Understanding The End Of Days

By John Stallings


As we progress through a calendar year, we see certain signs & events all around us. If you’re anything like me, it’s usually the July 4th celebration that slips up on you & nips your nose first, letting you know the year is moving along.

Our lives are typically moving so fast that we next may be caught by surprise when we see a sign in our local grocery store advertising Halloween candies for sale.

Then we see Thanksgiving turkeys on sale & shortly after that we hear Christmas music & start to see Christmas decorations springing up around us. What a shock. How could another year be melting away? Time is marching on & the business world keeps reminding us.

There’s one teaching about the end of days that says God will send earthquakes & famines etc. [obviously this is happening now] as signposts along the way to let us know what time it is on His calendar. That’s true in a way.

However there’s another sense in which God isn’t doing that at all. The signal events we are now & will continue to witness around the world are the result of the earth itself crying out at the presence of its creator. Sound strange? Its not. The earth recognizes its Lord & calls out in greeting, crying out in testimony to Christ’s birth, crucifixion, resurrection & His coming again in glory. In Romans 8:19-22, Paul reminds us—The creation waits with eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay & brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for our adoption as sons the redemption of our bodies….
In Matthew 24, The Disciples asked Jesus when they could expect the end of the world to come. Jesus tells them of the many things that will transpire in the last days & makes a plea for men to be ready to meet Him.

I once heard a story about a young Bride who was going to elope. Her fiancé’ would come late that evening & call to her & she’d climb down a ladder to meet him. After dark, because she didn’t know exactly when he’d come she put on her wedding dress & threw an old housecoat over it so her family wouldn’t be the wiser. When she heard his call, all she’d need to do was throw off the old housecoat & go to meet her waiting husband to be.

This to me is a perfect illustration of we who are waiting with great expectation for the appearing of our Bridegroom Jesus Christ. Our worldly possessions are just an old “housecoat” we’ll fling aside & happily go to meet Him when we hear His clarion call.

THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS ISN’T ONE, BUT TWO PARTS

Part one is an event we call the “Rapture.” This is when Jesus will leap from the battlements of the sky & call those who’ve received Him as Savior to come home to heaven. At this time He’ll raise the believers who’ve already died & take those who are living to be with Him forever.

Part two will take place around seven years after part one. This event will see the return of Christ in glory & power. He will descend upon the world & will defeat all His enemies & will establish His Kingdom upon the earth. He will personally rule in peace for 1,000 years.

Both these events are equally important in the eternal scope of things. However to those of us who are alive at this present moment, the Rapture is of utmost importance. Why? Because it’s the next event on God’s calendar of prophetic events & it will happen. As a matter of fact it could happen as you read this message. That’s why it’s so important that we understand the end of the age & the great need to be ready to meet the Lord when He comes.

There are some who believe The Rapture will take place during the seven year Tribulation period but I believe the church will be taken out before God’s wrath is unleashed on earth. 1 Thess.5:9. The church is often mentioned in the first three chapters of Revelation but after a “catching up” in Revelation 4:1, it isn’t mentioned again until Rev.19:11-16. It’s obvious to me the Church has been taken away.

There are believers present during the entire Tribulation because they’ve been brought to faith by turning to Christ as their Messiah. However the Church itself isn’t mentioned in any tribulation passage.

The Bible gives many examples of signs that should warn us of the coming of the end of the age.

· Six such signs are given by Jesus.
· Two characteristics are given by Paul, &
· Twelve other occurrences are given by the prophets to occur prior to or soon after the end of the age.

While we are told we will not know the time of the end, God obviously wanted us to know when that time was getting closer. Unfortunately many Christians take the verses that we won’t know the time of His coming to mean they should ignore any & all scriptural warning of things to come.

Many churches are asleep & in isolation at the present time so God in His wisdom wants to show us a few signs to wake us up & remind us there is work to do. Others have fallen into the trap of fearing being labeled a “conspiracy theorists” should they display an interest in the Biblical prophecies about our future on Earth.

MY PHILOSOPHY IS SIMPLE……

God included it in the Bible & since God is all-knowing, we should trust that it is something we should know & study along with the rest of His Word.

Please understand; whether you believe in a pre-trib rapture as I do, or believe Christians will be witness to the full Tribulation, wrath & final judgment, the beginning of birth pains & the signs of the end of days should have the same effect on all of us. We should be motivated to do the work of evangelism in the time we have left. Incidentally, I’m pre-trib, but I’m also “pan-trib.” I believe everything’s going to “pan-out” fine for the Christian.

Coming now is a quick study of the signs God has given us of the impending end of days. I would encourage you not to take my word for what lies just ahead but study for yourself & be prepared for what is coming. Most importantly we should be prepared to share it with others.

SIX SIGNS GIVEN BY JESUS TO INDICATE HIS COMING & THE END OF DAYS

1. FALSE PROPHETS AND CHRISTS.

Matthew 24:5—For many will come in my name saying; I am Christ & will mislead many.

Matt.24:11—And many false prophets will arise & will mislead many.
Jim Jones & David Koresh are examples of these false Christs as well as thousand of others who aren’t quite as well known. There is an air of expectation in our day that seems to be waiting for the antichrist, even preparing the way for him to be accepted.

2. WARS

Matt.24:6---And you will be hearing of wars & rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened , for those things must take place but the end is not yet.

More people have been killed in warfare in the last one-hundred years than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East more & more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction.

There are currently 30 ongoing conflicts/wars worldwide. We typically only hear about a handful, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. but some regions have been at war for decades. Two new conflicts started in 2007.

3. FAMINES

Matt.24:7—For nation will rise against nation & kingdom against kingdom & in various places there will be famines & earthquakes.

If you follow the news you know that a large portion of the earth’s population is suffering from food shortage at present.

4. EARTHQUAKES—Matt. 24:7

The number & intensity of earthquakes this century is at a higher level at present than at any other time in history.

To cite one earthquake, the recent Sichuan earthquake in China measured 8.0 according to the China Seismological Bureau. The quake was felt as far away as 1,500 km where office buildings swayed with the tremor.

It was the deadliest & strongest quake to hit China since 1976 which killed 240,000 people. The recent quake left 68,109 confirmed dead with 364,552 injured & 19, 851 listed as missing.

The quake was followed by two major quakes which led to the collapse of 420,000 buildings & on Mat 25th, a major aftershock of 6.0 hit northeast of the original quake’s epicenter causing eight deaths & 927 injuries.

By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.

5. TRIBULATIONS

Matt. 24:8-9—But these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. Then they will deliver you to tribulation & will kill you & you will be hated by all nations on account of my name.

Christians are under attack throughout the world today. Of course this isn’t “The Tribulation” but rather “a tribulation.” In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than hatred or discrimination at work & school. However in many countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Russia & many other Muslim nations Christians suffer much greater persecution & often death for their faith.

These first five signs will increase in intensity & severity as the tribulation approaches much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery approaches.

6. THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

Matt. 24:14—And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations & then shall the end come.

This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries the translation of the Bible into many languages & the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe & via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches & offices.

TWO CHARACTERISTICS OF THE END OF THE AGE FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL

1. GODLESSNESS IN THE LAST DAYS

2 Timothy 3:1-7---But realize this that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of Godliness although they have denied its power’ always learning & never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

If you’ve watched television, read a newspaper, or just walked outside your front door its obvious the prophecy has & is being fulfilled by our generation.

2. APOSTASY—FALLING AWAY FROM THE FAITH

2 Timothy 4:1-3---But the spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits & doctrines of demons.
By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron men who forbid marriage & advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe & know the truth.

Many churches of our day have embraced homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle & preach tolerance & compromise in place of God’s truth for the salvation of the world. The environmentalist movement lures them into a worship of mother earth & other fallacies.

FULFILLMENTS OF BIBLE PROPHECY REQUIRED FOR THE END OF THE AGE

1. EXISTENCE OF A 200,000,000 MAN ARMY IN THE EAST

Revelation 9:16---And the number of the armies of horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

An army of this size had never existed until China’s army reached that number in the 1960’s.

2. REBUILDING OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE [EUROPEAN COMMUNITY]
Daniel 2:32-33---Daniel 2:40-43

The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman Empire according to Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The two legs are the division of the Roman Empire into an eastern part called the Byzantine Empire which ended in the 1400’s & a western part based in Rome which ended in the 400’s. Since the Roman Empire dissolved Europe has never formed one Empire again but has been separate nations. However the European Union now has 15 member States & is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern & southern European countries.

3. RETURN OF ONE PURE LANGUAGE, HEBREW, TO ISRAEL
Zephaniah 3:9---For I will return to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.

Prior to the restoration of Israel in 1948, Hebrew was a dead language. More & more Hebrew is spoken throughout Israel.

4. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE & RESTORATION OF TEMPLE WORSHIP
Revelation 11:2—Daniel 9:26-27

Some archaeologists believe the temple is actually 340 feet south of the Dome of the Rock site, putting the Dome of the Rock within the Court of the Gentiles. There are many groups already working on preparations for the new temple. The blueprints are done, the temple garments have been made & there have already been attempts to lay the cornerstone. The only thing standing in the way is Islam’s third holiest site, the Dome of the Rock & government
support for such an undertaking.

5. APPEARANCE OF THE RED HEIFER AFTER 2000 YEARS.

Numbers 19; 2-7 describes the Red heifer & how it will be required to be used in the process of purification. In 1997 the first Red Heifer was born in 2000 years. Another Red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.

6. INCREASE OF KNOWLEDGE

Daniel 12:4—But as for you Daniel, conceal these words & seal the book until the end of time; many will go back & forth & knowledge will increase.

Billy Graham was quoted as saying, “ninety percent of all engineers & scientists who have ever lived are alive today.”

7. RETURN OF THE ETHIOPIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL

Zephaniah 3:10-11—From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my worshippers my dispersed ones will bring my offerings….

In 1984 Operation Moses saw the airlift of 15,000 Jews who had fled to the refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation. Operation Solomon flew 20,000 Jews to Israel from Ethiopia itself.


8. THE RISE OF RUSSIA

In order for some end time events to occur, Russia will have to be a strong nation with a strong military.

Ezekiel 38:2, 4, 8-Son of man set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog the prince of Rosh, Meshech & Tubal and prophecy against them. I will turn you about & put hooks in your jaws & I will bring you out………

9. RETURN OF RUSSIAN JEWS TO ISRAEL

Jeremiah 23:7-8—Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up & led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land & from all the countries where I have driven them. Then they will live on their own soil.

In the 1970’s & 80’s there was a mass exodus of Russian Jews out of Communist Russia. In 1999 the AP reported a dramatic increase in number of Jewish immigrants from Russia bringing the largest number of Russian Jews to Israel since the 1990’s.

10. TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MARK OF THE BEAST

Revelation 13:16-17—And he causes all the small & the great & the rich & the poor & the free men & the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead & he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell except the ones who have the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

This technology is already in use. In 2002 a Florida family had VeriChips implanted. The device is made of silicon & called a VeriChip. It’s a small radio transmitter about the size of a piece of rice that is injected under a person’s skin. It transmits a unique personal ID number whenever it’s within a few feet of a special receiver unit. Alzheimer’s patients & others will possibly, sooner or later have these chips implanted for their protection. VeriChip’s maker describes it as “a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device [RFID] that can be used in a variety of security, emergency & health care applications.”

Is this the biochip the mark of the beast will use under command of the coming man of sin? We don’t really know but what is significant is that people are being softened to the idea of a mark or an implant as a means of security, medical info & maintaining & regulating a more interdependent world. It doesn’t take a genius to see how the Antichrist's mark will easily be introduced to the world.

11. PLANS FOR A ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT

Suffice to say that The United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, UN peacekeeping/police force, numerous UN & other agencies are preliminary steps to the formation of a one world government.

The increasing terrorist threat & the middle east conflict will only speed up the formation of this governing body as fear & promises of better security make people more willing to give up their national sovereignty for global governance.

12. INSTANT COMMUNICATION AROUND THE WORLD

REV.11:3,7-10---And I will grant authority to my two witnesses & they will prophecy for twelve hundred & sixty days, clothed in sackcloth…….
Television & the 24-hour news networks make it possible for people around the world to see the dead prophets & rejoice at their deaths.

Personally I look forward to the Rapture because it will mean a total release of the stress & struggles of this life. There is nothing in this world I desire to hold onto. I will simply leave this old world with its problems & ascend to heaven where I will enjoy the presence of the Lord & His Saints forever.

I’ve always assumed the people who read my blog & others like it are already saved people & assured of going in the Rapture. Are you sure about what will happen to you when Jesus comes? If He came right now would you be left to endure the Tribulation? If there’s the slightest doubt about your relationship with the Lord, why don’t you give Him your heart right now?

But when these things begin to take place, straighten up & lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. --Luke 21:28


Blessings,


John

Go Tell That Fox....

By John Stallings

Luke 13:31-35 contains one of my favorite stories about Jesus & some of my favorite words that He spoke.

 We often think of Him as a mild mannered man preaching on how to be more “mild- mannered.” Some see Him as a man who just wants to be loved & accepted & will bend over backwards to please as many people as He can. Obviously nothing could be further from the truth.

Jesus wasn’t --as some seem to see Him-- a young man with His head in the clouds floating around trying to enlist people into His imaginary kingdom.

In this passage some Pharisees come to Him saying Herod was making death threats against him. They must have thought it would be an interesting “news flash” for Jesus. They probably thought He’d be spooked by hearing Herod wanted to kill him. They may have even thought He would tell them to tell Herod He’d be happy to do anything he suggested; that He’d rush to Jerusalem & maybe make things easier for Himself. The motives of these Pharisees are suspect because in truth they’ve been the ones responsible for pumping Herod full of suspicion concerning Jesus. What they told Herod about Jesus being a threat to his earthly power was nothing but a pack of lies.

Hell would have frozen over before Jesus would have been afraid of anyone, certainly not a wicked heathen like Herod. Jesus responds with these words; “go tell that fox that today & tomorrow I’m healing the sick & casting out demons & on the third day I’ll finish up.” The word fox isn’t a complimentary term nor was it meant to be unnecessarily harsh. I think we see the real Jesus here. A little later we see Him heading toward Jerusalem & lamenting that they had rejected Him. So we know that we don’t have a case-hardened Jesus. But when it came to His work, He didn’t play around. Jesus was saying; & I’m paraphrasing here,

Go tell that fox that ---I will drive out devils & heal people today & tomorrow & on the third day I will reach my goal. Luke 13:32--NIV


Go tell that fox I’m working on my schedule not his.

Go tell that fox there’s no chance I’m going to restructure my life out of fear of him.

Go tell that fox I’m taking no detours in my plans because of him.

Go tell that fox (& I’m still paraphrasing) I’m fully aware of what awaits me in Jerusalem, after all isn’t that the city where all the prophets have been slain?

Go tell that fox there are some things I MUST DO before my earthly ministry is complete. Vr.33

Go tell that fox (in essence) that I’m not naïve of the dangers I face. I can read the future, but he can’t, & I can say with total authority when I’ll be in Jerusalem.

There are five things I see in this short story that are very powerful to me;

1. Jesus is still running on schedule.

You & I, much like Herod, don’t know what’s going to happen five minutes from now but Jesus was well able to tell Herod without fear of failure, exactly what would transpire in His life for the next three days. Jesus was right on schedule & arrived in Jerusalem to face Herod.

We don’t have to wonder if we’ll see Jesus again or if He’ll return for His Bride because when the time is right He’ll appear just as He appeared in Herod’s court.

2. Nothing Jesus starts is ever left unfinished.

He had a goal He strived for on earth & He also has a goal in each of our lives. If we cooperate with Him He’ll complete the work He has begun in us.

3. Jesus feared no man or woman & neither should we.

Herod wasn’t able to shake Him because He never allowed fear to influence Him. His admonition was always “Fear not” & he lived by that creed. Fear is powerful because it’s a form of faith. When we fear, we don’t really doubt a good outcome, we believe in a negative outcome.

4. This story tells us that nothing Jesus says will fail.

Jesus’ words were infallible & so is every word that God was spoken.
Not one jot nor tittle will ever pass away from God’s Word & His promises.-Matt.5:18


5. Many have opposed Jesus but their names are in the dustbin of history & Jesus lives on.

Jesus did finally meet Herod in Luke chapter 23. The Bible says Herod was thrilled to see Jesus because he’d heard so much about Him & wanted to see Him perform a miracle. Of course Jesus never used His miraculous power in that way & He refused to speak a word to Herod. Herod became so angry he told His soldiers to put a beautiful robe on Jesus & they mocked Him.

Then Jesus was sent to Pilate to be judged. I think we could safely say that Herod the old fox was “out-foxed” that day in his own court but the meeting is tinged with sadness. Sadness because Herod met Jesus, the one who was sent to die for him & all of mankind, & he never knew whom he met.

He missed the hour of his visitation.

Blessings,

John

"Show Me The Money "

By John Stallings


In the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays a character on a professional football team & Tom Cruise plays a high-powered pro sports agent.

The movie is about transformation; two men who learn how to value something more important than money & two women who always knew.

In the most memorable scene in the movie, the two men get into a heated argument over their contract & end up shouting the mantra, “Show me the money! Show me the money! Show me the money!”

I always think of that scene when I read the words of Jesus when the Pharisees & Herodians tried to trip him up about whether taxes should be paid to the emperor. It was a trap to set Him at variance with the entrenched powers of the day.

Jesus avoided their trap by saying—Show me the money! Or more literally, --Show me the coin used for tax.—Matthew 22:19.

This is when Jesus uttered the famous statement, after examining the coin-- Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesars, and unto God the things that are God’s.

In the last year, money, even the sound of the word, especially when we hear billion & trillion so much, has taken on an extraordinarily different meaning. Many of us never thought we’d see the day when our government would throw money around & encourage people to spend. The concept that you can’t spend your way to prosperity has gone the way of the Dinosaurs & now it seems the idea is--we can borrow our way out of this or if necessary we’ll run the money printing presses 24/7 until we fix it.

GREED

It’s apparent that greed on the part of some in the world of high finance has gotten us into our present state of economic crisis. The Bible has a lot to say about greed, & contrary to insidious tycoon Gordon Gekko’s wrong-headed statements in the film Wall Street, “greed aint good.”

We well remember the story in 2 Kings Chapter 5 of Naaman, a military captain from Syria dipping seven times in the dirty little river Jordan & being cleansed of his leprosy. Elisha the prophet who sent Namaan to the river to dip wasn’t willing to take anything from him in the way of payment but his greedy servant Gehazi was.

Namaan had come to Elisha’s house prepared to pay handsomely but it was just too much for Gehazi to stand by & watch all that beautiful money disappearing. His attitude was- “My master’s crazy. I’ll never have a pair of Gucci shoes on these old tired feet of mine or wear an Armani suit if I don’t look out for myself. Why not make a quick buck while I can?”

Gehazi ran to catch up to Naaman as he was leaving Israel to go back home to Syria, & he was prepared to lie to get what he wanted.He wanted payola!

THE STORY OF GEHAZI IS, TO SAY THE LEAST, A CAUTIONARY TALE FOR ALL INVOLVED IN MINISTRY.

Before I get into more detail about Gehazi however, I want to mention some very positive things that have taken place ministry- wise around the nation & the world that we’ve witnessed personally. It’s too bad that these things get little or no press coverage. I won’t use names or places, just suffice to say it’s something we rejoiced in seeing & hearing. If I’m going to make constructively critical comments about ministry, I feel it’s incumbent on me to speak loudly & clearly of the things I see of a positive nature.

Some time ago Juda & I were ministering in a small country outside the U.S. The pastors there told us of one of the “big American evangelists,” [a man I’ve known personally for years] who’d recently held a crusade there & never took an offering for himself or his ministry. It was a huge campaign & many were saved & healed. As a matter of fact, some the local pastors were disappointed that the evangelist didn’t give the people an opportunity to contribute. They were grateful for the great move of God in their midst, & were willing to give.

Some onlookers were unhappy that the minister wouldn’t take a dime for his work in their country [it seems that sometimes a preacher can’t win no matter what he does] but this man obviously felt the same way Elisha did in the case of Naaman; he didn’t want to receive money for his ministry on that occasion.

I’ve recently heard of other ministries who’ve done the same thing this evangelist did in other parts of the world. I feel it behooves us to see the good & magnify it, especially in areas where ministry is being watched with a jaundiced eye.

Having said that; - there’s no doubt in my mind that many of the financial excesses these days in the Church have no other explanation than greed;

OLD FASHIONED GEHAZI GREED!

We’re quick to acknowledge problems that crop up in the lives of ministers. Who among us hasn’t been shocked & saddened upon hearing of some of the ugly sins ministry gets caught up in; such as adultery, sexual perversion, jealousy, envy, drug abuse & drunkenness, lying, debauchery, angry outbursts, & the list goes on. Ministers are only human beings who must lean hard on God’s mercy & grace like everyone else. And of course they are prime targets of Satan.

We often hear requests to pray for this or that man or woman of God, or a church or Christian University that’s besieged with problems. This can & does happen in just about any denomination you can name. Tragically, we’ve come to almost expect to hear now & then about something going terribly wrong in the life of a well known servant of God.

Why is it then that we can quickly wrap our minds around the aforementioned sins befalling those in high places of spiritual leadership when the one sin we can’t seem to diagnose is greed-- when we see it as plain as the nose on a face? It’s difficult for us to “call a spade a spade” when it comes to what is obviously –GREED & SELFISH AMBITION. We hesitate to speak our mind when we see someone operating as a “spiritual father” but they are standing up saying- in actuality or in essence—“Show me the money. I’m a highly favored & anointed prophet of God & if you expect me to manifest my gifts, - “cough up the dough.”

In my view, unnecessary buildings are built, unnecessary airplanes are bought, lavish homes are acquired, more T.V or radio time is purchased, & much of it is done because of –Selfish Ambition. Read Galatians 5: 16-21 & you’ll see narcissistic self-ambition listed & God makes it clear—those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Here’s the truth; any ambitious effort outside the leading of the Holy Spirit is sin for me, for you or anyone else called of God.

Someone might ask—“What does this man have against prosperity, especially for servants of God?” I have nothing at all against God’s workers prospering & being well compensated.

I remember the story of a pastor who was at the alter praying, “Oh Lord, please keep me poor & humble.” Over & over he repeated the same prayer, “Oh Lord, please keep me poor & humble.” When the preacher rose from his knees, one of the church deacons who’d been listening to his pastor pray, came up to him & patted his shoulder & said, “Pastor, you don’t have to worry, if the Lord will keep you humble we’ll keep you poor.”

This kind of attitude toward ministers is tragic. The Bible makes it clear—Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn.-1 Cor.9:9

I have discovered in my own life that God blesses our giving &
I’m sure you & I can point out many times in our lives when we gave to God & were greatly blessed for doing so. That has been my experience over & over in my life. I also must confess that I have made the mistake of being unduly influenced by a high-pressure-“show me the money” ministry. I’ve said before that when this kind of tactic is used it’s tantamount to emotional rape.

When I was just getting started in the ministry, my father advised me that if I went to a big convention, & was going to be in several services a day for a week or so, to get a twenty dollar bill broken into ones-—now days that might be a fifty or one-hundred dollar bill—so that I could put something in every offering.

I remember one time when I was at a convention, & had to call my parents & ask them to wire me ten dollars. I didn’t have enough money to buy gas to get to my next preaching engagement.

I can look back over my life & see times when I was so spiritually immature that it breaks my heart. God is a loving Father but He isn’t obligated to bless our carnality or our lack of good judgment.

I believe God not only owns 10% of our money, He owns 100% of it & once we realize that, our attitude about stewardship will take on new meaning. He owns it all; hence He is certainly well able & willing to tell us what to do with the finances that pass through our hands.

LET’S GET BACK TO GEHAZI

When Gehazi caught up with Naaman, he told him, -My master sent me to say “Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver & two sets of clothing.”--2 Kings 5:21-23.
In other words— “show me the money!”

Naaman was generous with Gehazi urging him to accept the gifts even tying them up in special bags-two talents of silver with two sets of clothing. Naaman is understandably happy to pay for his healing. When Naaman’s helpers were asked how much Naaman paid for his healing, they would say, “Two talents of silver,” --which was a lot of money, as a matter of fact in that day you could have bought a house with that amount of money. People no doubt heard about this & thought the prophet had charged that for God’s gift. That was exactly what Elisha had wanted to avoid.

Gehazi compounds his sin by lying. He trumps up a story about two needy servants of God from the back country & plays on Naaman’s generosity. This sometimes happens today. It’s not exactly unknown for missionaries to exaggerate the need so they can get more money for their mission. Sad to say sometimes the whole thing is a scam all made up to raise more money.

I knew a missionary evangelist years ago who ran a “bicycle scam.” He would get up & tell the people that he needed—“to buy a dozen or so bicycles to put under little native boys in a foreign country so they could distribute Bibles or gospel tracks in the hard to reach villages.” One night when a pastor gave the missionary the money the folk had given, he asked, -- “How many bicycles do you feel you can buy with the money raised tonight?” The missionary looked him squarely in the eye & said, “Oh this offering tonight will go for my personal expenses.” Of course the missionary was entitled to living & traveling expenses, but the way he went about raising the money was an outright lie. He took up money under false pretences. And that’s just exactly what Gehazi was doing.

Certainly things like this are the exception not the rule, but how such scams dishonor God.

We see here the danger of a man trying to catch the overflow of another mans gifts & ministry. Up to now Gehazi, as far as we know had been an exemplary servant but it’s clear that his heart is not right with God. We often hear that God has no grandchildren & that’s so true isn’t it? We also see here the danger of depending on someone else’s spirituality. It very obviously doesn’t work. You can grow up in a godly household, be a member of a church, or even a church officer or minister & still not be a child of God.

CURSED

Now Gehazi has got to keep telling lies to prop up the other lies. “Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.” When Gehazi stood in front of Elisha, he forgot two things; Elisha was no fool, & he also had the gift of knowledge. He knew what the servant had been up to & pronounced judgment on him & his descendants forever. Then Gehazi left Elisha’s presence a leper as white as snow.

Gehazi was carnally minded & Paul writes---to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life & peace.-Romans 8:6. Sin will make a person think they’re wiser than the spiritual person but in the end it will be the spiritually minded individual who’ll inherit eternal life.

CURSE REVERSED??

Gehazi went out from Elisha’s presence being cursed along with his seed forever. Right? Right!

But if you’ll read chapters 5-8 of 2 Kings, you’ll find something you may have overlooked. In chapter 5 we have all the Gehazi mess, the graft, the deception & the lies. Gehazi’s doom is sealed; he’ll be a leper along with his offspring for the rest of his days. Right? Right!

If you skip over to the eight chapter verses 1-4, you’ll find a man talking to the king. Here’s what the Bible says-

And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying tell me I pray thee all the great things that Elisha hath done.

Gehazi, the man we would think was dead or dying was standing there talking to the king. He wasn’t being treated as an unclean person as he’d been treated before. What has happened?

FOUR LEPERS AT THE GATE OF SAMARIA

In chapter 7, we have the story of the 4 lepers. Do you remember that story? Well there was a famine in Samaria, & these 4 lepers were sitting outside the gate of the city starving.

We’re a country of fast food restaurants. We have such an overabundance of food. It’s a shame to see how food is wasted when millions of people all over the world are starving. Imagine if you will a food shortage where you & all your friends were hungry. Your supply of groceries was completely shut off.

Imagine if you can the hunger & desperation being so great people were paying $50 for the head of a donkey to eat & $3 for a pint of dove droppings. You & I think in our minds, how gross, how disgusting but to the people of Samaria it was all very real. People were even boiling their children & eating them.

Rather than sit & starve, the lepers decide to infiltrate the enemy’s camp at twilight in search of food. But what a surprise they got when they got inside the city. There was no one there. Their camp was deserted. God had arranged it so that the Syrian army thought the Egyptians & the Hittites were on their way the help the city so they abandoned the camp leaving everything behind. God allowed the sound of the 4 leprous men dragging their feet to sound thunderous.

The four lepers hit pay dirt. There was food everywhere. There were clothes & there were riches. They went into one tent & found food, & they ate their fill. Think about what it must have been like for these lepers.

It pays to read the Bible & read it thoroughly. We have no actual proof for what I’m about to say but it’s very possible that these 4 lepers were Gehazi & his three sons.

Have you ever heard that God will test you & if you fail the test He’ll keep testing you until you pass the test? Well it’s true. Gehazi failed the test of greed the first time with Naaman, but here he is again, confronted with more abundance of material things than he could ever dream.

But what did Gehazi do this time? He & the other lepers have a different attitude about the spoils they found. They knew in their hearts they must share it with the starving people of the city or something dreadful would happen to them. You may say, “yes but Gehazi was cursed, how could God deliver him from leprosy after that?”

Naaman got a deliverance from his curse of leprosy didn’t he? Why not a healing for a repentant Gehazi? If it’s true, it’s just like God. By sharing the good news with the people of Samaria, the disgraced man himself, the man who shamed Israel by taking money from the gentile Naaman, was the person who saved the entire population of Samaria from death through the siege & famine.

Also if it's true that Gehazi was cleansed as Naaman was, it only cost Naaman seven dips in a muddy river while it cost Gehazi seven years.

Yes, we have a changed Gehazi; old “messed-up-/show- me- the money-Gehazi,” who even though he was punished, made up his mind not to sit & die. He said, “I must get up from here, things can’t get any worse & I have nothing left to lose.”

Did God heal Gehazi of his leprosy, allow him & his sons to be vessels used to perform a miracle to save a people & a city, & then restore him to serventhood? The story has all the earmarks of our, loving, forgiving restoration God, doesn’t it?

Read it for yourself & I have a feeling it will cause you to exclaim;

“What a mighty God we serve!”

Every Blessing,

John

Five Warning Signs Of Stubbornness

Quit Slipping Around

By John Stallings


My steps had well nigh slipped. Psalm 73:2

Having your feet to slip unexpectedly is no small matter.

Its happened to me many times. I’ve slipped on rocks in swiftly running mountain streams. I’ve slipped on frozen ground, I’ve slipped in fishing boats, & I’ve slipped going down a flight of stairs carrying a large turkey that had just been taken out of an oven. [It’s a long story.]

The above doesn’t count the bicycles I fell off, & the swings & other playground maiming machines I flew off of as a kid. Suffice to say-I’m well acquainted with “road rash.”

No, I’m not a klutz; I think I can say I’m sure-footed. I’ve just led a very active life. In none of these falls was I seriously injured, just shaken up a bit. Thank you Jesus! One thing I’ve never done is to slip on a banana peel. Have you ever noticed they aren’t all that slippery?

Slipping is an awful experience; mainly that first instant you realize your feet are no longer underneath you where they’re supposed to be. Now it just remains to see how bad a landing you’ll have & how long recovery will take. It’s a great feeling after we’ve slipped & fallen to realize that the only thing that’s really been hurt is our pride.

Most, if not all of my slips happened long ago. I say that in humility knowing it could always happen again, to me or to any of us unless we take great care. As we grow older slipping takes on a more serious nature. In the elderly sometimes even the smallest slip can be life threatening. Paul’s admonition to “take heed lest we fall” is apropos in many areas of life.

Slipping is frightful, even if it’s not followed by a crash landing because, to point out the obvious, when you slip & fall, there’s only one way to go. We all know which way that is, & it isn’t up. Slipping & the law of gravity have been very tightly woven together since the foundations of the earth were laid. I think it’s true that “the bigger you are, the harder you fall.”

The bottom line is; to slip & fall is dangerous, to slip & fall is painful, & sometimes to slip & fall can be catastrophic.

PSALM 73

Since I first found this wonderful Psalm as a young man it has fed me in so many ways. The writer came within an eyelash of having a tragic slip. He starts off by saying,-My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.
He’s telling us that he came close to slipping catastrophically.

When did he almost slip?

When ENVY invaded his heart.

“My steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

ENVY

A number of years ago I saw the movie Amadeus. Though I could hardly stand some of characters, I was captivated by the story & brilliance of the actors. I could easily see why the movie was an Academy Award winner.

The story revolved around the musical genius Mozart, & a man named Antonio Salieri, a court musician to Austria’s King. Salieri was envious of the rich talents of young Mozart; talents he fell far short of. Though he could compose music it was not great music; consequently he was consumed with envy of Mozart’s talents. This led him to scheme & plot against Mozart at every turn.

He stole Mozart’s compositions, bribed Mozart’s servants & informed the King about Mozart’s indiscretions. Salieri’s envy eventually drove him to insanity. The movie ends with Salieri cursing God for denying him the talent which He gave Mozart. The story line shows what happens when a good man like Salieri is filled with & finally destroyed by envy.


As a minister, I’ve heard people admit to things that would make a sailor blush but I’ve never heard a person admit they had a problem with envy. So the first thing we know about envy is- it always travels incognito. We’ll see some reasons for that in this article.

1. One reason we envy is we assume that anything anyone has, we too should have.

In all probability we never even wanted the thing that someone else has until we noticed that he/she has it. Suddenly the fact that they have it, & we don’t have it is intolerable.

Another reason we envy is we don’t like admitting there are people who have greater talent or intelligence or skill than we have. We think that to acknowledge someone else as more talented or intelligence or skilled is to declare ourselves failures, which is WRONG!

2. A world system encourages us to envy.

What is advertisement if not something to make us unhappy with what we have? Want, anger, & resentment blended together becomes envy.

A Danish proverb claims, “If envy were an illness all the world would have a fever.” One wonders when we look at the present financial condition of our nation & the world, how great a part envy has played & continues to play. On Main Street as well as Wall Street there seems to be an envious spirit that feels merely being a millionaire is humiliating.

Envy is the twin of jealousy, though they’re not quite the same. Jealousy is concerned with not losing what it has while envy makes a rival of anyone who has what it wants. Both envy & jealousy stem from pride & deep self-centeredness so one sin begets another.

3. Envy poisons relationships.

Gore Vidal, a humanist author said famously, “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little part of me dies.” How sad is that, when even the good fortune of a friend can conjure up envy? How small is the heart that has no room to celebrate another person’s happiness?

You & I don’t envy people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or The Queen of England. We envy our dear friend or relative. Is this not tragic? If we have a friend who makes the same amount of money as we do, & he suddenly is making several thousand a year more than we earn, or maybe someone dies & leaves him some money, he appears less dear. In fact now he displays faults we never saw before. As we began to castigate this friend, we remain unaware of what’s going on in our head & heart.

The 800 lb.Gorilla in the room is we feel we’ve been left behind by our friend. We feel he has belittled us. In truth, he never intended to belittle us & in truth his money didn’t belittle us. But non-the-less we are as certain as we are that the sun rises in the east that our friend is now belittling us. Then, we think that we can restore ourselves to our rightful size by knocking our friend down.

Now we’re slipping are we not? Envy is always bent on leveling. So, end of relationship! Right?

4. The equation—Envy, belittlement, anger, self-rejection.

Envy causes us to be downhearted. Someone else having something we lack has caused us to feel like losers & now we find ourselves caught up in self-loathing. We think “how could they do this to me?” The more anyone tries to love us out of the mullygrubs, the worse we feel.

The Psalmist cries out— “my feet had almost slipped. I nearly fractured both legs, plus my spine & skull. I was nearly immobile. I almost went insane when I became envious of the prosperous.”

You may think “insane” is a little too strong a word for the Psalmist but if you read what he says next you’ll see how absolutely irrational he’s getting. He says,

“These prosperous people have no pangs. They don’t suffer. They aren’t as finite & frail as we non-prosperous folk.”

See how silly he’s getting? But let’s be honest; when we’re envious of someone don’t we think of them as if they’ve “got it made?” Not only that, we think they can never be “unmade,” right? They can never suffer misfortune of any kind. Because they’re protected from financial loss, they are also protected from human loss of any kind. We go on in our foolishness to assume these prosperous folk are riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels.

5. Envy blinds us to so many things.

We have no compassion for the person we envy because they’ve “got it so good.” They are totally pain free & affliction proof. See how crazy envy can make us?

Envy poisons, envy embitters, envy blinds, envy turns us into self-pitying, self-righteous snivelers. It’s no wonder no one will admit to being envious. Who would brag that they are a poisonous, embittered, self-righteous whiner?

Listen to the Psalmist;

“All in vain have I kept my heart clean”, the Psalmist whines in his envy, “I have kept my heart clean & I received nothing for it.”
The truth is, he hasn’t kept his heart clean. He may have kept his hands clean in that as yet he has done nothing visibly wrong. But his heart? How can he pretend to have a clean heart when he is envious & his envy has turned him into a pitiless critic? No, he hasn’t kept his heart clean.

ENVY IS A LARGE SUBJECT IN THE BIBLE

Envy is listed as one of the lusts of the flesh in Gal.5:21.

When envy is compared to anger & wrath, it’s so ghastly that the question is raised, “who is able to stand before envy?” It’s possible to be envious of anything; the ability to hit a baseball, score a basket, or water-ski. You can envy someone’s intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, & ability to talk or pray in public. You can envy another person’s possessions, spouse, money, children, family, job or career. I heard a preacher say once that some folk can be envious of the very “shine on your shoes.”

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the New Testament defines envy as “The feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others.”

Envy is one of the most subtle, & ugly sins of them all. Webster defines envy as;

“A chagrin or discontent at the excellence or good fortune of another.”

In other words, envy is feeling bad about another person doing well. When our neighbor gets a five bedroom house & we are upset because we only have four, that’s envy. Eventually the envious person will end up hating the person who is the object of their envy.

When someone you envy gets into trouble, it’s hard to suppress a feeling of satisfaction. The face of envy is never attractive. It is among some of the most debasing & degenerate sins that ever characterized sinful men mentioned in Romans chapter one (Rom.1:29.) In the Bible, envy is always in the worst of company.

PRAY TELL WHERE IS THE GRATIFICATION IN ENVY?

Envy is unique. Other sins are terribly destructive, but they at least have a few thrills & gratification, in the early stages.

Does envy, even for a minute ever make you feel better? As far as I can see, we gain nothing from envy. All you get from it is endless self-torment, yet its appetite is ravenous & ever increasing. The wise man said envy is “the rottenness of the bones.” Bone Cancer. (Prov.14:30.)

The awful bite of envy packs a double-whammy; for it causes you not only to feel bad because of someone else’s good fortune, at the same time it causes you to devalue your own good gifts. Isn’t that horrendous?

For example, I can hear another preacher who is outstanding, & if I’m envious, my first tendency is to think of myself as a very unskillful preacher. What I forget is-- that preacher didn’t steal his gifts from me. I’m just as good (or bad) a preacher as I ever was. That preacher hasn’t done one thing to devalue, or diminish my preaching. But that old devil envy has robbed me of the ability to appreciate what I have, & who I am in God.

Yet with this thing called envy, when you meet someone you think might have more gifts & skills than you, you start to see yourself as having fewer gifts. Such is the awesome power of envy to distort our thinking processes.

BUT YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE WORST ABOUT ENVY

Just feeling bad because you don’t have something that the other person has isn’t the worst part. The worst part, the most tragic part is; you wish the other person didn’t have what they have so you wouldn’t have to suffer your “imaginary disadvantage.”

Jesus knew how harmful envy could be. Not only is He God, he was schooled in the Hebrew religion & its many illustrations of the destructive power of envy. The Bible abounds with examples of unchecked envy & its dire consequences. Envy has a very high mortality rate.

• The very first murder, the killing of Abel by his brother Cain, was sparked by envy.

• The 10th commandment is about envy-“You shall not covet.” If we’re not careful, envy will cause us to break the 8th commandment, “You shall not steal.”
• Envy is the big factor in the story Jesus told about the laborers in the vineyard, in Matt. 20. Look at the story. The owner of the vineyard, at the end of the day paid all the workers the same though some came early & some came later in the day. The workers who worked hard all day felt it wasn’t fair to be paid the same as the ones who only worked a short time. However, the owner reminded them that he hadn’t defrauded them in any way. They were paid what was agreed upon. The owner went on to say,

“Why are you envious because I am generous?”

The same thing was happening in the story of the prodigal son. The older brother said, “It isn’t fair for you to welcome this wayward brother home with a big party when I’ve stayed home all these years & worked hard. You never gave a party in my honor.”

• Joseph’s brothers were “moved with envy”& hated him so much they couldn’t speak a kind word to him, & finally they sold him into Egyptian slavery.

• The religious leaders were motivated by envy when they lead the Jews to crucify the Son of God. -Matt. 27:18.

• Rachel envied Leah because she was barren & Leah had children. Gen.30:1.

• The Philistines were envious of Isaac because of his large flocks & many servants. Gen. 26:14.

• James says envy is devilish. James 3:15.

All we have to do is look at the 73rd Psalm to see how unhappy envy can make a person.

One thing is for certain. We will never be able to find contentment in this life if we compare ourselves to others because there’ll always be things that won’t seem fair. Envy makes it impossible to be happy with another person’s good fortune. It makes sense that envy & depression are great traveling companions.

In the middle of Psalm 73 the Psalmist has a moment of clarity. He starts to realize how badly he’s gotten off the beam. He gets a revelation on what envy is doing to him & what it can do to those around him. The New English Bible puts it;

“Had I let myself talk on this fashion I would have betrayed the family of God.”

But the Psalmist needs more than he’s able to figure out on his own. He needs God. He says;

I went to the sanctuary of God & there I understood the situation the people I envy are really in.”
You will probably remember the death of John Kennedy Jr. in 1999. Kennedy was flying his wife & a friend of hers from New York to Massachusetts late one July afternoon. Not being cleared for flying on instruments, he made his plans to get to his destination before dark. However, because of delays he found himself flying over the ocean in darkness. The darkness made it impossible to keep his equilibrium by lining up with the horizon.

Expert pilots explained that Kennedy experienced disorientation or vertigo, a condition that allowed him to be flying upside down & not realize it. Then he lost airspeed & the plane stalled going into what pilots call the “graveyard spiral.” Kennedy lost his bearings in the darkness & kept saying, “where’s the ground?”

This is what insane envy did to the Psalmist. It caused him to lose orientation with “the ground.” He became spiritually disoriented. The only way you & I can keep from slipping & crashing is to re-orient ourselves constantly. For us that groundedness is God.

The only way we can avoid a crash is to stay in constant contact with God. As soon as that crazy thinking sets in, like the Psalmist, we must run to our heavenly Father for help. As the Psalmist enters the Sanctuary of God he is able to checkmate any further spin-offs & return to his “right mind.”

As we come to the end of Psalms 73, the Psalmist can scarcely believe how seriously absurd his thinking had became. He said,-I was stupid & ignorant,” he cries to God. “I was like a beast toward thee. I was insensitive to God & couldn’t see it.”

As his envy evaporates, sound thinking returns & he knows he’s been on the cusp of a catastrophe. He came within an eyelash of a “death-spiral.”

As Psalm 73 comes to a close, the Psalmist asks God,

“Whom have I in heaven but thee? God is the strength of my heart & my portion forever.
This Psalm is a study in the pathology of envy. It also shows us the way to be delivered from poisonous envy, which can be a fatal condition.

Listen to the Apostle Peter’s words;

Wherefore laying aside all malice & all guile & all hypocrisies & all envying & all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of The Word that ye may grow thereby, if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-2

Envy is a product of our old fallen nature. For that reason we can’t fight it in our flesh. Envy at its core is grasping, & godliness at its core is emptying.

Envy tells us that there isn’t enough & what we have & isn’t adequate.

Paul said;

But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:19

Instead of having a list of all the things you don’t possess, make a list of all you have. The writer of Proverbs reminds us;

……but he that is of a merry heart, has a continual feast.—Proverbs 15:15


Blessings,


John

If America Had Survived

By John Stallings

After the great depression of the thirties America crumbled into anarchy and another civil war causing her to be fractured into three regional sub-countries: North, South and West.

So, when World War 11 exploded, America simply didn’t exist.

By 1943 the tidal wave of German power had crushed all its surrounding nations, including the United Kingdom. Soon after that, all of Africa cowered beneath the Swastika.

Then the Nazis who’d been working on nuclear weapons unleashed them on sixteen Russian cities. Twenty-five million died in the atomic blasts and with them any hope of ever again living in a stable world.

The Japanese meanwhile were pillaging China in the Far East. The Imperial army then rolled south and overwhelmed India and Pakistan making surrogate armies of their vast multitudes. They continued their blood-lust crushing Southeast Asia and Australia with unspeakable violence.

By 1944 the empire of the Rising Sun ascended over Asia to the Hawaiian Islands, and Japan’s western boundaries extended to Pakistan and central Russia. Hitler’s Third Reich ruled everywhere else.

Now the world grid of satanic control locked in place plunging the earth into impenetrable darkness. Pieces of America were pulled back into place and she was ruled by Nazi Germany and policed by German troops and the Gestapo. Hitler’s dream of marching down Pennsylvania Avenue was finally realized. Democracy wasn’t to be found anywhere on planet earth, and the whole world sank into a totalitarian “black hole” void of any freedoms.

Mein Kamf, Hitler’s life story was taught and applied in the halls of higher learning. Hitler hasn’t just replaced George Washington as America’s founding father he’s taken the place of Jesus Christ as the savior of the world. The calendars were reset to coincide with Hitler’s birth year. American children entering school sang hymns to The Fuhrer.

Americans were duped into believing that their new world having been cleansed of Jews, Gypsies and other “undesirables” has now evolved into a purer form of humanity. Dark skinned non-Europeans have learned to accept their roles as “inferiors” and are classified as “servant races.”

All liberty was gone. There existed no freedom of the press or right to protest, no balance of power in government, no political parties, and no open debate or exchange of ideas.

There existed no open vibrant Evangelical church and Pentecostal was just another word for a “mental disorder.” There were some underground churches but people attended at the risk of their life. There is no Christian music, no religious books, no spiritual media and “Billy Graham” was a common but insignificant name.

There now existed –No Israel! A world without America became a world without Jews. Jews were hiding in nooks and crannies in the remote recesses of the earth.

One can’t help but weep when looking back all those decades ago. We rightly wonder what it might have been like Had America Survived.

Even though you know the above scenario didn’t really happen, minus the grace of God and His protecting hand, something like you’ve just read certainly could have happened. Indeed it could still happen, with different circumstances of course.

LET’S TALK INTERCESSION

God desires us to stand in the gap for our nation, positioning ourselves between the failings of man and the sufficiency of God’s grace and forgiveness, and then persevere until full restoration comes.

In God’s eyes, intercessors outweigh the need for immediate judgment on a society. Consider Moses. He interceded for three million rebellious Israelites. Moses indeed pastored a “trouble church.” Although the nation hadn’t repented, God’s wrath was turned away. [Num.14]!

Daniel prayed and obtained God’s favor for thousands of exiled Jews. Why did God respond to these men; because He seeks for one person to believe in mercy and cry for it. He said …

“He searched for a man among them who would stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it.

Notice, God wasn’t looking for someone to “point-out the gap.” We have millions of folk who will gladly serve as “gap pointers” but they’re not so anxious to be “gap fillers”. God is still looking for those who’ll “stand in the gap!” Ezek. 22:30]

God is looking for a people who are spiritually mature and plainly see what’s wrong, and begin to intercede for America.

When Job prayed for his friends, God fully restored him. Over and over in God’s Word we are told to pray for, not against.” You and I are to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” and “pray for each other that we may be healed.”

GOD’S FOUR CONDITIONS TO SAVE AMERICA

If you and I don’t want to see a scenario like the above where America slides into a living hell, we must do at least four things.

In 2nd Chronicles 7:14 God said,

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

GOD HAS A SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR A SPECIAL PEOPLE.

He said

1. IF MY PEOPLE

Under "if," there are four things His children called by His name are to do.

It is important that we understand fully each of them separately and then as a whole. Be assured that God is ready to do what He said He would do when we come in complete obedience with Him. “If my people which are called by my name will….

2.  HUMBLE THEMSELVES

Humility simply means dependence on God, not self. This is a difficult position for any of us because we tend to depend on other factors than God only. We depend on our intellectual or physical strength. We depend on our education or our employment. We depend on family members or our friends. But God wants us, above all, to depend on Him.

Pride turned angels into devils in heaven. The bible doesn’t say-God resists prostitutes or God resists fornicators, or God resists murderers or God resists drunkards but Pastor James tells us that “God resists the proud.” A proud individual has both God and the devil against them.

Years ago Juda and I sat in the office of a well known denominational leader. We were together for a short period of time, and after a few minutes, he smiled and said something that stunned me. He said--"We're leaders,” speaking of himself and us, “and the “Little man” looks to us for answers.” Immediately my heart sank because I could hear God saying, "Don't ever let that idea cross your mind. And don’t ever let the words- the “Little man” creep into your vocabulary.”

This leader was using such high-sounding words and including us, consequently both Juda and I had to resist looking over our shoulders to see if anyone else had entered the room. The words he was using didn’t describe us at all.

If we’d been sitting in the office of the CEO of a large company and he alluded to “The little man” that would be understandable but we were sitting with a Christian leader.

At that moment, it felt as though the Lord had sent an arrow straight into my heart. I knew exactly what He was saying to me. This leader was speaking out of devilish pride. Pride brings destruction, and it does not belong in the life of a believer. At least, not the kind of pride that lifts self up and fails to glorify and honor God. Perhaps this man didn’t recognize what he had said. Or maybe he just spoke before he thought.

Or it may have been that God wanted to use this man’s words and attitude to send a word of caution to me. Regardless, pride can and does explode God's plan for our lives.

We heard a year or two later that this man had lost his leadership role and had been demoted to the boonies. I presume he went to pastor the “little people.”

Many times, we begin our Christian walk well. Our focus is set on God, and our hearts are fully committed to Him. Then without warning, pride begins to rise up, preventing us from being all God wants us to be. It tempts us to believe that we know better than God does. If left unchecked, pride will alter our attitude toward God and the route He has chosen for us to take.

Of all the sins discussed in the Bible, pride is the one with the most devastating results. If we’re not vigilant we can become prideful over the good things God has given us — jobs, children, and financial resources, etc.

Pride is at the top of the list of sins that God despises:

"Pride and arrogance and the evil way…And the perverted mouth, I hate" (Prov. 8:13).

Then God tells us to…

3.  PRAY

It seems that much of the modern professing church would like to do anything except pray. Many of those who preach a lot of good doctrine and cross all their theological T's will do almost anything except pray! They'll learn Greek and teach Systematic Theology. They’ll study for doctorates and spend their time writing theological essays for seminary journals. Yet many of the very same ones don't seem to have enough time to pray!

How do I know they don't pray? It's obvious. Jesus said that what you do secretly God will reward you for openly (Mat. 6:6). When these men stand up publicly to teach and preach God's Word, if they were praying men there would be a power that would attend the spoken Word. Deep conviction from the Holy Spirit would go forth and seize the hearts of the hearers.

EPAPHRAS

We need a lot more men like Epaphras in the church today.

Paul said,

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. (Col. 4:12)

The word struggling is used of Olympic competitors who trained vigorously with all their might to press through and gain the prize (cf. 1 Cor. 9:25). This man was a prayer soldier of Jesus Christ. He was intense, passionate, and full of zeal in prayer (v. 13). Yet Paul told the Colossians that “he is one of you".

This man was no superhuman. He was one of us. He was buffeted by a fallen flesh that tempted him to think prayer was drudgery. He might have been tempted to doze off once in a while when rising too early and laying his head on his bedside in prayer. Yet he still pressed on, so much so that he won the commendation of an apostle and was thought worthy by the Holy Spirit to be etched on the pages of Holy Scripture for all eternity.

This man agonized in prayer. He pressed on with focus and stamina in faith to pray the burden through and win the prize. And not only did he pray intensely for a few moments before Sunday's service. Paul said he "always" struggled and labored in prayer for the saints.

We can study less, socialize less, play less, relax less, if we will only pray more. The person who breaths the air of the secret place of the most High as a way of life is a person through whom God grants His power and anointing.

We need to return to the prayer closet! Our every blessing, our every step, our every plan, and those of our children, the future of this great Republic, everything is dependent on prayer. Do you see it? Prayer is one of the four of God’s conditions to heal us as a nation.

If you and I could really grasp (Hebrews 4:16), it would revolutionize our prayer life.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

God works only in concert with the praying of His people. Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit join us when we begin to pray because they know the Father moves only in concert with the praying of His people. Then God says…..

4. SEEK MY FACE

I must confess right here that I really haven’t sought God’s face as I should have. To be honest I’ve sought His hands, asking for things more times than I should have.

Do you see any difference in seeking His hand and His face? There is a vast difference.

When you and I seek His face, we go before Him just to be with Him and not ask Him to do anything. There is a reason why it is important for us to come before Him with praise and worship. It’s important, first, to understand that adoration does not change God. God will never be any greater than He is and our worship does not add to Him at all. Adoration changes us. When we begin to praise and worship, we are changed and want to love Him more and walk with Him more closely.

When God commands us to "seek His face," He is commanding us to undergo a spiritual restoration in our hearts and in our vision -- He wants us to remove the grime of religion -- the soot of life -- the stuff of experience -- so that we can see Him as He truly is

-- We do this through His word -- we do this through His Spirit -- we do this by spending time with Him alone.

Just as Jesus had to carry His disciples up on the mountain, away from the crowds, in order for them to see Him in His glory, we need to remove ourselves from the trappings of this world and spend time with God if we are to see Him as He truly is.

Sometimes you hear folk say; “My God doesn’t let children get killed.” My God would never allow anyone to go to hell.” My God wouldn’t do this or that. When they use the words “My God” are they telling us that they’re worshipping a God of their own mental creation, not the one true High God of Heaven.

A god of our making will never bring revival -- a god of our making cannot heal or forgive or restore -- it is only when we seek out the true God of the Bible that we will see healing and restoration and revival in our land and in our homes and in our churches. The fourth of God’s conditions is….

5. TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS

Remember, God is speaking to His children, not unsaved people. Do you find it strange that sin enters the equation? Do Christians have problems with sin? Most of us understand the necessity of Christians dealing with sin in their lives.

Some folk will point their finger and say -Ya’ll have sinned, but the Bible says - All Have Sinned!

Until the Christian confesses and forsakes known sin in his life, he cannot pray for the healing of his nation. The Word is plain:

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18). "

God's hand is not short that He cannot save. Neither is His ear heavy that He cannot hear, But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid His face from you so that He cannot hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2).

A person who wants to pray for America must confess and forsake sin if God is to hear their requests.

Becoming conscious of sin is known as conviction--and is the work of the Holy Spirit (John 18:6-11) who applies the Word of God as a mirror to let us see ourselves as God sees us. This is the beginning point in getting on praying ground.

DON’T BUNDLE YOUR SINS

If we don’t deal with specific sins and try to do it by wrapping all our sins in a bundle to present to God, we’ve simply run the lawn mower over the weed. The root is still there and the weed will come out again. The only way to get the root out is through biblical confession.

Following confession is forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9). The very moment you confess your sins, your record sheet in the ledger which contained them is now clean.

ONCE WE DO THE FOUR THINGS, GOD WILL DO THREE...

 1. "I will hear from Heaven."

I equate Heaven with Headquarters, where the resources are kept. It is significant that God says that He’ll open up the store house. He does not have to put us on back order.

2. "I will forgive their sin."

Unconfessed sin robs the Christian of the joy of God's salvation. That is exactly what happened to David (Psalm 51:12). When the Christian loses the joy, he doesn’t worship well, walk well, work well, witness well, or war well. A heavy load will settle on him--even if he does not know what is happening. The word forgive means to lift and remove a heavy load.

3. "I will heal their land."

PRAYER NOT POLITICS

Healing change will come only when we as God’s people accept much of the responsibility for America. We must humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways. We must lead the way in SEEKING GOD’S FACE—remembering that God always STARTS healing revival with His people. It goes from the Christian to the church -to the community -to the county -to the country and then -to the continents. And let me just stop and ask, fellow Christian. Are you willing for it to start with you?

Alexander the Great once found out that one of his soldiers that carried the name of “Alexander” had proven to be a coward. He called the man to appear before him and told him to either live up to the name or change it. Fellow Christian...one who is called by God’s name...let’s live up to our name!

WE CAN’T EXPECT PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW GOD TO FIX THINGS

After all they don’t have God’s Spirit living in them as we do.

We are the salt...we are the light. The sad fact is the main reason America is where it is today is because we haven’t been doing our job. We who are called by God’s name, have not prayed long enough, have not followed Jesus closely enough, have not loved deeply enough, have not given sacrificially enough, and most of all—have not witnessed passionately enough.

We should vote for candidates who embrace Biblical convictions—but to rely only on votes and petitions is treating the symptom not the disease itself. Political remedies to our nation’s moral ills are not a real cure for the underlying spiritual problems. And of all people, Christians ought to know that. We should know that LIVES, not LAWS need to be transformed. As people who have experienced God’s grace, we should understand that a law cannot make people righteous. After all, Scripture is clear on this.

Galatians 2:21, 16 says,

“If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. No one is justified by works of law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”

Wake up America!

A headline that appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 15, 1999, should give all of us hope. The headline read, “Comatose man wakes after 7 1/2 years.” It gave the account of police officer Gary Dockery in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who had taken a bullet in the forehead and was in a coma for 7 1/2 years. What was remarkable was when he woke up, he immediately spoke clearly to his sister as if no time has passed. A family friend said, “There’s not but one way to describe it. It’s a miracle of God.” When officer Dockery awoke he asked for his sons whom he had not seen since they were 5 and 12 years old, then 12 and 19.

If a man who’d been in a coma for 7 1/2 years can wake up, there’s hope for America.

Are you concerned about the course our nation is taking under the current leadership in Washington D.C? I’m deeply concerned, thus this article. Again, let’s look at God’s four conditions…

1. HUMILITY


2. PRAYER


3. SEEK GOD’S FACE


4. TURN FROM OUR WICKED WAYS.

Some people trust in government and turn to national leaders for help but we are different.

As Psalms 20:7 says,

  “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”


Blessings, and,


God bless America!


John

There Are Murderers Among Us!

By John Stallings


Tens of millions of murders are attributed to Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin, and Germany's Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler.The United States since Roe versus Wade, not globally,--but the U.S alone has murdered wholesale- 55 million little boys and girls.

We have as a nation, blown by two of the world's most bloodthirsty dictators in our killing of the innocent unborn.

There are murderers among us.

Recently I heard a Christian economist explaining how America got into the financial trouble we’re now in.

Toward the end of his rather lengthy presentation, he said something that I wasn’t expecting to hear. I was shocked. He said, - “ABORTION is at the root of all our problems. America could come out of this current dilemma in a few years but the one thing that would stop us from getting the American dream back would be soon there won’t be enough people alive to have a robust work force. We’ve killed them all.”

This man wasn’t on an “anti-abortion kick,” as a matter of fact he only mentioned abortion in passing. His field of expertise is economics.

He said something else that almost floored me; -“our only hope is the Latin-Americans & other ethnic groups who are still having lots of children.”

I might add Muslims to that list, because they’ve always had large families. For every person who’s retired today & drawing Social Security, there are several working people, forced to pay the bill, though they themselves will never collect Social Security. The government has been up front about the fact that S.S in all likelihood won’t be there for anyone who’s presently under fifty-five. Why? Not enough people in the work force to support it. If you don’t believe in the Biblical principle of sowing & reaping, then you could say the Karma Wagon is about to back up on our face.

Can you see how America has fallen for a big lie from hell- that we needed to stop having children? The motive in most cases has been selfishness and obviously it resulted in a lack of new Americans being born. What follows naturally then is the promotion of abortion as essentially a method of birth control to bring zero population growth into fruition. The thought Satan has in mind is the destruction of America’s future.

AMERICA’S GREATEST SIN IS ABORTION!!

God’s words are simple…I have set before you life & death, blessings & curses…..CHOOSE LIFE!-Duet.30:20

This message isn’t intended to go back into anyone’s past and condemn them. The reason I deal with this issue is because I honestly believe that we need to keep in mind exactly what Abortion is. If you’ve had an abortion, just remember we’ve all made serious mistakes in our past. It would be my prayer that anyone who’s been involved with an Abortion would simply ask God for forgiveness and purpose by His grace never to do it again.

I spoke in a church a while back & made the remark - “An election is coming & I’d like to tell you how to vote!” That got their attention. The good folk grew so pale you’d have thought five double-hump Camels had just walked into the room. I almost considered not making my next statement for fear that some of the weaker saints would have strokes. I was certain I’d wounded if not killed one of their sacred cows by mentioning politics from the pulpit but I forged on; “First of all VOTE! Then I added- “VOTE CHRISTIANITY! No man ever has nor ever will get my vote who believes in abortion.” What happened next really stunned me. The congregation en masse gave those statements a thundering ovation.

I later learned that the church leadership never mentioned pressing issues nor gave the people any inkling of how to vote. To me it’s simple; vote your convictions. Yes, how you vote is between you & God & God is never going to tell you to vote to kill babies.

Who in the world could be offended at us when we say we’re going to vote Christianity to the best of our ability? We can’t always know everything there is to know about a candidate, unless they have a voting record, & sometimes people will change. But as much as is possible, we as Christians should vote our Christian principles.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ABOUT ABORTION

 President Obama, who has complained that "a women shouldn't be punished with a baby," needs to understand that babies aren't a punishment, but are " a heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward."
Ps. 127:3

When speaking of abortion, I’ve heard people say;

“There isn’t enough food to feed multitudes of new people! All those babies will someday starve.” That’s not only a lie, it’s a ridiculous lie!! There’s plenty of food & we can grow more if we need it. Let me qualify that statement. Having a food surplus isn’t really a big deal; that is if the government will get out of the way & let farmers do what they do best.

If we say it’s O.K to snuff out the lives of young Americans because we “can’t afford,” or choose not to feed them, maybe we should remember what we call people who put economics above morality; among other things we call them prostitutes, thieves and drug dealers.

At present one of the most fertile areas of farm land in California has had vital water supplies shut down leaving farmers with little or no work because the Liberals in Washington are afraid of doing harm to a small fish. The last time this happened I believe it was a snail-darter & or a frog or Spotted Owl. May God help us!! Some folk have a good heart but their head is screwed on wrong.

I’ve heard people say—

“We’re running out of room on the planet.” That’s the silliest lie yet. Have you driven around the U.S lately? Have you ever driven through Texas? In some parts of Texas there’s so much space if you get a good pair of glasses you can see next week’s train coming today.

Have you been to Australia, or New Zealand? I haven’t but they tell me these places are sparsely populated. I went to China in 1981 & as I remember there were lots of open spaces there. Have you done any flying lately in the U.S or oversees? In some places the cities are crowded but mostly what you see as you look out the window is open space. Yes there probably are unlivable areas but certainly there’s still plenty of room on this earth.

Al Gore’s movie about Climate Change is another ridiculous lie. I believe we should be good stewards of the beautiful planet God has given us but the Polar Bears are doing fine & will continue to as long as we respect them as God’s creatures. In reality, the biggest source of pollution in many ways is the earth itself. In the middle of our oceans oil can be seen seeping up from the bottom where it’s leaking out. There are places on the planet where you can walk along & see ponds of oil just lying on the top-soil. You can’t walk the countryside without getting oil on your shoes.

Again this doesn’t mean we should squander our natural resources. Common sense tells us fossil fuels will probably run out someday but not someday soon. If & when that happens we can start building engines that can run on water, air, cooking oil, animal dung & a myriad of other substances. You will no doubt remember that the bomb Timothy McVeigh used to flatten the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City was made partially of cow dung. Who’d have thunk it?

I’ve heard people say—

 “if we said anything about abortion in our church people would leave.” That’s o.k. There are other places they could go where they won't take a stand on anything.

I’ve heard people say—“churches should stick to preaching the gospel.” Well, the gospel is based on truth & sometimes we must expose the sins that make the gospel necessary.

I’ve heard people ask--- “if we preach this, won’t we offend people?” Maybe; but we need to hear the bad news or we’ll never appreciate the good news.

I’ve heard people say—“If we preach against the sins of our day we just might lose our tax exempt status.” Well then we could do what the vast majority of churches do around the world that never had a tax exemption in the first place.

We’ve slaughtered over 50 million Americans through abortion. How many great musicians, scientists, ministers, architects, economists, inventors etc. were in that great multitude? The sad thing is, we’ve killed our answers & thereby we may just have killed our future.

SHOULD WE BE SINGLE ISSUE VOTERS?

Most of us approach various candidates by saying, -What are his/her qualifications for office? I’m not at all sure that’s the best way to do it. What about asking,--What, if anything disqualifies this person from holding office? Is there any issue he/she stands for that is so wrongheaded that I wouldn’t vote for them no matter what else he does or doesn’t believe?

What if a candidate were to say, -“I’m running on a platform that supports bribery as a matter of public policy?” Would we say that man is disqualified for office no matter what else he might believe? What if a candidate said rape isn’t so bad & we should repeal the rape laws? Would you vote for that man? What if a candidate says he is a racist & says that black people should be denied the right to vote & he believes slavery should be legal in America? Would you vote for that man? Would it matter if he added that he was pro-life? I don’t think so, do you?

What if a woman was to marry a man & the day before the marriage he told her he believes adultery is O.K & while he does love her he intends to cheat on her? Wouldn’t you agree that if a man told his sweetheart that it would be a deal-breaker no matter what other good qualities he brings to the table?

Here’s a question; what do you feel disqualifies a man from holding public office? I believe a man who stands up & says he’ll do everything in his power to promote abortion here in America & in other parts of the world disqualifies himself from any position of public office. It’s the same as the endorsement of racism, fraud, or bribery, except that abortion, or child-killing is more serious than those.

There are laws against intentionally maiming dogs & cats. Thank God!! And there are laws that protect a wide range of endangered species. But what about the unborn? Jesus said…

….whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.—Matt.18:6

These are solemn words telling us that those who deliberately hurt little children will someday face the Lord.

THE STRONGEST STATEMENT ON GOD’S PRENATAL CARE IN ALL THE BIBLE.

Psalm 139:13-14 says;- For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee for I am fearfully & wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works & that my soul knoweth right well.

How much does God know about the unborn baby growing in the womb? Everything! Like a skillful weaver God takes the tiny hands & legs & joins them together. He forms the heart & then sets it beating. He watches out for the little thumb to make sure it finds the mouth.

Who makes babies? God does!

What else but satanic can we call a law the kills an eight week fetus? An eight-week old fetus has a beating heart, an EKG, brain waves, thumb-sucking, pain sensitivity, finger grasping, & genetic humanity. But under our present laws an unborn baby isn’t a human person with rights under the 14th Amendment which says that “no state shall deprive any person of life without due process of law.” Why then is it that it’s illegal to maim, or mutilate an animal [who would want to?] but the sensitive unborn baby has no rights at all?

Isn’t it strange that there are quotas on porpoises & whales but it’s always open season on unborn babies? If you destroy the egg of a bald eagle you can be fined $5000: if you destroy an unborn baby you’ll make about $350. Do you think that our ghettos or crime ridden streets are the most dangerous places in America? Think again. A baby in its mother’s womb has a one in three chance of making it out alive. Isn’t it a little schizophrenic that today in America a 14 year old girl may not buy cigarettes or alcohol or attend an x-rated movie; in some places she can’t even get her ears pierced without her mother’s permission? But she can have an abortion. Again doesn’t this sound like “an evil plan,” a satanic plot to you?

WHAT IS IT?

If you were sitting at your computer and one of your kids came up behind you and said, “Hey, mom/dad, can I kill this? The first question you’d ask without looking up would be, “what is it?” If it’s a roach or some other ugly bug you’d immediately say, “Yes, please kill that thing immediately. You can’t kill it quickly enough.” If it’s the four year old kid from next door of course your answers going to be entirely different. [I hope]

When the question of either drowning an unborn baby in salt water in the womb or vacuuming it almost out of its mother’s womb and than slitting the throat, our question must be-“What is it you’re killing?” The only truthful answer to that question is, “It’s a living breathing baby stamped with God’s image.

This may surprise you but I actually agree with Marlo Thomas & Barbara Streisand on an important issue. During the last election they said-“One candidate should be elected because of his position on abortion & one defeated for the same reason.” They were right of course but they weren’t thinking exactly as I was. They had the candidates backward.

DONALD TRUMP

I was heartened  when I  read how Donald Trump  had a change of heart and become pro-life. He said in a recent interview...

"One of the reasons I changed — one of the primary reasons — a friend’s wife was pregnant, and he didn't really want the baby. He was crying as he was telling me the story. She ends up having the baby, and the baby is the apple of his eye. It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to him. And here’s a baby that wasn't going to be allowed to live.  I heard this, and many other stories, and I am now pro-life.”

Brody asked, “So those stories did change you, they came around and changed you?”

Trump responded, “Yeah, they changed my view, absolutely.”

I WONDER-DO WOMEN KNOW THESE THINGS? DO THEY KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING IN AN ABORTION?

I’m not wondering if they lack intelligence. I just wonder if they close their eyes to the truth like some do with tobacco, gluttony, drunkenness, or other dangerous substances. They’re not going to expose themselves to in-depth information on the subject.

An encouraging bit of information is that there are actually fewer abortions since the sonogram became available, probably because the future mom can see the little person growing inside her. From the moment of conception a baby has as individual identity. The baby has its own set of genes & chromosomes. At 19 days after conception the eyes begin to develop. At 24 days the heart begins beating. At 30 days the unborn baby is an inch long yet he has a brain, eyes, ears, mouth, kidneys, & liver. At 35 days his fingers have formed & at 40 days brain waves can be detected & recorded. In the tenth week after conception the baby squints, swallows & hiccups & has fingerprints that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

By the fourth month his ears are functioning, he begins to suck his thumb & he can hear his mother’s voice for the first time. By the seventh month he can see & hear & taste & touch. He recognizes his mother’s voice when he hears it. By the ninth month the baby weights between six & nine pounds & his heart pumps 300 gallons of blood per day. He is now capable of life outside the womb if only he gets the chance.

The last few verses of Romans the first chapter mirror our times, especially the sins we embraced as a people when we turned away from God. The Greek word astorgos translated in the KJV as “without natural affection,” & in some translations with the word “heartless.” It was used in the first century for parents who abandoned their children by exposing them to the elements. Such cruelty isn’t natural. To treat your own children with such callous unconcern reveals that you are without natural affection. Seen in that light abortion isn’t just another sin, it’s the mark of a depraved & godless society.

ABORTION IS WRONG BECAUSE IT’S WRONG TO KILL BABIES

Abortion is as simple yet profound as that, & I know of no other conclusion that’s consistent with the Christian faith. I made up my mind where I stood on the abortion issue a long time ago but I can’t nor would I compel your conscience. You have to make up your own mind.

I have always been & will continue to be a thorn in the devils side on this subject. There are many who are ambivalent about abortion because they don’t want to be “crusaders.” They say things like “I’m against abortion but I don’t want to impose my views on others.”

Let’s use that logic in other areas of moral values. How would you respond to someone who said;

“I’m against slavery but I don’t think we should go overboard & make it illegal?” Or;

“I’m against slavery but I’m not offended if you still own a few slaves. After all I’m not going to be a radical on the subject."-Or;

“I’m against slavery but other issues are much more important.”

If a person said that & then added, “Oh, by the way, I’m pro-life,” would that matter? No it wouldn’t & shouldn’t. Support for slavery is an absolute disqualifying issue for any leader, it doesn’t matter how good his other positions might be. Don’t you agree? I feel the same way about abortion & as I said, I will not nor have I ever voted for anyone who believes it permissible to kill the unborn.

I got an email some time ago from a lady who’d read one of my earlier blogs. [I’ve checked back & don’t really know what she read that convicted her.] This lady was distraught because she’d had an abortion & wondered if God had turned His back on her. I assured her He hadn’t & ministered to her the best I could. If you’ve had an abortion at any time in your life, all you can do is ask God’s forgiveness & determine never to have another one. Try under God to put it behind you & move on. Don’t give yourself a life-sentence because God gets no glory from that. Just like any other sin “He is faithful & just to forgive us.” It’s always Satan who drags up our past. He won’t point out anything new we might need to pray about because that would be helping us. But make no mistake,

ABORTION WAS HATCHED IN THE HALLS OF HELL!

We live fairly close to an abortion clinic & almost every day when we pass we see people outside on the sidewalk with signs engaged in peaceful demonstrations. Once in a while we see a large refrigerated truck backing up to the building; as a matter of fact the truck is so large it usually blocks traffic for some time.

Knowing some things I know, that I won’t drag your mind into, I always get a queasy feeling because in my heart I know the cargo that truck has backed up to load on. This whole business is the work of Satan & those who profit from it. The people who traffic in this awful enterprise will someday face God in judgment.

It isn’t my intention in this message to drill down particularly deeply into the abortion issue; I’ll save that for another time. But IMO it would be worth our time to study the Nazi Germany example in the light of the “Slippery Slope” they found themselves on when a great people were slowly coerced into believing the over six million Jews they butchered were less than fully human.

Especially despicable in my view are politicians who use words such as “Freedom” & “choice” & are doing it for crass political gain. A verse comes to mind that seems appropriate here;

The thief comes to steal kill & destroy: I have come that they might have life & have it to the full. John 10:10.

One more verse; the one we started with,

…..Chose life!

God commands us to choose life. This is a command for individuals, families, churches, cities, states & nations.


Blessings,


John