A Call To The Remnant

“Jesus has many who love His kingdom in heaven, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting.All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of the bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many admire the miracles, but few follow Him to the humiliation of the cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.”

THE TRIBULATION IS AT THE DOOR

Here is a quote from Thomas a Kempis…………………..

“Jesus has many who love His kingdom in heaven, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting.All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of the bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many admire the miracles, but few follow Him to the humiliation of the cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.”

Here is a quote from the Holy Spirit………………

“Only let your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to you, or are absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one Spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries which is to them a proof of your perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict that you saw in me and now hear is in me.”(Phil 1:27-30)

Brothers and sisters, there is a coming tribulation. The church as we know it will change completely. It is almost at the door. The enemies of true and genuine Christians will not come from “without,” but will come from “within.” Many of you reading this will undoubtedly believe in a pre- tribulation rapture, I want you to put that aside for the moment, at best it is a non-essential. It only becomes an essential in regard to discernment. It has often been said in the world, and there is much wisdom in it, that one should hope for the best and prepare for the worse. Perhaps a pre-tribulation rapture is “hoping for the best,” yet if this is not true(and I do not believe it to be so) then you are unprepared for the worse.

In the coming months and short years, we will begin to see a sharp division amongst Christians of every persuasion. When it is all boiled down you will have two basic groups. Number one of the opposing doctrines is roughly this. God wants all of His people to be rich and successful. They are to prosper and acquire. Now there are degrees of this teaching, some extreme, some more moderate, but all the same teaching. One of the extreme views from this philosophy is that Jesus is not coming back until every believer has an actual mansion here on earth. Along with this view is that God does not want us to suffer in any way, that Jesus did all the suffering and therefore we do not have to. A more moderate view is that Christians should be employers, not employees. They should own a house not rent. They should run the Government, not be run by it. Men of this persuasion want to see a physical kingdom here on earth , which they run. They want to acquire lands and influence, secular power here on earth. This is the way that they will change the world, and we only have to believe to bring all of this to pass.

They claim that we Christians are destined for all of this and that we have to reach out and take our rightful place on earth. They say that we were called to have dominion over the earth and all of its treasures. And weaved through all of this is Biblical principals of sowing and reaping, testing God and seeing if He will not bless and so on. Now we also see the blending of this philosophy with a secular one called “The secret,” championed by people like Oprah Winfrey. Beware brothers and sisters, you may just get exactly what your heart desires, but the price may be a leanness of your soul.

The other view is a view of suffering. It is one of humiliation, one that believes that the Kingdom of God is not physical but that it lies within each believer. It believes that we are to join Christ on His road to Calvary(the proponents of the previous view would never deny many of these) This view believes that God will effect change, one life at a time.They also believe that there is a coming catastrophe, almost at the door, and that we must ready ourselves. In order to ready ourselves we must seek a closer walk with Jesus, we must abide in Him fully if we are to be strong in the coming days. Guys like Tony Evans, and David Wilkerson and Franklin Graham are proponents of this view.

I believe that we are living in exceedingly “lean ,” times in the church because the Lord is giving us over to the desires of our hearts, what a price to pay! In order to counteract the leanness, to fill the void that has been left by the departing of the corporate presence of God, places like Lakeland have sprung up. Most of the proponents of Lakeland and other such movements believe that no believer should be sick and that all should be wealthy, just another branch of the health and wealth movement. Of course this has universal appeal. What human, in any society or culture does not want health and wealth? True treasure is the presence of the Lord. True treasure is the gifts of the Lord in operation in our lives and in our Churches. Are you willing to give up everything for the cost of Christ? This pearl of great price, what are you willing to give for it? What will you sacrifice for it? This attitude has to be the cry of Christians. No matter what happens to us, as long as we are with Him, then we know that we will be OK. It is this attitude that will carry us through. When we are faced with great difficulties the Scripture tells us not to be “terrified,” an extremely strong word, derived from a “horse in full panic.”

When the world sees Christians react, and when the devil sees Christians react this way Scripture tells us that they see this as “proof of perdition, but to you of salvation.” The Greek word for “proof,” here is a legal term denoting evidence by an analysis of the facts. When you receive bad news , and the world analyses your reaction, would it see terror, panic, anxiousness, fear, and if it did, what would that prove? In the coming tribulation, those who follow the first philosophy, who spent there time acquiring or chasing after the riches of this earth, will react in terror to all that will unfold. You see, when you are taught that you should only be rich and that you should always be healthy, then there will come the day, when you get sick, or a loved one dies or you suffer financial loss. The people of the first persuasion are not equipped to deal with these naturally occurring events. They have never had their Gethsemane moment where they have cried out “Not my will but yours be done.” I might add, that this led to the death and humiliation of the Lord, and also to His victory and resurrection over the very things feared of in the garden. The people of the first persuasion cannot join brother Paul and say …

Philippians 4:11-12 (ASV) 1 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. 12 I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. 13 I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me. 14 Howbeit ye did well that ye had fellowship with my affliction.

You see, it is impossible for them to know how to be content in poverty, or in sickness, or indeed to trust in the Lord and His promises, even when we cannot see Him or feel His presence. And so they will flock to people who will promise them all of their hearts desires. The world is always amazed at the peace someone has in the midst of trials and tribulations. They are not amazed that a rich man has no anxiety about paying his bills. They are not amazed that a healthy person is not worrying about their health, they are amazed at the person, who despite their circumstances, move in joy and peace and love. The world will be drawn to people who have this “knowledge.” The religious people will hate them. They will hate them because not only do they stand against everything that they believe and trust in, they will hate them because their “Christianity,” is exposed by the ones who walk in true peace, despite their circumstances. Paul had learned to draw closer to God because of his circumstances, he learned to be more dependant upon Him and therefore was able to “do all things in Him.”

And so brothers and sisters. The religious people, the people that run to Lakeland and other such movements and demand from God particular circumstances in order to worship Him, these are the people who will come after us in the days of the coming tribulation. With a Saul spirit they will pursue and hunt down all those who are in genuine relationship with the Lord. They will be the arm of the anti-Christ. They will be used to identify every true believer. Every true believer will walk as Paul walked, in the Spirit despite circumstances. Their faith will not founder on the rocks because of circumstances, and this will drive the religious people (dead denominations, legalists, false professors, “Lakeland people,” word of faithers and many others) crazy, just as Saul could not handle David coming into the presence of the Lord. Saul hunted David down. The man who once prophesied, hunted David down because he was so “troubled,” by him.

This troubling spirit is a spirit that will be widespread. Those who are not sold out to Jesus, in spite of their circumstances, will find no peace and rest from anywhere. This is why they will so viciously hunt down and expose every true believer in the coming time of tribulation. The world nor Satan is impressed or bothered by men who love Gods kingdom but refuse to bear His cross, who love comfort but detest suffering, who willingly shares His feast, but refuse to share His fast, who only love rejoicing but who will not rejoice in His suffering, who will break His bread but not fully drink of His passion, who love to run after miracles, but will run away at a gallop from His humiliation. Use your discernment brothers and sisters, follow the way of the Lord and you will not go wrong in this world of many voices. Acknowledge Him, in ALL OF HIS WAYS and He will direct your paths