Thursday, May 27, 2010

Remembering Lot's Wife

Wives actually don't show up all that favorably in the Bible.  Some stellar exceptions are Noah's wife in the Old Testament and Aquila's wife in the New.  But from Eve to Mrs. Job to Mrs. Lot to Jezebel to Sapphira ...  we get the picture.

But of all the wives, Jesus admonished us to remember one in particular:  Mrs. Lot.  We know the story — angelic visitors were sent, by God's grace, to rescue Lot and his family before Sodom was destroyed.  Lot warned his family, but some of them thought he was joking.  Whether motivated by love, obedience or faith, just three left with Lot before the city was destroyed.

We know the story:  she didn't believe enough to remain obedient.  She looked back — after being warned explicitly not to — and she became a pillar of salt.  Now, why would Jesus point to this particular incident as something that those living in these last days should remember?  A few reasons come to mind.

First, Mrs. Lot didn't know where she was living.  She apparently didn't believe that she was living in a city that was coming under judgment.

Second, she didn't know when she was living.  She may have believed, in a general sense, that God would judge the world "some day."  She did not know that the day had come.

Finally, it appears that she did not know WHY she was living.  Her "job description" as Lot's wife involved being a "suitable helper" for her husband.  By disobeying and looking back, she effectively deserted Lot just when he probably needed her the most.

These things are coming into sharper focus for me as we see the judgments against America continuing.  As I write, a dispersant called Corexit is being dumped in massive quantities in the Gulf of Mexico, which is making that body of water TOXIC.  At the same time, national weather services are predicting an unusually severe hurricane season.  We have a certifiable Marxist in the White House and an economy on the brink of total collapse.  It should be clear to any student of scripture that God's benevolent hand of restraint is being withdrawn, and that some frightening things are in the very near future.  It troubles me that many who consider themselves Christians are either unaware, or unconcerned.

Most of us have never experienced an economic collapse.  Most of us have never lived in an aggressive police state (such as existed in Germany under Hitler and in Russia under Stalin).  None of us has experienced a hurricane that is spreading toxic waste and oil over large portions of the landscape.  And tragically, most of us continue in the false hope that "it can't happen here."

Remember Lot's wife.

America has shed the blood of over 50 million innocent babies, and that blood — like Abel's — cries out to the just Judge for vengeance.  God has given us ample time to repent, and we have not repented.  The problems now facing us are not political problems or environmental problems or economic problems; they are SPIRITUAL problems — the hard-heartedness, rebelliousness and disobedience of people who purport to be children of God.  We are occupied by the activities of our busy lives and the amusements of the culture.  The Titanic is going down but we're in the lounge playing cards and can't be distracted.

God is not deceived; neither will He be mocked.  He is not mollified by our little prayer asking Jesus into our hearts, or our superficial once-a-week religious exercises.  The Judge of all the earth will do right, and He has been warning us continually.  Will we listen?  Will we OBEY?

Remember Lot's wife.

Friday, May 7, 2010

National Day of Prayer Outrage

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2010/fancyjo57-1.htm

Billy Graham is apparently a 32nd or 33rd degree Mason, and the physical contact shown here is allegedly a Masonic handshake (see response by "Oops" at the end of the posting) of some sort. Whether either of these allegations is true, your view of these things is probably correct. I strongly suspect that Franklin is "one of us" and his dad is not.

Political philosophy grows from theological roots, and I believe that Billy's easy-believism "gospel" and his promotion of the non-participatory and Nicolaitan American church model did plenty to prepare the country for the rise of Obama. Pastors and surveys consistently show that most people choose a church and go to church "to have their needs met," NOT to "prepare them for works of ministry" or even "to participate in corporate worship." So we have a bunch of folks who call themselves Christians because they said a prayer once or made a decision to "accept" Jesus - and they want God and government to take care of them.

Satan's strategy folks: to engender rank disobedience in the body of Christ to the command to "grow up in all things in Christ" (Ephesians 4) so that Jesus has an eternal day-care center and NOT the mature bride He deserves.

Obama and Billy Graham are theologically on the same page. Graham nurtured the roots of this blasphemous fruit, and Obama is now finishing what Graham began. Obama hasn't made much of a secret about his contempt for Bible-believing Christians, and one can only wonder how Billy really feels about those of us who take Christ seriously.

The scripture plainly states: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose [them]" (Eph. 5:11).

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Steve


Raleigh, North-Carolina
Anakypto Forum on BlogTalkRadio

Saturday, April 17, 2010

A word about "false prophets"

http://falseprophetwatch.blogspot.com/2009/11/prophecy-for-x-mas-day.html


I was doing some web research and came upon this link. The blog author positions himself as one able to root out and expose "false prophets" - his tag line being "Exposing False Prophets Who Refuse To Repent of their False Prophecies or Abominations."

Hear! Hear! - He seems to think that citing Amos 3:7 is somehow a flashing neon sign that says, "What follows is a false prophecy."

Oh, well. The self-appointed prophets of Micaiah's day sang from the same hymn book. John Lawler added his voice to many with his admonition that served as source material for the anonymous "falseprophetwatch" blogger. John's warning is here:
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/nov2009/stevec1126.htm
I guess I'm guilty by association, but would like to point out to the skeptics viewing these posts that Jonah was also a "false prophet." By their definition, anyway -- Jonah said that Nineveh was 40 days from destruction. No fudge factors, no weasel words, nothing ambiguous. "Forty days and you're done!"

But God relented. Jonah may have been upset because he was embarrassed; his prophecy didn't come to pass! More apparent, however, is that Jonah was upset because he hated the Ninevites and WANTED THEM DESTROYED. And this was a true prophet of God.

That to say this: first, John Lawler's Christmas prophecy did not specify WHICH Christmas. Obviously, it wasn't last Christmas. But the imagination need not be stretched to believe that this coming Christmas could be the one in view. God, in His mercy, has given the people a WHOLE YEAR to get their affairs in order and leave the danger zone. In His mercy, He has given California a 12.6% jobless rate, further motivation for the people who live there to move anywhere else.

Daniel Matson has pointed to November 8th as a likely "official" beginning of the Tribulation period, though for folks in Iceland (and downwind), their Tribulation period may have already begun. Suffice it to say, we're at least on the on-ramp to the last seven years of this highway to hell, and we can at least expect more folks like the falseprophecywatch blogger to come out of the woodwork and post their resistance ... until the infrastructure collapses here and the internet becomes, like so many other creature comforts, just a memory.

That to say this: if you have a watching/warning ministry, keep at it.


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