Friday, March 6, 2015
And point seven: “God destroys a
nation when its rebellion becomes entrenched, reaching a point of no
return.” But, as we search the Scriptures, we find that God does not just
suddenly pull the string and zap a nation. He is much too fair and polite
to do that that. First: He sends His prophets to warn the nation that
they best examine their hearts and repent. A message He also sends to
every person who has chosen the "going my own way" path.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Gramps,
Monday, February 23, 2015
Hey Gang, while waiting for my car to be serviced, I read an interesting, but tragic, article about the rapid decline in the Church in America. I have heard bits and pieces, about the material presented in the article, but, never before had seen a more comprehensive piece laying out the rapid decline in the Church.
It egan with the tragic news that mankind had once again moved God aside and determined we had far more wisdom than that of the King of kings and Lord of lords. It seems the leadership in a Historic Evangelical Church had recently presented a new doctrinal statement that virtually abandons the foundational truths that are laid out so clearly in the Word.
This Church determined, in their infinite wisdom, that such unimportant (in their view) principles as sinfulness, Jesus atoning death, and God's primary requisite of Holy Living should be set aside in the interest of political correctness. This rational falls in line with an ever-growing belief, ‘If we cannot change them we should join them’. As one pastor said, “Homosexual and gay rights have become prominent and will continue to grow in our society, therefore, the church is going to have to accept it in order to stay alive.” What he was really saying in his rational for life of the Church; but it is really the sentence of death for the Church.
In a recent study by the Pew Foundation, it was determined that more that seventy (70) percent of those interviewed believed that there are many religions that can lead to eternal life. Our president recently made a profound statement that cut to the chase of why the American Church is in rapid free fall and one can find a church that believes anything they want to believe.
He said, “We the United States of America are now a country of Christians, Muslims, Hindu's, Buddhist and ‘sommas’- some of this and some of that, whatever fits your fancy.” Ronald Reagan once made the statement, "We take far too many things for granted in our country". Moses sent us a stern warning when he wrote, "He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations." (Exodus 34:7b).
Tragically, we are living in the harvest stage of that promise.
Soooo, my young friends, Jesus made it very clear throughout His earthly ministry that He was the only door to the Father. The only way to the "Way, Truth and Life” was through a hill in Jerusalem, called Calvary". It is so sad that many, who claim that they are born-again believers and committed to Yeshua, do not have a clue that there are prerequisites to hearing Jesus say, "Well down true and faithful servant." Churches would grow if they taught these Biblical principles
Blessings,
Gramps
Monday, February 16, 2015
God’s Power Principle For Today: “The light
shines in the darkness and the darkness does not comprehend it” “Then
Jesus again spoke to them saying, “I am the Light of the world, he who follows
Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John
1:5; 8:12).
Hey Gang: Several years ago, we were blessed to find a DVD Series titled, “Against All Odds". I don't know how many times you can watch a DVD before it begins to go caput. I pray it has a longer life than yours truly. "Against All Odds” is centered on some of the many military miracles that have transpired in Israel since their becoming a State on May 15, 1948.
Blessings, Gramps
Friday, February 13, 2015
"Call unto me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know". (Jeremiah 33:3 - God's telephone number and never busy!)
Hey Gang: Did you ever notice
how many times Jesus went off by Himself to pray? The Bible makes it
clear that God wants His people to pray. In I Thessalonians 5:16-18 Paul
tells those who trust and love God to "Rejoice evermore and pray
without ceasing in everything, giving thanks, for this is God's
will" for each of us. Praying Scripture and His promises
unleashes the power prayer in our lives. But there is a prerequisite to
praying God's promises, you must know what they are.
Through the Prophet Isaiah God promises, "It will come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah. 65:24). Isaiah followed this power verse with another that we need to program into our hearts and souls: "But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah. 66:2B). And where does this humbling and contrite of spirit and trembling come from? His Word and relationship with Jesus.
Jesus confirms this in our hearts in His Sermon on the Mount: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).
I have spent the past several weeks reading in Jeremiah. I have read Jeremiah many times before but this time it has captured my whole attention. Why, because as I read each page I could see the United States of America in each page. And, as I read, I focused my study on two phrases that Jeremiah used: God said, "Is not my word like fire and like a hammer which shatters a rock? (Jeremiah 23:29); the second phrase, which is found throughout the book, "They did not listen"(Jeremiah23:29).
I was blessed with a sainted Grandma; however, at the time, I did not realize what a pure and true saint she was. As I think back, I see her on her knees in the local Post Office scrubbing the floors. Having lost two husbands, six mouths to feed, and limited education, she was restricted to menial tasks. By the time I came on the scene she had retired and was living on the third floor of our tiny house. It meant climbing two flights of stairs several times a day and the years on her knees on concrete had taken its toll.
We had a swing on our front porch and Grandma spent much of her awake hours on the swing. She was a very avid embroidery addict and made many beautiful things. She would take the floss that was left after clipping the end, put it in her mouth and then throw them up to the roof of the porch. We had a very colorful porch. But her attention was not on the sewing, for that was automatic to her. These were the prayers she sent heavenward from the prayer list that she had with her at all times. Grandma was not known as a “prayer warrior", but a very special saint who knew how to reach the heavenlies with her prayers.
As I think of her this morning, I would not call her a pastor, or even a teacher, even though she taught Sunday School for years, but rather a ‘beamer of light’. She would share her faith in a way that was understandable and filled with the love of her Lord, but that was not what I remember about her. She radiated Jesus every moment of her day, not by what she said or even her actions, but when you were around her you could feel the love of Jesus coming through her very being. When I sing "This little light of mine, I am going to let it shine," which I do often, I think of my Grandma sitting on that swing with needle in hand, her lips praising her Lord and taking those who had heavy hearts to the Throne Room of Heaven.
Sooooo, I have asked myself many times, how does one become a ‘radiator’ of God's love without saying a word? Grandma would say, “Become a doer of the Word and an imitator of Jesus.” When the little children (other than family) come to a person, you know that person is filled with the love of God - and the little children came to Jesus. I look forward to the day I can give my Grandma a big hug.
Blessings,
Gramps
Friday, February 6, 2015
Hey Gang, as I reread this verse, for
the umpteenth time, it brought to memory a story told by an old-salt evangelist
(Herad Hill) many years ago at the
Christian Retreat Center in Florida. He had been a very successful
business executive, even an important cog in the early development of
NASA. However, he allowed alcohol to totally destroy his marriage and
nearly his life. But, when at the lowest point in his life, having lost
his bride, his family and his business, God reached down, as He did with Saul
on the Damascus Road, and said, “I’ll take that one”.
He told the story of a time when he
was invited to visit and preach at the worst of the worst prisons in
Georgia. An invitation that he readily accepted. When he arrived,
he was ushered into the cell block that held the least dangerous prisoners, and
from there worked his way in to the most restricted areas.
As he was preparing to leave, he asked
if there were any prisoners that he had missed. The warden warned,
"Yes, one area, but you do not want to go there". We cannot
insure your protection. He would not take no for an answer. After signing a
waiver saying he would not hold the prison responsible, if anything should
happen to him, they opened the cell block door and let him enter.
While ministering to a group of
prisoners, one, who had a reputation for being the worst of the worse, came up
behind him with a sheave, and threatened to kill him. Hill’s response,
“You can’t. You can only kill this shell that houses me. If you
push that thing into me, I am immediately leaving to go and be with my heavenly
Father, so go for it.”
To make the longer story short, not
only did the con drop the sheave but also dropped to his knees and asked God to
forgive him. The con later related, “As the evangelist talked, the
words planted by a saintly grandmother, many years before, began to surface in
his mind and heart. He not only went through a miraculous transformation
but became a strong witness in the cell block until he was released.
Soooo, friends and neighbors, it is
not likely you will run into the worst con in the cell block today, but I
suspect you can take it to the bank that you will cross paths with someone that
is hurting deep inside’ someone who needs a friend to let them know there is a
Savior, Christ the Lord, who stands at the door of their heart seeking
entry. There is no greater joy in the world than to witness the
transformation of a person, who has no hope, to a Kings Kid.
Blessings, Gramps
Friday, January 30, 2015
"But when these things begin to
take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is
drawing near" (Luke 21:28).
Does that get your blood boiling?
What things was He talking about? A quick review of Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse, Second Timothy Three and the words of the prophets of old, and we can soon compile a list of ‘signs of the end of the age’ of which we should be aware.
A prophesy guru was asked if he could sum up the prophetic promises of the Bible in one word. His response, “Piece of cake, ‘Israel.’" After twenty- five hundred years the land of Israel was restored; and, after twenty five hundred years the old language of Hebrew was restored; and after 2500 years the Olim (people living in the diaspora -those countries where they were dispersed to in 70 A.D and when Rome dover ran Jerusalem and burned their Temple) began to make Aliyah (to return to the land of their heritage).
It is amazing to me today that so many folks are being caught up in the blasphemous teaching that Israel is no longer the apple of God's eye. How can you look at Israel and believe such rubbish? How can you read Jeremiah 23:3, "Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply", or the other hundreds of verses that tell us clearly that God's love for His chosen people has not waned a lick?
We have been there. We have dug in the dirt, (I unearthed an intact tea pot that had not been touched by human hands for more than 2000 years). We have helped restore the walls. We have worked in the rose garden of the Knesset. We have helped set up a dental clinic for Arab children in Jerusalem. We worked with a ministry that bought Olim from the old USSR, as prophesied in the Word. We have been obedient warriors in fulfilling God's challenge to us, "To pray for the peace of Jerusalem". (Psalm 122:6).
But what about the subtle things that are happening all around us? It all adds clarity and expanse to our seeking what Jesus meant when He said, "When these things happen look up.” Have you noticed that everything that can be shaken is being shaken as predicted by the writer of Hebrews in Chapter 12? Have you noticed that Israel is totally surrounded by enemies that are loaded with killing devices as recorded in Psalm 83?
Have you noticed that Russia and Iran have made a military alliance and the other nations listed in the coming battle of Gog and Magog are coming together? As mentioned above, have you noticed Israel is a nation again, risen from the ashes of more the 2500 years? They are a powerful nation that will not be defeated by those nations that are using the very words of Psalm 83:4-5, "They have said, "Come and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel be remembered no more." For they have conspired together with one mind; Against You they make a covenant".
Have you noticed that the economies of the world, including the once powerful United States, are in a state of chaos? If Jeremiah were here today and prophesying, he would say: "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8).
Soooo, my young friends, Jesus said, "I do not want you to be unaware. I want you up to speed every minute of every day. So that when these things happen you do not get discouraged but your heart will be programmed to ‘look up, for I am coming soon’. You best have your lamps trimmed and your best wedding clothes prepared for we are going to be taken to the greatest wedding blast of all time - the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. But there is a prerequisite- your name must be on the invitation list recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.” (Hainley rendition).
Blessings,
Gramps
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Gramps
