Overwhelmed With Praise and Joy - A Living Reality

That's my offering today - praise and joy - two constant companions of mine. It's true, they never leave me regardless of circumstances. Frankly, a few years ago I would never have believed this possible - but the Lord is full of mercy and grace.

I was taken to the ER early last Sunday morning. Severe respiratory. It's something I live with and is fairly well controlled most of the time. And then comes the smoke from some distant fires or other toxic particulates and there I go!

I had barely reached the ICU room when I let them know that I was going home as soon as they could get paid and sign me off - which turned out to be Monday morning. If I die, I live - so I'm not going to spend 3-4 days in a bed doing nothing if I have any other possibility. I'm not going down for the count. Unless the Lord says....

Meanwhile, I knew the Lord had me there according to His plan and purpose, and my insightful husband brought one of the 'big' Bibles - although he forgot everything else! But I praised him because he had chosen to bring the one single thing that was needed.  I had it open and read it all the time, but let the Lord provide whatever opportunities He wanted His Word to accomplish, and several therapists, nurses and others commented or asked questions about it. Most knew right away what this 'big Book' was! Praise the Lord for that. I have no idea what the Lord was doing with these people, but whatever it was, was according to His plan and purpose for them.

My job finished, I went home. Oh, so tired, I realized when I got home. Oh, so tired. Here it is three days later, and I'm still very tired but at home.

As much as I love my home, I am overwhelmed by desire for my real home. Both yesterday and especially today the Lord and I had such wonderful times of joy and praise as I acknowledged that I had no idea what this has been all about, but I'm "all in" with the Program! Just knowing that He is my Rock and Stay - and that He still has me working is enough for me. I don't want to miss a single task He has for me.

God has allowed me to go through many tests and trials, and I'm very thankful because I know how to trust Him. In fact, all of my faith is in the Lord. My husband and I have learned over the past years how to depend entirely on the Lord. 

 At one point several years ago I went entirely blind - and what I do is read and write - and at that time I was also a musician. I need to tell you the following for your sake. I never cried, I never complained, I never asked the Lord to restore my sight.  I did ask Him to teach me whatever lessons He had for me, and to point the way to what He wanted me to do for Him in that condition. I tell you this because faith and trust need to be build upon layer by layer. And we are going to need to be practiced in trusting everything to the Lord, in depending on Him as our ONLY source, due to the things that are coming very soon.

I sensed that the blindness was a satanic attack which the Lord had allowed. Many online watchman and research ministries were all hit during that particular 3-month time period, and they all believed the same reason - spiritual warfare. Interestingly, over half of them were hit with some degree of blindness. The Lord restored my sight almost completely over the next few months. I have almost normal vision, but lost some of my peripheral vision, so I drive rarely and only on quiet country roads.

The Lord is full of mercy and grace. We must adjust our will to His. Period. That is the lesson (one of them) which we are here to learn. 

While all things are possible with the Lord, if you have not been exercising your faith in the little things, it's unlikely you will be able to seize upon it for the horrendous things. Awful things are coming. We need to be prepared in advance. We must be seasoned warriors in order to have faith in the worst of times. 

Keep your eyes squarely on the Lord and in His Word. We are going to need it. It will be a requirement for the Rapture.

Messianic Jews, Arab Christians Gather Amidst Violence and Anger

Finishing Well ...

.. is determinative. The Lord may allow you to take the ultimate test of your obedience and loyalty to Him, perhaps even through the ultimate honor:  martyrdom. Many Christians across the world have faced this test, and are currently doing so.

In the war in which we are engaged if you don't finish well all previous efforts are useless. Lost. They count for nothing. If you say that you are committed to Jesus Christ - and you are tested, required to renounce the name of Jesus on pain of the guillotine -  and your fear causes you to renounce him, take the Mark, and take an oath of obedience to the Antichrist, you are lost for eternity. Satan is lying in wait for you. It's not that you've lost your salvation. You were never saved. You were a CINO - Christian In Name Only. As the Lord himself said: "Ye must be born again." A true Christian will not take the Mark and worship the beast, because he is sealed by the Holy Spirit. He has the mark of God.  

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
¹⁰ The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
¹¹ And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
¹² Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Are you afraid to die? If so, why? There is no such thing as death. A Christian has not yet begun to live.  Life in the flesh is only a shade. A school. A test. A reflection of your real self, your spirit.

FEAR IS THE ULTIMATE LACK OF FAITH. And faith is what is required.

Why do you call yourself a Christian? What is your reason, your motivation, for following Christ? The answer should be the same as His reason for shedding His blood for you: LOVE.

This spiritual war is one of endurance. With God's help I will not be moved. No matter what. I expect the rapture soon, but God has not given me His schedule!  He has promised us (it was not our idea, as some seem to say) that we would not go through the unprecedented tribulation of the end times - the time of Jacob's trouble and unlike any other tribulation that has ever occurred. However, in the meantime there is no reason for me to expect any treatment different from that of my Christian brothers and sisters who are  currently being persecuted, even to death.

ISIS in Iraq is the onset of something entirely different - a drastic escalation of evil and butchery which the world has not known in this age. It would be very naive to believe that it is not coming to the United States. Suddenly. And soon.

Make sure that you are ready to go the distance.

The Spirit of Fear

I was so sad, and sorry, to read this latest newsletter from the Rapture Forums. Jesus asked this question, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Lk 18:8). CMR

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Welcome to the Rapture Newsletter for 2/5/2014

 

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

We have a new Rapture Forums Newsletter for your viewing pleasure. Please feel free to forward these emails to all your friends and family as well as to anyone else you think might enjoy them.

 

Folks, I am really sad right now and writing with a broken heart. I am seeing so many people who are living in a spirit of fear and that are just not trusting in the Lord to handle things for them in these end times. And these aren't just regular people. There are even people in the Bible prophecy community who are "teachers" that have basically sold out their faith in the Lord as their provider and have now taken over that job for themselves. They have discarded the rock of their faith (Jesus), for a few measely beans or a bowl of soup (remember Esau?). The Bible says the Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but this is exactly what they have done. It shows that they are not living a spirit led life but instead are living a life embraced of lies from the enemy.

 

You see, we all know that the strength and courage we have to face life comes from the Lord, it is not of ourselves. But some have taken drastic measures, even moved to remote areas of the world, to escape what they think is coming on to the world. They believe this because they have no more faith in the Lord's promises. The Bible speaks of these people as being those whose "hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth."

 

Folks we are seeing so much of this "doom, gloom, and fear-mongering" by certain so called "teachers" who have basically left the faith. Some of them have even given up on the Lord's "blessed hope" and now believe that they will go through the tribulation period spoken of in Daniel. This is really sad, they have left their "first love" of Jesus and have now made an idol out of their themselves.

 

Folks, it is clear that we are living in the end times and things will surely go downhill as Bible prophecy gathers steam in these last days. But now is not the time to abandon the Lord. Now is the time to cling to Him and His promises more so than at any other time in the past. Now is the time that TRUE Christians show their faith and stand strong in the Lord and in His promises. These are the times that separate the sheep from the goats.

 

As always, keep looking up, our redemption is drawing nigh!

 

God bless you.

 

Chris Schang

 

 

 

 

Confidence or Faith?

I was listening to a sermon about David and Goliath last Sunday, and of course some new thoughts occurred to me about David.

Here was a young shepherd who had done nothing in life that we know of except to herd sheep. It hardly seems to qualify him for taking on the giant warrior, Goliath. It's no wonder that Goliath laughed at him and didn't really take him seriously. Who would?

Not only that, but the 'weapon' he planned to use against Goliath was a slingshot!

Now, David wasn't even on the battlefield. His father had sent him up with some food to take to his brothers and the other soldiers. These soldiers were scared to death of Goliath, and it was the talk of the camp what they should do about him. Along comes David and asks them who this "uncircumcised Philistine" is, that he would defy the God of Israel. He was outraged.

David's eldest brother was disgusted with this kind of talk, and he asked him (my own paraphrase), "What are you doing down here, anyway? And who is taking care of the sheep you're supposed to be watching? You just came down here out of pride, to act like you're a part of the battle," to which David responded, "What have I done now? Isn't there a good reason to ask why Goliath can just defy God like that?" So, David got into a disagreement with others along the same line.

When King Saul heard all the hubbub, he ordered David down so Saul could see what was going on. David said the same things to Saul and offered to fight the giant. Saul pointed out that the giant was a man of war and David was just a youth. David was determined, and he told Saul that during the course of watching the sheep he had also killed a lion and a bear, and that Goliath was no better than those two animals, especially after defying God. He said that God would deliver him out of Goliath's hand just as God had delivered him from the beasts.

It would be interesting to know exactly what Saul was thinking when he gave David some armor, a helmet and a sword, and agreed to it. My guess is that he was having 'a bit of fun' with David, thinking that all the gear would deter him. David had never handled such tools of war, and he took them off and said he couldn't do anything with that stuff. Instead, he picked out five smooth stones and his slingshot, and off he went.

When Goliath saw David, he ridiculed him, which we can certainly understand. No doubt this entire spectacle was a brief relief of tension for the soldiers on both sides. They were probably watching it as they would a sports event, happy for the moment of respite from the battle.

There was more. David told Goliath that he had come in the name of the God of the armies of Israel, whom "thou hast defied," that the Lord would deliver Goliath into his hands, that David would take off his head and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds..."that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands."

I doubt if Goliath was laughing after this direct reproach from David. No doubt this aroused his anger at this silly upstart. Running toward the Philistines, David pulled out one stone, sunk it into Goliath's forehead and he was dead. David wasn't finished. He ran over to the body, took Goliath's own sword and chopped off the giant's head. Seeing this, the Philistine army fled.

Have you ever in your life heard of such confidence?

Most people would call it chutzpah, which the dictionary defines as: unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall, audacity; nerve. Hardly anyone would disagree with that.

But that, indeed, was the very thing it was not. It was not even simple self-confidence. I'll tell you what it was. It was God-confidence. It was unmitigated FAITH. The kind of faith that qualified David to be mentioned in Hebrews 11 - the faith chapter of the Bible. We can be certain that David was an intimate acquaintance of God. They knew each other well.

Jesus, when speaking of self-confidence, said, "...when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

David's kind of faith in God is the very same kind of faith God is seeking in people who desire to greet Jesus Christ at his second coming. It's the faith needed in 2010. We will never reach the goal without it.

Are you an intimate of God?

Royal Heir

State of Christianity in the U.S.

It's not pretty.

Barna Research Group conducts research on Christian issues in the U.S., and I would like to lay out some of their findings in their Year-in-Review for 2009. Their findings are summarized into four themes.

1. Americans are increasingly more interested in faith and spirituality than in Christianity.

Many of our basic assumptions are no longer firm or predictable. They say that "these days the faith arena is a marketplace from which we get ideas, beliefs, relationships, habits, rituals and traditions that make immediate sense to us, and with which we are comfortable." The actual components of our beliefs are a result of our momentary needs and perceptions.

Being a Christian is not as attractive to Americans as it once was, for two basic reasons: 1) the media has unfavorably depicted Christianity, devout Christians and churches, and 2) it is rare to find a person who is an examplar of the Christian faith.

The result is that there is less loyalty to a faith brand than to SELF. Most Americans are not out to discover truth or God, but to become happy, successful, comfortable and secure. Only 50% of adults say that Christianity is their faith of choice, and most who say they are Christian believe that non-Christian religions teach the same truths and principles as does the Bible.

2. Faith is now individual and customized.

Most Americans concoct a personal faith from a broad spectrum of moral, ethical and spiritual sources. "We become our own unchallenged spiritual authorities, defining truth and reality as we see fit." People are engaging in hybrid faiths where there is no right or wrong and all beliefs are considered equally valid. Critique of beliefs is considered rude and 'inappropriate.' There are no absolutes; everything is relative.

Almost 75% say they will develop their own religious beliefs rather than accepting a particular doctrine and believe that God motivates them through various experiences. Only 1/3 believe in absolute moral truth.

3. Biblical literacy does not exist for most people, nor is it a goal in the United States.

Little, if any, progress is being made toward teaching people to become biblically literate. There is amazingly little interest in knowing and applying scriptural principles in the lives of most people, nor is there much, if any, spiritual growth in understanding the basic tenets of scripture. Most people who open the Bible at all will pick out a short passage, and without regard for context, will look at the primary thought. If they like it, they will accept it. If not, they reject it as not relevant to their interests, and move on.

Barna notes that the assumptions of preachers and teachers of the Bible is not accurate, saying, "The problem facing the Christian Church is not that people lack a complete set of beliefs; the problem is that they have a full slate of beliefs in mind, which they think are consistent with biblical teachings, and they are neither open to being proven wrong nor to learning new insights. Our research suggest that this challenge initially emerges in the late adolescent or early teenage years. By the time most Americans reach the age of 13 or 14, they think they pretty much know everything of value the Bible has to teach and they are no longer interested in learning more."

Other results showed that 68% of self-identified Christians have heard of spiritual gifts, but only 1/3 can actually identify themselves with a gift. Less than 20% has a biblical worldview, and only half firmly believe the Bible to be accurate in its principles. Only 27% are confident that Satan exists and less than 40% believe that an individual can be influenced by spiritual forces. And yet 81% say spiritual maturity is achieved by following the rules of the Bible.

4. Effectively measuring spirituality, either personally through self-examination, or through the church, is uncommon and unlikely to change in the near future.

"Our studies showed that almost nine out of ten senior pastors of Protestant churches asserted that spiritual immaturity is one of the most serious problems facing the Church. Yet relatively few of those pastors believe that such immaturity is reflected in their church....those pastors who made any attempt to measure maturity were more likely to gauge depth on the basis of participation in programs than to evaluate people's spiritual understanding or any type of transformational fruit in their lives. "

It seems pretty clear where the problem lies.

The report goes on to point out that individuals have an avid interest in themselves and how they compare to others, but that interest does not extend to spiritual things. From the quote above, it seems obvious that the lack of motivation lies with pastors and church leadership who do not understand spiritual depth themselves.

Not only was an interest in spiritual growth lacking in individuals, but a majority of Americans did not even know how their church would define it.

Barna adds: "It may well be that spiritual evaluation is so uncommon because people fear that the results might suggest the need for different growth strategies or for more aggressive engagement in the growth process. No matter what the underlying reason is, the bottom line among both the clergy and laity was indifference toward their acknowledged lack of evaluation."

And we wonder why our entire culture is falling apart? God help us.

"These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked ... He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches... " Rev. 3

Royal Heir

P.S. The entire report may be found at www.barna.org.


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