The most dramatic moments in my Christian walk have been when I discovered just how much sin was in my flesh. It has brought me low and trembling into His presence fully expecting and in many ways desiring punishment, and there, right in that place, finding grace. It has reduced me to a body wracked and sobbing. The realization of the depths of His love and forgiveness produced a flood of tears that lifted me up to the heights of His glory and majesty.
Archive for October, 2016
Discovering grace in our lowest moments
Posted by appolus on October 27, 2016
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Leave a Comment »
The Silent depths of His wonder
Posted by appolus on October 14, 2016
I am lost in the silent depths
Of Your secret wonders
Like gazing at the universe
And the sky above that thunders
Who could plummet the depths
Of a peace beyond all measure
Who could even begin to count
What’s amassed in Your heavenly treasure
Who could soar the heavenly heights
Of the glory that’s all yours
Who could begin to guess the strength
Of your power that simply endures
I can plummet all of Your depths
And soar to the heavenly heights
I can walk by the strength of Your arm
That takes me through the darkest nights
Your heavenly treasures supply all my need
They simply never come to an end
There is peace and joy and boundless hope
From my Lord, my Master and my friend.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christian poetry, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, spiritual poetry, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
A country under judgement
Posted by appolus on October 14, 2016
This election proves that this country is under judgement. Terrible choice presented to the people but if you look closely, both these candidates with all their faults, are pretty representative of the population as a whole. People typically get the leaders they deserve. As for the saints, we must not be caught up in fray. Now, I don’t believe that means we do not speak the truth in love with boldness, we must speak the truth in love with boldness, it is our calling, we are a light in the darkness. We are the salt of the earth, it is through us that goodness and light prevail. Even as they turn on us, and they will with boldness, very soon, we must still be that light, that salt, that boldness and fearlessness for the cause of Christ. It is indeed by the Blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death that they overcome.
Now, I have written for years about hypocrisy. It is something that Jesus roundly condemned. The Pharisees were the only people who really caught it from Jesus, He did not hold back in his criticism of them. He completely ignores the Romans, not a single harsh word about them, but slams the Pharisees whom he refers to as hypocrites and white washed tombstones, meaning they looked good on the outside but He knew exactly what they were like on the inside.
The Romans were evil brutish people who for entertainment would roast people and crucify them and feed them to animals and do other things that were so horrendous you could not write about them. But they were what they were, they did not pretend to be anything other than what they were. The Pharisees on the other hand were ” actors,” which is the Greek word for hypocrite. What they said in public was not what they said or did behind closed doors. And so, I have always reserved my criticism for hypocrisy.
I lost quite a few friends for severely criticising George Bush, the golden boy of the Evangelicals. Yet, his actions spoke louder than any words. Now this election cycle my focus has been on the actor, the one who says one thing publicly but in private is a completely different person. So let me say this loud and clear, Hilary Clinton is a clear and present danger to born again Christians. Not religious people who call themselves Christians, but actual Christians.
She and her supporters will come after anyone whom she considers to be deplorable. Now, one of her tests for being deplorable is how someone views homosexuality. If you view it to be a sin, then , in her and her supporters eyes you are a homophobic and deplorable and irredeemable. Now, the meaning of that word is ” beyond all hope.” I want Christians to know that the stage is being set for persecution. Within eight years of a Hilary administration, it will be illegal to speak to the issue I just mentioned in public. It will be a litmus test for every pastor and church in the land. Now, the answer to that is not Donald Trump, it is Jesus Christ.
There are no answers for the saints in Washington DC. Persecution is coming and saints, it will be your friends and family that will be doing the persecution. Yet this is exactly how the Scriptures says it would happen in the great falling away. So, our hope is in Jesus and we shall stand strong in Him and even if the whole world turns against us we shall not be moved. Be encouraged saints, greater is the Spirit within you, than the spirit that is in the world.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, End Times Eschatology, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 19 Comments »
Having eyes to see the Glory!
Posted by appolus on October 9, 2016
Christ is real no matter our circumstances and the reason we have seeker-friendly watered down Gospel is because people have been taught by ear tickling men. Christ dying on the cross is doom and gloom to those who are perishing but glory and victory to those who are not. Paul speaking out from his dungeon words of faithfulness is glory and majesty but the fearful can only see the dungeon. Stephen glorifying God as the stones rain down is glory and majesty but to the fearful is a terror because their eyes are not on the eternal glory of the Living God and His children but on the temporary temporal things of this world. In Christ there is no fear, He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. So, to those outside of the Spirit , doom and gloom, to those who walk according to the Spirit glory and majesty. Only God Himself can give us these eyes that can see the glory in the very midst of suffering for His name sake.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 5 Comments »
It is slipping away.
Posted by appolus on October 1, 2016
I just wanted to share what I sensed in my spirit today. ” It is slipping away.” Now you may ask what ” it ,” is.Truth is, I could not give you an answer. All I know is that the feeling was profound enough to bring a tear to my eyes. If you have read anything I have written for the last several years you will know that most of my writings came in the form of some kind of warning. The coming storm was a constant theme. The remnant was another. Now, truly for the first time, I sense that ” it,” is slipping away and that the saints are at the threshold of facing the greatest challenge any generation of saints worldwide have ever faced.
So many local storms in the past, some extremely intense. Never in the annals of Christendom has their been a world wide storm. Let me give you an example of the outer-bands of this storm. Just last week, a friend that I have known for years, many years, who has stayed in my house, accused me of being a racist. The reason? I told him that gay marriage was a sin in the eyes of God. There was time he would have agreed with me. Now why the accusation of being a racist? Well here is the logic. If I am against gay marriage, then I must be against bi-racial marriage. Dont ask me to explain that logic, I cannot , I can only assign it to the signs of the times. The love of many are waxing cold and they have been seduced by lying spirits. If you take a stand for the truth it is going to cost you.
I have written critical things of Hillary Clinton and that has gotten me into trouble. The very first piece I wrote last march, before Trump was even nominated was ” Trump-have we unleased a monster?” Interesting is it not, when you follow the truth you will be lambasted by both sides. Yet, be that as it may, I will continue to follow the truth and speak it as led no matter what the cost. What is not going to happen is that I will not be intimidated by people on either side of this issue. I do not have a side in this issue, I seek to speak truth to power and let the chips fall where they may. There is an old Hymn ” If none go with me, still I will follow.” This will be the challenge to the saints in this new age that has broken over us. The age where the word police and the thought police try to stifle freedom. Genuine saints will never be silenced for the Truth burns in them greater than any fire that the enemy can conjure up.
When the three Hebrew children were faced by the mightiest man in all the earth and refused his proclamations they are dragged in front of him and in front of the fire that was to consume them. These “powerless,” children confront this might man and they tell him that even if God does not deliver them from this fire they will never bow down to the gods of this world. And in the heart of this man a fury erupted and he made the fire seven times hotter. When God’s children today confront the gods of this world there will be a fury that breaks out against them such as has never been seen before. Yet here is what I know, in the very midst of that fury, in the hottest part of that fire, in the midst of the greatest storm ever known, Christ walks with His children and so it ever shall be.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, discernment, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 15 Comments »