“Good News to those who Know and Love Jesus” – R. Nelson
BIBLE MEDITATION:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:14
ENCOURAGING WORD:
With all the evil and bad news that is circulating around the world, rest assured, “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, Romans 8:28. Most people are running around in fear and once they believe that which they fear turns out to be reality, the next step is this, they all of a sudden turn to God, the God whom they wanted nothing to do with prior to the crisis. Sound familiar? I can tell you that once this pandemic that we are currently experiencing is past, and it will be, and all is clear to go back to church, the churches will once again be full for a short period of time as is the case with every crisis we had to endure. 911 was the last event in which this scenario proved to be true. God has constantly given us warning after warning that we need to turn to Him and believe on Jesus Christ for redemption and our only propitiation for our sins. 2 Peter 3:9; tells us why, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God is not willing that any should parish, but unfortunately because of the hardness of man’s heart most of the world will continue to reject His free gift of grace! The same thing happened to Israel back in the Biblical days where God warned them time after time about coming judgements that would come upon them if they didn’t return to their Jewish roots. The final straw that broke the camel’s back was when they rejected their Messiah (Jesus Christ) and crucified Him on a cross of wood, yet He made the hill on which it stood.
If God turned on His chosen people and declared temporary judicial blindness to them for which we now know has lasted two thousand years, what makes us in America think that we will not suffer a similar fate? God’s prophetic clock can and will stop soon for the age of grace and those that have not received Jesus Christ will suffer a fate much more harsh than the Jews ever suffered and if you can remember the Holocaust, you might get the picture. Here is a promise from God that I believe is coming soon, Isaiah 26:21; “For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” God has been patient with us for two thousand years, the time is almost up! We are being bombarded with signs that God told us to watch for just before the second coming of Jesus Christ! Matthew 24:6-7; “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.” You cannot open a newspaper or turn on a news channel without hearing all the horrible news that is happening in our world! I remember as a child, if we heard about a murder once a year it was big news, now we hear about it every day and think nothing of it because we are so accustomed to hearing that kind of news. We have become numb to all the violence to the point where we accept it as the normal way of life, or should I say death!
Now to get into the good news about all of this. God said that these things must happen before Jesus can return to set up His millennial kingdom. Revelation 20:1-3 tells us, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.” There are those that teach that this has all happened in the past. If Satan has ever been bound in chains, I would like to know when! If we are living in the millennial kingdom now as some denominations teach, then I would have to say, Satan’s chain is way too long! The seven year period of time that I believe is coming soon will be the last seven year period on earth as we know it today. When exactly, nobody knows. But the Bible gives us many signs to be looking out for just before this time will come to earth, and those of us who have been watching as we are instructed to do, believe that everything is in place for the final showdown between good and evil is near. I can tell you with 100% certainty, “good” will prevail, and evil will be defeated. I know the end of the book. It will be a time when God will judge those that have rejected His Son, Jesus Christ, and a time to bring Israel to their knees in repentance! The good news is that if you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you have been born-again into the Holy Spirt, you will not be present during this time. As scary as it may feel some days, remember, God is in control. Those that have trusted in Jesus Christ for their propitiation for their sins will be with Him for all eternity. These things “MUST” happen. Luke 21: 36; tells us, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Are you praying and watching like it says, so that you will escape all these things that will come to pass?
With all this being said, I want to let you know that this is a very controversial subject among the Christian churches of today. I believe what is stated above is truth, but there are those that will oppose this doctrine, so it is up you to be a Berean and search the scriptures for yourself and let the Holy Spirit be your guide. We read in 2 Peter 1:21; “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Therefore if the Holy Spirit revealed Biblical prophecy to holy men of God, then it is only the Holy Spirit that can interpret prophecy to us today through His scriptures. You need to be born-again and filled with the Holy Spirit to be able to understand what the Bible teaches including the 30% that teaches on Bible prophecy. Keep this in mind, just because you may be taught in your denominational church that the teaching above is not true doesn’t mean that they are right. There are many false doctrines circulating within the church today that are leading many people astray. We read this truth is 2 Timothy 4:3; “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” I believe this time is at hand. I may be wrong, but I will not take the chance that I am and continue to live as if He isn’t coming for a long time. Three of the largest churches in America are of this teaching. Here is another verse in the scriptures that is happening at an extraordinary pace, 2 Peter 3:4; “and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” People have been hearing for quite a while now that Jesus is coming soon and they are slowly falling away from that truth. The biggest problem is this, there have been so many false teachers that have been setting dates that never came to fruition, so over time they have tarnished Christianity and the real truth that Jesus is coming and it could be soon. It may be a while, but why not act as if He is coming tomorrow so that you are ready regardless of when He comes. Do not let these false teachers destroy your faith in Christianity, that is the work of Satan. Here is short verse that tells us who these people are, 2 Corinthians 11:14; “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” All those who are turning the hearts of men away from God are Satan’s Soldiers.
ACTION POINT:
My friends, it is really quite simple. Do you believe what the Bible says, or do you believe in what the world is telling us? There are so many false teachers that are doing the will of Satan, the only way for you to truly know the truth is by reading the Word of God for yourself. There is no other way to be sure. Once again we read in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 which gives us this message about what we are seeing in our world today, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” God has written in advance everything that we need to know before His return. If you are a true born-again believer, you will be going home soon! Just be patient! If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, know this, there is still time, but we do not know how much time. Don’t gamble with your eternity and think you have a lots of time, you may and you may not! I personally do not believe that there is much time left, but that is my opinion! If you do not believe that these things are going to take place, you have every right to your beliefs but known this, but also know this, what we believe in eschatology (a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind) will not be what gets you into heaven, Jesus has already paid for that for you. But above all, you do need to repent of your sins, receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and become born-again into the Holy Spirit. You can do absolutely nothing to earn salvation, but knowing what Jesus told us to watch for just before His return, gives us that sense of urgency to let the world know the time is near. I believe that sense of urgency is among us. Believe what you will, you will be held accountable for what you believe and how you live according to Gods commands. Matthew 7:16-20 teaches us this wisdom, “You will know them (true believers) by their fruits. (There testimony of Jesus Christ) Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their (true believers) fruits you will know them. ” Words mean nothing if actions do not accompany them. If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, the way you live your life will give witness to that fact. Ask Jesus Christ into your life today, for we never know what a day will bring! “Written To the glory of God, Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!
From our Chaplin- R. Fritz
Good News to those who Love Jesus
We that are born again with Jesus Christ have been blessed and some day will be with Jesus Christ. The Lord has put on my heart to talk about people that have lost loved ones and are still grieving. I am speaking from my experience of losing my son 5 years ago at 33 years old. The Lord wants me to reach out to anybody and to let you know Jesus loves you and wants what is best for you. That might be hard for some of the people who have been grieving for a while. The secret weapon I had was the Holy Spirit. The Comforter talked about in John 14:26-27 and this is Jesus speaking “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” The Holy Ghost will comfort you if you trust in him. When I look back at that day, when I found out that my son died, I asked the Lord, why did you take him. Two days later the Holy Spirit answered my question. Some people told me I should not asked that question, I disagreed and got the answer. James 1:5-6 says “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” You are always allowed to ask a question, if you ask with faith and are expecting him to answer. He will answer in his time. I asked God if he could give me a month off to grieve. A month went by and I asked God if I could have a couple more weeks. One thing I learned was to focus on Jesus Christ as much as possible. That is what got me through the grieving process. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Notice it says that I can do “all” things through Christ. That Is why I focused on him because when I took my eyes off from Jesus, Satin would try to flood my mind and try to get me to blame God for my son dying. We forget Satin is the accuser and he is constantly looking to drive a wedge between the Lord and us. I have also learned lately how Satin is trying to drive a wedge between other Christians and myself. This is what most people do not understand. Without the Holy Spirit, people do not notice that Satin is trying to manipulate your thoughts and feelings and we do not see what is really going on. We have to trust in the Lord to what happens to our family, the Lord knows what is best. Satin will use your thoughts and add on his thoughts or projections. We believe that these thoughts are from ourselves and could push us down the road of anger, then actually blaming God or other people. Romans 12:2 says “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” If we look at what is going on in the world right now you can see how Satin is using the feelings and thoughts of people and adding his thoughts to move people to act and make matters worse.
We need to remember that “perfect love” cast out fear. 1 John 4:16-18 says “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because of fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” We need to understand that perfect love is Jesus who is God in the flesh. We also need somebody to remind us that perfect love can stop fear and Satin which are spirits. You might ask, how do I get that perfect love? The answer is Jesus Christ if you don’t know him. The answer for people who do know Jesus is praising Jesus, studying the bible, praying, or promoting the relationship with Jesus. When Jesus died, the Holy Ghost was sent by the Father in the name of Jesus. I have this verse at the top or go to John 14:26. These couple verses about perfect love in 1 John 4:16-18 are so powerful, meaning when the Holy Ghost is present or you stir up that Holy Spirit in you, Satin cannot operate. The person we blame the most is ourselves self and we forget to forgive. We are very hard on our self. Let’s remember the grace given to us by the Lord. I pray now that anybody that is grieving and needs the Lord’s help to be given the wisdom and understanding to get through the grieving process and are able to move on with their life.