A Letter for Those Left Behind

Psalm 39:4 “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is.”

Rapture Box

The saddest thing that will ever occur is a soul that dies without Christ.  There comes a point in every person's life where they either accept or reject the free gift of Salvation that was purchased for them at the cross by the blood sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

There was a time limit on this Age of Grace.  We do not know the exact hour or day when it will end, but the ancient Scriptures are quite clear about the signs.  Careful study shows that we are in that time.

The Age of Grace is when mankind could freely receive the gift of salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it coming to a close.  As I write these words the hour is late.

I am not a prophet and I do not claim to have secret knowledge or insight into the vast mysteries of the Lord.  I am a simple woman who inherited a love of Bible prophecy and was given a modicum of talent for writing.  As such, I felt compelled to prepare a letter for my friends who would be left behind at the Rapture of the church.  I did this originally in 2015, but given that so much has happened in the last two years, I have been compelled to update it.  I share this with you today, in the hope that you might print and share a copy as well.

30 Day Jesus Challenge - The Decision

It's New Year's Eve - a time when people take stock of their lives and decide to make changes moving forward.  Today, I challenge you to make the most important resolution you will ever make.  Come to Jesus.

God loves you.

Such a simple statement but it changes the world.  He loves you.  He wants you to accept His love, He wants you in His family.

Invisible Attributes of God - No Excuses

He will not force Himself upon you, He is a gentleman, not a stalker.  He does not capture you and hold you prisoner and force you to accept Him.  Because He loves you - He wants you to come of your own free will.

Simply, believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died to save you from your sins, pray it out loud, and ask Him to come into your life.

That's it.  There is no ritual, no church service you have to go to, no special ceremony.  Just believe, confess, and ask.

At the Foot of the Cross

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for you is that you may be saved. (Romans 10:1)  Faith comes through hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17).

So today, do not harden your hearts it might be your last chance.

Pray - I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God and that he lived a perfect life.  He sacrificed Himself for my sin and on the third day rose from the dead.  I am a sinner that needs a Savior, please cleanse me of my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit that I might be called a child of the Father.  In Jesus name, Amen.

30 Day Jesus Challenge - Day 10 Not Good Enough

In today's culture, where everyone gets a trophy, where everyone is special, to say, "You are not good enough." is shocking, even hateful is some circles, but it is the truth.  In all faiths, except Christianity, the god asks for you to be good enough, like there is some cosmic scale in the afterlife where your good deeds are measured against your sins.  If you can just be good enough you will get to heaven.  This is not new and it is not enlightened.

Why do you think Muslims blow themselves up in the name of Allah?  Why do you think Mormons walk door to door?  Why do the Jehovah's Witnesses hand out tracks to strangers at a gas station?  Why do Hindus and Buddhist leave food offerings for deities?  Why do all other religions demand that their followers be good enough, do enough....  How do you ever know when it IS enough?   The short answer is, you don't.  Not until you die and then it's too late. Where is the peace in that?

Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6.

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."  Ephesians 2:8-9

Pray - Jesus, I know that I am not good enough to save myself.

30 Day Jesus Challenge - Day 9 Get It Together

We've all said it, "I should do better."  We try, honestly we truly do.  We are going to start that diet, that workout, that class - starting tomorrow.  Perhaps you are struggling with something that has it's hooks in you: addiction, adultery, porn... We all have our addictions and struggles.  We deceive ourselves by thinking we are going to get our act together but we fail time and again.  Perhaps in these last nine days you have felt a tug on your heart and you think, "I've got to straighten up before I get serious with God."

I'm hear to tell you, that isn't what Jesus tells us, he calls to us, just as we are - come, let me heal you.  You can't make yourself clean, you can't get it together.  He knows that, so he did it for you.

Jesus Calls Us Just As We Are

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Pray - Jesus, I've always thought I need to get it together before I face you.  Help me understand that I can't do it on my own.  Today I ask you to help me.

Rules of Negotiation and Why they Fail in Church

One of the first rules you learn in negotiation is to find common ground with the other party.  Find areas where you agree and discuss your mutual objectives.  Then move the discussion to areas where the other party does not have a strongly held opinion and build on those areas.  You lose the person when you move into areas where they have firm opinions opposite from yours.  They shut down and stop hearing you.  In secular day to day negotiations and even political negotiations this is a good and solid way to do business, but it does not belong in the church.  There is no negotiations at the foot of the cross.

All Must Come to the Cross

You can not negotiate someone to faith and the saving power of Jesus Christ.  Real conversion requires repentance, real repentance only comes from conviction of your sins.  Thus, from a rules of negotiation stand point, only the Holy Spirit's influence can change the heart of a sinner comfortable in his own sin.

That is largely why the wide gate, seeker friendly churches have exploded in a spectacular bang of nothing.  This final church spoken of in Revelation 3 is the Laodicean, "Entertain Me" church which wears the face of Christianity but fails miserably in actual disciples created.  There is no conviction of sin, no repentance of sin, and no place for the changed heart and the changed man.

Turn away from those false churches, confess your sins, ask for forgiveness, and come to authentic live saving faith in Christ.

Hold on Tight - The Nature of Post Rapture Salvation

The Rapture and the Tribulation:

From the moment of the Rapture, the Church will depart from the Earth and with it the age of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the great restrainer (2 Thessalonians 2:7).  This will usher in a period of time where the Lord God will once again deal directly with Israel through signs, wonders, and judgement.  Through the Tribulation, God will speak and work just as He did throughout the Old Testament.  Believers will once again, hold tight to their salvation, for they will not be indwelt with the Holy Spirit.  Faith comes by hearing (not seeing).  It does not take much faith when angels are flying overhead and speaking to the inhabitants of the earth, when demonic forces are tormenting and being released from the bottomless pit;  when supernatural prophecy is coming true right in front of your eyes, that is seeing not faith.

Tribulation Saints are exhorted several times to remain faithful and keep the Commandments to the end so they do not lose their salvation.  They will be given a portion of the Holy Spirit but will have to be obedient and faithful to retain their position.  (I invite you to study the subject of Post Church Salvation by Jack Kelley)  These are the Bridesmaids in the Parable, all are given a measure of oil (the Holy Spirit) at the time of their salvation but they did not endure to the Second Coming.

Keep in mind, that the Tribulation is God's dealing directly with Israel.  What happens to the rest of the world is secondary, the age of the Gentiles will be finished and they are once again outside of the focus of the Lord.  That's another harsh truth to the replacement theology folks but one needs only to read the words to discover it is truth.

The Millennium:

The Millennial Kingdom is ushered in when the Lord descends from Heaven and touches down on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14).  The Tribulation Martyrs come back with the Lord, I believe they are the army he brings back with Him in Revelation 19:14.  He will set up His Kingdom here on Earth, abiding in the Jerusalem Temple.  There will be no prophets during this time, (Zechariah 13:3) for the Lord will deal directly with the people.  They will worship him with a shadow of Old Testament sacrifice as indicated in Ezekiel 45-46.  The Tribulation Martyrs will serve in the new Temple (Rev. 7:14-15) and rule with the Lord on the Earth during the Millennial reign (Rev. 20:4-6).

If you'd like to explore this subject in depth, I'd invite you to look at the Millennial Bible Study in the above tab.

30 Days of Birth Pangs - Day 20 Hedging Your Bets

Acts 4:12 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."

People today, don't like this absolute.  Everything is gray in their worlds and in their minds, there is always an exception.  They proclaim there is not absolute truth, ironically the statement itself, in order to be true, has to be absolutely true.  The bible says that a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways (James 1:8).  Because I insist on believing Scripture as it is written, I get called all sorts of names:  rigid, intolerant, bigot, conservative, religious, hateful... Periodically, I will engage other professing Christians - these are actual things people have said to me:

"I believe there are many paths to God.  I chose Jesus as mine but you can't say that Tibetan Monks or Mormons, who are better people than most Christians, are going to hell."

"I took Jesus as an insurance policy."

"I accepted Christ on my own terms."

We don't set ourselves up as the arbiter of anyone's salvation, but I'd say hedging your bets in this instance is not going to cut it.  When I was a kid, I loved to dive - one thing I learned is that you could not do a dive half way, that was how you got really hurt.  Salvation and faith in Christ is the same way, if you try and go half way you are doomed.

Diving Fail

Elvis Presley wore a cross, a star of David, and the Hebrew letter chi.   He explained his jewelry choices as follows: “I don’t want to miss out on heaven due to a technicality.“ (source)

Here's the truth - you can't BS your way into Heaven.  You either are or you are not.  If you are not sure, please follow this link.

Counterterrorism in the Spiritual Realm

Have you ever considered that evil has a full armor?  Since we are told in Ephesians 6 that we struggle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places, then logically, the armor we are told to don is exactly opposite of what the enemy wears.  To wear the armor as purely a defensive barrier is perhaps an underestimation of the battle.  If you watch martial artists fight, you recognize that the sword is not the only weapon.  You also realize that the expression that there is no armor for your back is a misnomer, because the belt and the helmet cover your back.

(Note this blog was originally published in August 2013)

Pastor Mark Bilitz of El Shaddai Ministries puts forth a compelling argument that the armor of God is not patterned after a Roman Soldier but after the robes of a Jewish Priest.  That hypothesis resonates with me on a very deep level in my soul and has caused me to rethink this important part of Scripture. It is with fresh eyes and an open heart I would like to take a look at the weapons of warfare and those of our adversary, I think the church needs to employ some counter-terrorism strategies.

Garments of a High Priest

If we gird our loins with the belt of truth, the enemy must seek to wrap us with their chains of lies.  We discern lies in our guts.  Jesus says that Satan is the Father of Lies and that every word from his mouth is a lie and that when he lies he speaks his native language; he was a liar from the beginning.  Thus, the first area of attack begins with a lie.  We are faced with lies in the public arena everyday.  The adage of Lenin that if you repeat a lie long enough people will believe it is being played out in spectacular fashion today.  When trying to discern the truth of anything, the first thing you must do is discover the lies that have perverted what you are studying.  (ie if you are looking to astronomy, you have to deal with the lies of astrology.)  Imagine if our belt of truth was similar to Wonder Woman's lasso of truth... what if in warfare we periodically tie the belt of truth around the mouth of the prevaricating enemy?

We put on the breastplate of righteousness, which is the righteousness of Christ - the enemy tries to hang the millstone of sin around your neck.  Knowing we have no righteousness in ourselves we valiantly try to lift our heads but our past keeps our heads bent to the ground.  We can only see the shadow of sin before us, our hearts break and it becomes impossible to breathe the breath of life.

Instead of walking in the shoes of peace, we roll out of bed and put on the slippers of fear.  Our steps are dogged by every type of fear the enemy can throw at us.  Our hung heads watch our fearful feet trudge along the dark paths of our past sins.  Think of the powerful weapon that the shoes of peace are on the body of a skilled martial artist; when you are walking in fear throw a few roundhouse kicks at your enemy, you will feel the fear lift, and your path will once again be one of peace.  In John 14:27 Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

The enemy would have us armed with a shield of doubt and disbelief that is but a holey piece of Swiss cheese.  It is not an impenetrable force field of faith, it is not a dome of covering, it is a flimsy excuse of a weapon that does nothing to protect the wielder.  The "Name It and Claim It" false Gospel has been brilliant in disarming Christians for decades of their shield of faith.  By urging baby Christians to "believe God for things" they destroy the fragile and innocent faith new converts bring to bear.  Many folks continue to believe God for the big things of salvation and eternity but fail to have faith that He cares for them.  The twisted gospel takes admonitions of prayer and asking and perverts them into ways to control God.  The wreckage they leave behind is an abomination to God.

The poor warrior who is now chained with lies, with a millstone of past sins hanging from their neck, walking on the path of fear flanked by doubt and disbelief is now crowned with the vise grip of suffering and defeat.  The helmet of salvation and deliverance that would protect the brain and the ears is stripped away and messages of failure, hopelessness, and pain are heaped upon the believers head.  It is indeed a dark and scary walk at this point.

Lastly, instead of the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, we are given the Wisdom of the World.  Everything is backwards in the Bible, look at how you are suffering when those that follow the enlightened path of the World prosper in all they do.  Worldly wisdom, common sense, and "the way things are done" bury the warrior; most submit.

In the depths of the battle, you may find yourself valiantly trying to follow Ephesians 6 and in the end having done all you can, to stand.  Use the weapons that God has given you to fight the enemy.  Recognize the tactics and respond with the correct piece of armor.  In the end, ask God for what you need, even if it is to fall in battle and ask Him to rescue you and fight on your behalf.  God who is faithful and just will hear your prayers and deliver you from the hands of the enemy.  In our weakness, His Grace is made perfect.

No Weapon Formed Against Me Shall Prosper

Guilty

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.  Romans 1:20

Consider this word:  Guilty... We all know what that word FEELS like.  Some only feel guilty after they have been caught, some feel guilty when they shouldn't but we are all have been guilty.  Remember what it was like to stand before your parents, trembling with the knowledge that you were guilty of something or other.  The flush to the face, the quiver inside your wame, and the shame you feel.  Think of standing in front of a perfect, omnipotent, and holy God - guilty.  

For God's justice demands perfection and because mankind was unable to achieve that perfection he did it for us through the death and resurrection of his Son.  He pursues you, He reveals Himself to you, He loves you, He gives you every chance.

If you have no desire for God, you are indeed in a desperate place.  If you scoff at the notion, it may already be too late because you "have no excuse for not knowing God".