 One of the interesting things that is often overlooked by those studying the decline of the true Church and the Word of God in a society is how persecution begins and grows. The persecution that follows is often carried out by the apostate church that aligns itself with society rather than with God’s Word. One of the things I will predict (and it is kind of unfair for me to call it a prediction - because it is more like a re-visit to what has already happened in history) is that when persecution breaks out against the true Church in the United States, it will often be carried out by the apostate church that aligns itself with our immoral culture.
A quick visit to Biblical history may be informative. Once Israel was delivered from Egypt, the majority of the problems and difficulties for Moses and those representing the true work of God came from the religious sector of Israel. The group led by Dathan and Abiram wanted a religion which morphed with what they did in Egypt. They were very uncomfortable with the radical laws and ways being given by Jehovah God. David’s problems stemmed as much from Saul who did not follow God fully than they did the ungodly nations that surrounded them. The people who killed the prophets were the apostate Jews who had perverted the worship of Jehovah with the customs of the nations. And who was it that eventually turned Jesus over to the Roman authorities to carry out their murderous designs - oh, that’s right, it was the Jewish religious authorities. In Acts 22:4 Paul remembered that he had “persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prison.” Where did Paul get the authority to do this? He got it from the Jewish religious leaders. It is a consistent thing that the ones who hold to a form of religion, but lose it’s power and the truth of the Scriptures - will be primary persecutors of those who hold fast to these things. Those who believe the gospel to be the power of God and the only way of salvation will soon be seen to be narrow minded. Those who hold to the righteousness of God shown to us in the Word of God will be seen this way as well. Cultural Christianity will reject God’s Way (the gospel) and they will also reject God’s righteousness and embrace the way culture leads them in regard to morals. This will eventually manifest itself in a hatred of the true Church and the way they interpret Scripture. The cultural church will be far more fond of those who see Scripture more broadly. They will align themselves with those who favor a cultural interpretation of Christianity, rather than a Bible that instructs culture on moral issues. They do not want God’s righteousness or God’s way and those who hold to it will become seen as strange and different. They look down on them as ignorant and intolerant. They call them backward - and whatever “ist" is in style at the moment - racist, sexist, or maybe homophobic or sexually repressed. Whatever makes those who hold to biblical righteousness look bad. There is a principle behind this. It is revealed to us in the book of Galatians. Paul says this about those in the Spirit versus those in the flesh. “But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.’ Galatians 4:29 (NASB) As it was between Issac and Ishmael - it will also be between those born according to the flesh and those born according to the Spirit. The “cultural church,” which is not born again, will continue to make decisions to ape the culture as the pressure of the culture pushes the false church to adopt ungodly views. The true Church, which consists only of those born according to the Spirit, will not be willing to make unbiblical compromises. As animosity grows toward the true Church for its unpopular stands for righteousness that animosity will be held especially by those who have suppressed the truth by their unrighteousness. Persecution - even violent persecution will follow after this rejection of the truth. Let me give you an example of what we are seeing now - which will grow in the months and years to come. When someone posts that they have openly identified with homosexuality the reactions and posts that follow are almost always positive. They are congratulated for their new identification of themselves in this way. They are often even told or affirmed that God has made them this way. If someone has the audacity to respond otherwise, the bashing will begin - and often it will be unmerciful. If the person identifies as a Christian and states the Bible as the place where they got their views - it will not go well for that person. We’ve watched as it has become clear that CEO’s, sports figures, spokespersons, Chiefs of fire departments, and even down to bakers and pizza makers are going to be punished if they espouse and desire to hold such views. Currently this is primarily cultural pressure in the form of protest and boycotts. But in time it will wind up being codified into law - and the price for being a Biblical Christian will become much higher. So what do we DO? Saints, we have no other option than to continue to hold fast the Word of God as our standard. We don’t do this with a hateful and vindictive attitude. But we do speak the truth in love - which means we use wisdom as to when we speak, but if necessary, we speak. It is my opinion that Biblical Christianity is incompatible with sin. Whenever someone or some group seeks to align certain lifestyles and choices of sin as being OK with God, it will become abundantly clear that God no longer aligns with them. I am not saying that culturally they will decline. They may expand on the cultural level. But you will not find the Spirit or the presence of God among those who call what God calls sin - and acceptable lifestyle. We watched a generation in the 1960’s tout “free love” which is honestly nothing more than bondage to heterosexual immorality outside marriage. In time what the Bible calls fornication was renamed living together. As more time passed culture embraced this - although God never has (and never will). Culture continued to push its agenda - which meant having to deal with all the pregnancies that resulted from the cost of this so-called free love. From that came the culture of abortion on demand. A baby no longer was the result of sexual activity which called for responsibility to be taken by the man and woman who fornicated and now had a baby. They were not called to be responsible for their choice to be sexual immorality. Once again there was a choice to recast this situation into a more socially acceptable mold. No longer a baby - now it was a blob of tissue that belonged to the woman. It was now a part of a woman’s body, and she could do with it whatever she wanted. She could be rid of it in the first trimester - then the second - and eventually up to the moment the “whatever it was now” was to be born - at which point if the mother wanted it - it was a baby. The Bible warns that a society that rejects God - will reject God’s morality. This would begin in heterosexual immorality that rejects marriage as a prerequisite to sex. But in time things would move from heterosexual immorality toward homosexual acts. (All this is written for us in Romans 1:18-32) The Word of God says that all homosexual acts are sinful. God intended for a man and a woman to be married before they engaged in sexual activity. When it comes to two men or two women - God called all homosexual acts sinful. But as culture pushed back eventually, as we are seeing today, the culturally accepted church began to call acceptable what God can never call acceptable. Now there are growing numbers of people - and even theologians and Christian writers who say that God can bless homosexual marriage. The true Church cannot go with this - because God’s Word does not. In time the rhetoric toward those who continue to hold to Biblical righteousness will grow more and more strident. That will one day give way to the cultural church persecuting the true Church. They will do this first with words (which is already happening) and eventually with culturally accepted legal acts (because the laws will eventually call the Biblical standard espoused and taught to be hate speech). From there it is only a matter of time until violence against the “haters” will be acceptable. What is fascinating is that if we think the issue is sexual activity we are behind the times. The best way to blur all sexual morality is to deny that gender itself is nothing more than a personal choice. You are not assigned a sex at birth by God - either male or female. Your sexual activity is not governed by what biological sex you are. You have the right to such radical autonomy that you can choose whatever sex you want to be - and change it as often as it suits you. The next Supreme Court overstep will be to abolish biological gender to the ash heap of societal rejection. This is going to be fought over what bathroom (and eventually locker rooms too) you choose to use. Those who stand in the way will be called intolerant, gender lords who want to impose a gender on you rather than allow you to embrace your inner gender based on - well - based on whatever you want to it to be at the moment. Complete autonomy is the goal. Whatever a person declares to be right is right. That is unless someone declares the Word of God to be right where it defines things like gender and sexuality. THAT VIEW IS JUST WRONG! This is how the persecution of the real Church by the cultural church will happen - and actually is happening today. We are watching the fact that Biblical Christianity is untenable to those who celebrate the sexual revolution (and by the way the revolt is against God and what He says is sexually moral). Watch as this will be the path upon which persecution will travel with increasing speed. And saints - in pains me to say that we will also watch - as generations have before us have - that the willing accomplices in that persecution will often be the culturally accepted church which rejects the clear teaching of Scripture. I don’t want to hasten it. I don’t enjoy it - nor do I even want to see it. Yet, my precious brothers and sisters in Christ, it is coming. We just need to make sure that our response is one of The Truth spoken in love. We will also need to remember that God’s kingdom will not be advanced in this hour by violent, angry, armed force. May God give us grace to respond by holding fast to the Word of God. May we respond, if necessary, with the proof of our very blood if that is what faithfulness to Christ requires. And may God have mercy upon us so that our testimony would be like that of the faithful fathers who have gone before us.
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 The recent Supreme Court decision about marriage has made me think a lot. I've seen a flurry of statements asking me to "like" if I stand for traditional, biblical marriage. I honestly don't think this will do much for our nation. Let me give you one that is slightly more challenging.
What happened Friday was a foregone conclusion for our nation. We've departed from the Lord - first and foremost in the evangelical, bible-believing church - myself first in line to be rebuked on that matter. Since Friday the verses that are flooding into my mind have to do with US humbling ourselves (meaning the church) and praying - seeking God's face - and turning from OUR wicked ways. Friday's decision did not come suddenly - I can honestly say that it has been coming since the 1960's and earlier as we've rejected loving and seeking God in the church - and have embraced church growth (i.e. numbers, bigger buildings, bigger attendance, bigger offerings, etc.) over true church vitality in Christ. We've embraced religious political power, embraced comfort, and embraced the American way rather than a passionate commitment to Christ, His church, and His gospel being taken to the ends of the earth. We've had warning after warning in our nation - including 9/11 - ISIS - growing racial tensions - liberalism raging in our churches - the rising radical atheist movement - and honestly, scandal after scandal in the church itself. If I can be painfully honest for a moment - these things have not led to me hitting my knees in brokenness over my own sin - and deeply concerned prayer for my nation. These things have not moved me to prayer that lasts more than an hour or day - or maybe at the most a few days. Friday's decision saddened me - scared me (because of what I see coming for those who hold to biblical morality) - and sobered me as to where we are (as a nation and as the church in this nation). Throughout the day I knew that angry cries for a return to whatever pitiful view of marriage we had up to Friday - were like trying to hold back a tsunami with my hands held out in front of me. Our only hope - my only hope - is that this will truly break my heart in such a way that I will do the following things. #1 - TRULY HUMBLE MYSELF BEFORE GOD - admitting that my/our current religiousness is never going to bring about change - first in me - second in the church - and third in our nation. I absolutely MUST admit my bankruptcy spiritually and cry out for His fullness with desperate abandon (Matthew 5:3) #2 - PRAY - and this means prayer that is radically beyond the norm (which I need to admit at times is pretty pitiful). What should have happened - and I hope still does - is that the churches who truly believe that this was a travesty - will be flooded with people demanding daily prayer meetings where we cry out to God until revival comes to the church - and hopefully to our land as a result of REAL renewed, revived Christianity breaking out among God's people again. The early church responded to far worse than what we saw Friday (the arrest and beating of the apostles - and a trial before officials the next day where they were commanded not to preach any longer in the name of Jesus). Their response was to gather together as one for prayer. Their prayers were not for better legislation - or different political leaders. Their prayer was that God would grant them greater boldness to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. God responded by shaking the place where they met - and filling them with the Holy Spirit and with a fresh boldness to share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. (read Acts 4:1-31 to see this up close and personal) #3 - SEEK GOD'S FACE - This phrase means that we seek His favor. I've read of revivals that have changed nations. In fact our nation has had several. These came in times just as dark as the ones we are in today. They came because people reached a point of seeing that answers were never coming from the public sector, the governmental sector, or any other sector where man is supreme. They realized that pride had brought the nation down - crushing it under the weight of sin and selfishness. ( I want to challenge you to read about the 1st and 2nd Great Awakening in the United States, about the Prayer Revival of 1857, the New Hebrides Revival, the Great Revival of Wales, and The Shantung Revival - Let what God did in those moments fill your soul and spirit with a passion to see Him truly revive the church again in our day!) #4 - TURN FROM MY/OUR WICKED WAYS - This may be the most painful thing to admit. Please understand it would be easy to confess all the pet things we focus on (abortion, gay marriage, sexual immorality, etc) because that usually does not involve us personally. (Yeah! all those sinful people and their wicked ways - they need to repent!) But I put the "my" in that statement because the gist of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is that we turn from OUR sin - the sin that WE'VE embraced that has led to not knowing the hand of God upon our land any longer. My concern is that far too many of us (myself included) will once again make our facebook posts - bemoan the ungodly (and it is truly ungodly) decisions being made - get mad about the direction of our country - and in the end - not spend even 30 minutes a day actually DOING what 2 Chronicles 7:14 says. Very few pastor's offices will be visited with people pleading with him to begin daily prayer meetings where we cry out for revival. Soooo - with that as my background statement - and confession of MY OWN sin I want to propose the following to myself first - and to the church in the United States second. If you agree that we not only should respond to the Supreme Court decision this past Friday in broken-hearted sadness over the unrevived state of the church and our own lack of passionate pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to agree that we shouldn't just feel something for a few hours (then go back to normal) but actually DO something (meaning give ourselves to prayer every day until God brings revival in lives, our churches, and hopefully our land). Then - honestly - don't press like - or repost - or retweet. Please join me in just being heart-broken before God and begin crying out to Him - for yourself, your church, and your nation. Precious saints whom He loves so very much - this is our only hope.  May the Lord gives us boldness and wisdom as we speak in these interesting days in which we live. This week I want to make you aware of a ruling that should concern all of us who cherish our freedom of religious speech.
Please allow me to begin by making the following statement concerning our so-called protected religious speech in the United States of America. Our constitution protects the right of free speech – and part of the speech protected is religious speech. That being said, those of us who belong to Christ need to know that God’s command for us to preach the gospel is not abridged by any government or law that is written or established by man. Regardless of what the governments of men say – we are to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and make disciples of all the nations. That command comes from a higher authority than that of mankind. It comes from God Himself. Therefore, it is imperative for us to remember that regardless of what decisions are reached by the IRS, the Supreme Court, or any other human entity, they do not trump the command of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20. We are to continue to proclaim the gospel – and if in the process we face punitive action by our governing authorities – we are to accept it gladly as we choose to obey God rather than men. This was the response made by the apostles as they were commanded by the governing authorities of their day not to speak or teach any longer in the name of Jesus. We should not respond any differently in our day. “What is all this about?” you may ask. It is about a ruling made a few days ago by the Internal Revenue Service in answer to a suit filed by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. They charged that the IRS was not investigating and punishing churches and pastors who preach politics from the pulpit. The law or ruling used for this invasion of our nation’s pulpits is actually not even from our Constitution, but rather is from an IRS ruling in 1954. At that time Senator Lyndon B. Johnson urged this measure so that he could use it against specific opponents of his agenda and that of the Democrat party. This provision was gradually extended to include religious groups and their speech in regard to specifically endorsing a candidate in an election from the pulpit. Some may read this and wonder why this has become a problem – and why I voice concern over it. That, my dear saints, has to do with where our government is going in regards to its moral stances being taken in our day. Many of these issues are not being decided in Congress, which is the only place laws are to be passed, but by executive decisions of the President – or by courts that are legislating from the bench. Because of decisions rendered over the past several decades, the sacred arena of religious speech has been invaded by the secular government. In 1973 the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision attacked life in the womb. And more recently a wave of lower court decisions have attacked the sanctity of biblical marriage. As these decisions have been politicized, elections have included debates over whether these decisions are just or not. Such debates REQUIRE a response from the spiritual leaders in America. Those spiritual leaders are the pastors of local churches, who have found it necessary to teach what the Scriptures have to say about these issues of life and marriage. Here is where this issue is going to reach a head. Is the IRS going to rule in such a way that pastors are no longer allowed to teach certain passages that will be deemed “preaching politics?” Will we watch pastors be cited, fined, and possibly even arrested for teaching on Romans 1:18-25 (dealing with homosexuality) and Psalm 139 (dealing with the sanctity of the womb)? The day may come where we are forbidden by the state to teach such things without losing our tax exempt status. The day may also come when things far worse that this may result. Baring God moving in our country, the day will come when pastors will be fined or arrested for committing a hate crime because they dared teach these passages INSIDE the church. May God give us grace to stand and teach His Word, with grace and meekness, regardless of the consequences. May God strengthen us to hold fast the faithful Word He has given us – not surrendering to political correctness or even punitive threats to abandon it because it has become socially unpopular in our day to do so. This past Wednesday everyone held their breath awaiting the Supreme Court decision on the Health Care bill that has been dubbed, "Obamacare." There was a thought among conservatives that the court would strike down part or all of this law. The part most egregious to many was the so-called "mandate" for all Americans to buy health insurance. When the ruling came out there was a sigh of relief for some - and a sense of wide-eyed horror for others. I was among those horrified by the outcome because it forever fundamentally changes the relationship between the government and the citizens of the United States. It was only later, after I had turned to the Lord and sought Him in the midst of my anger and disgust that God showed me something in myself that I found even more disgusting.
Early in the week I was asked by some of the precious people I pastor what my reaction was to this ruling. Again, as stated above, my early reaction was anger and disgust. I was angry and disgusted that the Supreme Court basically allowed the existing administration to lie to the American people to get something passed - and then let the truth of the law come out only when interpreted by the courts. We were told repeatedly during the debate, however limited it was, that this was NOT A TAX! Over and over again this was asserted because, this bill would have gone down in flaming defeat if it was offered as the massive, regressive tax that it was later upheld as being. So we were told this was a "commerce" issue. As a commerce issue this was declared unconstitutional - but as a tax, it was upheld. Therefore one of the things that happened last Wednesday was that one branch of government could pass a law based on their version of the truth - while another could uphold it denying the first truth - and then making up another. Now, the fact that our government lies to us is not shocking. The fact that they have lied on this scale for the creation of a first time right to tax us for all we are worth - a little more shocking. One can only imagine the founders spinning in their graves at the way in which we are being taxed once again without representation - or at least truthful representation. After I worked my way through my initial anger and disgust, I was leveled one day while praying with a couple of brothers for revival in our churches and awakening in our land. What floored me was a verse that I believe the Holy Spirit brought to my mind. Here is the verse: "You are the salt of the earth ; but if the salt has become tasteless , how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything , except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men . (Matthew 5:13 , NASB) As I meditated on this verse, God reminded me that throughout the entire health-care debate we continued to kill 4,000 babies a day through abortion. Nothing was mentioned, even by Christian conservatives, about this issue. Nothing was mentioned about heterosexual immorality in our nation which is rampant. No one made an issue of the flood of pornography that continues unabated on our airwaves and through the internet. (Actually the legal system did make a move in this area. It removed the fines imposed for the intentional wardrobe malfunction that happened during a Superbowl broadcast. Oh, and by the way, our highest court also made it easier to use foul language during prime time television - as if God recognizes times when it is OK to use perverse language - only prohibiting it from 6-9 weeknights!) Nothing was being said about gay marriage - which we were promised would NEVER happen only years ago by our elected liars - oh, sorry - that's supposed to be elected officials (same difference in most cases). We once again bought the lie that it is, "the economy stupid" that is the issue. Let me say in the strongest way I can, "It is not the economy - it is our lack of morals" that is the problem. Let me say even stronger, "It is a tasteless, unsalty church that is the worst of our problems in America." The church has been losing its saltiness since the 1950's - when it became vogue to have an affair outside of marriage - the church did not respond by falling on her knees and crying for revival and repentance. In the 1960's we were introduced to "free love" - which is nothing more than fornication dressed up in groovy clothes - the church did not respond by falling on her knees and begging for restoration and revival. The 1970's and 80's were the me-generations - with live being lived for self and self alone. The immorality increased - and pornography began to explode with the advent of videotape - the church mulled over church growth strategies and spoke of dealing with the un-churched, rather than the ungodly. The 90's gave rise to a growing homosexual movement that became more and more radical. This was inevitable to anyone who has read Romans chapter 1. The rejection of God through heterosexual immorality inevitably leads to rampant homosexuality. Because the church was not cleaning her own house, rocked by one sexual scandal after another, she had little voice in society. One might call that a serious loss of saltiness. In the 2000's and now in the 2010's all these problems are converging as atheists are rising, God is openly mocked, and more and more oppressive laws are being passed limiting the freedom of the church. I don't know if you see it yet - but the Supreme Court ruling should not have been such a shock to us. Neither should further rulings that allow us to be trodden under foot by men. The church has not been what she should be for generations now. The result of this is that freedom has been - and will continue to go away in our land. God is not pleased over the rampant innocent blood that is being shed - the rampant sexual immorality that is being advanced - and the rampant blasphemy and mocking of His name. He is also not pleased that the church is just kind of "treading water" in the midst of this. The church is more concerned with their creature comforts and comfortable living being taken away than they are with any moral decline that is happening in our land. How do I know this? I know it because we have yet to hit our knees in pray that inconveniences us on a daily basis. My prediction is that November 5th, 2012 will make little if any difference in the moral trajectory of our nation. In all that is being argued leading up to this election - almost none of it even concerns the moral failings of our nation evidenced by heterosexual immorality, homosexuality, and abortion. They will barely even be blips on the political radar. The only difference that will happen in the Fall is that we will determine how fast we go down the toilet as a nation. Since none of the real causes are being addressed - I have little hope that they will be after the heat of the election is over. What should we do in light of the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare? Honestly . . . if we do not come to the point where we fall to our knees in repentance and brokenness over sin - nothing we do politically will really matter in the end. The church should repent - over this decision - as well as any other that comes after it. Our problems do not ultimately rest on the greatly undermined Republic in which we live. They rest on the character and godliness of the people voting those who represent it into office. Our hope lies in the mercy of God moving in our hearts to drop us to our knees. Saints of God - we have only one chance - and that is that we see a coast to coast movement of broken-hearted, sin-confessing, God-honoring prayer. Our one chance is that the church will turn from sin and turn to God - then turn to intercessory prayer. Our one hope is that there will be a heaven-sent, world-shaking revival that will so stop sin in its tracks that we will once again see the church making inroads to sin - not the other way around. Oh to see hundreds of thousands - even millions coming to Christ, throwing off their sin and embracing Jesus with all their hearts. Oh to see churches overflowing their parking lots for prayer meetings - and for meetings where seekers hear the gospel of Jesus Christ preached without apology. This is our hope - this and this alone. Bottom line - this ruling by the Supreme Court only shows me that the church continues in her faltering slouch toward saltlessness. It comes as no surprise that God is removing all protection so that the oppression of an ever-expanding government will continue to tread her underfoot. I am not shocked that a president who is acting more and more like a dictator is rising. It would not shock me if we even saw a takeover and martial law declared so that the November elections don't even happen. We are being stepped on, saints of God, and it is actually a biblical thing we are experiencing. The only way to stop the trampling is to repent, return, and fall to our knees in prayer. We have never needed the admonition of 2 Chronicles 7:14 more than we do in the shadows of this most recent decision. "If 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 7:14 ) |
 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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