Post by Cindy on May 23, 2015 12:36:51 GMT -5
Wow! The Lord just gave me another wake up call this morning and I thought He was all done with this message, but apparently not! What He showed me was from both Ezekiel and Romans. Ezekiel was God's voice in Babylon, but He primarily stayed at his home and was only allowed to speak to those who came to him. God told him that He would make him mute so he couldn't speak at all except when God put His Words in his mouth. Even then though, since he was bound to his house, the only people out of all the thousands of Jew's there, that could hear God's Word were those who went to his house! That in itself is a judgment! Why? Think of what God says in Romans about how people are convicted of their sin and come to faith. ‘Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ’ (Rom. 10:17). Also as Paul told us in Romans, the Jew's had a zeal for God, but it wasn't based on knowledge. In Romans 10:21, Paul quoted the first half of a verse from Isaiah 65:2: ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’ If you look it up it goes on to say, ‘… people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.’ That's again, just like the people today! People today make up their own god by getting their knowledge from TV shows, movies, and books other then the bible, as well as from false teachers. The list of ways they get their knowledge goes on and on, and yet, it's all false, which is idolatry. God sends His Word out to the world through godly pastors and teachers who teach what He says not what they think, and He sends it out through His Word, the Bible itself, if people would only open it and read it asking Him to teach them.
In the days before and after the fall of Jerusalem when the Jew's were taken to Babylon, there were many false prophets and teachers and very few real ones. As I said before this in itself was and is a judgement from God. God's Word forbids sin. God hates sin because it's the opposite of His holiness and it harms and pollutes His creation. When His Word is being preached correctly, sin is destroyed as people repent and are saved and changed, growing more and more holy. When people are responding to His Word, God makes sure it's abundantly available. When people ignore His Word, it becomes more and more scarce. Because by then, the people have become hard hearted and prefer to hear lies. That's when He sends a famine of the Word. Since sin isn't being destroyed by people responding to His Word, God then has to destroy the sin Himself by sending yet more judgment. God will not allow sin to continue unchecked forever. Eventually, He judges the people and destroys it even if it means destroying the people themselves.
In the days before and after the fall of Jerusalem when the Jew's were taken to Babylon, there were many false prophets and teachers and very few real ones. As I said before this in itself was and is a judgement from God. God's Word forbids sin. God hates sin because it's the opposite of His holiness and it harms and pollutes His creation. When His Word is being preached correctly, sin is destroyed as people repent and are saved and changed, growing more and more holy. When people are responding to His Word, God makes sure it's abundantly available. When people ignore His Word, it becomes more and more scarce. Because by then, the people have become hard hearted and prefer to hear lies. That's when He sends a famine of the Word. Since sin isn't being destroyed by people responding to His Word, God then has to destroy the sin Himself by sending yet more judgment. God will not allow sin to continue unchecked forever. Eventually, He judges the people and destroys it even if it means destroying the people themselves.
Sadly this is where the world is right now, just as it was for the Jew's back then. Very few people truly want to hear what God has to say, so He has allowed there to be a profusion of false teachers and prophets. Those few godly teachers and pastors today are warning people, both the saved and the unsaved. We need to be in His Word every single day and studying like never before. Today, just like back then, very few are listening and obeying God. The fact that there are more and more false teachers and prophets, and even pastors who don't believe in God at all, is a HUGE sign that we are being judged and living in a time of judgement, just as Peter told us: “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”” (1 Peter 4:17–18) As one of my commentaries put it, "God’s ultimate punishment is not when he disciplines, but when he walks away. His final act of reproof is when he allows his children to live unfettered and undisciplined lives without his chastening." (Opening up Ezekiel's Visions) If that doesn't sound like our world today, I don't know what does.
Because people have decided to ignore God and His Word, God has been removing it from the land. There will be fewer and fewer teachers and pastors who will preach His Truth, and there will be more and more false teachers and ungodly pastors who will fleece His flock. The few godly ones will continue to warn people that God will hold them personally accountable for their sins and their wrong views of Him, even if they've been taught lies, because they had His Word available to them but chose not to study it for themselves and obey it. No one will be able to plead "ignorance", for the Truth was available if they'd chosen to seek for it. ““The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.” (Amos 8:11) We are living this now. False teaching is only going to get worse between now and the rapture, and there is only one way we can have discernment. We must grow in the Word through study and obedience to it. (Hebrews 5:12–14) Those who heed God's Warning will be blessed like those in Ezekiel's time were. They were saved from the judgements Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel warned them were coming. Those today who heed it will be saved from those same judgements as they had both a near and a far fulfillment. Those who heed the warning today will be saved from the far fulfillment which takes place during the tribulation, as they will go in the rapture. Those who don't heed it this time, will most likely go through the Tribulation, as that's what's coming next.
So if there was any doubt in your mind that we are quite literally in the last days, be assured that Jesus could return quite literally at any moment. Start looking up and please, please do what He told us to! “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” (John 8:31–32)
(I copied my last post on the thread Politics aren't going to help us anymore, as I wanted to be sure as many as possible saw it)
Because people have decided to ignore God and His Word, God has been removing it from the land. There will be fewer and fewer teachers and pastors who will preach His Truth, and there will be more and more false teachers and ungodly pastors who will fleece His flock. The few godly ones will continue to warn people that God will hold them personally accountable for their sins and their wrong views of Him, even if they've been taught lies, because they had His Word available to them but chose not to study it for themselves and obey it. No one will be able to plead "ignorance", for the Truth was available if they'd chosen to seek for it. ““The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.” (Amos 8:11) We are living this now. False teaching is only going to get worse between now and the rapture, and there is only one way we can have discernment. We must grow in the Word through study and obedience to it. (Hebrews 5:12–14) Those who heed God's Warning will be blessed like those in Ezekiel's time were. They were saved from the judgements Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel warned them were coming. Those today who heed it will be saved from those same judgements as they had both a near and a far fulfillment. Those who heed the warning today will be saved from the far fulfillment which takes place during the tribulation, as they will go in the rapture. Those who don't heed it this time, will most likely go through the Tribulation, as that's what's coming next.
So if there was any doubt in your mind that we are quite literally in the last days, be assured that Jesus could return quite literally at any moment. Start looking up and please, please do what He told us to! “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” (John 8:31–32)
(I copied my last post on the thread Politics aren't going to help us anymore, as I wanted to be sure as many as possible saw it)