Well folks, it’s over. According to a well-known televangelist on TV - he, as a prophet of God, commanded that the COVID19 virus was healed and that its authority in America was over. According to him - that night - at his pronouncement and demand - the COVID19 virus was cast out of the USA. (Kenneth Copeland Ministries - telecast on March 29, 2020) Why am I writing about such a things? Because it is dangerous and false doctrine like this that will cause great shame and reproach to come upon the church in these difficult days. Unfortunately, there will be those who will hear this, who will “name it and claim it” for themselves, and who will then take no precautions in the future. We’ve already seen what this kind of stuff can do in Arkansas. Now it has a greater likeliness of happening elsewhere among those who hold to such terrible doctrine as this. Am I saying that God cannot heal the COVID19 virus and eradicate it from the entire United States? He can. Do I believe that this false prophet’s declaration did it? Nope. The reality is that false prophecy uttered by a false prophet has not come true - because today there continues to be new cases found, and people will die of it by tomorrow. That means that this individual is a false prophet. No one should listen to him or fear or follow anything he says. He needs to repent and stop teaching and following a false doctrine that says he can make pronouncements using Jesus’ name - and they have to come to pass. The truly sad thing about this false doctrine is that when people don’t experience healing - and when, as it did, the coronavirus continues to spread in our nation - this false prophet will say it is only because those who get sick and die did not have enough faith. So, in the end, the problem is not with the prophet - it is with the terrible person who did not believe enough. Let’s take a look at Scripture for a few moments. God spoke of those He would send as prophets to Israel. But in the process God revealed that some might say, “How will we know?” Look at the passage below: "You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22 "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. Deut. 18:21-22 God’s answer was very simple. When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if what he says does not come true - the Lord has not spoken. It is that simple. Now, if the pronouncement made - or honestly, the demand that was shouted - does not come to pass, then the ones making it are not prophets and the Lord has not spoken through them. The mark for a true prophets of God is 100% accuracy in his or her prophecies. There is no room for fudging on this. There was a false teaching out at a supposed school of prophets that we learn how to prophesy. If we get a few wrong, we will learn from it and prophesy better next time. Sadly, that does not square with God’s Word. Note what is said happened when both Samuel and Agabus prophesied below. Thus Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fail. 20 All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. 1 Samuel 3:19-20 As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" Acts 21:10-11 There we see an Old Testament and a New Testament prophet. Both had their prophecies come to pass. Agabus even prophesied of a famine that would come - and it came. Here is the danger in such false doctrine as that which happened on March 29th of this year. People who follow these two men will ignore any wisdom in going out into the world and taking precautions against catching this virus. As a result some will most likely contract it - and sadly some may even die as a result. The shame and disgrace and ill will that will come upon Christians for this will be great. We are already seeing where those in the media are mocking things like this - and who lump all Christian’s together. They say we are dangerous - and should be treated accordingly. Saints, please be wise when it comes to televangelists and supposed prophets who claim to speak for God. If their pronouncements do not come true - they are charlatans who are deceived at least, and dangerous at worst. God does want us to pray in faith - but the faith we have is in His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. Our faith is not in what we decide to shout in demands of God. Our faith is in coming humbly before Him - even boldly to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need. It is interesting that we don’t find one instance in the New Testament of any apostle or believer commanding God to do something. Our place is not to put our DEMANDS before Him - shouting things like this: "In the name of Jesus, standing in the office of the profit of God, I execute judgment on you COVID-19...I call you gone...No more...And the United States of America is healed and well again...It's dead. At exactly 12 noon on the 29th day of March. It's over. It's over." These are the demands of a false prophet - not the humble requests of a servant of God. Just remember saints, the next day, and today the 31st COVID19 isn’t gone - it isn’t no more. It is NOT over. If anything, these two false prophets are making declarations contrary to God’s will. Consider these words of Scripture. "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God, 59 then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.” Deut. 28:58-59 "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, 29 whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, 30 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, 31 that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. 2 Chronicles 6:28-31 By biblical terminology what we are experiencing is a plague. It is honestly nothing like the Beubonic plague or the Great Plague of the Spanish Flue of 1918. Nevertheless it is a plague that has come upon the world - and upon the United States. Honestly, if you want to look at a biblical response to this, it would be that we should do the following:
So, we’ve seen 3,580 since February 29th, when the first man died of Coronavirus in the state of Washington. The numbers we have reflect deaths in 30 days due to COVID19. Since February 29th, a rough estimate of the abortions in the United States has been around 2300 per day (that is a low number because it does not take into account abortions induced by medicines - that number would be more like 3000 per day). That would mean that since COVID19 began taking lives in the United States, we’ve taken the lives of 69,000 babies in the womb. We’ve seen 65,420 more deaths by abortion than by COVID19 since it started. Worldwide, the abortion rate is conservatively said to be 125,000 per day (Other reliable estimates say it is as high as 170,000 per day - but we will go with the Guttmacher Institute’s numbers). That means that while COVID19 has resulted in roughly 41,660 deaths since the first reported death in Wuhan, China on January 9th, abortion in that time (82 days) has resulted in 10,250,000 babies being aborted. So, we’ve seen 10,208,340 more deaths due to abortion than COVID19. Why did I go through all that morbid math above? It is because our nation and our world is deep red in the death of the unborn. 10,208,340 more dead from it than even from the dreaded COVID19. Please stay with me because there is a reason I went through all this. Our false prophets (remember them) made a declaration that COVID19 was over on the evening of March 29th. It was a false prophecy. But do you think for one moment that God is willing to cut us free from this plague, or any other plague, when during the same amount of time we’ve killed 65,000 more babies in the United States, and over 10,000,000 more worldwide? I am neither a prophet or a son of a prophet. But I am a student of the Scriptures. Oh, and by the way, I am writing this to speak to the biblically orthodox, conservative Christians in America, not those who do not know Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ - we are in God’s crosshairs. It is not time to embrace false doctrines or false teachers who would dare proclaim COVID19 over and done - while the blood of 69,000 babies in the U.S. still remains. We’re responsible for 60 million plus babies aborted since 1973. Do you really think that we are not under God’s discipline for this - if not His judgment? Now is the time for serious, deeply repentant, broken-hearted prayer in our nation. We don’t need false prophets to declare false prophecies to ease our burden in this time. We need a greater burden. We need for prayer to begin to grow at a rate far more exponential than what we are seeing with COVID19. We’ve now had 2 weeks with more time on our hands than usual. Unfortunately, too many have decided that the purpose for this time is to binge-watch old TV shows and movies. I have to honestly say I’ve watched too much on TV - and spent too little time crying out to God for my own heart, as well as the hearts of those in God’s church. If there was ever a time for prayer meetings to be flooded with the concerned (albeit through platforms like Zoom instead of in person) who are praying for a reviving among God’s people and awakening in our nation it is now. If there was ever a time to cry out to God that deaths due to abortion would cease, it is now! My prayer is that we would not listen to false prophets, but that God would raise up true ones to speak to His people. Prophets who would write down our sin with an iron stylus and call us to repent and return to God. Those who prophesy only good things, according to God’s Word - will have plenty who flock to them. They will find in the end that they will be disappointed because of the lies they believed. But may God grant us true prophets who will remind us of the following. "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (emphasis mine) Think about it. We quote this verse over and over again and yet, are unwilling to go back 7 words and see that the context for this kind of prayer is NOW. And what is said seven words earlier? God says, ". . . if I send pestilence among My people". That is an astounding thing to read, isn't it? My hope then is now that we have read it - we would respond. Let us pray. (Photo used by permission, CDC via Unsplash - cdc-L0jLHqF7Q94-unsplash.jpg)
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Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, Omri, and Ahab – a progression of ungodly leadership that grew worse as time passed. Each ungodly leader was described as more ungodly than the last one – with each new one defined as even more ungodly. That was the history that Israel had experienced – and it was destroying the nation – because it was destroying in that nation any kind of heart for God. I know that this will not be popular – but our nation has had a progression of ungodly leaders. Their ungodliness is seen in a continued turn away from the God of the Bible – to a god of our own making – a controllable god – a god who will approve our works rather than challenge them. The god of America is a god who does not rebuke ungodliness – immorality – sensuality – or sin in general. This god will not speak up for the unborn – but will speak strong words against anyone who threatens our own personal quest for happiness and self-fulfillment at any cost. This god is a mushy god who is all about us – about us getting what we want – this is the selfie-god who is all about us defining ourselves however we want. The leaders of Israel who dominated the 52 years represented by the names that first appeared in this article – were kings who moved away from serving the living God – and who embraced the same god who is ruling our culture today. The gods they served were called Baal, Ashtoreth, Milcom, Molech, and others – but their ways were no different than those of today. They did not call anything immoral – but reveled in a new morality defined only by what brought the most pleasure to the people of the day. They were OK with other gods being in the pantheon of the day – just as long as they were not saying that they had absolute truth. There were even gods who encouraged the sacrifice of the next generation – just as long as the current generation was satisfied and not burdened with the consequences of their choices. Again – it was little different than today – except where they had physical statues and idols that they worshipped – we’ve been able to reduce our gods to electronic signals that are transmitted to us on a screen we store in our back pockets. The end of such a society really is a “no shocker” to anyone who studies history (which by the way that society does not promote unless the history is first approved by those who rewrite it for their own purposes). Destruction is coming – the end of that society is on the horizon and is drawing nearer with each selfish and self-serving choice it makes. The real question is how does anyone turn a society like this from self-implosion into its self-obsessed love of itself? The answer to that I believe is found in the appearance on the scene of a man named Elijah. Who was this man? Where did he come from – and what made him the man for this hour? That is what I believe is answered for us in 1 Kings 17. Let’s look at some of those things together for a few minutes – and hopefully know what to desire – and what to pray for in a prophet for our generation. First, Elijah was a Tishbite from the area of Gilead. This was a mountainous region – but outside of knowing its location had little to do with this man. What we learn from this is that God will raise up a person from wherever He desires. Looking for such a one from some specific location is useless. When it comes to how God raises up prophets we need to say it is all about “heart, heart, heart,” not “location, location, location.” Second, and this is vital, Elijah speaks about Jehovah, the God of Israel being alive. God lives. That is something we need to hear again in our nation – as it was in Israel. The God of the Bible IS God. He is the living God. He is alive. He is still relevant and still working in our day. Elijah knew that because he himself stood before God. Third, Elijah spoke of the God “before Whom I stand.” When all the nation was walking away from God and serving Him, Elijah continued to stand before Him. The word for “stand” here is important. It meant to stand for the purpose of serving another. Elijah stood before God – not in arrogance – but as God’s servant. He stood before Him to hear what God had to say – and then to deliver it. That is what this word meant when used of Jeremiah 23:18, 22. He stood before the Lord to see and hear His Word – and stood in God’s council so that he could hear God’s Word – and announce it to God’s people to, “. . . turn them back from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.” When a person decides that he or she will remain before God, honoring and following Him, while all others depart – that person will hear God’s Word so that it may be declared before the people. Such a word will be an announcement of their sin and a call to repentance and a return to God. Fourth, Elijah was willing to announce that judgment and difficult times were coming. He announced that there was going to be a drought coming upon the land. It may be interesting for us to remember that for the most part this was a season of prosperity in the land. The people had much – and thought that the prosperity would go on forever. But their prosperity was about to end. Why would Elijah have the bravery (or insanity as some might think) to announce that there would be no rain or dew on the land except by his word? Had he lost his mind? No – he had searched the Scriptures and knew that God had spoken such things in the Law – and at the dedication of the Temple of Solomon. What he was declaring also came from the living God before Whom he stood. He was not acting on his own – but was living by the Word of the Lord, which by the way, is our next point. Fifth, Elijah was willing to live by the Word of the Lord. This sounds exciting until you realize that he was immediately sent to a brook of water to be fed by ravens for a portion of the 3 and a half years when there was no rain. When the water dried up from that brook – he was then sent to a gentile widow and her son – for them to provide bread and water for him on a daily basis by faith in a jar that held no more than a day’s rations at any one time. He also had to endure the death of the widow’s son and raise him from the dead by crying out to God to give him back his life. He did NOT go on a book tour – or hold meetings in a big auditorium where he taught people how to be rich and famous like he was. He lived hand to mouth – meaning – daily he lived from God’s hand to his mouth. He lived for the most part alone – or – dependent on sources that would humiliate any proud Israelite. But he knew his provision was not based on his own prowess in the world – but rather by God’s gracious provision. By the way – it was also during this time that he evidently came to understand his coming confrontation with the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. He said as much as he prayed there. This was the kind of person that God used in a day of decline due to over 50 years of ungodly leadership. He needed someone who had remained true to God even while the majority of society had turned from Him. He chose a man who did not live for his own advancement, but who truly desired that God be glorified no matter what the personal cost may be to himself or to his country. God wanted a person who stood before Him as a servant as well as a spokesman. God wanted a person who above all listened to what God had to say in that day – and was unashamed to declare it regardless of what it meant for him. And finally, God desired a man who had no desire to prosper personally from his position before God, but who would lay everything down to serve Him. Do I think there will be another Elijah for the United States of America? Not really – because the only other Elijah I see mentioned in Scripture will have his center of ministry in Jerusalem during the Great Tribulation as revealed in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. But do I long for God to raise up men and women like him in our day to speak to our nation? Absolutely. The time in which we live is a deceptive one. Godlessness is rising and taking center stage. The Word of God is being ignored and even mocked. Leadership no longer acknowledges the ways of God as a way for our nation. Those who hold to the Word will continue to be marginalized and maligned for saying what the Scriptures actually teach in regard to sin, repentance, and returning to God. If we continue in the ways we’ve chosen – the United States will fall. Much like Rome we will continue to fall inwardly until we implode. Then whoever the “rod” is that God will use to punish us – will finish the work – possibly with a single stroke. Will this happen in a week – a month – a year – a decade? I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet – so I have no timetable to offer you. It could be tomorrow morning – and it may be years from now. But our fall is assured as long as we embrace the godless against which God testifies and by which He warns that nations will fall. Ask Israel of old – or Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, England, Germany, or any other nation that embraced the things we do as a nation today. Their history shouts to us every day. Nations have arisen and fallen – and yet God’s plan and purpose have been moving forward regardless of the players on the stage. My hope is that God will grant us prophets who will warn of the coming day of judgment and reaping what we’ve sown. He has been faithful to do so throughout history. It is my hope also that God will have mercy on me – and I will take up His calling upon my life – so that regardless of what part I am to play – I will be faithfully standing before Him to embrace it when He speaks. May He have mercy upon the United States of America and call us to repentance, return, and hopefully revival in the very near future. |
What is the Prophecy/News Update?At Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro, we believe that history is moving toward fulfilling God's plans and purposes. In an effort to help us be prepared for His appearing - and also to chronicle news items you just won't see in the national media - this page is devoted to sharing those items and their possible significance to Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend.
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