We are at the beginning of a new year. Every New Year speaks about new challenges and new choices. In many ways what has gone past still exists with us today. The sufferings of last year do not simply go away just because we have changed our calendar. But we are given the opportunity to make decisions which we hope will make a difference. Something that says we have decided. Last year presented many challenges both in the area of health, ministry, and friends. Some we have lost and others we have just started to know. But all in all what has passed became a year that I have begun to be challenged. It was a time to reach out again with a voice of ministry. It has been both humbling because I could do none of this in my own strength. The flesh will always be a point of failure. We are all dogged by our own flesh and the weakness which we still have to suffer until we rise with the incorruptible body. We all long for that incorruptible body which will have no taint of Sin or decay on it. One day that hope will become a reality. What has transpired before will be nothing more than a distant memory that passes away, the shadow of a former nightmare in which the day forgets.
PERSECUTION:
For many fellow believers this has been a year of persecution and suffering and many have died for their faith. We must continue to uplift them in prayer. In many ways they are the real heroes of the faith. For they stand in the face of some of the most difficult situations imaginable
Hebrews 11: 39-40 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Many seeing their love ones killed, many have lost everything, and many have been driven from their homes. But they have a God will reward them for their stand.
I have no doubt that this year will see new challenges and I hope in Gods grace we will meet those challenges. The issue of Church continues to be an issue. While I believe that God gives grace to live in the wilderness that cannot always be said of family. In one sense every believer wherever he lives is going through the tribulation, some more than others. The climate is slowly changing where Christians will become more vivified and rejected by the world. We exist as aliens in a foreign land, an oddity among a Christ rejecting world. That neither understands nor wants to.
BIRTH PANGS:
I am also realised that the birth pangs which the Bible speaks about are becoming more and more of a reality. Scientist pontificate Governments establish their laws, but none can change what is coming. The world is STRAINING and GROANING and the end is coming. We desire that none be left or lost. The warning signs are there but many choose to ignore them. Despite all the inventiveness of men we still teeter on the edge of a precipice. It is only Gods grace that stops the world from finally plummeting over the edge of the precipice.
God at this time in mercy is restrain mans capacity to plummet into the horrible depths of depravity, but God will not restrain for ever and one day all that will transpire will.
WITNESS:
If ever there was a time to witness and see souls saved it has to be now. The need to shout out and call people to the one reality that will last. Eternity beckons and few realise the awful consequences of what eternity means. There is a wondrous Glory for those who received Christ as Lord and Saviour but an awful state for those who reject. We can only hope that this will become a year of witness, which will see souls saved and delivered from sin and damnation.
FALSE TEACHERS:
Last year saw a number of false teacher’s return, Todd Bentley being one of them. Just when we thought we saw that last of him, he returned with a wife who was as crazy as he was. It should be remembered that this relationship which was born out of open adultery. Todd expects everyone to believe that his marriage to his mistress was repentance. Not in any Bible I have read.
Sadly Last years saw a number of false teachers getting air time like David Vaughan, the crazy monk who entered the Big Brothers house. I suspect he was kept there as some oddity and almost won. I have no doubt that this trend will continue. Last year also saw the proposed divorce between Benny Hinn by his wife Suzanne Hinn. We have all with waited breath waited to see if this divorce will be finally finalised. So far even the revelation of Benny Hinn relationship with Paula white has kept the lid on this divorce. I personally view this silence with a bit of suspicion. But we will wait and see.
The continued exposure of false teachers has made many of them go quiet although they are still there grafting in money and making the gospel in a money racket. Time does not allow for the mention of all the ones who have been exposed. I suspect that this will and must continue. We cannot let up and become comfortable. The pressure if anything must grow against these false teachers, for if we do not then the world will. The best place to hit these false teachers is in their pockets. Last year saw many develop financial problems Robert Schullers church the Crystal Cathedral being one of them, which filed for bankruptcy?
If anything the rise of false prophets especially those who can do false signs and wonder will increase. While many of these are continuing to be exposed, look for someone who can appear to do the genuine. Or at least that is what it will appear. False signs and wonders exponents are becoming more and more subtle with their deceptions. They are learning from the failures of those who have gone before them.
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