Preparing for His appearing -- "The Bride must make herself ready"

The days before Christ's return are ticking down quickly. The most probable dates, to me, are May 21st (the Ascension) and May 31st (Pentecost). However, we should be ready for His appearing at any moment. I have recommended a few action steps, which I repeat here for those who may be new to this blog or may have not seen them:

Get your spiritual house in order. REPENT. This means align your life with the law of God. Where you have sinned, you must acknowledge your sin, confess it to God, and make restitution where-ever possible and AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

OBEY - Every person who was saved in the Church Age repented, confessed, was baptized, and submitted to the Lordship of Christ in ALL of life. If you are not living in newness of life, it's because you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Do yourself (and your loved ones!) a favor: turn off the TV, take out the trash (foul books, music, videos, etc.) and get your heart right before God. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. Don't trifle with God, His law, or His offer of salvation. He WILL preserve you if your belief is evidenced by obedience, hatred of sin, holy living, and love of the brethren.

Don't be deceived. Study your Bible. The time is getting really short.

Pray for those you know who are still lost. No one can come to faith in Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). IF you are saved, you have a privilege and an advantage that most people don't share: access to God's Throne of Grace. Use it!

I know that, especially among the Evangelical community here in the U.S. there is still a lot of resistance to what is mis-characterized as "water salvation" and this leads to a great deal of resistance to water baptism. I was once among them. However, true conversion ALWAYS results in obedience, and immersion is both 1) a command of Christ, and 2) a prerequisite for the rapture. Check out The Epic Event and notice that according to Hebrews 10, to participate in the Event we must:

1. draw near with a true heart,
2. have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
3. have our bodies washed with pure water,
4. hold fast the confession of hope without wavering,
5. stir up love and good works, and
6. exhort one another.

Here is an excellent audio resource by Mark Biltz that you may also find helpful:

A Church Without Blemish — If you've ever wondered about the meaning of "spots, wrinkles and blemishes," this is an in depth study allowing the Bible to explain itself.

Remember - once that trumpet sounds, it will be TOO LATE to do any more preparation. Let's all be found without spot, wrinkle or blemish when our beloved Lord returns for us. Let's make it His most joyful day!

Why the "Tea Party" Movement Will Go Nowhere

The "tea party" movement will go NOWHERE. Here's why:

Our problem is not economic or political. It is a moral rot undergirt by the culture's willingness to accept homosexuality, and primarily by the culture's willingness to accept the "right to choose."

Our rights come from God as an endowment, but we have squandered the endowment by embracing what God abhors. We now have the blood of 50 million innocent American babies crying out to God for vengeance. God has obviously decided to take our God-given rights away.

Were these tea-partiers staunchly opposed to the wickedness of abortion, we would at least have standing to appeal to God and rely upon His Divine providence. Or His mercy. But alas! many of our conservative and patriotic comrades-in-arms have no problem with abortion at all! They think "choice" in all matters is a good thing, and object only to an overbearing central government's meddling.

There is no consensus for righteousness amongst these tea-partiers, and God is properly using Obama and his ilk to punish America for her sins.

So this "tea party" fad is simply a tempest in a teapot. There is NO call for repentance, or for the end of the shedding of innocent blood. For this reason, the patriots cannot prevail.

In the days of Israel's revivals, the idols were torn down and the center of Molech worship in Jerusalem, the valley of the son of Hinnom, was turned into a garbage dump. When we give that sort of treatment to the abortion "clinics" in our communities, then maybe ... MAYBE ... God will hear and relent. But I don't think it's gonna happen. It appears that the Libertarians are the strongest bloc within the "freedom movement" and they still don't get it. On most of the political forums I've visited, talk of tax resistance is fine, but talk of ending abortion is "mixing politics with religion" ... the same old cop-out.

I don't even know a lot of Christians who are passionate about ending abortion. So, if we won't end it, God will.

P.S. Another excellent treatment of this topic was written by Joel McDurmon: TEA-Party Hypocrisy: How Much Socialism Is Acceptable?