Wednesday, August 17, 2016

THE HARBINGER

A harbinger is a message of dire warning...an alarm of sorts to alert one to impending danger.

Author, Jonathan Cahn, has written a book entitled THE HARBINGER.  Although it is fiction the message contained within is very real.  It parallels the fall of Israel in the 8th century to the demise of America.  It is more than a good read, more than a chilling drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat.  No, what is scary about this book is that the more you read, the more you see the parallels he is drawing.  You can read for yourself in the Bible what happened to ancient Israel when she turned her back on God.  She ignored the "harbingers" that God gave to her as warnings just as America is ignoring the warnings He has sent her today.

Franklin Graham stated this today on Facebook:

"There seems to be more corruption in the news every day. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was just found guilty on nine criminal charges. It didn’t matter that she was the top law enforcement officer in the state. And news reports say that House leaders sent a letter asking the Department of Justice to file charges against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Our leaders in both parties are flawed, our political system is corrupt, and our nation is in trouble.
The Word of God says, “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19). We need to pray for the future of America. Join me in praying for leaders with integrity who fear God and look to Him for wisdom."

As we listen to the news each day, the drama playing out before our very eyes is almost a replay of what played out in ancient Israel.  As Israel moved farther and father away from God, God repeatedly warned her.  Finally He removed His hand of protection and she was taken into captivity for 70 years.  She ignored all the warnings.  

God has sent American many warnings, the most significant of which was 9/11.  But, did we heed it? No.  We went about our lives with a business as usual attitude.  It did not turn us back to God.  In fact, we have been moving farther and farther away from Him almost daily.  

The election that is before us is going to play a huge role in what happens to our future as a nation.  Have we crossed the line of no return?  Have we gone too far already?  Only God knows.  But we still need to repent as nation, turn from our wicked ways, pray and seek God's face and His forgiveness while there is still time.  

Sunday, August 7, 2016

WE MUST READ BEFORE WE CAN HEED

Last week I challenged my readers to listen to God's Word being read 1 hour each day for 8 straight days by way of a website hosted by Anne Graham Lotz.  The object of the exercise is to draw us back to God's Word so that we, as a people and a nation, will be called to repentance and turn back to the God we have forsaken.

It sounded easy to do, but I must confess that even as much as I was for it, I found it difficult.  I have done it every day but one, although some days only 30 minutes instead of 60.  I have been frustrated with myself, wondering why this was so hard?

It was hard to find an hour...or even 30 minutes....to sit and be quiet with no distractions and just listen to the Word being read.  And therein lies the rub.  We are too busy!!  Busyness is one of Satan's greatest ploys to keep us from God.  Not that we are doing BAD things, it's just that we are too busy with too many things!
Our society is on the go constantly.  We fill our days and evenings to the brim with activities, running here and there and we teach our children to do the same.  When one of my granddaughters comes to spend the day, the first thing she wants to know is "Mimi, what are we going to do today?"  She wants an agenda for her day.  And as soon as we do one thing, she asks "What are we going to do now?"

In Bible days, people did not own a copy of the Word of God.  Only the priests had a copy of the Law and they were the only ones allowed to read it.  They would gather the people together and read it while the people stood and listened.  In times of rebellion, the children of Israel would often go years without ever hearing the Word read to them.  But upon their return to God, they would hear the Word and be brought to tears over their sin.

The Word of God is powerful, more powerful than a two-edged sword according to Hebrews 4:12 and "able to judge the thoughts and ideas of the heart."  The Word of God is our plumbline according to Amos 7:7, 8.  In order for us to live a pure life, we must heed God's Word. (Psalm 119:9)

Our problem is not that we don't KNOW that we should be in the Word and the Word in us.  The problem is that we do not make time for the Word.  We are too distracted by too many other things.  As Jesus chastised Martha..."Martha Martha, you are busy about many things".

We need to meditate upon Psalm 119:10, 14-16 until we make this our motto and our goal concerning the Word of God:

I have sought you with my whole heart
Do not let me wander from your commands
I will meditate on your precepts
I will think about YOUR ways
I will delight in your statutes

I WILL NOT FORGET YOUR WORD.


Sunday, July 31, 2016

ARE YOU IN?

Tomorrow begins the 8 days of listening to God's Word sponsored by Anne Graham Lotz.  If you have not signed up, it is not too late.

…Blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.  Revelation 1:3
Join together August 1-8, 2016 as we listen to God’s Word being read.

In the 8th month — August
For the first 8 days
For 8 hours — one hour per day


In these days of chaos and confusion, hopelessness and helplessness, what would happen if everyone hit life’s pause button and made time to listen to what God has to say?  Let’s find out.

Catch the vision.  Let’s ignite revival.


Partner with Anne Graham Lotz and Faith Comes by Hearing to saturate our nation and the world with God’s Word. Available in over 900 languages.

Please visit GodSpeaking.com to sign up to participate!


The first part of II Chronicles 7:14 says "If my people who are called by MY name will humble themselves...."  If we are to be healed as a nation we must first humble ourselves.  Have you ever thought about why God asks us to humble ourselves?  If we do not humble ourselves, then HE will have to humble us.  

In Deuteronomy 8:2 God tells us what happened to the Children of Israel:
Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. 8:3 He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

God gives us a choice.  We can either humble ourselves, or he will humble us.

I believe that a good beginning is to listen to His Word so that we allow God to speak to our hearts and show us where we are off the track.  Are you willing to listen to His Word for 8 days and ask Him to show YOU?  

I am in.  I have signed up.  So can you.  Will you do that today and join hundreds...hopefully thousands of believers across the United States in listening to God's Word?

If we have had time to listen to political speeches, debates, arguments and media commentary surely we can find 1 hour a day to listen to what GOD has to say!  They will even break it in to 2 segments, 30 minutes each, if you prefer.

So, are you in?  I'd love to see how many of you are.  So just leave a "yes" or "no" in the comment section!  

Thursday, July 28, 2016

ARE YOU IN??????

COMPELLED TO SPEAK

COMPELLED TO SPEAK


As much as I love writing, I have not had the time to write on my blog for a number of years.  Yet I am feeling compelled to begin again, compelled to speak out and to urge believers to WAKE UP!!!

The Lord told us that in the "latter days" things would get worse and worse.  And they are.  From every corner of the globe we see that "iniquity is abounding" according to Matthew 24: 12.  But He also told us that we, as believers, are to "continue in the things we have been taught" (II Tim. 3:14) and that we should "preach the Word" (II Tim. 4:2)

The last couple of months have been a continuous succession of upheaval here and abroad.  We have seen acts of terrorism played out before our eyes, killing hundreds of innocent people in the name of ISIS.  We have seen our policemen gunned down in the streets as they sought to protect innocent lives.  We have seen corruption in every branch of government go unpunished. Crime abounds.  Our own nightly news is a litany of murders, night after night after night. We watch in horror as thugs snatch purses from the arms of frail, elderly women and break into the homes of the elderly beating them almost to death.   We are almost afraid to turn on the television in the morning for fear of what may have happened during the night.

It is madness.....sheer madness!!

America, founded on the principles of God's Word, established by godly men, has now pushed God to the side and continues to denounce Him, deny Him and rebel against His Word.  What are we to do?

Well, II Chronicles 7:14 tells us what we are to do.  It says "If my people, who are called by my name (BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST) will (1) humble themselves (2) pray and seek my face (3) repent and turn from their wicked ways THEN will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

So it is up to us....God's people, believers....THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST!!  If we want to see change in America, it is going to have to start with us!  But how much do we really want it?  Do we want it enough to do those 3 things mentioned above?  It is one thing to talk about it, to discuss it, to agree with it, but WILL YOU DO IT?  Will the Church do it?  How many churches across this land are willing to get serious and call their people to their knees to DO it?

Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of famed evangelist, Billy Graham, IS serious about it and has been for some time.  She has been calling for Christians to wake up and to get serious with God for some time.  But she is now giving us a way, an avenue to take action.

I invite you to listen to the following 1 minute clip as she lays out this plan and tells you how YOU can get involved.

http://www.annegrahamlotz.org/;2016/07/25/plumb-line-hand

This plan of listening to God's Word for 8 straight days in August is not a magic bullet.  But, I believe, it is to wake up God's people from their slumber, from their complacency and from their lack of discipline.  I believe it is the  desire of her heart and others who have orchestrated this plan to get believers into the Word and the Word into them.

I hope you will choose to listen to this 1 minute clip and even more I pray you will follow Anne's suggestion and join the movement for 8 days of listening to God's Word.  

Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis in his devotional book, Morning Manna, wrote of Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher "For almost 40 years in the 1800s, he preached to over six thousand people in London every Sunday.  Like Apollos "he was mighty in the scriptures" (Acts 18:24)  The sacred text richly dwelt within him.  God used him to reach masses of poor people for Christ.  Communism later lamented its inability to infiltrate England with its devilish doctrines because Spurgeon had already SATURATED the common people with the Gospel."  

To me that said that we as American Christians have been too busy with our secular lives to be saturated with the Gospel and because of that, "sin that used to slink down back alleys now struts down Main Street" (Adrian Rogers)

It's time American Christians to WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!



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