 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.
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 For the past several days I’ve been reading through the book of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah lived in a day much like our own. It was a day when the nation of Israel was turning from the Lord and was beginning to experience more and more problems as God’s discipline rose in its intensity. I hope that you realize that for the past several decades (actually more like the past 50-60 years) we’ve been turning from the Lord as a nation. The result of that has been a steady diet of God’s discipline as He seeks to bring us back to Himself. I could go into detail on what that discipline looks like – but instead want to give a perspective from Jeremiah on what the religious world looks like in a time of decline. That is what chapter 23 of Jeremiah details for us. If you want to stop at this point in the article and read Jeremiah 23 feel free to do so – it might help in giving you a better context for this article.
One of the things that happens in a nation in decline is that the men of God meant to preach and declare God’s Word – stop doing that task. It is not a pleasant task to be those who help act as the conscience of a nation – yet without them, that nation will find itself plunging into ruin as sin abounds. What had happened in Judah was that their prophets and priests had decided to turn to a “more positive message” than that of declaring that the nation had sinned and needed to repent. Look at these passages from Jeremiah 23. "Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23:13-14 (NASB) Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD. They keep saying to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You will have peace"'; and as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, 'Calamity will not come upon you. But who has stood in the council of the LORD, that he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened? Jeremiah 23:16-18 (NASB) "I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. Jeremiah 23:21-22 (NASB) "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, 'I had a dream, I had a dream!’ How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has a My word speak My word in truth. Jeremiah 23:25-28 (NASB) "Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.' Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams," declares the LORD, "and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:31-32 (NASB) To summarize – the spiritual leaders of God’s people had first let their own morals and character decline. As a result of their own sin – they were less likely to speak on sin – and therefore strengthened people in the same sins that were rampant in their own lives. The second passage related how, having grieved the Holy Spirit, they no longer had the Spirit leading them. What is a prophet to do when he has no prophecy from God’s Spirit? Why that’s easy – he prophesies from his own spirit instead. That is what they were doing – prophesying on their own – telling people what they wanted to hear – preaching peace where there was no peace – and helping people sin and think God was going to do anything about it. God even asks if any of them had stood in His counsel and received His Word. The answer to that was a resounding – NO! They spoke dreams and visions of their own making – or they stole stuff from other prophets who were popular among the people. God said that these “so-called” prophetic words, dreams, and declarations were not helping people at all. God’s Word would have declared to them their sin – and presented God’s remedy for it. They didn’t want that because that meant speaking of sin and repentance to the people. What is truly dangerous about all this is that in the end – the people love the new prophets! They are not “negative” and don’t speak of things like sin and repentance. They have a God who never judges – except against those who are judgmental! There is a haunting end to all this according to God – who speaks to Jeremiah. "Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' or, 'What has the LORD spoken?' For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man's own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. Jeremiah 23:35-36 (NASB) The end of all this is a complete loss of the Word of God among a nation – or at least a perverting of it. The men of God, who should be waiting on God for His Word, are no longer doing so. Instead they prophesy from their own inspiration and share their own “more positive” message. Before long – everyone can “learn” to prophesy – and they start to do so, which results in just about everyone thinking that they have, “a word from the Lord.” But what has actually happened is that the “Word from the Lord” has actually been lost. This is because as God says here through Jeremiah, “every man’s own word will become the oracle.” What happens is that everyone’s word is considered the Word of the Lord – because to say otherwise is to be judgmental and sectarian. The religious world looks very similar to the time of Judges when “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” The only difference is that in this situation – every prophet’s word becomes God’s message in his own life. God sent Jeremiah into the midst of this mess to declare His Word in the midst of it. It was a word of righteousness calling the people to repentance and return to God and the Word He gave in Scripture. It was a word that sounded harsh to that generation – because they no longer thought God to be a righteous God – who had absolute moral truth – and a godliness to be followed. It was also a word that warned that God WAS about to bring judgment to the world – and severe discipline to His people for their abandonment of Him. When they asked Jeremiah what the Word of the Lord was – he simply answered, “I will abandon you.” That is a difficult word to hear – especially for any generation like ours. But an even more terrifying word was coming to those men who were posing as prophets, priests, and men of God. To the ones who prophesied out of their own spirit – who turned from being God’s prophet – to being one who only seeks profit from being a prophet – God had an even harsher (yet perfectly righteous and just word). "Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten." Jeremiah 23:39-40 (NASB) In the end – these posers faced not only their own demise – but also the demise of the entire nation whom they had led astray. They would be cast from God’s presence – along with the city (or maybe in our generation we can read “audience”) where they prophesied. They would receive an everlasting reproach and humiliation from God Himself for their wickedness. Saints of God – I don’t particularly enjoy having to write such things. But the fact of the matter is that we are living in Jeremiah’s day again in our nation. As we plunge head first into whole new depths of wickedness, sin, and depravity – the false prophets and dreamers are continuing to tell people that what they lack is health, wealth, and prosperity. You can turn on the religious TV stations and hear it again and again – with an appeal at the end for more of your money to help fund their wicked empires (and to get them a new jet which they say is a necessity for their ministry). Their preaching draws huge crowds and their “self-styled” and “self-inspired” words from God are providing absolutely no profit to the people – even as they do provide plenty of profit for the false prophet. In the end – both they and their hearers will be abandoned and given over to judgment. Oh that there were men of God who would wait in the presence of the Lord to declare the Word of the Lord to His people. Oh that God would raise up true prophets who would declare the sin of this nation to its people – so that there would be a benefit from their words. Oh dear God – where are the Jeremiah’s of God for this current generation!? |
 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 
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