Edition 434: September 11^th 2018

“Be perfect.”

Introduction:

Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Biblical perfection is not necessarily in magnitude but in character and nature. An apple may be perfect but not ripe yet. So, being perfect is relative to where the individual is in his walk with our Lord. A Christian saved for one week can perfect in his one-week of experience. The measure is God, and it is relative to His definition of sin.

All true believers in our Lord are on the verge of great, wonderful, magnificent things, too amazing to be fully comprehended or even imagined. Personally, I feel the growing excitement in the air!

Rosh Hashanah:

Today is Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), the first of the fall feasts. This is the Jewish New Year. This convocation is also called the day of new beginnings. It is traditionally the beginning of Israel’s judgement and repentance – the “days of awe.”

People like setting New Year’s resolutions. It’s a man made effort at being better.

For the Christian, our resolution is repentance, which is called for on a regular basis, which clears us for new beginnings as we move forward.

The Feast of Trumpets marks the beginning of the new dispensation as the church age closes.

We are very close to our great, spectacular, magnificent new beginning in new supernatural bodies. If it’s not today, then maybe tomorrow, or else very soon! Either way, we are to be ready. Time is running out fast!

Jacob’s severe trouble:

The rapture marks the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period. (And no there will be no gap between the two) It is also called the time of “Jacob’s trouble,” and the “seventieth week” (of years) of Daniel, as well as a few other names.

The biblical “restrainer” of wickedness is the church indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The antichrist can only be revealed once the restrainer is gone. This antichrist will be an individual filled with and empowered by Satan, for seven years. He will be the world’s greatest deceiver.

The world today is full of evil and sin, but let me tell you that it’s a picnic compared to what’s coming! We still do have a degree of restraint in the world today. With the restrainer totally removed there will be totally unrestrained lawlessness, evil and wild sin.

The tribulation will be rich and thick with curses of all descriptions. Under the power of a curse you are dragged around by forces you can’t see or control. Doctrines of demons will be at work like never before. There will only be a very limited ministry of the gifts.

There will be great trouble in the form of natural upheavals and disasters, some a result of supernatural warfare.

The mass-media in the tribulation period:

The whole world will be under the curse of deception, blindness, and slavery to sin. It will be in a media / Satan created “utopian” nightmare of tumultuous times and torment led by the manic maniac of the world – Satan.

Unrestrained evil in the tribulation period will be supported and spearheaded by the mass-media. The media is the voice of the world. They are therefore the voice of the god of the world – Satan. (2 Corinthians 4:4) They are therefore the voice of the antichrist in the tribulation period. They will represent Satan’s last stand – on steroids! (Revelation 12:12)

At this time there will be a large group in heaven rejoicing! (Revelation 12:12)

Mark 13:21 “Then (in the tribulation) if anyone says to you, ‘look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘look He is there!’ do not believe it.”

Who is the “anyone” in the verse above? Obviously, it would be mainly the media. Please note the powerful, underlined words in the verse above – “Do not believe it.”

(As I wrote these words above, I received an email from someone claiming to be Jesus!)

Matthew 18:7 “Woe to the world because of its offences. (Stumbling blocks)

Again, this verse above applies perfectly to the mass-media and their creation of and support of social, moral, and political offences, which will all intensify in the tribulation.

Proverbs 28:4 “Those who forsake (and reject) the law and word of God, praise the wicked.”

The media will be central in promoting and delivering Satan to the tribulation world. To those saved in the tribulation: “Do not believe them.”

We, the church, are the ‘light of the world”. With the church gone in rapture, deep spiritual darkness will be here 24/7, with unrestrained evil.

In the tribulation, the media empowered by Satan, will be the “light” that shines darkness and deception into the world. They will betray the living God – they will have to.

The antichrist is called “The son of perdition.” The only other person given that title in the Bible is Judas the betrayer. Betrayal flies on the wings of deception.

Some Spirit-less churches will be advocates and ambassadors for the antichrist in the tribulation. (Revelation 2:22, 3:15-16)

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (Amp) “Now I am fearful that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere, pure devotion to Messiah. For you seem ready to endure the preaching of another Yeshua, other than the One who was preached, and you receive a different spirit and a different gospel from the one you received.”

Good bye dung heap!

Philippians 3:8 “I count things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Yeshua the Messiah for whom I have suffered this loss, and count them as rubbish (Lit=dung) that I may gain Messiah.”

When you have tasted of the age to come, (Hebrews 6:5) you are absolutely spoilt for this world. You see it differently. You see it as dung! Are you living in a dung heap – you had better be! If not you’re blind. Yes, you can make your dung heap pretty, but it will wither away as all dung does.

There is a staggering contrast revealed throughout the Bible between the beauty of holiness, perfection and the things of the world, which are all polluted with Satan’s influence and presence.

The radical Christian can’t fit in with the world – Be thankful for that.

Truth must separate from error, and sin from holiness. Yes mercy triumphs over judgement, but not all the time. God’s grace has limits.

The radical Christian is a passionate fanatic! He loves more than you do. Is that why you don’t like radicals? The radical is a loving conformist and vicious non-conformist. He conforms in surrender to the Spirit of the living God, and stands against and opposed to the spirit of the world, and the traditions of man, and even to his own self-life.

Radicals beget radicals. The lukewarm beget spineless, weak, feeble, half-baked sell-outs.

A surprising rapture verse:

Romans 11:25-26 “I do not desire brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so, all Israel will be saved...”

The term “Has come in,” is Strong’s G1525, which could also be translated: “To come to life.”

The end of the time of the Gentiles is the key, because that’s exactly when God’s urgent work switches over to Israel.

This verse can only be a reference to the largely Gentile church and the rapture. That’s when we come to real life! That’s when all Israel will be saved. It all fits in well. Remember that God’s work with the Jews starts “suddenly!”

The consummation of the church age:

We are now at the consummation of this dispensation of the grace of God. Great end-time cosmic and earthly upheavals and disturbances will soon begin creating worldwide stress, disquiet, depression and desperation.

As we look across God’s great timelines we see a revolutionary revelation! We are but a miniscule drop in the ocean of time and eternity, and yet we are just at the starting point of our eternal journey and purpose with our King and Saviour.

In His light we see light, and we see our wonderful inheritance lying ahead.

Acts 26:18 Paul’s ministry: “To open their eyes, and to turn then from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

The veil will be snatched away over our lives in an atomic flash at the rapture. We will suddenly be revealed in our true, immortal, incorruptible, eternal state. That’s what you call the lifting of a veil! Even all creation (nature) is awaiting our being revealed. (Romans 8:19)

The veil of spiritual blindness upon the Jews is about to be snatched away too. But they will remain on earth with all the tribulation saints for seven years.

Bear in mind that the veil of spiritual blindness upon all unbelievers will be lifted at the Great White Throne Judgement. They will see the Messiah – too late, and then they will see their eternal companions in hell. They will see the multitudes of demons that have been their unseen companions.

The leaders of the mass-media will be there in hell, as well as their puppet news anchors. Also there will be: Herod, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Saddam, Gaddafi, Brezhnev, Batista, Castro, Freud, Skinner, Rogers, Jung, Van Gogh, Picasso, Gandhi, Mandela, Lennon, Jackson, Jobs, Diana, Hawking and a host of other famous people. Did I just name one of your heroes? – Tough!

I can’t give a list of living, famous hell-bound people because they still have time to repent.

Do you think famous people won’t go to hell? Many idiots think so. Have a look at this verse:

Revelation 20:12-15 “I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God and books were opened...Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The international tribulation religion:

Whenever a ministry does not teach regularly on the cross, it is under the power of witchcraft! Galatians 3:1 speaks of the “bewitching power of legalism obscuring the cross.” The cross and the word of God were the defeat of Satan. Yeshua spoke powerful words to Satan – “It is written...”

If it is only the cross and blood of Yeshua that cleanses from all sin, how can you be cleansed from sin by trying to reach God another way?

People think that their good works will save them. They think God would never send anyone to hell. They think they are more good than bad, and the scale will tip in their favour. Any religion will do, as long as the word “God” is somewhere in it!

It is the doing of works and keeping of laws that they think will save them. They come against anyone who doesn’t keep their set of laws their way! They are all of the spirit of witchcraft.

1 Samuel 15:23 “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft...”

Rebellion is contagious. It influences others and they all go down the path to hell together.

The universal, international religion of the world is witchcraft – all cursed. (Jeremiah 17:6)

The only way to create a perfect world of love and peace is with no sin and evil in it, and that only comes through the cross.

True peace only comes from true biblical freedom, which only comes from the embrace of the entirety of God’s word, the cross of Calvary, humility and the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 119:165 “Great peace have those who love your law (word) and nothing causes them to be offended.”  

The Spirit-filled believer has a certain fragrance around him. It comes from the brokenness of the cross, just like the fragrance coming from the “alabaster box” when it was broken. It is beautiful, a miraculous mystery, illusive but present. (John 12:3) It is that fragrance of God that some people hate and others love.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 “Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Messiah, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Messiah, among those who are being saved, and those who are perishing! To one we are the aroma of death, and to the other the aroma of life to life.”

We don’t aspire to being exalted now. We humble ourselves now, but don’t lose sight of what is coming very soon! Have a look at this incredible verse relating to what is coming:

Job 36:7 “He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them there forever and they are exalted.”

Perfection:

In the Bible one of the calls of the trumpet is to holiness (Zephaniah 3:11-20)

We will soon all be absolutely perfect as we enter eternity. We are perfect now in our re-created, born-again spirits. We are becoming perfect in soul as we apply the cross in our walk.

You absolutely cannot be perfected by legalism or works. – Impossible! Not only is it impossible if you try you are cursed!

Galatians 3:10-11 “As many as are under the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ No one is justified by the law in the sight of God...the just shall live by faith.”

Today, many fall into the curse-trap of trying to be perfect or righteous by keeping their own little set of rules and laws. It is very subtle, but has tell-tale give-away signs.

The biggest sign of those under the curse- spell of legalism is that they attack and condemn those that don’t keep their laws their way. They quickly turn into dangerous vipers. If they could they would kill those that don’t obey them.

We see this so succinctly with the Pharisees when they tried to kill our Lord because He did not keep their laws their way. (John 5:18) – Read it!

We see this principle at work in numerous so-called ministries. We see it at work in Islam, as they kill those that won’t submit to their Sharia law. We see this so succinctly in the tribulation period as the world religion of the time martyrs the tribulation saints.

We saw this mass murder at work by the Catholics of the Inquisitions trying to control the world.

Hitler sought a world of perfection - a thousand-year millennium ruled by the Nazi Party, by killing all those who did not fit his view of the ideal man.

Legalistically religion has killed more in wars throughout history than any other cause.

All these ways of man are the corporate manifestation of cursed witchcraft in the true definition of the term. Run away from them all!

Yet amazingly and wonderfully, our Lord God, and King of kings will bring in a world of perfection and holiness, but it will be through the worldwide power of the ancient cross of Calvary and grace and faith. It will be the absolute final manifestation of pure love – forever.

We build our lives now in anticipation of glory to come, not according to the diseased design of man. We build with our Master builder:

Amos 7:7-8 “The Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line in His hand. He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ I said, ‘a plumb line.’ The He said, ‘behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel...’”

Ezekiel 13:10-11 “Say to those who plaster the wall with untempered mortar, that it will fall...the storm shall tear it down.”

So, in these two verses above we see that Israel will build with guidance of the Master builder and we see the consequences of careless building without Him.

This applies equally to Israel and the church now and the tribulation saints.

The great shock of many:

Right after the rapture, many professing Christians, left behind will suddenly see that they have “found their lives in the world.” They will see that what they have aspired to all their lives will instantly turn to dung.

They will suddenly have a million questions to ask themselves!

They will say: “What went wrong?” They will be shocked to find out that they professed to be Christians, but were not born again of the Spirit of God (See the “Salvation” link on right hand side of this website.)

Many will instantly be filled with fury and hatred for all things of God. They will curse God. Many will wisely repent and make it through to the Millennium. Many will be slaughtered on the way.

The Jews, believing that they are the chosen people, will suddenly be angry and jealous (Romans 10:19). They will begin the greatest national repentance ever seen. It will be deep and true, producing a most unexpected holiness as they become God’s chief evangelists of the tribulation.

The dry bones of the Jews will spring to life, with a new Spirit in them. (Ezekiel 37:12-14)

The dry bones of the mass media will remain dry and dead before being heated up in hell:

Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you scribes (media) and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness!”

Finally

Yes, we are perfect now, will be perfect forever, and we are becoming perfect while we wait. Please hurry up Lord!

The rapture will be the greatest, sudden act of mercy, forgiveness and love, but exclusive!

Rapture teaching constrains you and causes you to walk from perfection to perfection. Lack of it releases you to unrestrained worldliness and unholiness.

It’s time to be thankful for all that the Lord has done for you and for the entirety of the glory that lies ahead. Take time in your prayer and list all the things you can be thankful for.

And repent for all known sin in your life.

The cross of Calvary is not a destination. It is a principle leading to a destiny if correctly applied. And by the way, those on cross are not their own anymore. They’re at the total mercy of the Lord.

Dying, we conquer death and fly away!

This is one of my art works in which I’ve combined one of my photographs of the baobab tree with mixed media organic painting themes in an abstract style.

Shalom and grow in His Grace!