Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Sunday, September 22, 2013

A Shedder of Blood

Saturday, September 21, 2013 – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Return to Me” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Ezekiel 18 (ESV).

“…the soul who sins shall die.

“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.

“If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself…

“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

“…Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

It is now Sunday morning, around 9:30 in the morning. I read the news yesterday and I read the news again this morning. There were purportedly two mass murders that took place in those two days. There was a mass shooting of people in a mall in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday, and there was a “suicide bombing” (purportedly) at a church in Pakistan today. The killings in Kenya were reported as being a terrorist attack, though it was suggested that the attackers were targeting non-Muslims, and that the group they suspected of the attacks had previously attacked churches. So, in both of these stories, one clearly, and one possibly suggesting it to be so, we have attacks against people, and the murdering of people just because they bear testimony to the name of Jesus Christ. And, it appears these attacks and murders are being blamed on terrorists, militants and/or Islamists militants.

Yet, the Lord Jesus is giving me a different picture as to what took place and who is responsible. He is showing me that it is the government of the United States and her allies, i.e. the New World Order, who are responsible for these murders of believers in Jesus Christ. With the New World Order Pope now coming out and saying that God is in everyone, and that we should not get so concerned about certain moral issues as the church once did, it sets the stage, I believe, for the persecution and/or the killing of all those who still hold to the belief that Jesus Christ is the only way, truth and life, and who believe that no one comes to God the Father except through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible told us this time of severe persecution of the saints of God was coming. And, this morning he gave me a picture of this New World Order as digging its heel into the ground, i.e. as resisting its opposition stubbornly – resisting Christ’s true servants and witnesses – while refusing to yield or compromise. And this, and world domination, is really what Obama and his administration is up to. The stuff we read about with Congress is all a stage play, acted out for our “benefit.”

Each One Responsible

This passage of scripture makes it clear that we are each responsible for our own sins, and it gives a list of some characteristic traits and actions that were considered to be sinful or righteous. The Lord Jesus is giving me some pictures here of what some of these sins look like in today’s world. He showed me the invasion of one’s privacy, in particular of spying on people and invading private communications, particularly between them and God, perhaps taken from the reading of people’s private journals, and the coming against them because of their beliefs, thoughts and feelings about certain things, in particular about sin. He is definitely showing me the murdering of innocents and the killing of Christ’s servants and witnesses throughout the world, I believe now in America, too. These people who do this are worshipers of false gods, idolaters, God-haters, adulterers, and betrayers of the people, etc. These people will surely die for the sins they have committed and will yet commit.

Yet, if we have been made righteous in God’s eyes through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for our sins, then we shall surely live for eternity with God in heaven. Yet, belief in Jesus Christ is more than just intellectual assent to what he did for us, or an emotional decision made at an altar, or a get-out-of-jail-free card. We must turn away from our lives of living for sinful pleasure and for self-gratification, and we must turn to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands and to his will for our lives (See Lu. 9:23-25; Eph. 4:17-24; Rom. 6; 1 John 1; Gal. 2:20, et al).

There are many people who are under the false notion that they are going to heaven because they simply prayed a prayer to receive Christ, but they never turned from their lifestyles of sin and they do not see the necessity of obedience to Christ, either. They do not walk in his ways, and they are not faithful to walk according to his rules, and he does have rules for the Christian, too (we find them all throughout the New Testament). They will die in their sins because they did not repent, and they did not turn to walk faithfully with God.

God said a day of judgment is coming. For some, it has already come. He said that Satan will go after the saints of God to kill them. He is presently doing that. The Bible tells us that nations will conspire together against the Lord and against his anointed ones. That is happening in our day and time, and I believe we are not far from experiencing this BIG TIME here in America, too, when Christians will literally have to run for their lives, as is depicted in these stories of these mass murders in Kenya and in Pakistan.

Yet, blessed are the ones who die in the Lord from now on, scripture says. We will have our eternal rewards in heaven because we remained steadfast in our faith, and we remained true to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Yet, we must also be careful to not just trust everyone, for I believe many are being targeted and killed because they trusted the wrong people. Please pray about what I have shared here about our government and their allies. God said this time was coming. We should, thus, not turn a blind eye away from the truth.

Return or Turn

God is calling out to the world and to his idolatrous church to repent and to turn away from all our sins, lest iniquity be our ruin. We may be saved for eternity, but we may still be judged by God on this earth because we refused his voice and we did not repent until judgment came (see Rev. 2-3). We are to literally cast away our sins, i.e. scripture teaches us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us so we can run with perseverance the race God has marked out for us (See Heb. 12). And, then we are to allow the Spirit of God to transform us in heart and mind and to give us new or renewed hearts and spirits committed to God and to Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Savior.

Return to Me / An Original Work / September 5, 2013

Based off Jeremiah 31; Cf. Rev. 2-3

I have loved you with an eternal love,
Which I give to you, in my faithfulness.

Keep your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tearing.
You will be rewarded
With much fruitfulness.

There is hope for you that My family
Will return to Me; live in victory!

Though I discipline in My love for you,
My heart longs for you that you walk in truth.

Turn your thoughts to your Lord.
Choose to walk in His ways.
Turn from your sins daily.
Follow Jesus Christ.

Oh, how long will you wander in your sin?
Give your hearts to Me; be restored within.

I will satisfy ev’ry weary soul
Who repents of sin; is renewed within.

Behold, days are coming;
It will surely happen;
Though I discipline them,
They will thrive again.

I will be their One and their Only God.
They shall walk in white; be in Me, made right.


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