carried the burden of it, He said, "I am going to gather you". He made great promises to these. . .
This prophecy is also to the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel were called to their festivals for seven days. On the eighth day - it was called an Solemn Assembly. That was when they met especially together - putting everything aside in focused worship and praise to the Heavenly Father. The scripture says, "On the eighth day you shall have a Solemn Assembly". This Solemn Assembly is all through the Old Testament representing the congregation that is separated unto God needing to meet the Lord.
This is the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. According to Zephaniah, the House of God in the Last Days is going to be under reproach. The Hebrew word hear means "shame and disgrace".
There is going to be shame and disgrace in the House of God. We are not talking about the backslidden, liberal modern church. . . . The Lord said on the Judgment Day, He will deal with that Church. We can pray for them, but we are not spend any of our grief on that which is not really the Church.
God is looking for a people who will sorrow and grieve over the reproach that is being fostered on the Church of Jesus Christ in these last days. I am talking about the Church that was born at Pentecost. I am talking about the Church that was born in the teaching of the Apostle Paul and the Apostles. The Church born in the doctrine of the Godhead of Jesus Christ. That born-again Church is under attack. That Church is suffering reproach.
It has been prophesied that in this day of reproach, shame and disgrace, God is going to raise up a holy remnant who are going grieve and weep over this defilement. . .
God will have a remnant that will not sit idly by while all of these things invade the Church. God says, "I will have a people that are not going to be satisfied to go their merry way and just ignore what is happening as Charlatans and money-mad false prophets are coming into the House of God and destroying everything in sight."
God is going to gather a people who grieve over this. . . . If you truly love the Lord and you love His Church, you can not look honestly at what is happening today (and I am going to name these reproaches this morning). If after you hear what I have to say about this reproach, and you can walk out of this Church and you can say, "I just stand on Matthew 18 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church', I am not going to worry about, God has everything under control".
That is not enough. God uses people. God uses people to perform His work. He does not send angels. Angels weep over it, but God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes. He uses burdened broken-hearted weeping men and women. . . . . Judgment is at the door, Jesus is coming. The Day of the Lord is at hand.
Wake up elders. Wake up pastors. Wake up shepherds. Take a look at the Church. Get the burden. Carry it. Why should we take on the burden of the reproach of the Solemn Assembly? Joel said, "because there is a rotten seed being planted."
A gospel is being preached that is withering everything that is in sight. Everything that is green and Godly and pure is being withered. The seed is rotten . . . . . there is a famine of hearing the pure Word of the Lord. . . . there is no pasture. The flocks are desolate and hungry. The rivers are drying up. A strange fire is devouring the pastors. Ezekiel says that Shepherds are trampling down the good pasture and eating the best for themselves. What are the shameful disgraceful things that are happening in the Church of Jesus Christ today?
First of all it is the rotten seed that is being preached by covetous Shepherds. This is known as the PROSPERITY GOSPEL.
This is one of the greatest reproaches that the Church of Jesus Christ ever perpetrated since Christ. This perverted gospel is poisoning multitudes - even in China, Africa and all over the world. It is an American gospel invented and spread by rich American evangelists and pastors. Rich!
It alarms me that so many people can hear the tapes and see videos that are coming out of these prosperity conferences and not weep over them. This poison has spread all over the world. Cuba is about to open and they are itching to get in there right now with their Prosperity gospel to tell them, "you have been poor enough now, God wants all Cubans to be rich."
This past week I was given a video tape recently recorded in Kenneth Copeland's meetings. I listened to the speakers and I was dumbfounded.
Folks, you read the New Testament, you will find that Paul the Apostle named those who he believed were false prophets. He warned and he named their names. I am telling you now that if you can listen to what I am about to tell you, and not be grieved, then you are blind. You are spiritually blind. You have a hard heart. A heart with a shield on it so that the pure gospel can not penetrate it. The mind has been so saturated with this unbalanced gospel that you can not come to many of them. You can not preach the truth. You can not show them anything else in the scripture because they have a shield over their hearts. Hard hearted.
Some of you will not receive it. If you have been feeding your soul on Copeland or Hagin's tapes, you are not going to like what you hear. Folks, I am a Shepherd, I've been called by God. I made this church a promise. As long as we are in this pulpit, if we saw wolves in sheep's clothing coming to rob the flock, we would stand up and cry out against it. It is up to you to do something about it.
I sat this week and listened to the speakers at this conference and I was so shocked and hurt. The burden of the Lord came on me. That is why I am preaching this message. Grieve over it.
I quote word for word what was said. All the speakers could hardly get by because all of the people were running up stuffing their pockets with money. The reason they do that is a new doctrine that has just come out that says, "if you want to be blessed, you have to find the most blessed evangelist or pastor you can find because he that has been given much receiveth much, he that has little, even that which he has will be taken from him. If you find the most blessed prosperous preacher and give him money, then you will be blessed. The more blessed he is, if you give you to those that are most blessed. . . ". it is a pyramid scheme. If these men were in the secular world, they would be in jail. Ponzie schemes. Pyramid schemes. The man at the top who appears to be the holiest and speaks the loudest. Hundreds of people were running up until the pockets were bulging. The sinner says, "is this the free gospel? Dollar bills?"
Listen to what was said. The speaker got up and he said, "if a poor widow on welfare hands you $5.00, you better take it. Elijah took the widow's last meal. You are the anointed one, you deserve it, you take it."
The same speaker said, "I live in a 8,000 square foot house. I am going to build a bigger one now. One that King Solomon would be proud of. I just paid $15,000 for a dog. You see this gorgeous ring on my finger, I was in Jamaica and just paid $32,000 for it. I want you know that when the people in my town come past my mansion and they see my Rolls Royce sitting in the driveway, they know there is a God in heaven."
Now, you tell me, that is the gospel? You tell me that you can't weep over that.
One of the speakers got up and said, "We made a covenant along with Brother Copeland that for the next 365 days none of us are going to suffer for a single day. We will not know a moment of discouragement. We will never be sick or in need. We are going to enjoy all the blessings. We reject all suffering, all pain, all financial problems." That is fine if you are on the top of the heap.
Here is what grieves me most. This was preached. "The Holy Spirit can't be poured out upon you until first you are in the money flow. Until you are prospering, the Holy Ghost can not do His work."
Think of it! How does this affect you? What does it do to your spirit when you see poor people who are living from pay check to pay check and suddenly he says, "run for the money" and people are running wildly everywhere and they say as they run, "they are claiming the riches".
Then I see people withering like snakes out of their seats onto the floor. I see the evangelist going up and hissing like a snake and people falling everywhere. Folks, what is going on?
The Reproach of the Solemn Assembly! The prophet called them "greedy dogs, ungodly watchmen". Folks, if you had the heart of God and the burden of the Lord you would be crying out with Isaiah, "they are blind watchmen, ignorant, dumb dogs, sleeping, loving to slumber, yea, greedy dogs which can never have enough."
"I've got 8,000 square foot but I am going to sell it and I'm going to make one now that King Solomon could live in...." Never getting enough.
He said, "Shepherds that can not understand, they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his quarter. Jeremiah spared no words. He said, "My people are lost sheep. Their Shepherds have caused them to go astray. " You say, "Pastor, you have no right to speak so strongly on this subject." If you think I'm strong, listen to Ezekiel 34:1-10. [read this scripture]
You take $5.00 from the widow and you buy a $15,000 dog. You take the pay check from the widow and the poor and you tell them that they do not have enough faith - that is why they are prospering. You take the very wool from off the back of the sheep. You are not out for souls, you are out for money.
"The Shepherds fed themselves and fed not the flock, therefore O you Shepherds, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against the Shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Neither shall the Shepherds feed themselves any more, for I will deliver my flock from mouth that they may not be meat for them anymore".
I am going to deliver my flock from the teeth of these men. My God, help us.
Second, the misrepresentation of the blessed Holy Ghost. This is the worst reproach. It should make us fall on our faces. The way and the manner in which the Holy Ghost is being represented to the whole world.
Sad to say, there is so little discernment left in the church among so many pastors and even church leaders. They don't even know when the Holy Ghost is being misrepresented or blasphemed. There are thousands of Christians that go to crusades and they see things that they think is the Holy Ghost and they don't even know what they are sitting under. They are clapping and praising God while a man stands up there blaspheming and misrepresenting the Holy Ghost and they don't even know it.
Entire Charismatic denominations, including the Assemblies of God, are being torn apart, literally torn apart by pseudo revivals. All kinds of things that are happening - there is something new being introduced almost every week. The leaders don't whether to embrace it or to curse it. They don't know what to do. We get letters from hundreds and hundreds of pastors from all over the world. They say, "what is right and what is wrong?" Where are the leaders? Where is somebody to tell us?
Folks, what we are seeing today in what is called so many revivals and things that are happening attributed to the Holy Ghost can not be found in the Scripture. Anything that can not be found in this Book has to be rejected outright. Totally rejected!
I weep when I see these videos that are sent to me from all over the country. Whole groups of bodies jerking out of control, falling on the floor, laughing hysterically, staggering around like drunkards, writhing like snakes, howling like wild animals. We have evangelists that stand and blow on people to knock them down, as if the breath of the Holy Ghost is now incarnated him. Throws his "designer" jacket at people and says that is the "hand of the Lord".
Now a new Gospel has just hit South America. Folks, it is rude and crude, but I have to tell you. When you get away from the parameters of Scripture, when you get up and say: "Oh, it is a New Thing, God is doing a New Thing? I don't understand it, it is not in the Scripture, but I don't want to stand against the Holy Ghost".
Folks, if it is not in this Book, you must stand up against it. Now the New Thing is that you can't enter the Kingdom of God except you come as a little babe. The people come with diapers under their outer clothing so that they can defecate and urinate in the meetings. This is the New Thing. Folks, where does it end?
A pastor said, "Is it come down to this, that one day some evangelist stands up and says, 'I've got a revelation from the Lord, it is time to add Mary to your worship". That is what it is going to come to.
Another evangelist calls himself the Holy Ghost Bartender. He says, "Belly up to the bar and take a drink of the Holy Ghost." They call that drinking the new wine. I hear ringing in my ears the prophet that said, "The day of the Lord is at hand. Wickedness abounds. Weep between the porch and the altar. Put on sackcloth. Fast and mourn for the backslidding of my people."
Jesus is about to come. The masses are unreached. When I see Christians belly up to what is called the "Holy Ghost Bar", staggering like drunkards, Joel's words come to me loud and clear, "Awake you drunkards and weep all you who drink new wine because the harvest in the field is perished."
Souls are dying by the thousands, what are you laughing about? Anything of the Holy Ghost has to work anywhere on the face of the earth. You have to be able to take it into the most vile wicked places. You have to take it into poverty nations. You have to take it to the dregs of humanity and it has to work there. It can't work just in prosperous America. It has to work everywhere on the face of the earth.
I dare these men take this gospel, the laughing gospel into the Balkans now. Go into the refugee camps where wives are crying because they saw their husbands shot. Their daughters have been raped. Their children are hungry. They have lost their homes and go in there and ask them to "belly up to the bar" - the Holy Ghost wants you to laugh. This so-called revival is coming to Madison Square Gardens this summer. Knowing what you know about the Scripture, carrying the grief and the burden for the Solemn Assembly, how can you even conceive of embracing such a doctrine?
Let me tell you who is laughing. The world. The ungodly, the heathen. It has become a spectacle. In a time so close to the coming of the Lord when the Church of Jesus Christ ought to be shut away in a secret closet of prayer. Where it ought to be weeping for the lost. Where it ought to have the desire to forsake all and follow Jesus. Where there should never be a mention of the dollar bill. The American god. The American idolatry. We have the world looking at this foolishness and do you know what they are thinking now - that the Holy Ghost is a Ringmaster. It is a Charismatic Circus.
I don't care what anybody thinks any more. I don't care if people drop off the mailing list. I care for their souls and the fact that many are into this blindness. I have a duty before God to stand before the congregation that He has called me to minister to and warn you and tell you that these are reproaches of the Solemn Assembly and the Bible says that you are to be sorrowful about it. The elders are to be sorrowful. The congregation, the Pastors, the Ministers, the Evangelists, We should be praying down these strongholds.
Finally, the reproach of downgrading depravity in the Church. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil - that put darkness for light and light for darkness. They put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Jer. 23:15).
I've seen in the prophets a horrible thing. They commit adultery, they walk in lies, they strengthen also the hands of evil doer and non returns from his wickedness."
I received a letter this past week from an irate Christian woman. She said, "My husband, who is supposed to be a Christian, is a big time gambler, in the millions." She said, "I've been so concerned with the crowd and the danger he is in". I thought, "I'll urge him to go to the pastor."
She said, "Brother Wilkerson, you will not believe what happened. I am so angry, hurt and confused. I sent my multi-million dollar gambling husband to my pastor."
He said, "I have searched the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and I can't find one thing in the scripture against gambling. I see no sin in it, enjoy yourself." She was dumbfounded, "How can a man of God say such a thing to my husband?"
This is exactly what Jeremiah meant, "the pastors strengthen the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness." He explains why they have downgraded depravity in their congregation and why they are calling evil good and good evil and bitter sweet and sweet bitter.
He said, "The prophets have committed adultery and are walking in lies." Any man that has sin in his life is not going to get up and talk about sin in the camp. He is convicted by his own adultery, his own sin and his own evil mind.
I am not painting every minister in the country with this brush. The majority of ministers are on fire for God. There young ministers so clean and so pure in this wicked day and age. I've met many of them and I thank God for them. Even in this City I've met some of the most righteous preachers I've ever met in my lifetime.
Multitudes of ministers feel just like I feel this morning and they are looking and waiting for voices to expose that which is evil. "If they had stood in my council and had caused my people to heard my words. . if they were speaking what I really have in my heart. If they were speaking the mind of God, they should have turned the people away from their evil ways and from the evil of their doings"
You can tell if a man knows the Lord. God says of the others, "I didn't send them, I didn't speak to them. They speak their own mind out of their own imagination. Out of the evil of their own hearts."
"They speak of vision of their own heart, I sent them not. I have not spoken to them. They say unto them that despise me, 'the Lord said, you shall have peace' and they say unto every one that walks after the imagination of his own heart, 'no evil shall come upon there.'"
The reproach upon the Solemn Assembly should be the greatest sorrow to every one who loves Christ and His Church. This should be the greatest sorrow in our heart - these reproaches on His name and on His Church. Weep over the condition of the Church.
When you take your stand and when you take on the burden of the Lord, by fasting and prayer. Every child of God needs to be praying that everyone in this snare will be delivered. Don't touch it, don't go near it, if you go in just out of curiosity it will grab you because it appeals to everything of the flesh.
Until you know how to deal with the flesh with the power of the Holy Ghost, stay away from it. Jeremiah said, "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is Mighty. He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing."
Why? Because He has found a people who are sorrowful over the things that sorrow His heart. Who carry the burden that He carries, the Reproach of the Solemn Assembly.
This is going to become a "love-trap" . You will hear this: "We love everybody. It doesn't matter what you preach. It doesn't matter if you are in prosperity. It doesn't matter what your gospel is - or anything else. God is love. Let us all just get together and embrace one another."
How can two walk together unless they be agreed. How can you walk with those when you don't agree with the unscriptural practices, you can not. That is a love trap. They say, "Don't condemn anybody. Don't judge anybody."
That is not what the Bible says. It says that we are to judge righteous judgement. Reprove and rebuke with all longsuffering. I am not on a soapbox, I am on a Rock. God is trying to save you, Church.
What are the riches of God in Christ Jesus? The peace of God, the wisdom of God, the nearness of Christ, all that is in Christ is ours. . . . .
Folks, beware! Beware! Have I scared you? Are you ready to take on the burden of the Lord. You can't do that in your own flesh. Get alone with God!
The time has come to call a Solemn Assembly. If you have any of these tapes or books, get them out of your house. Don't give them away, burn them. If somebody invites you to go to these things, say, "I'm sorry, I don't want a famine of the Word and I don't my heart to whither and dry. I want the pure Word of the Lord that will cause me to grow. I don't want any message that is going to appeal to my flesh or to foster covetousness in my spirit."
God does supply needs and He is a miracle working God, but He does it only His way. Not by misappropriating and not mis-using the scripture.
Abraham was not looking at things on earth, He was looking for a City whose Builder and Maker is God.
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