Edition 280. 7^th October.

The tragedy of ignoring God’s warnings:

The tragedy of ignoring God’s warnings:

Introduction:

You can dance through this life all you like, but it is the dance of death if you don’t know the Saviour.

The tragedy is that many people don’t even know that they need a Saviour, never mind knowing who He is! Most are stone deaf to the warnings of our Lord. That does not make the consequences of ignoring the warnings go away.

Whose tune are you dancing to?

“Dance me to the end of love...with a burning violin,”  sang Leonard Cohen. This beautiful and tragic song was actually inspired by the Holocaust, says Cohen. While the death camps were conducting mass murder, Jewish string quartets were being forced to conduct performances for the Nazis, only to be executed themselves shortly afterwards and have their violins burnt up.

To the unsaved world, here are your dance instructions:

Dance you fools, dance to all the devil’s tunes, Dance till the end of grace. Dance to the coming judgement, dance you fools, dance! Dance to Satan’s violins. Dance the dance of the wicked, you fools.

Dance the Dance Macarbe of death. Dance the dance of the demon Valkyries riding invisibly through the sky.

The unsaved don’t even know that are dancing to the devil’s tunes even now.

The tragic Holocaust will soon be eclipsed with a new Holocaust in Israel and the most intense, severe Holocaust upon the whole world for seven years.

God warned and warned and is still warning of soon coming judgement upon Israel and the world. Our Lord wept over Jerusalem, knowing that His people would reject Him and His warning, bringing upon themselves almost 2000 years of suffering.

But the true church is dancing to another tune. We have been judged. We have received all the judgment of the cross and been raised with Him to newness of life. Our dance is the dance of victory, the dance of holiness, righteousness and supreme glory.

Dance me to Your majesty Lord, with a beautiful violin. Dance me through the panic until I’m safely in. Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove. Dance me to never-ending love.

Rejecting God’s warning:

If you know your Bible and if you’ve studied it under the direction of the Spirit of God, you will have had the carpet pulled out from under your spiritual feet numerous times. You would have taken note of and taken heed to the many severe and dramatic warnings.

Here is the tragic end picture - the end of the story! The verse below is God giving up on those who have rejected Him and His warnings over and over again.

Revelation 22:11 “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still, he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; He who is righteous, let him be righteous still, he who is holy, let him be holy still.”

What a terrible tragedy to be given up by God, to be handed over to the god of darkness.

Do you see that there is a limit to what God puts up with? Here are a few more verses full of gravity.

Daniel 12:10 “Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.”

Isaiah 26:10 “Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness...He will not behold the majesty of the Lord.”

God’s grace is about to run out. Of course His grace on a personal level will always be there and always be available to those who call on Him and follow Him. But in the more general sense, it’s just about over.

Genesis 6:3 “The Spirit of God will not strive with man forever.”

The song and dance of death for those who reject our Lord will be an eternal cry and act of regret.

Warning to the watchmen:

The verse below presents the duty of the watchmen – note that it’s a very serious calling with various consequences for the watchmen if not obeyed.

Ezekiel 3:17-19 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die, ’ and you give him no warning, that wicked man shall die in his sin; but his blood I shall require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, he shall die in his sin, but you will have delivered your soul.

But there are also serious consequences for the watchman who speaks falsely in the name of the Lord. This is not a watchman who is obediently watching for the signs of the times. This is a person who speaks directly in the name of the Lord. This is the one who says “The Lord spoke to me in a dream,” or “the Lord spoke audibly to me”, and then what was claimed to be the Lord does not come to pass.

Deuteronomy 18:20 “The prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall surely die.”

Jeremiah 14:15 “The prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send...shall be consumed.”

In the Old Covenant, these false prophets were to be killed. We don’t do that now, but we must “kill” them in the sense of complete rejection. Personally, I know many who in their pride keep saying “The Lord told me” or “the Lord spoke to me in a dream” and the thing does not come to pass.

I will never receive a word from them again, they are dead to me. I encourage you also to totally reject such people. If you listen to these types you are in great danger of being led into deep deception.

Here is the word to the false prophets and watchmen of today – of the “me now” generation and those who want it all now. This is the word to the modern church seeking another motivational message and how to “find your life in the world”:

Isaiah 30:10-14 (Amp) “They say to the seers ‘See not; and to the prophets, prophesy not what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceitful illusions. Get out of the true way, turn aside out of the path, cease holding up before us the Holy One of Israel. Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, because you despise and spurn My word and trust in cunning and oppression (of the righteous), in crookedness and perverseness, and rely on them; Therefore, this guilt shall be to you as a broken high wall and ready to fall, whose crash will come suddenly and swiftly, in an instant.”

Please note the severity upon even the Lord’s watchmen and those who prophesy in His name. Reject this severe warning at your own peril!

The days of intense idiocy

The Bible plots the course of this age succinctly. It culminates in the “days of Noah and Lot”. The characteristics of those days are said to be the main characteristics of these end-times just before the coming of the Lord.

Those were days of extreme violence, aggressive homosexuality, and also a time of complacency in the face of warning. Because people ignored His warning, did God hold back on judgement? Not a chance!

Today we are in a world characterised by rejection of God, His word, its principles and its warnings. Here are a few verses showing what idiots so many people are!

Jeremiah 6:10 “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.”

Can you imagine ignoring God’s warnings in these days after so many examples of people, whole nations and the world being destroyed by God after His warning.

By the way, God always warns before He brings significant judgement.

So why are we not seeing the big demonstrative judgements of God now? Simply because we are now still in the dispensation of grace, long-suffering and the mercy of God. But that is all about to change. It will most probably be within a year!

The tribulation period contains the most intense judgements the world has ever seen or ever will. Approximately 4 billion people will die in the seven-year tribulation.

Today there are just over eight million people in Israel. According to the verse below that means about 5 million will die in the tribulation in Israel alone.

Zechariah 13:8-9 “It shall come to pass in all the land says the Lord, that two thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one third shall be left in it. I will bring one third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’, and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’

There is one big overriding reason amongst all the lesser reasons for this and that is because Israel has and still rejecting her Messiah.

Warnings to the world, the church and Israel:

God’s warnings in scripture are divided into a number of categories. There are some that are personal, some that are for whole nations and some for the world. Some are for the believers in the church and others for the unsaved. So we need to rightly divide and apply the applications.

We see horrific warnings ignored bringing consequences of disaster on the world in the days of Noah, Lot, Nineveh, Jericho and others.

We see a large part of the church being warned and told it will be rejected, spewed out of God’s mouth. We see much of the church being warned that it will grow cold and fail! We see individuals being warned and “handed over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh.” (1 Corinthians 5:5, 1 Timothy 1:20)

We know that many will heed the warnings in the tribulation period. It will be too late for them to become part of the church as such, but they will still go through into the Millenium.

But many will reject the warnings even as they are doing right now. They will be taken over by a satanic spirit that will cause them to come actively against God and His people.

Revelation 16:11 “And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores, and did not repent of their deeds.”

 Revelation 16:9 “And men were scorched with great heat and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.”

The two verses above are so shocking they are almost unbelievable! In the midst of God’s judgement people turn on God, the one who created every atom of their being and has the keys of heaven and hell.

It’s one thing to be deceived or to be uninformed about what’s going on. But to turn wilfully against the living God while He is acting in His wrath and fury is beyond belief! What comes after this is eternal regret!

The warning to the true church is different. There is no warning of hell, as that has all been taken care of already at the cross. But we do still have to adjust our ways and “examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Are we going the right way from a doctrinal point of view? Are we using the scriptures under the leading of the Spirit of God. If we are it will “hurt” us before comforting us. The Bible says that we are to “consider the goodness and severity of God.” The word of God will always be at odds with the ways of the world and the flesh-nature.

Philippians 3:10 “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

Have you been imprisoned by God? Are you a bond-slave and prisoner to His word? If you are, you are truly free indeed.

Warnings now:

You can dismiss all the recent signs and continue your dance of death, or you can heed the signs. The recent signs in the blood moons, and all the others of September, point towards an escalation of events. The pieces of the giant jigsaw puzzle are falling into place fast.

War is coming fast, but not just any old war! We are on the doorstep of the major wars of Isaiah 17 (Damascus), Ezekiel 38 & 39 (Russia and her allies), Psalm 83 (Various Arab nations). We are not there yet. We await Israel’s involvement, but things are intensifying.

For us who know the truth, know the plot of these things, and know our Lord, these are exciting times. We have the incredible privilege of repentance now, of preparing ourselves and our lifestyles for the coming King. We are in a position to be right with God on all fronts, giving us untold security, stability, confidence and comfort as the world dances its way to hell.

1 Corinthians 2:16 “To one, we are the aroma of death to death and to the other the aroma of life.

Heeding the warnings and going God’s way:

My greatest passion, almost more than eschatology is to know my Lord and His word. It is to know Him and make Him known. It is to give myself completely to Him for His purposes.

God’s word if rightly applied must hurt you. It must make you bleed. But this is all for the glory which is on the far side of the cross. As you embrace the cross, it cuts and scars you and sets you gloriously free.

It is the cross of Calvary that destroys sin and the power of sin, but it is your own cross that deals with the will to sin. This is the battleground, but the good news is that with the power of sin defeated, victory in all areas is possible.

You will find it difficult to resist the growing intensity of sin now, if you continuously and willingly give yourself to it. If you reject God’s warnings now and make it into the tribulation period, you will be hit with unrestrained sin and unrestrained wrath as a result.

But when you battle with sin and overcome you will be become a special, valuable prize to and for our Lord. God will give you a new name. That name is A.B. Normal. You will forever be gloriously abnormal to the world!

We are now entering a time where evil supernatural forces will become common. Great deception will intensify. The Bible says that he (the antichrist) “will go out from us, but was not of us.” He will go out in close association with the church. In fact, many antichrists have done just the same thing.

Let me warn you that God’s word spoken by an antichrist becomes evil, not good. The spirit of antichrist will use it to achieve his ends. Don’t be deceived by even one word coming from Francis! Every single word including the words out of the Bible are a spiritually charged trap. The Bible says of itself that it can produce life or death. (2 Corinthians 3:6).

The media are doing a monumental job of presenting and painting counterfeit Christianity as the answer and people are dancing to their tune in great numbers.

You can’t get to heaven on the basis of good works my friend. You can only get there on the basis of the cross and blood of Messiah.

The central point and key to Christianity is not love, peace and unity. It is truth and its use and application. We are to be the custodians of truth. The centrality of Christianity is the cross. Love and peace are fruits. You don’t exalt the fruit above the tree. The tree is the truth of the cross.

1 Timothy 3:15 “The church of the living God is the pillar and foundation of the truth."

No one is good, not even one. That means that no one can and will be saved based on their good. It also means that only divine or purified good is acceptable to God.

I recall on many occasions getting stuck in mud or sand in my 4x4 in the deserts of Southern Africa. Digging out and getting going again was a relief, but I always ended up covered in mud and dirt. We have a destination as believers. There are pitfalls along the way. We get dirty just picking up the “dust and dirt” of the world that we walk though.

We have 1 John 1:9 to cleanse us as we go and we have the privilege of “judging ourselves now that we be not judged.” The great news is that we are on the way to holiness, purity and deep eternal peace, although these things are already in us by the Spirit.

We are in the incredibly favourable position of being made righteous in Spirit, and we are becoming righteous in thought, mind, character and all our ways.

God works from the inside (new-birth) to the outside in the believer’s life, by faith and grace. Satan works in all other religions from the outside to inside and operates in law and works.

Some of the current signs:

Right now we are fast-moving times. The signs of coming judgement are all around us and intensifying. Here are some of them on the stage now:

●Russia increases military activity in Syria. Iran is very happy with her ally, Russia’s presence.

●Israel warns Iran to keep its distance from Israel’s borders.

●Gaza rockets fired into Israel again.

●Hamas says “All Israel is ours.”

●The Temple Mount is “brewing”.

●Jordan’s King Abdullah threatens Israel over the Temple Mount.

●Hezbollah to get a huge military supply from Russia.

●The E.U. calls for a Palestinian State after murders.

●Palestinians are not committed to Oslo or any other accords (Abbas at the UN.)

●Palestinian flag raised at the UN. There is no state of Palestine (Look it up.)

These headlines above are all recent. They all have Biblical prophetic implications. So what is the warning? There is not much any of us can do except be aware and maintain a walk of repentance.

The great tragedy is that so few believers are even aware of these things. When last did you hear a local church teach on any of these things, unless you go to JD Farag’s church in Hawaii, that is!

Finally:

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

John 12:35 “...Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.”

There is coming a time very soon when deep spiritual darkness will fall upon this world. In fact, we are already in the forerunners of it. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. The time to seek the Lord with all diligence is now!

Chose this day whom you will dance with to the end of time!

I took this picture early in the morning at the top of the Fish River Canyon, Namibia.

Shalom and grow in grace!