THE BOILING POT

THE BOILING POT

                The proverbial frog must be dead by now. The water in the pot is quickly coming to the point of boiling over. America is still without a government. Europe is fragmenting. Britton is going to “Brexit” so France and Germany are colluding to form an alliance and to form an army of their own. Everyone wants a piece of Syria. Iran is threatening to wipe Israel off the map. Turkey is making friends with Russia as the Magog alliance takes shape. Trump and Nancy Pelosi are in an all-out shooting match.

                Australia is suffering from the hottest heat wave in recorded history as hundreds, or thousands of birds, bats and wild horses die under the 120+ degree weather. Parts of Europe battle with 10 foot snow and all around the world nearly everyone is experiencing unprecedented extremes of weather from floods to droughts to massive storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and threatening seas.

                It is almost as though the angels who hold back the winds of strife (Rev. 7:1) have begun to let go. There may be a reason why the Holy Spirit is urging us to talk about sanctification at this hour.

                Remember if you will that the winds were held back until the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads. And we can have no doubt as to what that sealing is for the Word says:

                “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit as a pledge.” 2 Cor. 1:21, 22

                “In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13, 14.

                “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:30

                Yesterday I gave a rundown on how I see Bible prophecy unfolding and I almost hate to do that. It puts us in a wrong frame of mind. We start splitting hairs over our various interpretations of prophetic events. But the bottom line is this: WE MUST BE IN A VERY PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS AND SEALED BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT, BEING TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS, TAKING EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST AND WE MUST BE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE WORD.

                These things are far more than doctrines. They are the eternal facts of our eternal life and we are either walking in that eternal life and living by that eternal life, which has been placed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, or we are of the world.

                For instance, we can argue all day long over whether a literal temple will be built in Israel and whether there is any significance to Israel’s recent return to their land, but at the very least that temple serves as a physical template of something that is happening in the world right now.

                In the spiritual sense, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. But the fact that the antichrist is going to enter into Israel’s temple and claim to be God should not be lost on us. And just as Satan will enter into the antichrist and the antichrist will enter into the temple, just so, Satan has entered into the church and he has entered into many hearts and we are now seeing a great falling away or apostasy taking place as many abandon eth fundamentals of the Gospel in order to unite with the global religion of the Beast. It is not the world that is falling away… it is the church.

                Everywhere we look, new churches are emerging that have abandoned the first principles of the Gospel, such as the New Birth through the death and resurrection of Christ… the infilling and baptism of the Holy Spirit, belief in the infallibility of Scripture, belief in the soon return of Jesus, putting to death the deeds of the flesh in order to live by the Spirit as in Romans chapter 8.

                Every day the Lord has me hounding on these things until I sound like a one stringed violin, but it is for good reason. Many are abandoning the fundamentals of the Gospel in order to become politically correct. They are embracing doctrines of demons. And concerning the doctrines of demons we are taken by surprise, because for the most part, they are not what we would choose as demonic doctrine. It says:

                “But the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage (Catholicism comes to mind) and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. (The New Age movement and various religions come to mind.) For everything created by god is good and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.” 1 Tim. 4:1-5. (What on earth is Paul talking about?)

                But the bottom line is in verse 7, 8 where Paul says: “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

                In other words it is so easy to get off track with doctrinal and prophetic arguments while ignoring the main purpose of the Gospel which is given to be conformed to the image of Christ. So if we allow any doctrine or interpretation to draw us off of the foundations of the Gospel we will be in danger and that Gospel is not one of hyper grace in which it no longer matters what we do.

                If we are not like Christ and filled with His Spirit and walking in His Word and involved in an intimate relationship with Jesus through His Holy Spirit and His Word, He will not know us when He comes. Can you imagine anything… anything more tragic in this life than to have the Creator and Savior of the world say, “I never knew you?” Therefore we must not leave any stone unturned to discover what it is that cause us to know Him and Him to know us.

                In my article yesterday, entitled “The Coming Prince, I quoted Luke 21:36 from the Greek Interlinear Bible and it adds a deeper understanding to this text for it says:        “Then be watchful at every time, begging that you be counted worthy to escape all these things which are about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36.

                In other words sometimes casual Christians use this text as a sort of free pass to the rapture, but in the word “Begging” we see an intensity of relationship... a working out of our own salvation with fear and trembling… not hyper grace.

                And while we may have full confidence in our salvation, that confidence is in Jesus Christ and His Word and the Sealing of the Holy Spirit. We can place our confidence in nothing else.

                “On Christ the solid Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

                We are now living in a time when words like these will be put to the test. We may even have to give our lives for those very words. So if we are drifting off the foundations of the Gospel in order to please the world, then we have already apostatized. We have already fallen away and we must repent and turn back to God and to His word and to His Holy Spirit with our whole hearts, or He will have to say. “I never knew you.”

                If you haven’t done so, then get on your knees before God. Enter by faith into His death and resurrection. Make sure that you have been born again. Seek and ask for the infilling of His Holy Spirit, for it is by Him that we are sealed unto the day of redemption. This is not a corporate matter, but a very personal matter between you and your Maker and Savior.

                The pot called “Babylon” is indeed boiling and it is time to come out of it so that we do not partake of its sins or receive of its plagues. See Rev. 14:6-10, Rev. 18:1-7.