Archive for August, 2014
Posted by appolus on August 30, 2014
There is a wall spoken of in Ezekiel 13:10-16. The wall is constructed upon false-hood and lies. Lying prophets who tell the people what they want to hear. They cry peace and prosperity where there is no peace and their prosperity is the gold and silver of this world. Their gold and silver and jewels are truly wood, hay and stubble and it shall surely come to nothing when the Lord comes against this wall.
There are many who plaster this wall and they do so with ” untempered mortar.” Now, I laid bricks for over 25 years. In the beginning, when I was an apprentice, we went to a trade school. In that trade school, which was indoors, we built many beautiful structures. We built egg-shaped sewers and Gothic arches and so on and we perfected all the finer points of constructing beautiful structures. If you were to walk into the large room where we were hard at work, you would see some of the finest examples of brickwork to be found. The untrained eye would not notice and really could not notice that the mortar between the bricks was only sand and lime, it was untempered, it had no cement. When the project was finished it was simply and easily taken down and the material would be scraped off and used again. If it were outside, it would last to a certain degree but if a storm or rain were to hit it, the structures would simply collapse on themselves as the mortar that held everything together never set and had no actual strength to withstand the weather or shaking.
This is the kind of wall that Ezekiel is talking about in Chapter 13. Christendom itself is just like this wall. It has been constructed by false prophets and the mortar used to hold it all together is religiosity. It gives a beautiful appearance and it encompasses a stronghold, but the time is coming soon when the Lord Himself will come against this structure. The Lord Himself will cause a storm designed specifically to bring the structure down. This is just like Matthew 7:26 where the Lord talks about two houses. One is built upon a foundation of Truth, that is Jesus, and the other has no foundation at all, it is merely built on sand. Now, in the normal course of events no one would ever know what house had a foundation or which did not, until a storm comes and beats against the house and it falls and great is the fall of that house, yet the house that stands upon Jesus alone, weathers the storm.
This storm is coming brothers and sisters. In fact the fore-winds have already begun to blow. There will be a flooding rain, great hailstones shall fall and a “stormy wind shall tear it down.” Tear what down and expose what? The great wall of religion and denominationalism shall soon be exposed as the birth pangs begin to intensify. God always has a remnant of people who dwell outside the walls, outside the systems of men who are witnesses and who testify of the truth. Indeed, as Stephen says , God does not dwell in temples built by human hands. God’s kingdom dwells within the hearts of His children. His structures consist of living stones. These living stones together, is the temple of God.
This great storm of darkness that is descending upon the world is designed to leave only the true children of God standing, and by standing I mean never faltering, standing fast to the end , prevailing, enduring and overcoming. That which is without the foundation of Jesus, which is constructed by untempered mortar will not stand and by not standing I mean shall falter, shall not stand fast unto the end, shall not prevail, shall not endure and shall not overcome rather shall be overcome by the great fall of the world and will be destroyed in the midst of this great fall when God moves. Finally that untempered wall shall be no more when the climax of the storm comes, when Jesus Himself shall descend in all His glory with the saints with a shout of glory and triumph. Those saints still alive after the final martyrs have been slaughtered shall arise and join Christ and His army in the air, that glorious army of saints who come with Christ and then every knee shall bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, False Prophet, False Prophets, False Prophets and Teachers, false teachers, Jesus, pentecostal, prophecy, prophet, Prosperity Lie, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 9 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 29, 2014
We can see down through the history of the church and various movements, whether large or small, that the ” curse of the earth touch,” is upon the imaginations of men. Blueprints and ambitions on how men should gather and the way things should be always seems to come and slowly and surely the Holy Spirit departs, if indeed He was ever there. Can a man keep his hands of all that is holy? Shall he try and stop the ark of the covenant from falling, not realizing that it does not belong on a cart in the first place? When the presence of God finds its proper place and is allowed His proper place then we see the blessings of God…………..bro Frank
T.A.Sparks writes………….
Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. (Romans 8:20 GW)
In searching for a sentence that will serve as a window through which what we have in view can be seen, the one that seems most potent is “The Curse of the Earth Touch.” To understand what is meant by those last three words is to have an explanation of an immense amount of history; spiritual and temporal…. The nature and features of the curse, as the Bible everywhere reveals, are frustration, thwarting, bafflement, discontent, abortion, confusion, travail, breakdown, and an ever-defeated struggle against despair and death…. Why is it that so many things which have greatly served the purpose of God have eventually fallen apart; broken up; and have little more than a great past to live upon? Why is it that the Lord Himself has not circumvented this and preserved intact these instruments and vessels that He has used? Why is it that division upon division follows almost endlessly the course of many things which have been very jealous for an utter position as to Bible truth? These and many such questions have but one answer. That answer is the earth touch.
Somewhere, somehow, that blighting contact has been made. There has been a gesture toward this earth. Man has put his hand on heavenly things and tried to bring them on to this earth. It might be a ‘New Testament Church’ of a composite nature: certain things taught, enacted, and done in conformity to the record in the New Testament; a certain order, technique, and construction; these things have been drawn together for a creed, a form of procedure, and made the ‘basis,’ the form and standard, the ‘constitution’ of a body, an institution, a society: man’s mind and man’s hand defining, controlling, holding. The verdict of history is that God will just not commit Himself to any such thing…. The Apostles did not take a ‘Blue Print’ of New Testament churches wherever they went. The outcome of their work was a crisis, a climax to an old creation and the fiat of the new. What followed of order and knowledge was organic, not organized; spontaneous, not imposed; Life, not legality; and – above all – heavenly, not earthly. It was only when man pulled this down on to the earth that things went wrong…. Oh, this earth touch! How deadly it is! When will the Lord’s people understand the essential meaning of their union with Christ in Heaven!
By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Curse of the Earth Touch
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 25, 2014
It’s not so much the rightness of my position that is all important, although I am a lover of the Truth and my very soul is cast upon it, yet the condition of my heart carries equal weight. What does it profit a man if he understands all the mysteries yet have not love in his heart?
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the state of the church, theology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 23, 2014
WITH THESE WINGS I’LL FLY
On the weary feet of faith
And the fragile wings of hope
He is faithful to ever save
And thoughts of Him does love evoke
I stand on Him and Him alone
Without my Lord I’m all at sea
My only place, before His throne
Tis there I long to ever be
I stand on mercy and on grace
Reaching out with faith and love
I see a smile upon His face
Receiving now the wings of a dove
Stretching out my wings I fly
Ever higher to that place
I soar above into the sky
Full of mercy, full of grace
In endless skies I dwell with thee
And in that place I’ll ever be
Ever closer to the sun
You in Him and we are one
Posted in Christian, christian blog, christian living, Christian poetry, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: the fragile wings | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 22, 2014
The Lord is my strength and my shield ; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him (Psalms 28:7)
Matthew Henry writes of this passage ” He encourages himself to hope in God for the perfecting of everything that concerned him.”
In the narrow walk of the saint there shall be victories and their shall be defeats. There will be defeats and there will be victories. If we would find the balanced high ground of wisdom in this life, we should find ourselves acknowledging that there will be victories and their will be defeats. A great portion of Christendom is very afraid to even speak of defeats, imagining somehow that by merely speaking the words then defeat shall surely come, this is sheer superstition. Another portion of Christendom is only focussed on suffering and defeat and cry out to God to strengthen them for the inevitable defeats they will experience and strength to merely endure perpetual suffering. Now this is not superstition but can be a recipe for a joyless life full of burden and anxiety.
I myself lean to the latter of those two examples. Yet Matthew Henry is right, David was encouraging himself to hope in God for the perfecting of everything that concerned him. Faith, so much an abused word and concept within the Christian community, relies upon mercy and grace. Now I am not speaking of saving faith, but the faith that we are called to exercise every day as we walk out and work out our salvation. The kind of faith that is so vital in our sanctification process, the kind of faith that pleases God. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: Matthew Henry, victories | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 19, 2014
There is a common saying that ” all the world is a stage.” Now, this does not mean that we are actors in the sense of the Greek word meaning hypocrites, but it does mean that we are aware that we always have an audience. Now this audience may simply be our husband or or wives or our children, it could be our extended family, our workplace or our neighbors. Yet this much is sure, we present an image to the ” world.” Now, what shapes your image? Is it your fears? Your insecurities? Your pretensions? Or, is it God that shapes you? When it is God that shapes us then fears and insecurities and pretensions cease to be. For some this happens overnight, for most it is a process. What does you audience think of you? What do they see when they see you? Perhaps you are an actor in the sense of the word hypocrite, meaning the image you put forward is not a true image of who you are? The mature saints have one thing in common in my estimation, they are transparent, what you see is what you get. Now this is rarely a way to make friends and influence people but it is the road to authenticity. A rare and beautiful thing, even if it is a diamond in the rough. Are you authentic? Are you transparent? You see, light can travel in and through the transparent ones, yet those who are shaped by fears and insecurities and pretensions create an inner landscape of darkness and shadows. The fear of man leads to spiritual death, the fear of God leads to life and that more abundantly.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Tagged: Greek word meaning | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 15, 2014
A particular trial ends for the McEleny family this morning. Not a small trial. The kind of trial that lasts for years. The kind of trial that reaches into your chest and threatens to rip your heart out. Yet here we stand, by the grace of God here we stand, whole. Older , wiser, a little greyer, but whole, kept in His hand. And so, in these wee hours of the morning as I cannot sleep, for joy awakes me, I think of all who are in the midst of trials, sore trials, trials that have lasted years yet still you stand by the grace of God and you understand that His grace and mercy is life itself. It is light when all around is darkness. It is hope when the world says there is no hope and oh how we cling to this. And so in this light I have just written the poem below. May it bless you. God has seen the afflictions of His people.
Let the presence of the Lord
Circulate through my heart
Let neither trial nor circumstance
Come and tear us apart
There is a roaring lion
That ever seeks to devour
Let us be ever vigilant
Every day and every hour
Stand fast ye Royal Soldiers
Ye soldiers of the cross
There’s one thing certain in this life
That you will suffer loss
Our Lord He understands these things
He sees our agonies and pain
And on the cross of Calvary
Our enemy there was slain
So in the moment of the trial
In the midst of the darkest night
Stand fast ye Royal priesthood
Stand up stand up and fight
There is no trial that is pleasant
No agony easily borne
Yet there is a God in heaven
And we live by promises sworn
For in the book it is written
It is written there by Blood
That He shall raise a standard
When the enemy comes in like a flood
Stand up ye Royal priesthood
There in the midst of the fire
Stand up my brothers and sisters
Come up a little higher
For He has seen your afflictions
And every tear that falls by night
And holds you in His very hand
He has called you to this fight
There will come a day so very soon
Where all your trials will have an end
And though for now you’re tempest-tossed
You shall not break but bend
So let His presence flow through you
For in these waters you must swim
Through fire and flood and fiercest storm
To be surely found in Him.
Hold fast hold fast hold fast my child
For joy comes in the morning
There is eternal peace ahead
For those who sound Gods warning.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christian poetry, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 5 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 13, 2014
The NEW “EVANGELISM”
by A.W. Tozer
The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic
approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old
life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts
but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing
that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers
the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever
the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment
is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the
religious product is better…
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways
of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the
souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world,
it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up
onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat
must fall into the ground and die.
We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public
relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and
the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make
Christ acceptable to big business, the press, or the world of sports,
or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our
message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christian, christian blog, Christianity, Church history, end times, faith, pentecostal, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 9, 2014
As I watched an Iraqi Christian man on CNN plead to be allowed to come to the USA, it moved me deeply. These people, surrounded on every side by murderous thugs, have little to no future in Iraq. The man and perhaps 50-100,000 people need sanctuary, but it is for sure no ” Christian” country will take them. God have mercy on us who claim to be Christian and be Christian nations. In 1939 the MS St Louis , a German ship, sailed from Hamburg with 937 Jewish people on board. They were fleeing the horrors of the hellish Nazis. They arrived at Cuba and were refused entry. They moved on to Florida where again they were refused entry. The German captain, a non-Jewish German who was later named by Israel as a righteous gentile, even attempted to ground the ship of the coast of Florida so that the Jewish people could escape. He was prevented by doing so by two American Coast Guard vessels and a warning shot was fired across her bow. Canada was the next to reject this ” Voyage of the Damned.” ( the name of a movie later made about this sorry episode) Finally the ship was forced to return to Europe, where Britain took 288 and the rest were taken by Belgium , Holland and France. It was later estimated that somewhere around 50% of these poor souls ended up being killed in Concentration camps after Germany invaded most of Europe. When poor souls seek refuge from tyranny and violence, whether it be poor South American kids or Iraqi Christians, we ” Christian,’ nations should seriously consider what God would have us do. Perhaps we Christians in the West will one day need sanctuary? God forbid that our own children faced death and starvation and no one wanted to take us in.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, politics, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Tagged: Christian nations | 15 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 8, 2014
You cover my head in the rain
And in the heat you are my shadow
You are able to bear all my pain
And sustain me wherever I go
You’re my anchor in the height of the storm
You’re my eyes when I cannot see
In the depths of the winter you keep me warm
When I am bound you set me free
When the enemy is all around
And I am beaten and tattered and torn
In your arms I will surely be found
Tis your promise, tis what you have sworn
When I cannot see a way ahead
And I am surrounded by many fears
In the silence of the night upon my bed
You come and wipe away all my tears
You’re my hope in the dark of the night
You’re my peace in the midst of the madness
You will help me to stand up and fight
As you chase away all the sadness
Heaviness shall give way to praise
And joy shall come in the morning
I will worship you all of my days
My heart shall no longer be mourning
I see my son and he is coming
He was banished to a far away land
And to him I will surely come running
Then we shall walk home hand in hand.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christian poetry, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 2, 2014
This subject can be very difficult to approach today because there have been so many crazy people claiming when the end of the world would happen. The below scenario reckons on the saints going through the great tribulation. Therefore there is no particular day or hour that is looked for, rather a season, birth pangs if you like. We are told by Jesus that we should be able to discern the signs of the times, not the day nor the hour of His return. In any event, most Peoples of the world and the church have a difficult time imagining a time where Christians would be hunted down and killed for the mere fact of being Christian. They may be able to imagine this in a Muslim world setting, but not in the West. I do not claim that the scenario below is prophetic, I merely wish to show you a logical procession of events that could lead to a world-wide persecution of the true saints.
I think we may all agree that Jesus is coming relatively soon. Where we may disagree is on the subject of rapture. Lets assume there is no rapture and Jesus is coming soon, then the saints will go through the great tribulation. The Scriptures tells us that it will be worse than anything that has ever happened before in history, in fact the Lord must shorten those days for the elects sake or we would all be dead.
Just 70 years ago, in the heart of educated and cultured Europe, in a country that pronounced itself to be Christian, an evil man arose and in six short years, killed six million Jews for the mere fact of being Jewish. He shoved them into gas chambers and then burned them in furnaces, men, woman and children, sparing none. Now this is not some Biblical genocide from the ancient world, this is something that happened just 70 years ago. Now what kind of events would need to unfold for the world to turn on Christians and for their to be a coming together of the world religions into one religion?
Lets say tomorrow there is an attack by Muslim extremists on multiple cities. New York, Washington, London, Paris Rome and Moscow are hit simultaneously with nuclear suitcase bombs. Rather than the three thousand dead of 9/11, there is one hundred thousand dead in each city. The world is repulsed and is brought together because of this great tragedy. Fundamentalists of all stripes are universally condemned and outlawed. To state publicly that there is only one true religion, only one way to heaven, becomes illegal. Such people are denounced as those who have caused all the troubles in the world. They are seen as a cancer on society which society must rid itself of.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, prophecy, revival, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 12 Comments »
A Call To The Remnant 