America! It's Not Too Late!*

Whatever we have done personally, or as a nation, it's not too late. After he was removed from office for refusing to take down the Ten Commandments from his court, Judge Roy Moore wrote a poem titled, "America, the Beautiful". It is a poem about how far America had drifted from its noble beginnings. It is too long to write out here, but the ending of his poem is: "...How are we to face our God, from Whom we cannot hide? What then is left for us to do, but stem this evil tide? If we who are His children, will humbly turn and pray; Seek His holy face and mend our evil way: Then God will hear from Heaven and forgive us of our sins, He'll heal our sickly land and those who live within. But, America the Beautiful, if you don't - then you will see, A sad but Holy God withdraw His hand from Thee." The prophet Jeremiah also saw his nation rejecting the prophetic warning of the LORD, and rushing into the consequences that awaited them. He laments for his country and himself in the Book of Lamentations. He wrote as a man who found himself in a spiritual place seemingly without hope: "He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer...He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate...And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD..." (Lam. 3:6-8, 11, 18). He was a prophet who was not hearing from the LORD, and believed that the LORD was no longer hearing him. Then from within his own soul, a reminder came: "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD." (v. 20-26). We, the watchmen for our nation, need to recognize that God is our mercy. The prophet Jonah, whose name means "Dove", fled from the command of God that he go to the wicked nation of Nineveh, and bring them a warning that God's judgment was about to fall upon them. Because of Jonah's disobedience, the ship on which he fled was overtaken by a terrible tempest that threatened to destroy the ship (Jonah 1:4). Jonah was thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish that had been prepared by the LORD. Jonah described his sinking and the swallowing by the great fish as death: "Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight..." (Jonah 2:1-5). Yet from within Jonah, the hope of deliverance was brought to his mind: "...yet I will look again toward thy holy temple...yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD." (v.4-9). As Jonah humbled himself, and remembered Who the LORD was: "... the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land." (v. 10). There is a heaven to gain, a hell to shun, and, like Jonah, we have a calling to fulfill. In the story of Ruth, Ruth ("friendship") and her mother-in-law, Naomi ("Pleasant"), who had been living in Moab, had lost everything. The nation of Moab had its beginning many years in the past from an incestuous relationship. Naomi's husband had died, and two sons, whose names meant "sick" and "wasting away", had died. One of her sons had been married to Ruth, the Moabite. Naomi's heart had turned bitter from the grief at these losses. When she decided to return to her homeland and her town of Bethlehem ("House of Bread"), her daughter-in-law Ruth, did not want to be separated from Naomi. Ruth vowed to stay with Naomi saying, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go...thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God..." (Ruth 1:16). When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town came out to see them, and asked if this was Naomi. Naomi told them not to call her Naomi ("Pleasant") any longer, but "Bitter", "for the LORD Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me...the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me." (v. 20-21). However, the LORD of mercy had not turned His back on Naomi, but had brought her back to Bethlehem, "the House of Bread", to redeem and restore her. As Naomi saw how her kinsman Boaz had taken an interest in Ruth, hope began to grow in Naomi's heart. Boaz redeemed her husband's inheritance, and married her daughter-in-law, Ruth. A child was born to them named Obed, who would become the future King David's grandfather. Naomi got to hold and nurse the new child, as another son. Naomi, like Job, spoke wrong words in her desperation and grief, but God's mercy was still there for her. Despite our beginnings or circumstances, each person has a purpose, and an opportunity for the mercy of God. After he became king, David was moved to ask if there were any living family members of the house of Saul, the previous king who had died at the hand of the LORD for his disobedience (2 Sam. 9:1-4). King Saul had also spent many years chasing and trying to kill David. Yet, the mercy of the LORD was prompting David to seek out the descendants of Saul, not in order to kill them, as would have been the custom of the day, but to bless them, and show mercy upon them. Saul's son, Jonathan, David's very dear friend, did have a son who was lame from an injury suffered while fleeing as a child after his father and grandfather died. He was now living his life in poverty. Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth (meaning "exterminating the idol"), is brought to, and humbles himself before David, and David restores all of Saul's lands to him, as well as servants to work that land, and brings Mephibosheth to his own king's table, a place of honor and provision (v. 5-13). Neither physical issues nor family history can keep you from the promise and mercy of God. The prophet Ezekiel was given the Word of the LORD concerning the appointment of the watchman. He said that if the watchman warns, and if the people in iniquity heed the warning, and turn from evil as a result, they deliver their soul. If the watchman warns of the coming "sword" as he is supposed to do, and the people do not heed the warning, the watchman is innocent of blood on his hands, and the blood of the guilty will be upon their own heads. However, if the watchman sees the destruction approaching, and fails to sound the warning, the blood of those who were not given a chance to repent will be on his hands (see Ezekiel chapters 3, 22, 33). The LORD says to the watchman: "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me." (Ezek. 33:7). The provision of mercy is available to those in iniquity, if they are warned, and if they heed the warning and repent. God's rebuke was especially upon prophets, and the priests who failed to teach the people the difference between the holy and the profane as revealed in God's Word, and for the princes, the powerful, who preyed upon the people for their own gain (Ezek. 22:23-29). We see this same circumstance in America every day. Regarding this situation, God made a sad pronouncement: "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore I have poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way I have recompensed upon their heads, saith the LORD God." (v. 30-31). As an apostle, I am telling you that YOU are the appointed watchmen of whom God's Word commands to bring warning to the people when we see the forces of destruction and judgment entering the land. Are we standing in the gap for America? It is not too late. Have we become indifferent to our purpose regarding this nation? In the Book of Revelation, Jesus sternly corrects the church in Laodicea. He said that their works reflected that they were neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. He said, "So then because thou art lukewarm, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Rev. 3:14-16). However, it is not too late for the lukewarm church either. Jesus urged them to buy gold tried in the fire, rather than the worldly wealth of which they were so proud and felt so secure, and to acquire the white raiment of righteousness. They were to anoint their eyes with salve so they might "see". He reminded this lukewarm church that He rebukes and chastens those whom He loves. If this church would receive His correction, and change their ways, Jesus promised this great mercy, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (v. 17-22). Church, it is not too late! America, it is not too late! *Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 11/7/21 message to the church. If you would like to contact us for prayer, a praise report, or to support this ministry write to P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and at endtimeschool.com.

Has America Become Latter Day Amorites?*

Someone once said that if we don't learn from history, we are bound to repeat it. This message today is a serious prophetic warning. Second Peter warned that in the last days scoffers would come and the source of their scoffing would be the prophesied return of the Lord, and the judgment against wickedness. These scoffers would say, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Pet. 3:3-4). These scoffers, Peter said, deliberately overlook the flooding of the earth in judgment, which occurred since the creation. Peter wrote that instead of a judgment by water, this time, the judgment against ungodly men would be by fire that is stored up for this purpose. Both the heavens and the earth will be dissolved and melted with fervent heat (v. 7, 10). The description of this melting heat sounds very much like the outcome produced by a nuclear holocaust. Many nuclear powers among the nations today are on the verge of conflict, and such conflict was only narrowly avoided in the past. The only reason that we have not yet seen this prophesied judgment, said Peter, is "The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night..." (v. 9). The judgment of God is patiently withheld to give men an opportunity to repent, but the day will come. You can read a confirming word in the Apocrypha: Wisdom 12, for those who understand that while the Apocryphal books are not now considered scripture, they were quoted in scripture, and offer interesting additional information. In a prophecy given to Abram, the LORD promised that Abram's seed would experience servitude, or slavery, as strangers in a foreign land. That servitude would last 400 years. At the end of that time, the Lord would bring judgment upon the land that oppressed His people with servitude, and His people would be delivered out of that land with great substance (Gen. 15:13-14). It has been approximately 400 years since America began oppressing the native people of this land, and began to bring people from Africa and other lands into slavery here. Now, in America, there is still violent racial hatred against different racial and ethnic groups. The prophecy of the LORD to Abram does not stop there, however. He could not bring Abram's descendants back to the land of Canaan until the 400 years were completed "for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (v. 16). After four generations, God would bring back Abram's descendants to the land of Canaan through judgment against Egypt, and at the same time, displace the iniquitous Amorites from that land. God found the practices of both the Egyptians and the Amorites to be an aabomination and warned His people not to do the same: "After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God." (Lev. 18:3-4). What were the practices of both Egypt and the Amorites, the inhabitants of Canaan, that were so abominable that the LORD would bring judgment upon them. What are the abominations that America shares with the Amorites? The LORD, in Lev. 18, describes numerous sexual sins that defile. Not only do these sins defile a people, but they defile the land on which the people dwell: "For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled; that the land spue not you out also, when you defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people." (v. 27-29). All of the sexual sins mentioned in Lev. 18 are running rampant in America today. Sexual perversion, promiscuity, and pornography, are tolerated by law, while those who speak out against it are not tolerated. Another abomination of the people of the land that the LORD warns His people against is the offering of children to the god, Molech: "And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD." (v. 21). Here in America, millions of chldren have been slaughtered in abortion. This is the human sacrifice of children. Shall the Lord judge the Amorites, but not judge us for doing the same? The LORD said that there were six things He hated, and seven were an abomination to Him. One of those things mentioned is the shedding of innocent blood. Does there exist any more innocent blood than that of an unborn child in its mother's womb? Yet we shed it daily. One who wanted the practice of abortion to become widespread, Margaret Sanger, who served as president of Planned Parenthood, shared the views of Hitler regarding those who were "less desireable". She believed that populations from the "mongrel nations" should be controlled, even eliminated, and that civil and religious leaders, especially from the poor, black, and immigrant communities, should be recruited to endorse and spread these methods of population control in those neighborhoods. The prophets wrote of the Word of the LORD concerning His people when they practice the ways of the Amorites. Isaiah wrote that when God's people join properties into large land possessions, their houses shall be desolate. He judges His people who no longer are sober, but drunk until they have no self-control, and encourage their neighbors in drunkenness to see them fall. As a people, we have become users of alcohol, and also drugs, in order to escape sobriety. God told His prophet that His people have turned away from the knowledge of the LORD, and no longer consider the work of His hands. "Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it." (Isa. 5:14). Not only do these conditions exist in America, but Isaiah continues to show us our nation: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!...which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him." (v. 20-21, 23). Truth, justice, and the knowledge of the LORD are no longer sought in America. We here in America surely fit the picture that Isaiah has painted. As the prphet Habakkuk sought the LORD to hear for what he should repent and intercede, he was told to write the vision down plainly, so all could quickly read and understand it (Hab. 2:1-2). This vision, though it was for a future time, would come, and it would not be late. Though the scoffers, such as those spoken of by Peter, above, believe that the Word of the LORD will not come to pass, the LORD assured Habakkuk that it surely will. The LORD spoke judgments or "woes" that would come to "him that increaseth that which is not his, and to those who become involved in the covetous and oppressive economics of debt (v. 6: "thick clay"). The Word is spoken against those who take spoil from other lands, and fill their own land, and cities, with violence and blood. The Word is against those who are covetous, seeking and taking to accumulate what they need, they believe, to secure a place for themselves in order to avoid an evil overtaking them. However, we cannot buy or accumulate our way out of the woes and judgment of God. "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!" (v. 12). Much of the growth of our nation came by violence and practices of iniquity. We purposefully and violently drove out native peoples to inhabit their lands, and built our wealth on the enslavement of others. Habakkuk was so convicted by this vision from the LORD, that he immediately went into prayer: "O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." (Hab. 3:1-2). This is the same kind of prayer that the LORD asks of His people when they see their land embroiled in these conditions of iniquity (2 Chron. 7:14). If His people will pray and repent, and change their own ways, He will hear and heal our land. There is no other remedy or solution. Though men may try to buy, fight, or even vote their way out of the "woes" that come from their iniquity, there is only one solution given by God: the repentance of His own people. Though men might scoff and say that there is no coming judgment, the Book of Revelation says that a moment comes when the mystery of God declared by His servants the prophets will be finished, when the voice from heaven says, "...there should be time no longer", which means there shall be delay no longer. Until that moment comes, we have been given time by a longsuffering God to heed, understand and repent. *Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 4/25/21 message to the church. To contact: PO Box 154221, Waco, TX 76705 or Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com Look for Dr. Stevenson on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com

Trumpet Blasts and Wedding Garments: Are You Ready?

 

During the Feast of Trumpets, which is the first of the fall feasts of the LORD, there is a series of repeated blasts of the shofar (trumpet made from a ram's horn) that are specifically associated with this feast.
The first shofar blast of the repeated series is called "Tekiah". It is one long blast. Its sound represents both joy and warning. In our last post, we discussed the joy associated with this feast (Rev. 19:7-9, Ps. 81:1-3). The warning of the Tekiah blast, according to the rabbinical teachings, serves to call attention to something, to gather together to receive God's orders. Jesus issued this Tekiah-like warning:
"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (dissipation, carousing), and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare it shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 
                                                                                              Lk. 21:34-36
The Apostle Paul repeats a similar warning:
"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief...Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober...For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."    1 Thess. 5:2-9 (excerpt)
Much of the Church is asleep, unaware, and unprepared. The Tekiah blast is to stir us up, and warn us to start paying attention. Tradition says that the Tekiah blast is shouting, "Awake you sleepers!".
The second series of blasts of the shofar is called "Shevarim". It is comprised of three short, broken notes. The word Shevarim means "breakings". Its sounding calls people to weep, repent, and seek God. The blasts are to lead God's people into examining themselves. They are reminded to turn away from the things that have been separating them from God, and to seek those things that are Godly:
"For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil...But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear..."   1 Pet. 3:12, 15    and
"Quench not the Spirit...Prove all things;  hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."                                                               1 Thess. 5:19-23
We are expected to walk in a Godly manner, sanctified, having not even the appearance of evil in our lives. The Shevarim blasts warn us that we are to repent, and change our ways, when we fall short of these things. The pure, white, clean linen of the wedding garments worn by the Bride of Christ represent righteousness (Rev. 19:7-8), for she has prepared herself for her wedding to the Lamb of God. The cares and ways of this world, the things considered valuable and important to this world, are not part of the righteousness of the saints.
The third series of blasts of the shofar is called "Teruah". They are nine, short, staccato blasts of alarm. It is an urgent warning, meant to give advance notice of an immediately impending event. The word Teruah means "shout or cry". It is to bring the hearers into deep repentance, sorrow, and sobbing. To us, it should be our last warning, "The Bridegroom  cometh". At the sounding of these Teruah blasts, there is no time left to "prepare" if we have not already prepared ourselves for this event. The moment is about to come upon us. Jesus gave this serious warning to one of His churches:
"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."  Rev. 3:2-3
To this same church, Jesus gave this promise if they listened to Him, and repented:
"...few...which have not defiled their garments;  and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels."   Rev. 3:2-5 (excerpt)
The last sounding of the shofar in this series is called "Teruah Gedolah", meaning "the last trump" or "the great trump". It is one long, continuing note to be held as long as the breath allows. It is the trumpet blast of the hope of redemption, and resurrection of the dead:
"For the Lord Himself, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice (also includes the sound or tone of an instrument) of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.:   1 Thess. 4:16-17
The moment of resurrection is preceded with sounds. These sounds first speak to those who are "asleep", the dead in Christ, and then also to those living who belong to Him. 
Isaiah is just one prophet who prophesied this moment of resurrection:
"Thy dead men shall live, together with My dead body shall they arise. Awake (awaken abruptly, arise, watch. root- harvest) and sing (sing, shout, cry out, overcome), ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew (night mist. root- overshadow, covering) is as the dew of herbs (light, luminousness. root- "ore" light of Christ), and the earth shall cast out (lie prostrate, prostrate oneself, fall away from, be inferior to) the dead. Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast."  Isa. 26:19-20
The dead and the living in Christ are, in an abrupt moment, gathered to Him in resurrection and transformation, to enter into the bridal chamber with Him.
As the trumpets of this feast sound, they are the foreshadowing of the last call and warning for the Bride to make herself ready.

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