11_10032011

A Good Confession

At the time I first turned to the Lord in New York I was posed a question by my Dad, which prompted a decision which I have never, nor will ever repent from making, for it is made and settled in spiritual places, so that I can truly say this is before the feet of Jesus the Christ Himself and before His throne. The Lord has added His mercy, grace, correction, discipline and education to this, but without these next statements, which can only be a settled issue between the speaker and God Himself; I can most assuredly say none can be “saved” from themselves, “saved” from the world or spared of judgment of God. Without these things and the Christian life is nothing more than a church society, without God at its head: as we see it is becoming in our world today.

My Dad asked me long ago, “How far do you intend to go with the Lord?” The answer to this question must always be two fold, the first is: “ALL THE WAY.” Anything less than this is to deny the Lord that bought you at the price of His own blood, and is insulting to God. (If you don’t believe that: take it up with him, I dare you.)

The second is, much more complex, but just as important, and forms the whole of the Christian life and goes something like this:

“Lord, when you convince me something is you will, whether it be by the leading of the Holy Spirit in hearing your voice, or by the instruction from the scriptures in educating my soul, and when they both come into agreement, when you answer my doubting, when your will is clearly seen and known; when you bring me to the place of decision, when all that is left is the action in faith, even if I yet struggles believing and if there is still the nervous apprehension of not knowing the end, or not knowing the reason why you have asked this of me, when you have brought me to the place of decision before you, and all that is left for me to do is obey, be it know to you Lord, and remind me in that today, I have said made an everlasting decision before you that I will obey you: for you are God and I am man, you are God and I am not.

You are God, and as God you are able to speak so that I, a man, can understand you and know your heart, and your will in the direction of my life. At that time if I do not understand your ways in the thing which you ask of me, or the reasons why or how you will fulfill your plan as God and Father for the life of your creation and your child, remind me God and Father that I have laid these words before your feet: I will obey you.

I know that you are the God, and for light of whimsical reasons you do not bring afflict into the lives of your children, but that the end of all of these things is life eternal and peace everlasting; though, if for a season the circumstances of life which you command, might seem as a shameful death, discouragement, neediness, lack or pain, that as demonstrated in my Lord, the end of such things is the victory of the cross of My Lord Jesus the Christ. In that hour, if I struggle with these things and seek to avert this cross you have brought into my life: remind me of these words spoken before you, and that I have said, in all these things, I will obey you.

I know that you are all powerful, creator God, who formed my substance and who knows and sees me as I am and sees me also in a hope which is not fully revealed to me: for these reasons I commit my life to you, as is right for me to do before you as unto a faithful Creator, who is able to save to the uttermost, an extent which only you fully know my God, but toward which I strive, toward which I die and toward which I pour our my life before you, as an act of worship. In that day remind me God and Father that I have spoken these words, that I will obey you.

At these things written above some might think that I wanted to make a confession before God that was after the historical confessions, but would be “made-mine” personally. As if I might try to breathe new life into something from church history, or say something in prayer that might carry some weight with God that I might be heard on high: not so and indeed just the opposite. This is not some type written page I am producing for your enjoyment and my betterment in your eyes, but these are as close to the actual words I swore one night in prayer before God, in an upper room of the house I lived in upstate New York in the mid-1990’s. At the time, I had no idea that there were and such statements, creeds or confessions ever made in church history and no idea that these statements are scrutinized in seminaries and mulled over as to their “theological-correctness”, as is being done by you now as you have read this.

These words, this statement and the reality of it have never been forgotten, by either God or I. These words are graven in the eternal stones that stand before the throne of God, making both God and myself witness to them forever. In the practicalities of my life, God has reminded me many times that I have said them, and by so doing has refreshed this writing of these words again and again on the tablets of my heart: usually before some of the hardest decisions, most shameful events and gut-wrenching encounters in all of the days of my journey. Yet without these words, without this “memorial,” I would be farther from the will of God then I am now and whileI have not fully apprehended it (and until the day of my passing from this world into the eternal, I will never), yet I press on.

In such a statement of foolishness, binding myself to obedience to God forever without mention of reward, and without assuredly of being able to be able to perform what I spoke, this can easily be dismissed by saying “wise men know better than to make such a confession before the Holy God.” Yet, in my foolishness, rashness and ignorent statement, I have found the life of God, the power of God and THE Covenant of God lived out in my days of my journeying here.

No rehashing of someone else’s confession from church history, no study of historical confessions, no simple confessions of “I believe in Jesus,” no “going to church” and calling yourself a “Christian;” NOTHING, no not any of it, can ever match what I have found when the words above, come out of the mouth of man, before the Holy God of all creation, with the full measure of understanding that he is willfully binding himself to. If you have never made these statements, or another like it, in full faith and understanding of the consequences that it will bring in your life, check and examine yourself to see if you be in the faith. For the lack of such conviction before God, even when it waxes small in your remembrance in the course of years, is the reason why so many Christian lives have been diminished in their effectiveness for the Glory of God. A Glory of God, a Glory to God, a Glory by God which is not yours in any part, but is His alone, which He would work out for Himself in your life, or rather by His life that resides in you.

This is not a call for you to draft some document that would bind you, but it is to affect the decision of your life that you would live to the Glory and by the Glory of God. This is not a call to a “new confession” that could be contrived by you as some device to get God’s attention on you. Examine yourself, see if you are in the faith, and think not that you can manipulate God by offering something less then all that you are now, all that you have and all that you ever hope to be. God Himself in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ laid all that is He and His aside, and took upon Him death of deaths, that He might bring Glory to God, by the cross. How much more should we be willing to take up “our cross and follow him,” for if you would have any of the gospel message, any of the life of God, any of the blessing of the New Covenant, there is no other way then making and keeping a good confession before God of the things spoken of here.

Brian McClafferty

11_07212011 (written) 7/29/2011 (posted) 09/23/2011 (reposted)

Judgment from the Skies Over City/Cities

A Beast of Offices Reaches Heaven

The Dam in the Desert

Scroll of Good and Perfect Gifts

I during prayer this night I saw the following visions all of them at one time, which were sent from the Lord and heard him speak words recorded here concerning them during prayer. There has come from the Lord an angel whose appearance was as a flame of fire; who after testing, seeking the Lord in prayer and finding a description of this very angel on the pages of scripture; I am exceedingly sobered about the seriousness of the message he carries, and what the sending of this messenger in particular means.

I saw men and women running from a building, an office building in a major metropolitan area. [i] (see notes below) They were in panic and looked up into the sky as something was streaking through the skies above their city.

As I beheld the vision the Lord spoke, “These people themselves run out to do evil. Each of their lives is a shameful, twisted and a filthy thing. They leave not their work to do righteously, but each goes to pleasure themselves on the streets every night.”

By discernment, God is drawing a parallel here; a scene like a 1950’s or 60’s is no longer. The men who work in these offices are now no longer family men, but they vile. They love their pleasure so much that have killed their own children by abortion or abandonment, so they could spend their time and money on pleasure. Their feet are swift to play and shed blood, so there is no escape for them.

Then the vision changed, and I was watching from above the earth and saw creature arise from the earth, and stand up on its feet until it rose above the clouds. It was monstrous, but had the form of a man which was made of offices and cubicles which people were working in. The creature was dark, but I could see inside of the offices themselves. In it l saw those the Lord had spoken of at work.

The Lord said, “The whole of it is sick, from the top down. Their lives are unrighteous, and because they have corrupted themselves personally, so every place is vile and filthy. How can any of it be clean if all of its parts are filthy?”

As the Lord was speaking these things, I saw in the midst of this creature, in some of the offices, I saw a few lights. The Offices were lighted, but I knew it was some of the people which were the lights. As the Lord was speaking, I saw the lights and saw the angels of God come and take away the lights from the scene, until there was nothing but darkness in the creature.

When this was done the creature stretched out its hand grasping for the edge of heaven, what was near the place I stood and about me on the right and left; then the Lord spoke strong, sharp and clear tone:

“It is enough! Its sins have reached up to heaven and it will be no more!”

After this there appeared yet another vision.

I saw dam in a desert, which held back much water. It was larger than any dam I had ever seen on earth. It seems as if behind it was not just water, but there was so much water behind it! [ii]

The dam was exceedingly high, but it was not solid; I saw it as if it as if it was made of individual concrete blocks fitted together. Behind each block were a person, standing pressing, leaning and straining against the block, holding back the waters and keeping the block in place.  As I looked downward toward the river bottom on the outlet side of the dam; it was no longer the living holding pushing on the stones as it was on the higher parts, but he bones of the dead; who had stood so long, they had died, but their bones were frozen in their place, and it was their very bones that had wedged the blocks into place.

At this the Lord began to speak, saying “This dam is the dam that my remnant, my chose, my called, my elect and my precious ones built to hold back the waters of my judgment. Through prayer they held these stones in place for the lands sake and for my pardon.  The stones and their strength have all been of me, for from the beginning of this nation I have called them to stand in the gap, build the wall and be in the way that I would not destroy it. Many have held the stones all of their lives and died holding them in place; these are the bones which you see.

These living are my faithful ones, my chosen ones, my elect, my precious ones, they are my remnant: these never gave up, never failed and would have also died in their places.”

At this point God spoke… GOD SPOKE to them all… but I felt it was an address to the world rather than to them:

And He declared, “This is my people and my beloved. They have been mocked all their lives and scored and discarded as “good for nothing.” They are worthy to be called after their Lord, these are worthy to called after His name, these are worthy to be called Christians!”

Now with a broken heart, and grief, “These you mocked and scored in the same way you did their Lord. These had no purpose but your salvation, these are they that lived and died for YOU, and you would have none of them; none of their warnings, none of their lives, you wished them gone from you, away from you, but it is these that you despised which were given for your salvation, as was their Lord. Therefore I will remove them.”

At this I beheld and saw at the top of the dam the water was about to overflow, and I saw an angel of God, with a pitcher in his hand dump into the water another measure, and knew the whole of the dam has been filled in the same way, a measure at a time. At this the wake from the added measure splashed over the top of the dam, and as it did, those living near the top of the dam, those who pressed against the stones, cried out for more stones to be brought, but the Lord answered them,

“It is Enough! It is full!”

At this those holding the stones bowed their heads in sadness and dropped their stones. What had been a continual struggle and took all of their strength, was now held and stayed in place seemingly on their own. These walked from the dam on narrow pathways which I could not see. As if there were secret trails and hidden ways in the sides of the canyon walls, which none could see unless they were on them.

I saw they walked to what looked like a forum or theater made of stone on a ledge which was a little distance from the dam. This place also resembled a bird’s nest and could only be seen from above and not from below. As I beheld the place they were gathered, I knew it from the scriptures; it is the cleft of the rock, the shadow of His hand, and the “secret place of the Most High.”

Speaking of the Dead, The Lord said, “I have given commandment concerning their bones.” (which flashed a reminder of Elisha’s bones, though there was nothing more than that.)

And with that the vision was changed again.

I saw a scroll which appeared before me and the Lord rolled opened the scroll to me. On the pages of the scroll were writings, which I could not read the words of it. The words however were not just in letters of a phonetic type of alphabet, but some were written in darker hand then others and some were written in color, so that not only the words themselves spoke phonetically, but there writing also made pictures which appeared as symbols of things.

This the Lord spoke of it,

“In the lives of my loves I have recorded all of their works which they have done at my command; many times at great cost and at great personal loss. Many of these I will be granting back to them, these things I will give them and they shall know and testify that it is the Lord Himself that has done it.”

This specific scroll that I saw was things of my own life, which I will not speak of in particular here, but the nature of these things are for all. A FEW are literal, physical and earthly blessings, which will come to the people of God, by the hand of God. These will be as if the “hope diamond” was delivered to your home in a time when the world is in such distress and anguish, God will be delivering special blessings. These are after the manner of something personal from the Lord to the person, and a so full of God’s love and personal knowledge of you, you will understand the “why” He did this and about “what” it is to mean between you Him. These are the “Good and Perfect Gifts” spoken of in scripture, and so beautiful and perfect are they that I can do nothing but weep uncontrollably at thinking of this. When they appear to you, it will break your heart at the pure love and care of God for your life and how much he knows and loves you personally.

I said FEW are physical things, but MOST are spiritual things, and are special gifts of grace. These speak to the same ends as I mentioned above: about things entrusted to God that were utterly forsaken for Him. These were heart breaking and were a death to you of something you loved, these were not sin in and of themselves, but was an idol in your life or had the potential of being a idol in you life. God required it of you, and you gave it with tears and much distress, these things are going to be showered onto you as a spiritual blessing so great, so personal, so powerfully, that the heathen will see your blessing and those who saw you die to something you loved (that was not sinful), will marvel and declare that God is faithful and serve Him because of its powerful return. Some of these things are unfulfilled promises that God has made to you, which seemed to have linger and been forgotten, these will be manifested in your life at once and powerfully. MOST are of grace, or of the Power of the Holy Spirit, that will empower these areas of your life.  These are my best descriptions to you, for the book was my own, but the Lord said he would be doing it for all of His own.

These things have been told to you in advance so that you will know they are given to you of God. Most are things which God at time prohibited from you, but He will be returning it to you. These are gifts of God, NOT temptations of the evil one toward sin! Let me be clear on this point, these are NOT sins, don’t go back to drinking if you find a bottle of booze and call it a gift of God! Foolishness such as that deserves to condemnation of it! These are things which God required of you, and will be returning to you, as a gift.

---

[i] The city in which this took place I did not see; but this could either be one city, all cities, or just the cities to whom this word applies that are judged as wicked after the same wickedness spoken of here.

[ii] After seeing this in the vision, and considering the vast amounts of water behind it, it looked on Google earth to see if the water of Lake Powell might come close to sheer volume of water I had seen in the vision. I am shocked; I believe what I saw first in the spirit as a non-specific dam might be Glen Canyon Dam, with all of the waters of Lake Powell behind it. The Lord did not specify that this is the place to which he was speaking, but the vision which I saw of a dam looks exactly like Glen Canyon Dam, as I saw it on Google earth. All the Lord spoke to me of was spiritually figurative, and at this time I am not saying it is a literal judgment on this as an actual place. I will continue to seek the Lord on this, if will add anything additional.

11_08192011

Audio Sermons

Posting audio files to Blogger is still a mystery to me, so I posted links back to my WordPress Site for these audio sermons. After clicking the link, the page will like this, and I have points to the audio file with the yellow arrow, as they can be hard to distinguish.

Weary while Doing God's Will?
Audio Sermon: To Will & To Do

A Sermon on prayer. It takes a while to get rolling, but by Pt2 I still want to shout!
Audio Sermon: This Table Set Before Me Pt1
Audio Sermon: This Table Set Before Me Pt2

When Changes Season in Your Life
The Jesus I Never Knew

11_08182011

Changes in Intercession:

Ezekiel 7 & 2Chronicles 7

Early in 2011 there was a change in my prayer life and the lives of others I have spoken with who are given to prayer over this the nation in particular. The Lord began refusing to hear prayers (1John 5:15); for mercy, for grace and for more reprieve from judgment. I prayed to see if it was me, if something specific happened and sought the Lord about what had happened. In all of my life walking with the Lord, I have never heard the things which I have heard in these hours; for my experience is just in my lifetime, for more I must turn to the scriptures.

Understanding

The outflow of seeking was understanding of two things, the first was the Lord opening my eyes to aspects of the scriptures I had avoided and tried to avoid with every breath of prayer. Scriptures that were absolute pillars of the Word of God about prayer, began not to say less, but to say more and were so very sharp they were indeed difficult to hear. One such word we all know,

                          2Ch 7:14
                                       If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
                                       and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will
                                       I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land…

Now, your saying, this is blasphemous, “God said right there he would hear these prayers and you’re telling me your “experience” says he isn’t.” I understand why you would say that, but let’s take a look at the scripture and its sharpness, for this what God showed me and its meaning in this season more then all others.

                          2Ch 7:12-14
                                      And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have
                                      heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of
                                      sacrifice.
                                       If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to
                                      devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;


                                      If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
                                      pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear
                                      from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.



The best among us recognize the conditional nature of this verse, that the requirements are not just prayer, but humility, supplication, seeking God’s face, and repentance. Yet, God said, “then will I hear.” The implication is He is not hearing until these were accomplished. In addition, a pilgrimage needed to be made in order to be heard. In our modern times we could hop on a flight from the United States and arrive in Israel faster than some penitent travelers could have made the trip by foot. While this aspect is not specifically for us today, the reality is the same as our journey before the throne; for the journey is an act of contrition and humility.

So what s is the context? This scripture is not the exclusive domain of the prophetic intercessor: those who see the things on the horizon and hears the call for the Lord looking for someone to stand. The Lord removed this from the prophetic sense into the literal; is for a season after judgment has come and is seen in the land. It is only AFTER judgment has come, THEN God has says, “I will heal their land.” There is no healing if the land is not first wounded, broken and emptied: but if these things are only seen far off, there is no reason to heal that which is not broken.

The Second Change

Those who are given to prayer understand that something is different: now there is a pause, now there is a holding of the breath, now there is a silence in heaven as the seasons change and now there is sadness as we look into a coming day we would have laid down our lives to hold back. This is the second change.

It seemed like a simple change, but when the Lord was speaking of these thing He no longer was speaking, “is coming,” but He began to say, “IS COME.” As I talked about this change with friends and I found saying “is come” the best way to articulate the change. The intercession has ended, as a means of avoidance of the day, but has just begun over what is now come.

This week I was reading and I saw that more than just a grammatical change, more than just a useful descriptor; it was what the Lord said, what He has said it before and is presently speaking over our Land. This is more than just some long quotation, hear it:

                  Ezekiel 1-27

                            Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

                           Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end,
                           the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

                           Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will
                           judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine
                           abominations.

                          And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense
                          thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye
                          shall know that I am the LORD.


                          Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.


                          An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.


                          The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come,
                          the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.


                          Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon
                          thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all
                          thine abominations.


                          And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee
                          according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye
                          shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.


                         Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath
                         blossomed, pride hath budded.


                         Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of
                         their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.


                         The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller    
                         mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.


                         For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive:
                         for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return;
                        neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.


                        They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle:
                         for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

                         The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the
                         field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall
                         devour him.


                         But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves
                         of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.


                         All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.


                         They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and
                          shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.


                         They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their
                         silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the
                         LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the
                         stumblingblock of their iniquity.

                        As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of
                        their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far
                         from them.


                        And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the
                        earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.


                        My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the
                        robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.


                        Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.


                        Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their
                        houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places
                        shall be defiled.


                        Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.


                        Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall
                        they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and
                        counsel from the ancients.


                        The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the
                        hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their
                        way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am
                        the LORD.

America, as we have known it, is ended. If a new day is to arise after this I do not know, but “An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.”

11_08152011

As In the Days of Noah and Lot:

A Word of Warning

I confess to you that I am going to bring a word here that I fully do not understand. The element of the “why” seems to be missing here, but the fact that there is such a parallel between Noah and Lot in this regard, I cannot skip speaking of it. Both Noah and Lot ran into the same trouble after they were delivered.

Gen 9:20-27

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Gen 19:30-38

And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

In short, Yuck! Both of them got in trouble through wine, and the results were horrific. In Noah’s case part of his offspring were cursed and in Lot’s his daughters laid with their father; now that’s trouble! Both dealt with alcohol and seed, so let the wise be warned by my simple observation. What might the warning be to us? It could be that at this point the typology of Noah and Lot are beginning breakdown, but that fact that both of them are still parallel at this point makes me wonder. Could it just mean nothing since the revelation of Jesus Christ as the seed?

Still, if you make it through to the end of the judgment of these days, and you start thinking, “What this world needs is a vineyard” or your kids start bringing you gallons of wine, BEWARE and think again!

(If you have anything to add, don’t hesitate to leave a comment; thanks. )

11_08092011

As In the Days of Noah and Lot:

Remember Lot’s Wife

The Lord just keeps pouring things in about Noah and Lot from Luke 17 and this is one of them. Jesus issued a very practical warning for in our modern times when he said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Many times when considering a topic, we can look to the expositions of scriptures from godly pillars of the faith throughout the church age, and with minor adjustments, accommodate the interpretation to our culture and times. Commentaries are of great value in any theological library, but here we must consider the scriptures freshly on this topic.


                         Luke 17:30-37

                                     Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

                                     In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house,
                                     let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him 
                                     likewise not return back.

                                     Remember Lot's wife.

                                     Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose
                                     his life shall preserve it.

                                     I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be
                                     taken, and the other shall be left.

                                    Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other
                                    left.

                                    Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

We have in our modern times watched the World Trade Center Fall to the ground, as it happened and have observe the riots in London this week from a helicopter hovering above the city; yet, miles away from the horrors. As war descended to the nations, we have watched LIVE; seeing the bombs exploding in a city from the reporter’s camera on the ground, from the plane that dropped them or even from the nose-cone of the bomb itself; without stepping foot in the war-zone. In our world, the stock markets in Asia open just a short time after the markets in NY close, and when they close, Europe is opening. As no other generation in history we have watched as judgments take place in real time and there are yet, we will see even greater than these, even from the other side of the world. In all of human history the actual view of judgment falling before human eyes was limited to a few, and even fewer who lived to tell the tale. One of those pillars from history was Lot’s wife, who has been put forward as an example of warning by our Lord Jesus, to this generation in particular as we see judgment fall.

The Two Fold Call
The call to "Remember Lot's wife" is twofold, the first "don't do what she did" out of Gen Ch.19 and the second is "for the same reasons" given by the Lord in Luke Ch.17. What exactly did she do?

                     Gen 19:17,26

                                     And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said,
                                     Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain;
                                     escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed… But his wife looked back
                                     from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

What did she do? Disobedience to the instruction of the messenger/angel to abstain from looking, “look not behind thee,” and the figurative from the Lord Himself “don’t love your possessions and dwelling so much you won’t leave it.” Ironically, the very warning of the literal has been obscured by the figurative because of our intense focus on the New Testament. Not turning the pages back to the fountain head of remembrance the testament of Genesis, we miss the literal warning that fits in perfect context with Jeusu instructions. If we at one time survey both; obeying Jesus’ instruction and turn the pages to read, we can get the full picture of the figurative and literal. Skip Jesus’ instruction and you have lost half of what he is saying: for the warning is both to the behavior and the attitude behind it.

Literal: A litteral instruction came that said, as judgment is falling, don’t become fascinated with it, fixing your gaze on is and surveying it; “…look not behind thee”… “But his wife looked back…” Yet there is even more to this than meets the eye (sorry, couldn't resist).

                          Look, Looked
                          H5027 נבט nâbaṭ naw-bat'- look or looked

                                     A primitive root; to scan, that is, look intently at; by implication to regard
                                     with pleasure, favor or care: - (cause to) behold, consider, look (down),
                                     regard, have respect, see.

Figurative: The attitude of heart Jesus spoke of in the middle of two comments, one side about “things and stuff” and the other side about attempting to save your own life. The reason for the prohibition action this is clearly the focus when reading Jesus’ commentary.

                     Luke 17:30-37

                                      Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

                                     

                                      In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house,

                                      let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him

                                      likewise not return back.

                                     

                                      Remember Lot's wife.

                                      Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose

                                      his life shall preserve it.

                                     I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be

                                     taken, and the other shall be left.

                                     Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other

                                     left.

                                     Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

I don't want to be contentious here, but Lot was NOT raptured. Jesus was not just talking about some type of rapture here, but giving us instructions for us, today, they are for those we who will see judgment falling. Debate about "rapture" aside; is the only judgment the great tribulation? Do you think those in the World Trade Center would disagree? How About those in Indonesia when the wave came and destroyed their lives? Or the residents of Christ Church New Zealand? Or those residents of Japan? Or those currently living in London, whose houses and businesses are still burning? Throw off you blinders and hear the Lord!

To Look or Not to Look: Is That the Question?

We could at this point establish a New Testament LAW; right? “Don’t look at Judgment… OK, got it Jesus!” Is this a commandment of Jesus to “never” look at judgment as it is falling? I don’t feel this is the whole of the matter. In the verse after Ms. Lot becomes the newest salt-lick of the plain (Gen19:26), we read the following:

                     Gen 19:27-28
                                     And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood
                                     before the LORD:

                                     And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the
                                     plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of
                                     a furnace.

Now some of have in our minds some scene from a movie about Lot and his family fleeing “in the night,” and so conclude that Lot’s wife was looking at the judgment falling at night, but Abraham was just looking at the aftermath in the morning. Not so, Gen 19:15 says that Lot and his family were still in the city, “when the morning arose,” the angels constrained them. They were looking at the same event, at the same time, so what is the difference?

Abraham was standing, for it was “the place where he stood before the LORD.” It is not an accident this verse comes right after another is turned into a pillar of salt for seemingly the same action. The place Abraham stood before the Lord was the place that he prayed from regularly; indeed he had made direct intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah to the Lord. This was seeing the same things with their eyes, but compare words translated, “Look-ed” and we see, they were looking with different eyes.

                          Looked
                                 H8259 שׁקף shâqaph shaw-kaf'

                                     A primitive root; properly to lean out (of a window), that is, (by
                                     implication) peep or gaze (passively be a spectacle): - appear,
                                     look (down, forth, out).

Past the literal, it was a reference to the status of his heart. Lot’s wife, who dwelt in the cities and longed for her substance and looked favorably even when she was told not to, and because of her looking favorably, perished as a sign to us today. Yet, of Abraham it says that looking on in a favorable way was reserved for another city, no a city under judgment and in wickedness:

                     Heb 11:8-10 (select)
                                     By faith Abraham… sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange
                                     country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of
                                     the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
                                     builder and maker is God.

Closing

What is the true status of your heart? Can you know it by yourself? Or is it only after you have walked down a wrong path and experience the death of it that you can retrospectively tell? The instruction of the Lord was far more than just saying “remember,” but the commandment is in the present imperative, meaning the instruction is to a continuous and repeated action, not just a passing memory. Is the heart of Lot’s wife in you?

As plainly as I can; the hours coming we need be listening for the Lord speaking to us instructions. No blanket statement can be made out of the scriptures on the point of “looking,” as if the Lord said NEVER, but if he says “Do Not” then DON’T! In this the Lord is not leaving us without instruction: His admonition of “Remember Lot’s wife” should give us pause, and pause to consider, as always in our lives, the condition of our hearts before him. This still does not equal a “NEW”-New Commandment, but rather a divine caution in the hour. If the hour comes upon you, and you feel the Lord would not have you gazing, DON’T. As to the heart, I caution against declaring yourself in the seat of Abraham of your own opinion; for here it is far better to error on the side of caution!

11_08152011

As In the Days of Noah and Lot:

A Word of Warning

I confess to you that I am going to bring a word here that I fully do not understand. The element of the “why” seems to be missing here, but the fact that there is such a parallel between Noah and Lot in this regard, I cannot skip speaking of it. Both Noah and Lot ran into the same trouble after they were delivered.

Observe:

Gen 9:20-27

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Gen 19:30-38 

And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

In short, Yuck! Both of them got in trouble through wine, and the results were horrific. In Noah’s case part of his offspring were cursed and in Lot’s his daughters laid with their father; now that’s trouble! Both dealt with alcohol and seed, so let the wise be warned by my simple observation. What might the warning be to us? It could be that at this point the typology of Noah and Lot are beginning breakdown, but that fact that both of them are still parallel at this point makes me wonder. Could it just mean nothing since the revelation of Jesus Christ as the seed?

Still, if you make it through to the end of the judgment of these days, and you start thinking, “What this world needs is a vineyard” or your kids start bringing you gallons of wine, BEWARE and think again!

This is an article about the Roman Sword that was found in Jerusalemon the 9th of Av.

The story is translated into English, so hopefully this comes through as part of the link.

http://translate.google.com/translate?ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsru.co.il%2Fisrael%2F09aug2011%2Fherev8006.html&sl=ru&tl=en

11_08082011

So You Want to be an Elijah, Ha?

So you want the spirit of Elijah, but can you eat the food of Elijah? Imagine with me for a second that God took your request seriously; what would happen to you?

Imagine you’re on a hike and you come on a man living by a small stream in a deep valley who is hiding, because there is a price on his head. Look at him; he has a huge straggly untrimmed beard, his hair is unwashed, greasy and uncut. He smells and is dressed in nothing but a leather loincloth and it is not the nice leather like we picture Hollywood Indians wearing. The leather is scraps of animal flesh, barley tanned and it is from body of an animal that died of drought and famine. Ravens are feeding him there, scavengers, in the dirt near the man is dropped hunks of flesh pulled from road kill and scraps of bread: this he dusts off and sets down to eat.

You see everyone covets the spirit and power of Elijah, but can you drink his cup? Eat his portion? We all say boldly, “These are days of Elijah,” are they really? You see we believe we will see angels delivering food as they did to Elijah:

1Ki 19:5-8 

And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.

And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.

And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.

And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

  

We believe we will see the miracle of the widow’s oil and meal, as in the day of Elijah:

1Ki 17:14-16

For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

But to get to all of that, you have to eat the raven-food or you won’t live to see the days after!

1Ki 17:5-6

 So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

Can you drink of his cup and eat of his portion? Really? Sure, we see and want the miracles of Elijah, but we don’t like the diet! How about we try to touch just the outside of this, just scratch the surface of approaching the real and actual: what I call the feasts of Elijah. “Meat, bread and water two times a day” and then “bread” (no larger a portion then palm of your hand) and water.  As you fast, consider the true as you partake of the similitude and thanking God that you got your meat and bread from the grocery store; nicely wrapped and refrigerated, and not the ravens or the bottom of the barrel.

Hebrews 11:37-38

…they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.