Friday, November 7, 2008

The Sheep Have Spoken Part 1 America can’t claim they didn’t know


The scene is played out over and over all across America every weekend. College kids in a game of Russian roulette partake of promiscuous sex and binge drinking and then hop in the car for a quick road trip. What's most disturbing about the scene is: they know full well what they are doing. And they know the consequences. They realize that their lives are hanging in the balance, whether from the danger of STDs or the horror of an alcohol induced car crash. They know that this jump in the sack or jaunt behind the wheel may well cost them everything.

But they do it anyway.

On November fourth of two thousand and eight, the United States of America made a punch drunk decision to play Russian roulette with our country. They opted in favor of a pretty speech and chose to ignore a lifetime of evidence. Like pre-world war two Germany they chose charisma over character.

Now its time to pay the price.

Outside of comatose patients, every single American KNEW that the man they were voting for had a long and sordid history of anti-American associations. I could get into all of the evidence again but it would be meaningless at this point. Everybody already knows it.

On Tuesday night, newscasters rambled aimlessly about the historic significance of America electing its first black president while fully ignoring the fact that America had just elected its first anti-American president.

The liberal news media ignored, justified and made excuses for Obama's vile past. They relegated facts to a file folder of internet myths and urban legend and many allegations against the man were nothing more than that. But, here's something that's not myth. Barak Obama sat for twenty years under the Reverend Wright's preaching. To anyone capable of common sense thought, that is more than enough to disqualify the man for any governmental office. You can't sit under a preacher for twenty years and not be in agreement with his basic philosophy. To think otherwise betrays all rational thought.

It's one thing to be fooled; it's another completely to knowing play the fool. Millions of Americans willingly played the fool.

The fact that Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave public calls of praise for America electing Obama should be enough to open the eyes of even the most staunch liberal.

So, where are we now as a nation?

Simply stated, God has drawn a line in the sand, much as he did in the days of Moses and in the days of Joshua. What does that mean?

On Sunday there will be thousands, upon thousands of protestant preachers who will mount the pulpits of American and preach the same old dead, dry, empty, life sapping doctrine that had plagued the American church for the last several decades. Congregants will open their bulletins and read sermon titles such as: 'Come With Your Burden and Leave With Your Miracle'. Or, 'Your Best Life Now'. Or maybe, 'How to Deal With Stress'. Ears will tickle and their feet will dance but eternal souls will remain empty. It will be what they WANT to hear but not what they NEED to hear.

At the same time there will be a few hundred pastors who will emerge from a dingy closet of soul wrenching prayer and FEED their congregations the words of life. They will have heard from the True and Living God. Their souls, though burdened, will be bursting with a message of hope and freedom. Their sermons will be replete with words such as repent, pray, fast, holiness, grace, mercy and the coming of our Lord.

Their messages will be fighting words to some and the words of eternal life to others. These are the genuine men of God. Men who understand the true significance of the foolish decision that America has made. Like myself and many others I Samuel chapter eight will be heavy on their minds. It was the end of Samuel's life and Israel demanded a king. They wanted to be like every other nation. They were determined to reject God and the divine rule that He had established. A rule that had led them into prosperity, military success and relative peace. Instead they cried out for a king and a form of government that had failed in every other nation. Just like Syria, Egypt, and the others, Israel's king would bring upon them slavery, oppression, and poverty.

And just like America, they were warned. Israel knew exactly what they were getting and they demanded him anyway.

History has repeated itself.

I Thessalonians 2:10 says: And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, in order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness. (Amplified)

Points to ponder in light of this Scripture: 1). America refuses to welcome the truth of the Bible, God, or Barak Obama. 2). For that reason, God sends the misleading influence. 3). God makes them believe what is clearly false. 4). He does it so that they can be judged and condemned for rejecting Him and for taking pleasure in unrighteousness.

The word that I keep hearing from Christian and non-Christian alike is: scared. Even many of the unsaved realize the implications of what just happened. Frankly, the unsaved, inside or outside of the church, need to be scared. They need to shake in their boots. Last days prophecy is unfolding right before our eyes and one thing is painfully certain: its only going to get much, much worse.

On the other hand, God's elect should be set on fire by the events unfolding before us. Our God is still on the throne and, as much as I love the United States, this is not my home. My residence is in heaven and my hope abides in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Obama's election should be a clarion call to Christians because God just kicked the fence down. There is no more fence for Christians to sit on. Honestly there never was. You are either for Him or you're against Him. It's simply not good enough to claim to belong to Christ. You have to live for Him, proclaim Him, and exalt Him with everything in your life.

Along with eighty percent of America, Obama claims to be a Christian. Here are the facts: as stated earlier, in II Thessalonians chapter two, verse twelve, God's Word pronounces judgment, not only on the workers of sin but on those who 'take pleasure in unrighteousness'. Take pleasure how?

By voting for a man who supports abortion. For voting for a man who supports homosexual marriage. By voting for a man who supports the division of Israel.

Simply put, if eighty percent of America was Christian, Barak Obama wouldn't have even been a candidate for president.

The sheep have spoken. I'm not a prophet nor claim to be but I truly believe that America has just elected the last president she will ever elect.

The sheep have spoken. They have knowingly rejected substance in favor of fluff.

The sheep have spoken. And now they need the true church to rise up and tell them about the real living Savior and their only hope; Jesus Christ the King.

We are truly a chosen Generation.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

The Sudden Rise of Jesus 2.0

Who is this guy anyway? This Jesus person that I hear preached by almost all modern evangelists and many pastors as well. He's not the Jesus I remember from my early days as a Christian.
The Jesus I recall was all about me seeking to please Him. We were taught to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind and that striving to live pleasing to Him was a natural response to that love.
This new guy, Jesus 2.0 we will call him is just the opposite. What I hear from pulpits today would leave me to believe that it is all about me, not him. He strives tirelessly to give me whatever I want, to bless everything I do whether according to Scripture or not and requires nothing from me.
Somewhere Jesus I was fired as Lord of the church and Jesus 2.0 took his place. Jesus 2.0 is much easier to get along with. Where Jesus I demanded obedience, thankfully Jesus 2.0 understands that you have a life!
A young college girl I was talking to recently hit the nail on the head. She simply stated that she is a Christian and loves Jesus but He understands that she is in College and that College kids are going to party. He knows that this will be the last time in her life that she gets to do this type of thing.
She must know Jesus 2.0 because Jesus I would consider that carnal thinking and would label her unfit for the kingdom of God. Why, because she failed? No, He would say she was glorying in sin and nailing Him to the Cross again. He would say, “if you love me keep my commandments.” or “if you say you know me and keep not my commandments, you are a liar and the truth is not in you.”
Can you believe He's so harsh?
Jesus 2.0 winks at the many verses about being worldly minded, conforming to the world, drunkenness, immoral behavior, fornication, and being an example of righteousness.
Later I spoke with a senior at the same University who boldly proclaimed his homosexuality. He is definitely saved and in good standing with God, he assured me. All the Scripture verses that decries his sinful lifestyle are misunderstood by people like me and that HIS god is bigger than all of that.
Bigger than all of what? He wouldn't tell me. I suppose he meant that his god is too big to be concerned about how his children conduct themselves. I guess he's to busy to steer his kids from activity that the Bible says will destroy them and send them to hell.
It must be Jesus 2.0, that's all I can figure. Because Jesus I would have condemned that lifestyle as an abomination in the sight of God. The old stick in the mud. Imagine, a God so petty as to demand a standard of Holiness from his people. A God so trite as to be concerned with what one little insignificant person is doing.
These two Jesus' are just so different. I wonder if they know each other.
Jesus 2.0 loves people so much that he will accept them any old way they want to live. No sin is too great, no valley too deep.
Jesus I demands that His people “go and sin no more.”
Jesus 2.0 died so that people could do whatever they pleased.
Jesus I died on a Cross so that people could live for Him.
Jesus 2.0 gives grace as a license for sin.
Jesus I gives grace to rise above sin.
Jesus 2.0 is concerned about what you do.
Jesus I cares more about who you are.
Jesus 2.0 paid for their carnal freedom.
Jesus I paid for their souls.
The sad thing is: I like Jesus I, in fact, I love Him. The more I love him the more I hate my sin. It makes me wonder; if God is Holy and and hates sin, and by the Word of God we know He does, can we willingly live in sin and claim to love Him?
Honestly I have really come to dislike Jesus 2.0. I have heard much about him lately. In fact, even though I am in the Bible Belt, his ideals are pretty much all I hear about in most churches. He blesses, heals, and gives his kids whatever they want while asking nothing in return. In fact, his preachers seldom even ask if the person they are praying for is saved.
He stands idly by while his kids destroy themselves in adultery, pornography, homosexuality, hate, the occult, violence, smoking, alcohol drugs, etc... while never warning them of the dangers. In fact, its rare that a true salvation appeal is heard anymore.
I miss them.
Jesus I demanded that my old man die along with my passions and lusts. And then demands that I die again every day! He says that's the only way He can live in me. And when I fail to kill some small part of me because of sin that works in me, His grace makes up the difference.
I have to say this about Jesus 2.0; he's not a glutton for attention. In fact, he is quick to share the spotlight. His name has been replaced by terms such as “anointing”, “spirit”, and “Holy Spirit”. I could get into the difference between the Holy Spirit that I have known and the one that they are preaching about but I will say only this: the Holy Spirit I remember glorifies the Son, so, how can it be possible to preach about the Holy Spirit without preaching the Son?
Today I will pack my family in our automobile and drive fifty miles one way to go to church because I know when I get there I will hear about Jesus I. I will hear about the Cross of Jesus Christ, the Blood of the Lamb, sin, heaven, hell, repentance, victory, redemption, grace, peace, joy, and death to the carnal man. I will know that what I hear will make a lasting, in fact eternal, change in people's lives.
Today millions will go to hear about Jesus 2.0. They will sing, shout, dance, pray, laugh, and slap one another on the back. Sadly though by Monday morning Jesus 2.0 will be gone and there will be little sign of him in their lives or behavior. Oh, they will try to “do better” but they will never know what it is to be redeemed.
I can't wait till church time!