There are ungodly currents coming into the church all over the world to draw the Church back into a place of tolerance. Man is seeking to see himself as his own creator and sustainer, but God does not want us as the church to be persuaded by the ways of Man, but to be drawn and influenced by His Word. Being questioned about the signs of the time in Matthew 24:4-31, Jesus says: “Take heed that no one deceives you.” We must be sober against the spirit of deception for many will come in His name who are not really of Him. He tells us not to be troubled about the wars and the rumors of wars. He warns us that we will be hated for His name’s sake and that many false messengers will come saying that they know Him.
We cannot be wooed just by accuracy and giftings, but by the fruits that others show. Many of these things that Jesus has spoken of have already begun to occur in the earth. As ambassadors for Christ, we cannot be caught up with earthly, material issues. Too many times we get bogged down by the cares of this world. It is not about focusing on our dreams but about focussing on God’s dream.
Ronald S. Lauder in the New York Times asked “who will stand up for the Christians?” Know indeed that these are perilous times for believers, but Jesus is standing up for us. Note that there will be marginalization, vilification, caricaturization, criminalization and even elimination of believers. The United States Supreme Court at the end of this month, is drawing up a law that makes homosexuality legal through out that country. In the 1960s, Wallace Henley says what he began to see was the Church being marginalized. He then said that the Church was caricatured and seen as a joke. The media and the antichrist system were behind that work. We cannot allow humanism to compromise what the Word of God says. Even though it looks like we are down and out, we are going to win. It does not matter if the enemy looks as though he is winning. Love covers a multitude of sin, but it operates in open rebuke as well, for there are times when we have to take a stand.
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2 They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things,
4 Who have said,“With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?”
5 “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked prowl on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
Psalm 12
In Psalm 12, we see that the driving spirit that seeks to kill the people of God has been around since the days of Esther. Indeed, the spirit of Haman is very present today as it was in the days when Mordecai stood his ground for the most high God. That spirit is against the Christians just as it was against the Jews, the children of Abraham, whose children we are as well. In verses 5 and 6 of the same chapter 12, the Lord promises to preserve His people. We need to be aware of what is transpiring around us, not just caught up in the bubble of our own family and its business. For God is looking for people who will share the burdens of His heart, just as the American doctor who felt God call him to go to West Africa to fight Ebola. He contracted the disease, but got over it and lived to give his testimony.
We must open our eyes that we may see. In Esther 4:7-9, Mordecai tells the chamberlain all that Haman had plotted against the Jews and Mordecai risked his life in doing so. The Church likewise needs to come into a place of knowing what is transpiring. We need to rise up and speak and decree the things of God and war against the spirits of this age, shaking off every heaviness that so easily besets us and getting into a place of warfare. For God is waiting on our words.
God states that He will arise and champion the cause of the poor and needy (Psalm 12:5). He wants us to know that He will stand for us as we intercede. So if that job comes to and end, God wants you to know that He already has a place for you. Testimonies are coming that will transcend those from the days of Elijah when He fed the prophet with ravens. God wants us to know that His Word is tried and true, capable of going through any fire and it will come out spotless (Psalm 12:6). Nothing can shake this inherent, infallible Word of God. When saints get into alignment, the Lord shall preserve them forever (Psalm 12:7).
The king had Haman, who plotted against Esther’s people (the Jews) hanged on the same gallows that he set for Mordecai (Esther 7:9). For God will vindicate His own. Know that the day of the Lord is at hand.
