upgraded July 31, 2008
In the last days, God is going to pour out His Spirit on all people.
Acts 2:17-21 (NIV) 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'
Joel 2:28-32 (NIV) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
This pouring out of God's Spirit will be the latter rains effecting the final harvest of souls for God. When the latter rains are poured out, there will be an exponential increase in righteousness by those who are already Holy, and a turning to God by those who have not fully committed to Him.
When there is an increase in righteousness, then you can know algebraically that there will also be an increase in wickedness.
"To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or, the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts." - Sir Isaac Newton 1642-1727
The latter rains that ripen the wheat will also ripen the tares. The exponential increase in righteousness will be simultaneous with an exponential increase in wickedness by those who are already wicked. The Spirit of God will continue to withdraw His restrictions on wickedness so that wicked people will become exponentially more wicked.
When the Seven Year Tribulation begins, a substantial portion of Judeo-Christianity will not accept the fact that the Tribulation has begun. At that time, knowledge of the fact that the Tribulation has begun will be reserved for those who have been led by the Spirit of God into a careful search and collating of the Word of God; and who also have a belief in the inerrant accuracy of the Word of God.
In one respect, there are only two classifications of people in the world; Jews (Israel) and Gentiles. If you are not Jewish, then you are a Gentile.
When the Seven Year Tribulation begins, the fact that the Tribulation has begun will be understood by enough Gentiles to effect a great revival and a great turning to Christ. This last great revival among the Gentiles will be the latter rains for the Gentiles. There will be a 3 ½ year window during the first half of the Seven Year Tribulation Period for the final opportunity of Gentile evangelization, and then the Gentile window will close.
There is coming a point in time, referenced in Romans 11:25 printed below, when the last Gentile who is going to be saved will become saved. After that point in time, there will never be another Gentile who will be saved.
Romans 11:25-27 (NIV) I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
When the full (complete) number of Gentiles that are going to be saved have been, the curse of the hardening of the Jewish hearts will be over. From that point forward, a Gentile will not be able to achieve atonement with God.
Jeremiah 8:20 (NIV) "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved."
After the Gentile window closes, the following 3 ½ year period will see many of the Jews turn back to God through Jesus Christ . The final opportunity of Jewish evangelization will occur during the last half of the Seven Year Tribulation Period.
Romans 11:23-24 (NIV) And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
The Jews have been "without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol," for about two thousand years, which is almost the exact amount of time that has elapsed since the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Hosea 3:4-5 (NIV) For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
The last 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation will be the latter rains for the Jews. God will restore the Jews after their two thousand year separation, and the Jews will then live in the presence of God for the One Thousand Year Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem.
Psalms 79:8 (NIV) Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
Jeremiah 50:4-5 (NIV) "In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. 5 They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.
Joel 3:20-21 (NIV) Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations. 21 Their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, I will pardon." The Lord dwells in Zion!
Deuteronomy 4:27-31 (NIV) The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.
Luke 13:34-35 (NIV) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Hosea 6:1-11 (NIV) "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. 3 Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." 4 "What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. 5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you. 6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. 7 Like Adam, they have broken the covenant--they were unfaithful to me there. 8 Gilead is a city of wicked men, stained with footprints of blood. 9 As marauders lie in ambush for a man, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, committing shameful crimes. 10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel. There Ephraim is given to prostitution and Israel is defiled. 11 "Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed.
Hosea 6:2 referenced above again reveals the concept whereby "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."
2 Peter 3:8 (NIV) But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
Psalm 90:4 (NIV) For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
The "two days" of Hosea 6:2 referenced above represent the two thousand years of Jewish estrangement from God that have elapsed since the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The "third day" represents the restoration of the Jewish People to God's presence after they "acknowledge the Lord" as their God immediately prior to the One Thousand Year Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem.
Both angels and humans are created beings. Angels cannot evangelize as they are not redeemed or redeemable. God has chosen to use humans to perform the evangelical work among humans. Only humans can evangelize through cultivation, planting, watering, and caring for God's young souls. Humans must do the work that humans can do.
1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NIV) I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
The harvest of souls during the latter rains is directly contingent upon the cultivation, sowing, and watering of the fields, by the members of the Bride of Christ prior to and during the latter rains.
John 4:35 (NIV) Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
In the middle of the Seven Year Tribulation period, the Antichrist will set himself up in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and call himself God, "the abomination that causes desolation" (Matthew 24:15b NIV). When a man sets himself up the Jewish Temple and calls himself God, that event has been so clearly stated and publicized; that the event will reveal to most of Judeo-Christianity that we are in the Tribulation. At that time - mid-Tribulation - Judeo-Christianity as a whole will acknowledge that, "We really are in the Tribulation." Once Judeo-Christianity realizes that we really are in the Tribulation period, they will also realize that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent. A cry will then go forth: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' (Matthew 25:6-10 NIV), but it will be too late for the Gentile.
Matthew 25:1-13 (NIV) "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' 7 "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' 9 "'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' 10 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' 12 "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' 13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
ten virgins - all repentant - virgin denotes a form of purity or abstinence.
lamps - symbolic of light (knowledge of God)
oil is symbolic of the Spirit of God. On the part of the unwise virgins, there was an apathetic indifference, and an unawareness that they were insufficient. The wise virgins went to extra trouble to insure that they had an abundant supply of oil (Spirit of God).
All of the virgins were asleep in verse 5. It is the condition of Judeo-Christian Organized Religion and the Bride of Christ today.
At midnight-verse 6 In the middle of the darkest night, in the precise middle of the Tribulation, at the blackest point of the blackest night, the Antichrist will set himself up in the Temple as God, "the abomination that causes desolation" (Matthew 24:15b NIV). That will precipitate the cry "Here's the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him." (Matthew 25:6b NIV)
There is a period of time from when the cry goes forth, until the Bridegroom arrives-verse 10.
The door was shut for those unprepared-verse 10. I have viewed this for years as an abrupt deadline to Gentiles. The Spirit of God showed me that it is a gradual decline, and that we are already in the advanced stages of that decline.
Even right now, the Holy Spirit of God is bringing every Gentile to their personal point of decision. God put Jonah in the belly of a large fish, in the bottom of the ocean, in order to get Jonah's attention, and then to be able to communicate with Jonah. God in His Love and Mercy is using every form of physical discomfort in order to get individual Gentile people's attention. Among lost people that are being prayed for, I have personally seen financial distress, legal distress, and health problems, that were clearly brought about by God using any possible means to get those people's attention. Prayer absolutely does impact lost people. No one is forced to accept Jesus Christ, but if you pray earnestly for someone, God does allow His physical laws to be subordinated to His laws of Faith. God may put those unbelievers figuratively in the belly of a large fish, in the bottom of the ocean and then say, "Let's talk."
James 5:13-18 (NIV) Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
The Holy Spirit of God is using every available tool to get individual Gentile people's attention, and to then bring them to the point of decision. Some individual Gentiles are being prayed for. Some individual Gentiles are accepting Jesus. Most individual Gentiles are not being prayed for. Most individual Gentiles are not accepting Jesus.
When was the last time your church had a revival with life-changing results? In the last years, how many people have been saved off the streets from a life of sin and converted to a life of Holiness in your church? How many backsliders have been reclaimed in your church? Do you hear of revival anywhere in America, in any church, of any denomination, that is impacting people to leave a life of sin and live a life of Holiness?
What caused the Jewish rejection? God did not turn from the Jews until they had rejected God. Judeo-Christianity is also tuning God out. He can no longer get their attention. They have so occupied their minds with the things of this world, that they can't hear Him when He calls.
Matthew 13:22 (NIV) The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
Matthew 6:24 (NIV) "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Our society is voraciously feeding on filth:
· Sex, Pornography, Homosexuality, Child molestation - brought into our homes on television and DVD's
· Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NIV) Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
· Greed - Consider our government. - We all are disgusted with our political leadership because of their lack of moral fiber and character. The sad thing is that they are re-elected because they are a reflection of the people.
"Every nation has the government it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre 1753-1821
· Gang violence, Racial strife, Hatred for hatred sake is rampant in our world. Racism is hatred, and therefore godless wickedness whether the perpetrator is white, black, Hispanic, Asian, or any other race, or cross race. The devil is using the hatred of Ishmael (Arabs) to Isaac (Jews) to destroy the Arabs. This is the foundation of Islam. The devil is using the hatred of many of the African-Americans for the Caucasian-Americans because of the horrific sin of slavery in order to destroy many of the African-Americans.
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself." - President Richard M. Nixon in his White House farewell
1 John 4:8 (NIV) Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Our society is gorging itself on SIN, and the decadence of our society has invaded the church;
Matthew 24:12 (NIV) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
What caused the Jewish rejection of God? They had the most articulate set of religious laws in the history of mankind, so they did not have to listen to God; no obedience, just sacrifice. In their rebellious hearts, they completely missed the essence of God. God did not give us the history of the Jewish people in order for us to look down in self righteous arrogance. He gave us the history of the Jewish people with their respective successes and failures in order for us to apply that knowledge to our own lives. In most of those failures a corrupt clergy within Organized Religion misled the people. The Gentiles have exactly duplicated the Jewish weaknesses through a weak and corrupt clergy within Judeo-Christian Organized Religion, and can only expect the identical results from their essential rejection of Jesus Christ. But we say that we are not like them. We take pride in the fact that we are not under law but under grace. Then we establish an implied unwritten law:
1. Pay your tithe. This is the one area of Righteousness where Judeo-Christian Organized Religion selectively retains the Old Testament law, preaches it consistently, and demands that the letter of the law be complied with. This is necessary in order to worship Organized Religion's god of materialism and to acquire the wealth referenced in Revelation 3:17. One of the greatest reasons that people jump into giving to Organized Religion is that these givers prefer to give the sacrifice of their tithes, their time, and their dignity, rather than giving their obedience to God.
Hosea 6:6 (NIV) For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
They give Organized Religion their money, or their time, rather than to give their selves to God. Then these people delude themselves with the help of the clergy in Organized religion into thinking that they have a relationship with God, because the clergy in Organized Religion tell them that they have a relationship with God. Organized Religion is selling God, Organized Religion is just not delivering God.
The members of Organized Religion are paying money for a product that they don’t want to receive. The members pay money to Organized Religion in order to appease their consciences because they don’t want to pay the real price necessary to receive God. The price that they don’t want to pay is the surrender and crucifixion of their selfish will.
God wants you, all of you.
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
2. Attend church. Judeo-Christian Organized Religion uses the King James Version of Hebrews 10:25 for the manipulation of the people:
Hebrews 10:25 (KJV) Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
At the time that the letter to the Hebrews was written, the Body of Christ was meeting underground, in private homes, and in secret to avoid persecution by Rome. In their blindness today, Judeo-Christian Organized Religion does not recognize the difference between their social clubs that they call churches, and the true Body of Christ. With the flagrant violations of God's Holy Word that constantly and consistently occur within Judeo-Christian Organized Religion, only the very ignorant would consider that these social clubs are an assembly of the Body of Christ.
We are directed by the Holy Word of God to meet with the members of the Body of Christ for our encouragement. Just as at the time that Hebrews was written, during the Seven Year Tribulation Period the Body of Christ will need to meet in homes and in private places because of the coming persecution of the Body of Christ by Rome and by Judeo-Christian Organized Religion:
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
3. Get along with the church administration. This "law" gives Judeo-Christian Organized Religion the power of excommunication. The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is that you can only get to God through the sacraments of the Church. Most of the clergy within the rest of Judeo-Christian Organized Religion imply the same thing. We now have a history of priests giving communion, receiving confession, and then committing homosexual acts on young Catholic boys. The assertion that going through Catholic priests is the only way to God is an evil and idiotic lie.
John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
4. Read your Bible.
John 5:39-40 (NIV) You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
5. Pray. (It has been alleged that the average prayer time for a Judeo-Christian minister is three minutes per day.)
"I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call in and invite God and his angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his angels, for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door." - John Donne 1572-1631
Then we feel pretty good about ourselves. We do not desire any more of God. We are afraid He might require something that we do not want to surrender. We feel that we are religious enough.
1 John 1:6-7 (NIV) If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we do not walk in the light, as He is in the light, we do not have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, His Son, does not purify us from all sin.
People in Organized Religion today under Judeo-Christianity are very similar to people in Organized Religion 2,000 years ago under Judaism. There is simply less observance of the law. Jesus Christ is the life (John 14:6). Without Jesus Christ, Judaism and Judeo-Christian Organized Religion are both dead bodies without life. Only vultures and a very small number of demented people (necrophiliacs) are attracted to a dead and rotting carcass.
In Judaism for 2,000 years, and in Judeo-Christian Organized Religion today, tradition has been a powerful force in retaining participants. The evolution of our society with constant new information is forcing a review and an analysis of everything traditional, and has radically eroded tradition as a stabilizing force. This was accurately reflected in the movie "Fiddler on the Roof." With no life, and with tradition minimized, both Judaism and Judeo-Christian Organized Religion are rapidly losing participants.
You say: "We are experiencing growth on the mission fields and in the countries formerly behind the iron curtain."
Matthew 23:15 (NIV) "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.