Sowing the Seed--Doubting the Truth

by John Newton
April 17, 1776

Dear Sir,

by this time I hope you are both returned in peace and happy together in your stated, favoured tract: rejoicing in the name of Jesus yourselves, and rejoicing to see the savour of it spreading like a precious perfume among the people. Every day I hope you find prejudices wearing off, and more disposed to hear the words of Life. The Lord has given you a fine first fruits, which I trust will prove the earnest of a plentiful harvest. In the meantime He will enable you to sow the seed in patience, leaving the event in His hands. Though it does not spring up visibly at once, it will not be lost. I think He would not have sent you, if He had not a people there to call; but they can only come forth to view as He is pleased to bring them. Satan wild try to hinder and disturb you, but he is in a chain which he cannot break, nor go a step further than he is permitted. And, if you have been instrumental to the conversion of but a few, in those few you have an ample reward already for all the difficulties you have or can meet with. It is more honourable and important to be an instrument of saving one soul, than to rescue a whole kingdom from temporal ruin. Let us, therefore, while we earnestly desire to be more useful, not forget to be thankful for what the Lord has been pleased already to do for us; and let us expect, knowing whose servants we are, and what a Gospel we preach, to see some new miracles wrought from day to day; for, indeed, every real conversion may be accounted miraculous, being no less than an immediate exertion of that power which made the heavens, and commanded the light to shine out of darkness.

Your little telescope is safe. I wish I had more of that clear air and sunshine you speak of, that with you I might have more distinct views of the land of promise. I cannot say my prospect is greatly clouded by doubts of my reaching it at last; but then there is such a languor and deadness hangs upon my mind, that it is almost amazing to me how I can entertain any hopes at all. It seems, if doubting could ever be reasonable, there is no one who has greater reason for doubting than myself. But I know not how to doubt, when I consider the faithfulness, grace, and compassion of Him who has promised. If it could be proved that Christ had not died, or that He did not speak the words which are ascribed to Him in the Gospel, or that He is not able to make them good, or that His word cannot safely be taken; in any of these cases I should not doubt to purpose, and lie down in despair.

http://www.puritansermons.com/newton/newt_c1.htm

America Is Not Babylon

by Joseph Chambers

The purity of Holy Scripture is a miracle of miracles. Read any passage in the Bible and then do a little research. You will find clear interpretation for that Scripture. Words that the Spirit used can never be understood properly by pulling a meaning out of the air. The word “water” when used as a type is always the Word of God. When God says “Jerusalem,” He means the chosen of God. It is either His chosen city or His chosen people.

Babylon is used in the Bible over 295 times. When the Bible says “Mystery Babylon,” He speaks of a religion that has become evil and corrupt because “Babylon” is the seat of Satan. When He says “Babylon” without a modifying adjective, He means Babylon the city, which was founded by Nimrod. To try to identify America as Babylon is utterly contrary to Biblical interpretation. Using that kind of method to study the Bible leads to all kinds of misunderstandings. Always let the Bible interpret itself.

Mystery Babylon is clearly the End Time apostasy of false Christianity. The seventeenth chapter of Revelation is the most noted example. A harlot woman is another Biblical type of corrupt Christianity. A pure woman represents the pure faith of our Lord. The harlot woman is the opposite. When you put “Mystery Babylon” with the “harlot woman,” you have a double picture of the utter false religion of the Seven Years of Tribulation. It is religion at its lowest manifestation in human history. This is the church of the Antichrist.

Revelation chapter eighteen is the city of Babylon rebuilt in the Southern part of Iraq. To try to superimpose this chapter into America is contrary to every Biblical principle. There is not one basis for such transliterating of the Holy Bible. The main reason this is often tried is because our nation has a preponderance of sins. I certainly admit that, but it is not God’s method of understanding the Word of God. What if we did that kind of twisting of all Scripture? Think of the mess it would create with our Bible.

America has got a lot of sins for which we are going to pay. This nation will be subject to all the horrid calamities of the Seven Years of Tribulation. These calamities are God’s instruments for cleansing the world of abortions, fornications, sodomy, and every unclean lifestyle. Millions will die and the wicked will learn that sin is always accountable to the Heavenly Father. Before the worst comes, the Saints will be raptured. But, if the Lord tarries, you may think that the worst has already come even before the Rapture occurs.

Babylon is the city of Babylon and it must be rebuilt to be the capital of the Antichrist Kingdom. It is fitting that His One World Religion that gives him their total worship is called Mystery Babylon. The unity of the two entities is part of the mystery of wickedness. For the early years of the Seven Years, the Antichrist and His false church will be bosom partners. They will use each other. So, calling one “Babylon” and the other one “Mystery Babylon” is perfect prophecy.

By the end of the Seven Years, the two Babylons will clash and the Antichrist will pour his fury upon Mystery Babylon and burn her with fire. “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (Revelation 17:16). This truth also destroys the idea that both chapters are talking about Rome as Mystery Babylon. How could the Antichrist from literal Babylon burn Mystery Babylon if both are the same Babylon? Again, the Bible leaves little room for misunderstanding if you let Scripture interpret Scripture.

This totally destroys the thought that America is Babylon. The question is an unanswerable one when we try to put America in some cubbyhole of prophecy. Much of the world is unnamed as you study the Bible. Basically, the Bible’s prophecy picture is a Middle Eastern setting. You may call us an “Isle of the Sea” and that would put us in the Gog and Magog event. I personally believe that when the army of Russians and Islamic countries march towards Israel, we will either come to Israel’s defense or suffer great destruction in cities like New York and Washington, DC. That is still uncertain and our defense of Israel should not be done just to save our own necks.

History, not the Bible, proves that the Great Creator puts America in her wealthy position to spread the Gospel to the four corners of the world. He also ordained us to win the Second World War and be a partner in the development of the Nation of Israel. Defending Israel since 1948, providing Israel with a faithful partnership, and being her ally right down to the end is absolutely God’s will for our great nation. Anyone that would undercut that purpose needs to remember that God is still the sole owner and keeper of this Universe. He can pull down an arrogant president just like He allowed Him to be elected. I would suggest that any president or politician should watch his words and actions because God knows all things and Israel is His heartthrob.

America is not Babylon, but America is answerable to God for our grievous sins and for our responsibility to Israel.

The Antichrist will be an Assyrian

I read a book last month by Joseph Chambers and in it he stated that Babylon will be rebuilt and the Antichrist will be an Assyrian. I’ve read that before. I read a very good study by Prof. Johan S. Malan and Professor Malan, like Pastor Chambers do an excellent through scripture pointing out that not is this only true, but things happening in Iraq only further substantiate these claims. Anyhow I would like to post a few excerpts from Pastor Chambers book…

The prophets have made it clear that the Antichrist will be an Assyrian. A prophet named Isaiah spoke of this future beast that attacked and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Is. 10:5-6). Then, Isaiah gave another part of the Prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled. “That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders (Is. 14:25). This has never been fulfilled so we know that it is about the future Antichrist. He spoke of this Assyrian in clear end-time chronology to leave no doubt as to His meaning. “And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod (Is. 30:30-31). The final Antichrist of this thirteenth chapter of Revelation must be that Assyrian. Even Micah spoke of his death in the gate of Nimrod, which is none other than the Ancient Babylon being revisited at this very hour.
To add to the prophetic miracles that are occurring all over the world, this Assyrian beast represents an unspeakable mystery that can finally be understood. Except for a few historians and the people of Assyrian lineage, nobody in prophetic literature even considered that there were Assyrian people alive right up to this very point in history. Almost as mysterious as the Jews but completely off the radar, the Assyrians—as a distinct people—have survived the centuries with clear unmistakable identity. Living mostly in their own conclaves, they have survived great odds to now surface in northern Iraq and other nations they have fled. For them to presently be involved in uniting their own culture and to be a voice in the new Iraq government cannot be less than perfect planning on the part of out Creator.
[Excerpts from pages 181, 182 of “The Masterpiece: God’s Unfolding Revelation” written by Joseph Chambers]

In light of a few articles I've read across lately by “Assyrian International News Agency”. This seemed relevant to the times we live in and the dark days ahead for those that haven't repented and obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever (Ps. 119:160)

THE DEATH OF THE SIMPLE

Part 2

An Eschatological Warning

By: Pastor Bill Randles

“For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice. And saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, a young man void of understanding. Passing along the street near her corner; And he took the path to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” (Proverbs 7:6-9)

The book of Proverbs like all scripture, is multifaceted, it goes beyond being God’s psychology, as I noted in the previous post, although it is indeed that. It is also more than a collection of divine maxims, the teaching of morality, people skills, and practical insights for daily life. It is all that and more, it is in fact prophetic, it is an eschatological revelation.Consider the similarity in the structure of Proverbs and the book of Revelation.

Both of them have the theme of choosing between two rival women. The book of Revelation features the vision of the woman in labor, beset by the beast, sheltered by the Lord, carried away to safety on eagle’s wings. It culminates in the vision of the Bride, pure and holy, made ready for her heavenly husband, the Lamb.

She has a counterpart in Proverbs, the virtuous woman who fears the Lord. She cries out in the streets to admonish the simple, she prepares a feast of bread and wine to those who heed her call, and the Proverbs ends with a celebration of her virtues - gladness that it was she who was chosen and not the other.

But the theme of Revelation features a second woman from beginning to end, the Harlot. She is called “That woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and teaches my servants to commit fornication…”(Rev 2:20). She is also seen sitting upon a beast, drunk on the blood of saints and having a brazen headpiece with blasphemous names written on it. For a little time she is given great power and influence, but ultimately judgment comes upon her at the end.

She has a counterpart in the book of Proverbs as well, the strange woman. We are told that the words of Proverbs are given:
“To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth to death and her paths unto the dead. None that goeth unto her return again, neither take they hold of the path of life.” (Proverbs 2:16-19)

The virtuous woman has a teaching for the simple, but the ‘strange’ woman has an alternative teaching, each offer the key to understanding. In chapter nine of Proverbs, lady Wisdom teaches us that to “fear the Lord is wisdom, and by the knowledge of the Holy comes understanding”.

The strange woman counters with a teaching that the enjoyment of sin is satisfying, and that illicit experience is the key to understanding.
“Whoso is simple, let him turn in here, and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” (Proverbs 9:16-17)

It should be obvious by now what these two women represent. They are the Biblical way of describing the true and the false church, the Bride and the Harlot! They either propagate the wisdom of this fallen age, or the wisdom of God. Human history culminates in both the “Wedding Supper of the Lamb”, or the “Judgment of the Great Whore”. There is a direct spiritual parallel between idolatry and adultery. Salvation is a marriage, the church is a Bride, Israel is God’s wife. There is a true Bride of Christ and there is a parody, a harlot church.

With that backdrop in mind, look with me at the eschatological understanding of Proverbs one. The naive young man wandering, “void of understanding”- as explained in the previous post, this means he has no sense of the Holy (Proverbs 9:9), no concept of the awful, transcendent majesty of God. He is drawn in his boredom and emptiness to the harlot church.

It is at first “twilight”, but darkness comes fast, soon it is evening, ere long it is “the black and dark night”. The night is a metaphor for the Tribulation. Before the dawning of the long awaited millennial Sabbath Day, the night grows black and dark, Evil is allowed to reach its zenith, the rebellion against the Holy God comes to a head. (I believe we are well into the “twilight”).

“There met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart.” (Proverbs 7:10)

She looks like a harlot, she is gaudy and overdone. She has subtlety in her heart - concealed motives. Look at TBN, or the tattoo covered and pierced Todd Bentley that thousands around the world considered to be a prophet of God. I know you can’t judge a book by its cover, and that only God knows the heart, but appearances do account for something. What does she want?

“She caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me, this day have I payed my vows. Therefore have I come forth to thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.’’ (Proverbs 7:13-15)

Hers is a mixture of flattery and antinomian salvation. “I have come to seek you”. It’s all about Y-O-U! (seeker sensitive church?) – But she professes a salvation that makes no moral demands, “ I have peace offerings” - (I have been saved by sacrifice, I am at peace with God!), but she then proceeds to describe the bed of her adulteries in sensual terms! What kind of salvation is that? It is the new all grace and no law salvation of the harlot church!

“Come let us take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace ourselves with loves .For the Goodman is not at home, he is gone on a long journey; he has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.” (Proverbs 7:18-20)

Her message is all love - there are no calls to repentance or obedience to the Lord. There are no moral demands made in the name of the holy God. It is an experienced based religion, light on doctrine, “dogma”, but heavy on sensual experience.

The only other theme is the denial of the immanent return of Jesus, “the Goodman”. Of course there is the obligatory acknowledgment that He “will come home at the day appointed”, but the harlot church doesn’t regard the coming of Jesus as an immanent, urgent, practical reality.

“With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straitly, as an ox goeth to slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks." (Proverbs 7:21-22)

So many pastors I know have been flattered, seduced, caused to yield to unbiblical deceptions such as Toronto Blessing, Purpose Driven Life, the Pensacola delusion. What is it that they have been “caused to yield”? They have given up their critical faculties, the ability to discern. They have in the name of church growth yielded up their calling to protect God’s flock from the wolves who ravage them. They have yielded to the unbiblical fads, and even to destructive heresies so that they would not appear to be ‘Pharisees’, faultfinders and heresy hunters. Therefore they have yielded to the seduction time and again, and their flocks have been utterly ravaged.

These apostate pastors “go after her straitly” every time. No matter how wrong these false prophets prove to be, or how utterly undiscerning these ‘apostles’ constantly are, they will follow them. How does it feel to be one of those ‘leaders’ who publically endorsed Bentley, in many cases knowing his marriage was a disaster. False prophets Paul Cain and Bob Jones both were exposed as sexual deviants, and even temporarily removed, but they had a ready constituency upon their re-entry into ministry. This is a matter of eternal life and eternal death for many. It becomes a matter of the relevance of the church, God’s witness, the “pillar and ground of the truth” as Paul calls it. The consequences of consorting with the strange woman are extreme.

“Hearken unto me now therefore O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth, Let not your heart decline unto her ways, go not astray in her paths .For she has cast down many wounded; yea many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to Hell, going down to the chambers of death.” (Proverbs 7:24-27)

JUDAS STRIKES AGAIN

by J.Jacob Prasch
http://moriel.org/
Rick Warren and Post Modernism, Rick Warren and Homosexuality & Lebsbianism, now it is Rick Warren and Islam


Rick Warren, whose efforts to turn Evangelical Christianity into a psychologized religion based on marketing with his ‘Purpose Driven’ agenda stunned many who claim to be regenerated bible believing Christians when he appeared on Larry King Live globally offering an apology to the homosexual & lesbian community for his ‘apparent’ opposition to California’s Proposition 8 outlawing legal recognition of same sex marriage. He did this after creating the unambiguous impression he did oppose it. Warren’s hypocrisy or Christ-less treachery appear to know no limits. Yesterday’s theological liberal is today’s supposed ‘Evangelical’.
From his butchering of scripture out of context, to his reliance on Eugene Peterson’s ‘The Message’ which to any biblical Evangelical schooled in New Testament Greek can only be described as an utter bastardization of Holy Writ , Warren has set mew limits to spiritual seduction.
On the basis of scripture, Warren’s translocational hermeneutics in which he literally ‘cuts and pastes’ verses from one book or passage into another to completely change the original meaning demonstrates categorically that Rick Warren is clearly of the devil – an agent of hell dispatched by Satan to destroy what con artist tele-evangelists and ecumenists have not already destroyed of biblical Christianity.
Warren’s perversion of the Gospel where he replaces the biblical centrality of repentance with a consumer friendly instruction not to preach repentance at one time would have left any biblically grounded Christian, and certainly pastor warning others against this deceiver.
His exhortation to avoid end time prophecy, directly contradicting the opposite exhortation of Jesus (Achieved by deleting Acts 1: 6 and replacing it with a cut and pasted insertion of Matthew 24:3) means that he places his instructions above those of God. This is indeed the spirit of anti Christ. Like the Lucifer who whom he is employed and from he takes his orders, Warren likewise in character of Satan in Matthew 4 perverts texts out of context in isolation from co-text to create a distorted pretext. This is the devil, and this is Rick Warren.
Warren joined with Brian McLaren (who demands a moratorium on debating the morality of homosexuality and lesbianism until the church decides if it is right or wrong) in forwarding Dan Kimbell’s book; ‘The Emerging Church’, a post modern metaphysical philosophy of mysticism drawing on early medieval monastic spirituality with everything from icons to labyrinths to the ‘lectio divina’. Indeed, a return to the dark ages with no objective biblical compass to determine direction. McLaren is a by theological definition a Gnostic who says then parables of Jesus should rather be interpreted on the basis of ‘our imagination’. It is Warren’s Purpose Driven lie that is the door into McLaren’s emergence. What is astounding however is that these sons of Lucifer are portrayed as ‘Evangelicals’, despite they cannot justly claim any subscription to an exegetically biblical Evangelicism.
What is more perverse than this however is that even after Warren’s apologetic backtrack to the homosexual & lesbian community who demand legal recognition of what is biblically an unholy matrimony now claiming he is not against such same sex marriages the backlash from Christians has remained mooted. Christian bookshops continue to sell his Purpose Driven Lie.
Warren spoke at a synagogue but made no proclamation of Jesus as The Messiah as St. Paul and Jesus did when they were invited to synagogues and as others such as David Hocking have done today. Rather he lectured on his Purpose Driven programmatic approach will work to grow synagogues as well as churches. One would ask why anybody would want to help a false Judaism rejecting its own messiah to put more Jews on the path to hell? Yet Warren extends his agenda to other religions as well. Now , and most notably Islam.
Truly Born again Arab believers normally address Jesus as ‘Yesua Hamesa’, but after praying in the name of “Issa’, (the Islamic name for Jesus who is not the Jesus of The Gospels because Issa is not God’s Son) at Obama’s inaugeration, Warren has gone once more gone further. He has now addressed an Islamic convention organized by Islamic organizations funded by oil money from Saudi Arabia which executes people for becoming Christians. Like Obama, Rick Warren said not a word about human rights abuses , the persecution of Christians throughout the Islamic world, or the rife hatred of Jews even taught to children in moslem schools and madrasses. Persecuted Christians are not on Obama’s agenda, and neither are they on Rick Warren’s. Neither of course did Warren in any sense present the Gospel to these lost souls. It is obvious that we have wicked men like George Bush and Barack Hussein Obamas in The House House because we have wicked men like Rick Warren in the pulpit.
Backslidden nations get the leaders they deserve. So do backslidden churches.
Mos lems, unbelieving Jews, and homosexuals & lesbians are not the cardinal problem. These are unsaved people doomed to a Christ-less eternity unless the true church by God’s grace and with God’s help can reach them with the gospel. But what is left of the true church?
For too long it has been sandwiched between one lunatic fringe of ultra Pentecostals and hyper charismatics not knowing the difference between charismata and charismania on one extreme and another lunatic fringe of hyper Calvinistic kooks and cessationists not knowing knowing the difference between reconstructionism and The true Kingdom of God on the opposite pole of the ecclesiastical spectrum. Now the center is being satanically subverted.
If Jesus were not coming, I would become very despondent. But Praise God He is Coming. Now as the faithful remnant strengthens the things that remain the question becomes what our strategy should consist of in the meanwhile. The Lord will indeed show us if we ask Him and He has in a greater sense already showed us doctrinally in broad terms in His Word.
How can The Body of Christ not remove this demonic and highly metastatic cancer from itself but instead watch not only the lost perish but the church progressively rot to death with this auto tolerated malignancy? That demonic cancer is indeed the agenda of Rick Warren & Co.
J.Jacob Prasch