My husband and I came home, had our time of prayer together, read Proverbs 25, and then we went to bed. Nonetheless, I could not fall asleep, so I prayed. As I was praying, all of a sudden I realized that the song, God So Loved the World (sung by Glad) was playing in my mind, so I got up to hear from the Lord whatever he wanted to say to me. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I am reading in Acts 7:1-3, 37-53:
Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin
1 Then the high priest asked him, “Are these charges true?”
2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’
…“This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43 You have lifted up the shrine of Molech
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.
44 “Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
48 “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”
My Understanding (1/26/2011): I prayed, asking the Lord as to how this is to be applied to our lives, or to my life, today. He brought to mind Obama and his State of the Union speech that he gave Tuesday evening. As I read about his speech, two sentences stood out to me. The first was this:
“Pleading for unity in a newly divided government, President Barack Obama implored Democratic and Republican lawmakers to rally behind his vision of economic revival for an anxious nation, declaring in his State of the Union address last night, ‘We will move forward together or not at all.’"And, the second was this:
“Over his shoulder a reminder of the shift in power on Capitol Hill: Boehner, in the seat that had been held by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi.” http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110126_President_calls_for_the_country_to_pull_together.html
When I read this second quote (above) about what was over Obama’s shoulder, the Lord immediately brought to mind what was on the wall behind him that was a reminder of the true “shift of power on Capitol Hill,” and that was the two images of Roman Fasces on either side of the U.S. flag.
“Stephen Phenow, Editor of the Strategikon, provides the following: ‘The Fasces was adopted from the Etruscans. It symbolized the power of life or death that a Roman Magistrate had over the Roman citizen; who could be scourged by the birch rods, representing physical punishment for transgressions; or be beheaded by the axe for serious crimes.’" http://www.legionxxiv.org/fasces%20page/
This “shift of power” was planned from the very beginning of our nation. If we do the research, we will learn about the layout of D.C. and its symbolism, the symbolism behind the buildings and the statues and the monuments, many of which were patterned after Greek and Egyptian gods and goddesses, and we will learn of the Satanic, Occultist, and Freemasonry roots and symbols of our nation and of the “god” in whom our leaders truly have placed their trust.
Roman fasces - http://jamesirvinggreene.blogspot.com/2008/08/roman-fasces.html;
History of the U.N. - http://www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/chronologies/un.htm;
Layout of D.C. - http://www.freemasonrywatch.org/washington.html; and
Masonic foundations of the U.S. - http://watch.pair.com/mason.html, etc.
In the second news article I read about Obama’s speech, it said:
“A revitalized President Barack Obama bluntly told America to reinvent itself and unite to survive in a fast-changing global economy powered by rising giants like India and China.” “Obama conjured up a sepia-tinted vision of an America left behind after globalization changed the rules overnight… “The rules have changed…” “Our nation is approaching a tipping point.” “Obama’s address came with Congress chastened by the Arizona shooting rampage targeting a lawmaker that sparked calls to quell explosive rhetoric.” “Obama called for a raft of measures to make America leaner, and more nimble in the global economy.” - http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.78a432ed1d59584d79f2727132ddf8af.41&show_article=1.
Chasten – to subject somebody to discipline (Encarta); punish; reprimand; censure; chastise; correct; suppress; restrain; humble (MS Word Thesaurus).
Don’t think for a moment that these exact words in these news articles are not chosen carefully and precisely to say exactly what they want them to say. Congress was chastened, i.e. Congress was disciplined, punished, and suppressed by the Arizona shooting rampage. Who, then, disciplined them? Who, then, wanted them suppressed? Think about it. Pray about it.
If we follow our news stories on a daily basis prayerfully before the Lord Jesus, asking him to show us what is true and what is false, I think we will begin to see how many times the words “unity,” “global order,” and “cooperation with the international community,” and phrases that sound like threats appear over and over and over again. We need to wake up America! We need to wake up church!
Matthew 24:24: “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.”
Revelation 13:14-17: “Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”
When we follow leaders with blind obedience and we refuse to even consider that something may be going on other than what is reported in the news; when we are confronted with something maybe contrary to what we have always been taught (by man) to believe and we refuse to even check it out because we want to continue believing the lie, then we are setting ourselves up to be deceived. God says this is going to happen, and yet we go about our lives as though it could not possibly happen to us. It can, it has and it will! I know!
The condition of the religious people of Jesus’ day and the time of Stephen was the same as that of their fathers who refused to obey God. They made an idol for themselves in the form of a calf, and they worshiped that idol. They resisted the voice of the Holy Spirit. They persecuted, betrayed and killed those sent by God and even the very Son of God who was God himself, as well as they did not obey the commands and laws of God. Stephen called them “stiff-necked with uncircumcised hearts and ears.” And, that is true of many today who claim to know God and yet are not following God with their lives, they are resisting the Holy Spirit, they won’t even consider the idea or notion that they might be deceived by their leaders, and so they follow their fathers in setting up of man-idols whom they give their devotion and allegiance to.
The song (below) says, “Afraid – we followed after lies, and pain filled the Father’s eyes.” I believe the Lord is calling out to his church in America and to America and is telling us that we are following after lies when we refuse to open our eyes to see what is really going on with our government and with our nation and the true direction our government is heading with our nation. We are choosing these man-made idols over God. All God asks of us is that we come humbly before him, seeking his face, and ask him in all honesty to show us the lies we are believing; to show us what is true and what is false in what we have come to believe as true; and to show us what is really going on with our government and where we are truly headed as a nation. He will show us if we are willing to listen. I know.
Even though we sinned and we followed after lies or are presently following after lies, God had and has a plan to bring us home to himself, if we will humble ourselves and pray, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways.
God So Loved the World / Bob Kauflin / Sung by Glad
In the garden long ago love was all there was to know
Pure, innocent and free – like we were made to be, long ago
Afraid – we followed after lies, and pain filled the Father’s eyes
But oh, from the first He knew what He’d planned to do,
… to bring us home
God so loved the world He gave His only Son
To face the death that we deserved and overcome
And everyone who hears His word and believes
The promise that he’s heard will never die, will never die
Hope – like an unexpected friend
Came to the helpless and condemned
And peace was offered far and near
To answer every fear in our hearts
Grace – only God could understand
Flowed freely from His hands
When the perfect Lamb was slain
To bear the guilt and shame of us all
Thru His death our forgiveness was obtained
And Heaven can be claimed once again
Thru His life He’s crushed the pow’r of sin
Now we can reign with Him forevermore
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