On the Threshold of God's Judgments

"Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations." -Joel 2:1-2 (NKJV)

For some time now in my spirit I have sensed a deep heaviness for what is coming upon mankind and the earth because of what I see and hear being fulfilled in Bible Prophecy. Nations and kingdoms are aligning to fulfill end time prophecy. IMO, God's prophetic time clock starting ticking again when Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948 – now, the timetable is advancing very quickly.

When you examine what is currently occurring in the world you wonder why all the unrest, corruption, evil, wickedness, chaos, wars, terrorists, killings and confusion? And America is not exempt either. It seems the limits of nature, the weather and mankind are being pushed to their extremes.  A vast spiritual darkness is coming over not only America but the rest of the world as well. Here in America governmental corruption is up, abortion continues, a growing and dramatic rise in open and accepted [abominable] homosexuality, Supreme Court's approval now on gay marriage, widespread idolatry and mega-deception and delusion of all kinds and types are picking up speed almost without restraint or exception. What is going on?

Let's take a look at God's word. Amos was a prophet sent to the northern tribes of Israel around 793-740 B.C. A fiery, fearless prophet who confronted the people about their gross sin, their rejection of God and the impending judgment of God's hand. He spoke with brutal frankness against their sin even though the land enjoyed a time of great prosperity. He spoke with authority yet was only a shepherd, not even of a priestly line. He was sounding the alarm in their midst for their lack of acceptance of God even though the people seemingly went to worship and looked and acted Godly. See any difference today? We have a lot of people just 'playing' church and toying with the things of God.

"Come to Bethel and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression; Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; For this you love, You children of Israel!" Says the Lord God.-Amos 4:4-5 (NKJV)

This OT account should be a red flag waving in our faces. Now I don't claim to be a prophet but I do know there is something coming, the hand of God moving against the wicked and against those who refuse to accept Him and obey His Gospel (2 Th 1:8). The signs are ever increasing and today for the first time converging. In Amos 4, we read that God was disgusted with their sin and their rejection of Him and so He brought famine, drought, crop failures and plaques and wars upon them. Yes, our God did this! Why? because of their relentless sin with no meaningful repentance. Today we are experiencing some of the same catastrophes and in some cases worse. Mass animal deaths, extreme weather, economic woes, crops failing and food prices rising and civil unrest. Why aren't things getting better?

We are supposed to rely on our Christian churches to divide the word of truth in delivering God's word to us but instead we have in most Christian pulpits false teachers and prophets (pastors, priests, elders) – storytellers who feed us consistent easy-to-digest Christian pabulum laced with entertainment. They have preach nice stories lacking Biblical truth and substance. There preaching and worship is for nought before the Lord – Mal 1:8-10. The doors of these churches practicing improper worship and bringing false praise should be closed! Let's be absolutely clear – the Bible is not a 'story' book, it is God speaking to us through the prophets and through His Son.  The Christian churches and their leaders will be held accountable as:

• We never hear of the doctrine of sin, we are never convicted of our sin, we rarely hear of the Fear of the Lord or the knowledge of who He is. We never hear of the judgment side of God and the very present reality of hell.
• No teaching on death; yes, death! We all will face it one day as it is inevitable unless the Lord comes first.
• Our religious leaders fail to teach us about God's timepiece – Israel and what it means to God and how it relates to His Second Coming.
• Our Christian preachers abstain from teaching about Bible prophecy because either they are uneducated on it, scoff and don't believe it or don't want to offend anyone with it. How pathetic!
• We have pastors bent on preaching entertaining sermons with contemporary pleasing rhetoric and refuse to teach the truth of His word. Instead they preach a convenience Gospel, if you will, soft and mushy without the teeth of the Gospel. 
• We have pastors, priests, bishops and teachers that preach a 'fang-less' God!

In essence, these preachers are the same as the religious leaders Jesus blasted in the woes to them in Matt 23:13 and Luke 11:52, because they 'shut up the Kingdom of God' from the people. This equates to not preaching about salvation and what it takes to enter His Kingdom. It's the same today folks, how many times to you hear a pastor offer an urgent plea for people to seek the Lord's free gift of salvation? Many, many people sitting in our churches will be lost because of blind church leaders leading them down the wide road which leads to destruction – Matt 7:13-14. How many souls are being saved where you attend church?

"Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light? Even very dark with no brightness in it? I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell a savor or take delight in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and your cereal offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I look upon the peace or thank offerings of your fatted beasts. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice run down like waters and righteousness as a mighty and ever-flowing stream." -Amos 5:20-24 (NKJV)

Most contemporary pulpit preachers and church leaders are not like the men of Issachar (1 Chr 12:32) who understood the times and knew what Israel was to do. A parallel exists today;  the pastors and leaders need to preach preparing the church for what's ahead (I am not suggesting the church has replaced Israel). Instead, we have plenty of clergy that preach and teach tolerance and compromise proclaiming there are many ways to heaven. Bunk!! False teachers! In most cases our churches have lost their first love, have a name that is alive, look Godly but are spiritually dead inside (Ephesus – Rev 2:1-7 and Sardis – Rev 3:1-6). God is sick and vomits at the lukewarmness of our Christian churches nowadays (Laodicia – Rev 3:14-22). Amos slammed the religious rituals of the people which looked and sounded good but were empty and devoid of forgiveness but being very content with their sin. You must realize that Satan is alive and well and causing havoc in our land with lethargic, weak, powerless and sickly churches. And all this is prophesied in His word. But where do you hear it today?

Friends, we dare not play games with a Holy and Righteous God. He is serious about sin and we must deal with it. We must daily confess and repent of the sins that easily work their way into our lives (idols, greed, pride, lust). We must not be complacent and complicit in the sin that easily besets us; we must instead repent and amend our ways.  This is our hope, hope in believing in God's only begotten Son – Jesus Christ – but you must get into God's word: digest it, immerse yourself in it, pray, fast (if you can), seek His face, stand in the gap for your nation and people. Pray without ceasing for faith, strength, wisdom and understanding. If you are not a born-again saved Christian then please go here – What must I do to be saved?  Friends, the time is drawing ever closer to the Lord's judgments coming upon on the earth (Rev 6-19) and so we must be prepared, we must know Him and He must be the anchor of our faith. This is our hope for He is our strength. Seek Him today! (Yes, I know tough words again but people have got to hear them!)

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9 (NKJV)

-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher