Cyber Truths By E-mail
26. Raising Today’s Children And
Grandchildren (September 28, 2006)
Dear Friends.
In our Jesus
In Your Home video series we
concluded the last segment on The
Home with a warning for those
of you with a family. We want to repeat part of that for you to
prayerfully consider:
Be Parents Who Understand The Times
In these 22 segments on God’s
perspective of your home, you’ve encountered a lot of
foundational information for you and your family. We
can’t emphasize enough how important it is that you
recognize the particular times in which you’re raising your family.
Scripture informs us that certain men of
Issachar’s tribe “understood
the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:
32). You too need spiritual discernment because we’re
living in times in which people are being encouraged to give
way to their sin nature. God’s Word demonstrates that
when a nation gets to such a state of darkness, He WILL take
action.
We encourage you to read our Hebraic
article/Prophetic Insights: A Time
for the Men of Issachar, a free
download at our website.
You need to be certain for yourself of the
spiritual climate of this nation, and even more confident that
God is about to act in accordance with His own holiness.
It’s rash for you to raise your family and be oblivious
of the times in which you and they live.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, your children and grandchildren
need to be prepared for persecution, not worldly
success and comfort.
In the years prior to the outbreak of
World War II, our Lord sent messengers throughout Europe to
warn the Jewish people to make their way to Israel. Tragically,
six million ignored God’s messengers, and
Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled:
"But now I will send for many fishermen,’
declares the LORD, ‘and they will catch them.
After that I will send for many hunters, and
they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from
the crevices of the rocks" (Jeremiah
16:16).
The messengers God sent throughout the
European continent were the fishermen. Later, the Nazis became
the hunters.
Try to picture what many fathers must have
felt like when their families were carted off to concentration
camps. They realized too late that
they should have heeded the warnings.
Men, now is
the time for you to prepare
your family. Several years ago, the Holy Spirit gave us this
word:
“These restoration truths will not
bear fruit until the ‘Dark Days of Chastisement’
come upon the United States...
The children of today will not become
grandparents before I chastise the United States.
When a woman becomes President, it will be
a sign that all this is about to happen...
When the chastisement is over, 50 million
people will be dead....
At this time, continue to share the
Hebraic foundations.”
NOW is the time you need to be preparing
your children to face persecution for being a follower of
Jesus. They need to have the love
of Jesus in their hearts so that
they can forgive. If not, their hearts will grow cold (Matthew 24:
12).
While you still have time and opportunity,
help them to not have resentment, bitterness, or even an ill
feeling toward anyone. Remember, there’s no one who HASN’T
been made in God’s image and for whom Jesus died.
Our Lord’s command must be the
character of their own heart:
“Bless
those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you” (Luke 6:
28).
During the Dark Days of Chastise-ment,
demonic forces will be turned loose in this nation.
They’ll use the people who are under their influence and
control to attack and kill followers of Jesus.
Paul's admonition for times such as these
will become critical for you and your children to live by:
"Finally, be
strong in the Lord and in His
mighty power.
Put on the full
armor of God so that you can
take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:10-12).
That these times are coming is God’s
will, and people will do great evil to the followers of Jesus. But we
can’t hate or despise. Our only option is to love as
Jesus Himself loves. You and your children need to develop this
heart attitude NOW!
If you have any doubts about the times and
what our holy God is about to do, ask Him for wisdom on this
matter. His Word is true:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask
God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
will be given to him" (James 1:5).
Please make sure you and your family are
confident about the Dark Days that are coming. If you doubt or live in
complacent denial, you won’t be prepared.
This will be a time of chastisement, but
it’s not the end of the world. We mentioned this in
previous correspondence but we’d to repeat what the Holy
Spirit pointed out to us in a recent article about China.
The writer cited that this year was the
40th anniversary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. We worked
with international students while we were at the retreat center
many years ago, and met a number of Chinese students
who’d survived this painful and tumultuous ten-year
period.
Countless millions were deported to labor
camps in remote rural areas to face brutal cold and
near-starvation conditions. Chinese Christians remember that
all places of worship were seized for government use. Bibles
were burned. In many places even meeting together as two or
three for quiet prayer could be life threatening.
As severe as it was for Chinese Christians
at the time, many now see these events from a different
perspective. They recognize how the Cultural Revolution
completely dismantled institutional Christianity in their
country.
This led to the quiet proliferation of
house churches among people who were fully responsive to the
Holy Spirit. And like the early followers of Jesus, they
counted the worth of their lives only in terms of loving and
serving our Lord and His purposes.
Out of these dark times the Chinese church
has become, by many estimates, the largest Christian community
in the world.
If you determine to prayerfully seek our
Lord and prepare now for the Dark Days of Chastisement that are
coming on this nation, these words will encourage you:
"You will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old
foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings" (Isaiah 58:12).
“If My people, who are called by My
name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land”
(2 Chronicles 7:14)
Decades ago the Moral Majority used this
verse as the anthem for their movement. This call to repentance
inspired many of us. Sadly, the organization’s leaders
got invited to the White House, and the movement was diverted
to political issues. The spiritual summons to personal holiness
mutated into an alloy of worldly finger-pointing.
Recently the once-leader of this movement,
Jerry Falwell, used a media platform to insinuate that Hillary
Clinton and Satan are the same. But keep this in mind: No
matter how anyone feels about a particular individual, that
person is made in God’s image, and our Lord Jesus
suffered and died for him or her.
Any of us who
would turn to the pattern of this world, including fighting
spiritual matters in the political arena, rather than to our
God and His Word should seriously weigh this reality: “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
Increasingly since the Moral Majority era,
Nicolaitan Christendom that shifts personal spiritual
responsibility to professional religious leaders has focused
more on political matters than on repentance and holiness.
Those who have given in to this heresy are deluded!
The military weaponry of this nation
won’t save us. The enemies of the U.S. aren’t those
who are branded “Terrorists” or “Islamic
Fundamentalists” or even “Illegal Aliens.” The real enemy is our own sin nature and our
personal as well as national toleration of sin!
If you study history, you’ll
discover that only deceitful people with hidden agendas brand
others with derogatory labels. They dehumanize individuals
who are made in God’s image, creating a
“we—they” atmosphere so that lying rulers can
control the populace.
• Christians of the early centuries
were branded “infidels” because they didn’t
believe in the gods of Rome.
• Much of European Christendom as
well as the Nazis branded the Jews
“Christ-killers”.
• Many within Nicolaitan Christendom
brand each other “liberal” or
“conservative”. (Wouldn’t it be far better if
we were branded “followers of Jesus” by the world, and respond
to the worldly with His love?)
• The government of this nation
brands as “illegal aliens” those who do the jobs no
citizen will do, but does nothing to help these needy men and
women work “legally” or live according to a
standard each of us would want to live.
What does a fear-controlled nation do? It puts up a wall, as has
Israel and now the U.S. Remember what happened to the Berlin
Wall?
If this truly were a nation under God, then He would fulfill His promise: “When a man’s ways [or a
nation’s] are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his
enemies live at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). As we see from Israel’s past
(and perhaps current Israel), because of their adulterous
disobedience to God, He raises up enemies to discipline His
people for their unrighteousness.
The “Babylonians, Moabites, and
Ammonites” of the Older Testament are still being used by
God against Israel today, wherever the descendants of Ishmael
and Lot have settled. God is using the enemies of Israel
to compel the Jewish people to repent and turn to Him rather
than rely on their weapons and their wall for protection.
We who follow Jesus in the United States
need to learn from Israel’s mistakes. They are not a
God-fearing nation. Abortion and secularism are as rampant in
that nation as in ours. Relatively few would even consider
themselves “religious” in that land.
Have you considered that since
they’ve relied so strongly on their military prowess (and
American funding), modern Israelis in effect have declared they have no need for God? He’s raised up enemies to drive them back to Him! We in the U.S. need to learn this lesson
ourselves.
The Great Depression of the last century
wasn’t the only economic downturn this nation has faced
in its history. Depressions prior to the one of the
1930’s ended when the President of this country called on
the nation to fast and repent.
But to our detriment, the Great Depression
ended instead by inaugurating “The New Deal”. One
particular aspect of this worldly approach to relief was Social
Security. Today, one generation robs succeeding generations by
burdening them with debt. Many within current older generations
have more dependent trust in government checks than they do in
God.
The United States was once a lender
nation, but now we borrow. Our wars, our debt, our fear are all
signs of national unrighteousness. Look at all the wars and
conflicts the generations since the Great Depression have been
involved with. AND, we’ve won none of them since World
War II!
The harassment of this nation by enemies
that God has been raising up against us has only increased.
Fear and hardened hearts are becoming the hallmarks of a
fear-based, self-preservationalist society. Don’t let
this be so for you! You can’t follow Jesus and live in
fear!
Remember this important warning for us who
live in and for Jesus:
"There is no
fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who
fears is not made perfect in love" (1
John 4:18).
You need to realize that this nation has
departed from its original republic form. It’s now a
self-interest popularity contest called a democracy, and definitely
not a God-dependent Theocracy. We are not “one nation under God”. Those
are mere words, no more meaningful than bumper stickers that
demand, “God Bless America”.
Do you see how low a form of earthly
government a democracy is? For a time, it gives freedom for
people to pursue their sin nature, to their ultimate
destruction. A democracy doesn’t make a nation great. It
is symptomatic of prior generations that grew increasingly
slack in correcting and training their children in the way of
the Lord.
Now sin abounds. And, because of the stubbornness of heart of so many,
“sin” isn’t even recognized as such. Don’t be one of the deluded!
Live with a “Theocracy
of Heart”. Let God rule you
through His Spirit within you. As we’ve written in
Lifebyte 33, Do You See What God
Sees?, your Spirit-to-spirit
connection makes all the difference in how you choose to live.
The demonic spirit of deceit controls the
capitol of this nation. Nothing will change until this nation
is brought to its knees. Only when
this country is humbled on its
knees will God intervene!
We who follow Jesus must lead the way in
humility now. Be repentant... be on
your knees each day.
Please use our video series, Jesus In Your Home, to train your family. Use our series, Discussing How To Restore the Early Church, to get yourself ready for the Dark Days of
Chastisement. Both series are a free download at our website.
If you have any doubts that dark days are
coming and that NOW is the time for you to prepare your family
to trust our Lord Jesus when persecution comes, ask our Father
to affirm this for you. Then respond with all diligence.
We’d like to close with an excerpt
from a devotional, God At Eventide, edited by A. J. Russell. The speaker in this
paragraph is our Lord Jesus:
There is never a time when a man cannot
turn repentant to Me and, craving My pardon, receive it. But
there is a time when I cease to be persistent in urging My
follower to an action.
The human ear can hear a sound so often
until it ceases to convey a meaning, to be heard with
awareness.
So with the spirit-ear, unless the whole
desire and effort is to carry out My plan. My servant may cease
to hear, cease to be aware of My wish.
This is a grave spiritual danger, and I
say unto you, watch and guard against it.
May our Father have mercy on all who
follow His Son, Jesus, and walk in obedient trust through His
Spirit.