Pastor’s Note: God does NOT change and neither does the spirit of His Word. It is living and still relevant for each and every one of us today. With that thought in mind, remember the Prophetic words given by God’s Prophets and Teachers. The words STILL ring true! Do not be fooled into believing God’s Words and warnings were or are only for the children of Israel in ancient history.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-21, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” KNJV (Bold emphasis, added).
P.S. The Lord called ancient Israel His chosen people and they accepted that, but with pride and arrogance. Today many in the organized church world call the Lord, Father, yet like ancient Israel, choose to do their own thing expecting that nothing will touch them. Be warned; God’s Word and His nature does NOT change.
History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. – Ecclesiastes 1:9-11.
The Lord is speaking out against some who call Him Father; His judgment is about to fall upon them. The people who call themselves the “church,” those who speak with such pride and arrogance, will soon know it. They said, “We will replace all that is and has and will be lost and replace it with even better.”
But the Lord will bring forth the enemies and the world against them and stir up others who recognize their arrogance. There will be many that come against the organized churches to do them wrong but even then the Lord’s anger towards their religious arrogance will not be satisfied. His fist will remain poised to strike.
Yet for even after all this punishment, the people will still not repent. They will not seek the Lord Almighty or cry out to Him. Therefore, in a single day the Lord will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed. The leaders of the rebellious churches are the head, and the lying prophets and false teachers are the tail. For the leaders of the people have misled them. They have led them down the path of destruction. They are like the blind leading the blind into a ditch, an abyss. Therefore the Lord can take no pleasure in the young men who follow blindly and can show no mercy even to others, young and old who do not speak up against the wickedness. For they are all wicked hypocrites, and they all speak foolishness everyone of them and they enable the corruption to continue. But even then the Lord’s anger towards their religious deceit will not be satisfied. His fist will remain poised to strike.
This spiritual wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns, the weeds and the dead, but also sets the forests and the life within them ablaze. Its burning sends up clouds of smoke burning and choking all around them. These arrogant and wicked institutions will be blackened by the fury of the Lord Almighty and His Heavenly Hosts. The unrepentant and rebellious people will be fuel for the fire, and no one will be able to spare even his own brother. They will attack their neighbor on the right but will still be hungry for more corruption. They will devour their neighbor on the left but will still not be satisfied. In the end they will not even care for the welfare of their own children. One organization will feed on another one, then even another will feed on the first, and both will devour what they call a “church.” And sadly even then the Lord’s anger towards the unrighteous will not be satisfied. His fist will ever remain poised to strike at the very heart of the wicked even then waiting for their repentance.
For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?” So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. – 1 Peter 4:17-19.
1(Except for the identified Scriptures which are all NLT, the body of text is based on and partially adapted from the latter parts of Isaiah, Chapter 9, NLT – New Living Translation)
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 