Greetings,
"the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. v. 25 and took off the chariot wheels. . . ' Exodus 14:24 - 25
Ah! what a sight when the Lord fights for His people. "If the Lord be for us, who can be against us' But what is it if you are on the receiving end of the Lord fighting against you? We live in a paradox of this for our nation and the church. Many will say that God is judging our nation; and He is. But are we willing to understand that He is judging the church, His people as well. Do we remember what the Book says, 'let judgement begin at the house of God'; 'if you don't repent, I will come and remove your candlestick (to the church of Ephesus)'. God wants His bride pure and holy, pleasing in His sight. And if we are not, then we receive correction as well to understand that this is not acceptable.
but how much more when the judgement comes, when it is for the fact that we live in a nation that has set itself against the Lord. As the remnant of Israel during the days of Elijah,7000 there that had not bowed nor kissed Baal, yet obscure and remote in their worship due to Ahab and Jezebels persecution. How about the church in China, underground, remote, limited as far as freedoms, yet still remain in faithful and obedient and growing. So that people that look at that and in the book of Acts and say 'well the church has to go through persecution to grow'; but that is not so. God sees fit to allow this for some; but it doesn't always have to be.
And so we see that God looks down on a nation that provokes Him and sees their deeds and knows their hearts of evil. He looks upon His church and sees their response and service to Him. And in the combination of these two, nation and church, we see a people that is not pleasing to Him. And when I say church, I am referencing the religious institutions of our nation as well as the remnant that is among them. Now the remnant is doing that which pleases the Lord - fasting, praying, serving, growing and seeking to be holy. Yet, the deluge of evil in our day is sweeping heart and minds into abyss of evil in our headlines. Although the remnant is faithful, judgement is falling, even now. And the cause of all of it, is sin.
What are some of these faults?:
Nation:
-- continues to escalate evil; 'the thoughts of their minds are continually evil';
--self is their god;
--entertainment is priority and time consumption;
--legalized and judicial edicts of abominations and sins as our way of life; abortion, alcohol, drugs, homosexuality, etc.;
--family is destroyed by adultery, abuse, neglect, torn apart and shredded are the majority of households today;
--humanism is mind set, thus we don't need God
Church:
--lack of bible knowledge; reading, studying, memorizing, sharing; this often confessed by most that are stirred up, that they had not been taught to love the Book and know the Book;
--prayer; greatly hindered, loss of time, this confession is many among pastors and church memebers that they have no prayer life, nor do they spend adequate time before the Lord;
--evangelism; too many in the 11 month of this year, will confess that they have not communicate the Gospel message of eternity in Christ or without Christ to one soul;
--fasting; a lost moment of what is greatly needed against this day of evil;
--church attendance and participation is largely open-ended; no faithfulness
--
Wheels coming off:
--since last Thursday - there have been at least 5 murder-suicides in 4 different states; with a total of about 12 losing their lives, 2 families of 4 died;
--another rampage shooter in CA where 4 were shot and the shooter was killed by police;
--Dec. 5 quickly approaches for the court case that will determine our future. Still have not heard much on this;
--Obama continues to organize a group opposing all the work of Trump; 30,000 followers in this, continue a state of anarchy and upheaval, the likes we have never seen;
--several each week of more teachers/student sex headlines; continues as an epidemic of evil; one every day of this past week has been reported and arrested from across the nation;
--each week more parents of neglect and murder, abuse on their own children;
The wheels are coming off - family; church; society; minds and hearts.
Now remember the Egyptians never got out of the Red Sea, but in the next verses, God had Moses turn the waters upon them and drowned them all. He took the wheels off to stop them in the midst to be drowned.
Where are we? Will we get out? Will we perish as a nation?: Will the church be sent underground?
Response of the Church:
Joel 2
1. v. 6, 'Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness' - my efforts and pleadings with church leadership and prayer leaders is to do something before we get to this point. But in many ways we are much pained with the crisis of our day of mass shooting, church shooting, homes torn apart, drugs in every family, cancer in every family, etc.
2. Fasting & Praying - the great need is the response of the church to identify where we are in light of Scripture, remedial judgements so that a proper response might be made; begin with once a month for coporate prayer times and fasting; weekly fasting and prayer by small groups and individuals;
3. an assembly to gather to address the sins of the nation, the church, and the individual to confess before the Lord; Herein is our high offence against the Lord that has provoked Him. These are largely not known to the nation, or to the majority of the church.
4. an act of repentance to turn away from these evils and turn to Him with all our heart, mind, soul and body;
5. A renewed vow and covenant between us and Him.
And to this end and these 5 suggestions I continue to work towards that there may be a right response. For I still believe that there is time, God is waiting on us to respond rightly, and our failure to recognize and do only compounds and deepens the judgements. so while there is still time, I plead respond.
Update:
--T- 10 days before finishing bible reading;
--word studies of 'deliver' and 'woe' winding down; new word study for next time will be 'destroy' and 'holy';
--no writings;
--sermons from Sunday uploaded to youtube page; Acts 19 at Fox's Hollow; Acts 20 at Keyser church;
--24/7 prayer is still looking for partners to join us in these days for a prevailing spirit of prayer against the evil and for the mercies of God; 'in wrath remember mercy' http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090945a4aa2da75-2471/58736439
--i'm using facebook live stream more and more to try to do quick updates so these are posted there on my facebook pages;
Until,
dan
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