Archive for the ‘the persectuted church’ Category
Posted by appolus on October 27, 2020
In the ancient world, oftentimes men would sell themselves into slavery just to eat and put a roof over their heads. In fact, it was not just the ancient world, but in our own western world men and women would join the clergy or some order of nuns and monks to put food on the table. For hundreds of years men would join the army or the navy for the same reasons. They were selling themselves into slavery in order to survive. When men and women are hungry, it tends to captivate the mind. Not a lot of room for the luxury of contemplation or philosophy when you are open to the elements and have not eaten in days.
Likewise, people put themselves under the authority of lords and warlords for centuries. The grand bargain being that they would be protected and in return they would serve their “masters.” People were also enslaved to religion because not only were they afraid of death, but they were also terrified of the what would happen to them in the world beyond this one. So, religion thrived along with witch-doctors and so on. Mankind has always had these great fears. Poverty, sickness and death.
Now in our modern world we may think that we have moved beyond all of that. We have not, quite the opposite. We are moving into an age where scientists are the new overlords. And what empowers them? Fear of death. Fear of disease that leads to death. And in our age of communication, we can spread that fear and reinforce that fear every single day right where the people are. Now, imagine an unholy alliance between science and government and leaders of industry. This is the age where total control over all the populations of the world is a possibility. And, it would be voluntary. Just as voluntary as the men and woman who sold themselves into slavery in the ancient world.
I believe that by government and industry and scientists making themselves indispensable to the general population, then we are on the precipice of complete control. It will be presented as a virtuous service to humanity and the planet itself. We must do what we are told not only for our own good but for the general good of society and if we do not capitulate then we are a danger to the general good. Now, all of this rests upon fear and especially the fear of death. There are other fears, such as the fear of being shamed or being labelled, they all play their part in control but in the end death is the greatest fear.
By and large men and women will gladly enslave themselves in exchange for security. Security of life and limb. Security of food and shelter. Threaten these in any way and it sends people into a tailspin. Their thin veneer of civilization is soon enough stripped away and we see the raw brutality of humanity. Yet the one force they most often will refuse to bow down to, even under the most dire of situations, is Jesus. Men will gladly bow down to other men if the situation warrants it, but they refuse to bow down to a Holy God. And of course the great irony is this, men and woman who genuinely bow down to Jesus are set at liberty. Liberty from what? From the forces that have shaped mankind. The fear of death and all other fears.
Oh death where is your sting, oh grave where is your victory? (1 Cor 15:55) It is swallowed up in Christ. He conquered the grave not only physically but spiritually. The chains that had bound humanity for all of its history were broken. It is a true freedom. For the saint is no longer bound by the restraints of this world and the fears thereof. It is the Lord Himself who told us that He knows the things that we need. He told us to consider the lilies of the field, how they neither toil nor spin. Consider the birds of the air. Consider even the sparrows, for the eye of our Father is on them. And if it is on them, how much more His own children?
And so, in the near coming age, the enslaved and the en-slavers will look with great hostility upon the freed men and women of Christ. Free people cannot be allowed in an age of control and chains. Hitler and his cohorts came up with the final solution to their “problem.” Scientists and politician, government forces and religions will likewise have to come up with a final solution to those who reject their authority. Lest the “virus,’ of rebellion spread among the population at large. It will be a “virtuous,” act by those in control for the general good. And the people in general will celebrate the ridding of a troublesome people.
I write to true saints. The Lord’s remnant people here on earth. And in doing so I do not have to explain that “they loved not their lives unto death.” This is how we overcome, this and by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of His testimony. Even in the midst of death we who have died to this world will be living an abundant life. The truth that burns so gloriously in our veins will overshadow any beggarly fears of this world. We already know that there is something worth dying for. Something that is more important than our lives. The Truth. Our history is replete with examples of this, down through every age. And now they cry our from beneath the altar.
So saints. It is almost upon us. The end of the ages and everything that comes with it. We stand on the shoulders of our brothers and sisters who went before us and who stood strong in the midst of terrible darkness. Who loved not their lives unto death because our Christ has overcome death. They were able to slip the surly bonds of this earth long before they ever faced physical death.
They would run and not grow weary, they would walk and not faint. They would mount up with wings as eagles and fly in the heavenly realms. The Kingdom of God. Seek it first today and His righteousness and you too shall run and not grow weary, you too shall walk and not faint. We as the Body will mount up with wings as eagles and soar into the lofty heights of His presence. Perfect love casts out all fear.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Posted by appolus on October 21, 2020
I have no hesitation in saying that it is my honest and charitable conviction that the Christ of the average religion today is not the Christ of the Bible at all. He is a manufactured Christ, the Christ painted on canvas, the Christ drawn from cheap poetry, a Christ of the liberal and the soft and timid person. He is an imitation Christ that has not in Him the iron and the fury and the anger, as well as the love and grace and mercy (A.W.Tozer-Living a Christian life. pg 218)
Tozer was right in his day, and, I put it to you, we find ourselves in very much more degraded days than his. The Christ, for the most part, that is propagated today is a mere Santa Claus figure, gentle and timid and somewhat fearful of man. This man made Christ watches over men and smiles approvingly at all of their sins. Like a father who cannot discipline his children and they run wild, Jesus has been reduced to this in the minds of most men who would call themselves by His name. They have created this Jesus in their own image. They would gladly say “behold the goodness of God,” while not finishing the sentence “and the severity of God.”
They would gladly tell you that “the gift of God is eternal life,” while refusing ever to say that the “wages of sin is death.” They will gladly tell you that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but they will never mention the very next sentence which says he who refuses to believe is condemned already. There is no iron and fury and anger, as Tozer puts it, in the God that they have created and worshiped. There is only grace and mercy and woe betide anyone who suggests otherwise. In the end, this will separate the wheat from the tares. Those who refuse to acknowledge a God who will judge the living and the dead will throw their lot in with a world who will be taken up with the god of this world.
The only iron and fury and anger we will see will be that of the apostate and the fallen world who will come together to judge the saint who worships the true and the Biblical and the living God. Their fury will be great and their anger without measure. They will have murderous hearts and will gnash their teeth and fall with great fury upon those who refuse to compromise, those who love the Word of God and who long for His appearance.
Yet, like Stephen, the saints of God will see the heavens open in that day and will see the glory of God in ways and depths that they have never seen nor experienced Him before. It will be their honor to stand upon the truth and to suffer and die for it and the Holy Spirit will rise up in them in ways the world has never seen. God will be glorified in His children and that glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on October 21, 2020
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on October 21, 2020
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
Oftentimes we find ourselves troubled on every side. Many times we are perplexed. Many of us have been persecuted, perhaps not in the sense of living in a hostile country, but maybe within the confines of our own families. We have been thrown down and trampled on . Often dying it seems by our many troubles. All of these things and more are the things that would destroy most, but in you they have caused the life of Christ to spring up from the darkness of your situations. An abundance of grace has been poured out upon your life that speaks to the glory of God and the love of the Father for His children. He established you and gave you grace and purpose before time began.
When we have been troubled on every side we can testify that we have been rescued from distress. When we have been weighed down with the perplexities of life, the Lord Himself pulls us up from the valleys of despair.In the midst of our persecutions and feelings of isolation we have discovered that we are not alone. When we have been thrown down and trampled on, the Lord Himself has saved us from being destroyed.
In all of these things we do not faint, we rise up by the power of the Holy Spirit. The outer man may be in the process of perishing but our inner man is renewed daily by the glory of God and the amazement of a dying world. The world sees that out of the darkness of our situations that God Himself has commanded light to shine forth. You may not be able to fully articulate the Roman road to salvation but the world does see that out of you, out of your many trials, your sorrows, your afflictions and your infirmities, there shines forth the light of Christ Himself. Be encouraged saints, you are a mighty witness for Christ.
Perhaps the world will never know your story, but the Lord knows and the mouths of the principalities and powers are closed by the testimony of God in you, your hope and your glory. God spoke into Gideon’s life and He called him a mighty man of valor, although at the point of which He spoke it to him nothing could be further from the truth. Yet the key was “God spoke.’ And even although Gideon would complain that he was the weakest man from the weakest clan in all the land, that meant nothing to God. You see, its never the man or the woman, its always God. If He is with you brothers and sister, then He can achieve whatever He desire through you , not because of you, but because of Him, the one who speaks and the one who calls. He equips the ones He calls. Your job is to keep on standing, keep on moving, one step at a time, one day at a time, getting up and then getting up again and again and again. And even in this, He empowers us to rise up when we decide to get up. Rise up today brothers and sisters and put one foot in front of the other.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on October 1, 2020
I see judgement whether we turn to the left or right ( not meaning that in a political sense although it may fit) If Trump is reelected the forces of anarchy will intensify and cities will burn. If Biden is elected there will be a sharp rise in aggressive political acts against the Christian community and of course abortion will not only go on unabated but children who somehow manage to survive an abortion will be left to die on a table in the corner of a room. Now, perhaps that is our end, the end of a society that has highly flawed notions of what freedom actually is. There is the freedom wrought for us on bloody Calvary, and then there is everything else.
The freedom that man gives, man can take away. The freedom that God gives though His sacrifice, no power that exists can touch. No man can make me less free. No political party can make me less free. No principality or power can degrade my freedom in any way. I may be in a jail cell but I will be free. I may even be martyred for the cause of Christ but I shall be free indeed. In fact, the more the devil rages, the more I plunge the depths of freedom. We saints must remember that and stand upon that. Dark days lie ahead, but above every dark cloud there is a piercing and perpetual blue sky.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 30, 2020
For we live by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7)
If faith is that important. If it is the deliverer of what grace provides then how shall a man increase in faith? Shall he pray more? Shall he tithe more? Shall he live a more holy life? Shall he increase in the rigors of religious life and then somehow earn more faith by denying himself? Now obviously praying and holiness and denying oneself are not inherently wrong. Yet they become disastrous if they are flowing from the heart of one who is trying to earn faith by their own efforts. Everything must flow from the presence of God. What is begun in the Spirit must abide in the Spirit and walk daily in the Spirit. The key of faith, given to us by Jesus, that unlocks the door of salvation is also the key which unlocks every other door.
I have seen men trying to kick in the doors of mercy and peace and joy. I have seen groups of men with battering rams trying to break down the doors of love and forgiveness and holiness. I have been that man at times, I have held that battering ram at times. Yet no door that opens deeper into the heart of the Father can be strong armed open. It is not by might nor by any power, it is by His Spirit alone. And it is by weakness and an understanding of our weakness that draws us near to the Father and deeper into His heart. As we draw near, faith is increased. As our faith is increased then it delivers what grace has provided. As we receive what grace has provided then we share with others that which we ourselves have been freely given. As we share this with others, faith is increased and the evidence of God walking among us is evident to men and He and He alone is glorified.
Will you draw near today? Will you enter into His rest and cease from your own works today? In His presence there is fullness of joy. In His presence there is a peace that surpasses understanding. In His presence there is forgiveness and restoration. In His presence there is purity of heart. In His presence there is mercy and love beyond measure. In His presence there is strength for the weak. In His presence you can run and not grow weary, you can walk and not faint. In His presence you can mount up with wings as eagles and soar to unimaginable heights. Will you draw near today saints?
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Posted by appolus on September 27, 2020
Gideon was a mighty man of valor. Yet long before he would prove himself on a battle-field he first had to first tear down the altars of his fathers. In order to fulfill the role God has for any of us we must rise up, and go up and tear down the altars, the high places that have been erected for the worship of all things ungodly. A country that raises up an altar on the high places to wickedness shall not stand. Whether it takes one year or five hundred years, it will fall. America raised up a high place of worship, that high place is called abortion. Of all the possible sins that any secular nation can indulge itself in, infanticide will bring that country to its knees.
A culture of death promotes death. The blood of the innocents prime the pumps from the lower depths of hell. And from that gross dark place there pours forth the most vile evil, eventually drowning mankind it its own wickedness. Gideon had to discover from God that he was a mighty man of valor. Then he had to act upon it. God is raising up a generation of Gideons and it begins by tearing down the altars that have been erected to worship ancient evil deities.
Moloch is among them and has been raised up. His flag flies over many of the capitals of the world. Only the light of Christ shining forth from His children can counter the gross darkness that has covered the land. Stand fast saints. For the source of all light is at the door. The prayers from an army of saints marching on its knees will rise up to heavens throne room and God will rend the heavens and come down and in His presence they will stand on that evil day.
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Posted by appolus on September 17, 2020
The paradoxical realms of the Kingdom utterly confound the creatures of this world. They see a crucifixion and they see defeat. They see someone carry a cross and they turn away. They see hard and brutal circumstances and they shudder. What they do not see is a refining fire in the midst of those circumstances. They do not see the lively stones being shaped, they only see and hear the blow of the hammer on the chisel that cuts deep the stone being shaped.
They are taken up with the pain, being oblivious to the clay being pounded and crushed and formed on the Potters wheel. A sculptors block of stone, a forgers raw material, a pile of ashes, that is all they ever see. They cannot foresee the magnificent statue, they cannot envision the sword, they cannot behold the beauty. A two dimensional world full of people with two dimensional minds with eyes that can only see in black and white.
The Kingdom of God is multidimensional and is festooned in blazing technicolor. We saints are called to walk in this Kingdom and see His hand in everything. See the genesis of His creative power actually creating us in real time. Saint, you are being shaped as you read this. You are His work of art in progress, for His will and for His good pleasure. The child of this world was created in his mothers womb, fashioned and shaped and perfected until the time of his birth.
The saint is being shaped and perfected in the depths of the Fathers heart. A raging furnace of love and mercy and forgiveness and brokenness and a thousand other flaming coals, all contained within grace. You may not always understand saint, but today, remind yourself that you are being shaped BY the hand of the Master and He will complete that which He has begUn in you. You are a work in progress, a work of art unfolding by the hand of God Himself.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 15, 2020
A skilled hunter has many tricks up his sleeve. One could call him crafty and devious, having the ability to get into the mind of that which he hunts and set many snares as he thinks necessary. There is often a carcass that has been torn to pieces but not yet fully consumed. The hunter knows that his prey will return to this carcass many times until is is consumed. Knowing this, he sets many traps around it.
He manipulates the landscape in an effort to funnel his prey in certain ways as to lead him right into the trap. The prey may smell danger and decide not to come to the carcass and go another way, the hunter knows this and has set many traps in order to maximize his potential of trapping the target. As long as the prey is anywhere near the carcass he is in great danger.
Do you have a rotting carcass in your life that you keep returning to and feeding from? It could be anything that is not of God. It could be bitterness, anger, hatred or unforgiveness. It could be sexual sin. Anything that is not of God and is a recurring theme in your mind or your life is a rotting carcass. The danger of course is that the hunter of your soul awaits your return. He has set snares and traps all around. Rotting carcasses also attract other wild animals. Now you may be fortunate for a time, but the hunter is very patient. While there is still meat on that carcass he knows that you will return, he knows where to wait for you.
Saints, we have to be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove. Lets say you do very well and avoid responding to someone or something in a manner that is not pleasing to the Lord. You have done well. If you then stumble into a secondary snare, such as bitterness or unforgiveness, then you have been trapped all the same. There are sins to flee from and there is a devil to resist.
Get rid of every carcass in you life, draw close to the Lord and He will draw close to you. Resist the devil. That word resist in the Greek means to stand against, to withstand, to stand your ground. Submit to God and His Word and stand your ground and you will endure, you will overcome, you will not be trapped by the enemy of your soul. There is a way of escape and a way of entrapment. Lets not aid the enemy of our souls.
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Posted by appolus on September 14, 2020
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.(Joh 14:6)
There are many earth shattering moments when Jesus spoke. Moments and words that changed everything. This scripture is among the most profound truth ever written. This is why in the end of end days it will become the most infamous of all Scriptures. This will be banned and become illegal to share in our life time. It will be deemed as hate speech and once that occurs, almost all of what Jesus spoke will be considered detrimental to the spiritual health of the population at large. His words will then be cherry picked and the rest will simply not be spoken of.
Let us affirm this truth. Jesus is the only way to heaven and every other road leads directly to hell, whether that be the Islamic road or the Judaic road or the Hindu road or the Buddhist road. The only way to God is through His son Jesus. He is the way. And in the depths of that meaning we are shown that it is not good enough to say that you are His or that you believe in Him, there must be fruits of your salvation. We will know a saint by the way that he or she walks. In the days of the inquisitions, many saints were identified for persecution because it was said of then that they lived “exemplary,” lives.
This is the way of Christ. We live and we strive to live as He did and taught. The truth is the word of God. It is not open for debate among saints, starting with the above Scripture. Jesus is the Truth and Jesus is the word made flesh and we stand upon it, even with our very lives. It burns at the center of our souls, it is a fire in our bones and flames upon our lips. The truth spoken in love scorches a Godless earth. To the ungodly it is a fire that must be extinguished.
Finally He is the life and no man truly follows Him without having His life in Him. His life in us is joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. It is peace when all around us is turmoil. It is joy even in the depths of despair. It is love when we should hate. It is self control and meekness. It is a giving of ourselves and a crucified life. In all of this we are long suffering and the very least those around us will say is that we are good people. And so saint even in these ever darkening days let us stand upon the fundamental truth of our Lord and never waver even as the inevitable assaults come flooding in. He is true and let all men be liars.
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Posted by appolus on September 13, 2020
Sometimes I forget that I am a fighter. Every now and then the gross darkness comes in and I forget who I am for a moment, for a day, for a week. Then I remember. I look back and I remember. I remember battles. I remember being battered black and blue. I see the war torn terrain. I see the smoke and the mist and the darkness and I see the hand that reached down to me. From heaven itself. My God who rules supreme over every battle. My Lord Jesus, tried and true warrior who has rode through every battle and stood right there, back to back. I remember that and as I do the light comes flooding back. The darkness retreats. Don’t forget who you are today saint. Jesus has your back. In Him you are more than a conqueror. You will endure, you will prevail, you will overcome. Somebody need to hear that today. He sees you
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Posted by appolus on September 9, 2020
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being.
The Lord is the very source of our lives. We breathe because He first breathed life into us. The very essence of our lives , our existence, depended upon and depends upon God, whether men know this or not. He holds it all together. Not only is He the creator but He is the very fabric of all that exists. We move because He created these bodies and we think because God created our minds. This is the universal truth of all men whether they care to acknowledge it or not.
Now the twice born man is very different from the once born man. He no longer lives, in the sense that he merely exists. It is now Christ that lives in Him. He is a new creation in Christ and is a son of the living God. The Father and the Son have taken up residence in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. So his life is now supernatural. Yes he exists, he lives, but its no longer he but Christ in him. This body of the saint that was once only a vehicle for the soul of man, is now the residence of the most High God. The life that he now lives is maintained and sustained by faith.
To move in God is to walk in the manifest presence of the Lord. In the natural, to move means to go from one place to another. In the supernatural, to move in God is to draw deeper into the heart of the Father. And from that place comes power, and so we can move in the power of God. We can move in the love of God. We can move in forgiveness and grace and discernment. Like the natural man, when the spiritual man moves, he is moving from one place to another. It is part of his spiritual journey home, from precept to precept. Ever closer, ever deeper.
Our being is our very existence. Every human being exists in time and space. Yet the man or woman who is born again now exists not only in time and space, but in the Kingdom of God that was and is and is to come. When we have our being in Him by virtue of the new birth we live and move and have our being in the Kingdom of God. We breathe rarified air. Our atmosphere is different from the rest of humanity. We breath in the poison of the world and we breath out life. In the place of darkness we bring life from the light of God like spiritual photosynthesis.
Brothers and sister, let us reckon this to be so as we live and move in this world. Know who you are and know your place in this world. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9)
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Posted by appolus on September 7, 2020
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith, what an incredible word. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Think about that for a moment. Things hoped for has no substance in this material world. Yet it forms the foundation upon which we stand. It exists in a realm we cannot see. Yet in the depths of our heart and the heights of our spirit we know it to be true. By this understanding we know that the Word of God Himself framed this world and every star in the night sky. The things that are seen was not made by what can be seen. It is only by faith that this can be known.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Think about that for a moment. It is a totally otherworldly statement. In this material world in which we dwell, evidence consists entirely of things seen. Yet in the Kingdom of God and the hearts of men, the evidence of things unseen is the entire basis for our existence. We believe in the unseen world. We believe in the unseen God. We believe in the unseen heaven and we also believe in an unseen hell.
This knowing that has been given to us, is the evidence of the things to come. The evidence of things not seen, that sentence absolutely runs counter to everything man is and knows. There in enmity between the heads of men and the hearts of the saints and never the twain can meet. There is a vast gulf between the two and it is impassable. The man who follows his head can only believe in what he can see. He will say “show me.” The man who follows the dictates of his heart and the leading of the Spirit will simply say, “I believe.”
Only by knowing God can these truths be known. It is in this realm of the knowing that we exist as saints. We walk in that realm. This is walking in the Spirit. We know what cannot be known. We know beyond the knowledge of man. There is an old song called “He lives.” The chorus goes like this…..He lives , He lives, Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way He lives , He lives , salvation to impart, You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.
Ask me how I know He lives. You see He lives inside of me. He walks with me as the old song says. He talks with me. Faith may be the evidence of things unseen by this world but I have saw the Lord high and lifted up. I have knelt before the throne of God and all His glory filled the temple and it filled my heart and it filled my very soul. I have sat at His feel and He has taught me. I have cried out in the night watches and He has wiped away my tears. I was dead in the valley of dry bones and He raised me up. He gave me a new heart and He breathed His very life into me.
Yes, I trust Him and my hope is in Him but my hope is not like the hope of this world. My very hope has substance even although you cannot see it. My hope is Christ Himself, the Christ that dwells within my heart. The Christ that raised me from the dead. The Christ who whispers in my ear. The Christ that conquered every fear. The Christ who showed me how to die and the Christ who taught me how to fly. He is my sunrise in the morning and He is the sunset of my life. The beginning and the end and everything in between.
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Posted by appolus on September 5, 2020
There is an old French phrase that is centuries old, it is “Rage Millitaire.” In essence it means a passion for taking up arms. Something that sweeps through a country or region and men take up arms and rise up with an uncontrollable rage. This was said of pre-revolutionary America. I would like to suggest that there is a Rage Millitair rising in the west. There is a rising passion for violence in the populous. It will not end well.
Right now it manifests itself in political violence, yet there is a very strong undercurrent that is the primary motivation for the uprising. The genuine saint is in the cross-hairs. The bowels of hell are readying themselves for war. Every now and then in human history hell’s fury gushes forth and and swamps humanity. It takes blood to prime the blood lust. The blood of the innocents, countless millions of dead infants, ripped from their mothers wombs, have whetted the appetites of an ancient evil.
A German woman was interviewed in the 60s. She had been a Nazi in pre-war Germany and attended all of Hitlers rallies. She was asked why she had followed something so overtly evil. She was at a loss for an explanation but as the interviewer waited, she finally said something very profound. She said “there was something in the atmosphere and we all breathed it in.” I would like to suggest that right now there is something in the atmosphere and the world is breathing it in. The hordes of hell are massing and the the devil himself has charged the atmosphere, that old serpent and power of the air.
Let there be no mistake. The targets for this coming tsunami are the saints. Right now the targets are political and the causes of division and hatred are based on race and class. Yet the undercurrent around the Western world flows violently towards and against genuine Christianity and anyone who will stand upon its pillars of truth. Hate laws are being crafted in many of the Western countries and the crime is “to incite.”
If your views run counter to the politically correct narrative of this day, then these laws will be aimed at you. You are inciting an enraged world. The world and its ruler has lost its patience with dissent and free speech. Speak Biblical truth and they will come knocking on your door. There will be no room in this world for those who follow Jesus. They will be deemed enemies of the people. They will be hated by the religious, the political and the man in the street.
The political class in Jerusalem hated the Pharisee. The Pharisee hated the Sadducee. The Romans hated all of them. Yet in the end, they all found common cause in hating Jesus. It was prudent for them all to come together and kill Jesus for the sake of the nation, for the sake of their institutions, for their own survival. It will be prudent for the world to get rid of genuine Christianity. We are a thorn in their flesh. We are manifestation of their conscience. We are a living reminder that they live in sin and darkness. We who are bearers of the light cause much anguish to those who dwell in darkness.
Yet in all of this we are more than conquerors in Christ. Just as He overcame we too shall overcome. We must ready ourselves for what lies ahead. We ready ourselves by taking up our crosses daily. As we do that we shall be fully established in the reality that nothing can separate us from the love of God. The sufferings of this present time and the times to shortly come upon us are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. We hold this glory in earthen vessels and when we are broken this glory, the glory of God pours forth. So if we are broken for Christ’s sake by the dark powers of this world then light pours forth.
The whole of creation is groaning and travailing in pain right now. It is ready to give birth to something very evil before the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus. The first born of Christ groan as well, we groan for the coming of the blessed hope. The Spirit of God groans for us in holy intercession. And we know this, if God is for us, who can be against us? If tribulation or distress or persecution come against us, if all day long we are led as lambs to the slaughter, still nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
In all of these things we are more than conquerors in Christ our Lord and I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities or powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:31-39)
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Posted by appolus on September 3, 2020
Whatever the day brings oh Lord, then you should be right in the midst of it. Whatever the day brings, whether its a day of war, then we should war in you. If it is a day to mourn then we should mourn in you. If it is a day to love then we should love by the power of you oh Lord. Whatever the day brings then we should bring you right into the center of it. Forget about yesterday. It is done. Pay no heed to tomorrow for you oh child of God do not know if you will see tomorrow. Tomorrow does not belong to you, it belongs to the Lord. What you do have is today, this day. Lord let this day be your day and let us walk with you in this day.
Let us throw of fear brothers and sisters it is not of God and does not belong in your day. Let us throw of worry and anxiety as the Lord commanded us to, it does not belong in this day, only the Lord belongs in this day. The God of all creation. The God who laid the foundations of the earth and set the stars in the heavens. The God who feeds every sparrow and who clothes the common fields of the earth in more glory and splendor than even Solomon was ever clothed.
Saints, imagine the revolution that would take place in your life if you lived only for this day. Imagine that fear and anxiety was banished from your day, that your day was taken up with seeking first the Lord your God and His kingdom and His righteousness. Imagine the power as you threw of the shackles of yesterday. Imagine the glory as you threw of the tyranny of tomorrow which may never come. Imagine the absolute adventure of a single day with God having no thought for tomorrow. This is walking with God brothers and sisters.
This is Kingdom living. This is walking in the Spirit. It is your promise. Jesus said take no thought for tomorrow, Jesus said be anxious for nothing, Jesus said not to worry about the things the gentiles worry about. He said all that to clear the decks. Wont you clear the decks today saints? Will you not live in obedience to your Lord and your God? You do that today, you take God at His word, you be obedient to His commands and your whole life will be revolutionized.
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Posted by appolus on September 1, 2020
Even in chains Paul could rejoice. Even in the darkest dungeon Paul could praise God. Even as Stephen is being stoned he was filled with the Holy Spirit and could see heavenly visions. This is the power of the overcoming saint, the saints that endure to the end receive the promises of Christ. Faith is the power in which we live. The ability to see what cannot be seen, to trust when all around us is burning embers, when our life in the natural is falling apart, there in the midst of it all, stands our Redeemer. He stands brothers and sisters, He sees, He knows, He keeps every tear drop shed held in a bottle. He sees you wronged, He sees your pain and He wants you to know that it will not always be as it is now.
The Spirit gives us eyes to see what cannot be seen and ears to hear what no ear can hear. We see His glory and we see eternity stretching out ahead of our circumstances. There is a weight of glory that awaits us saints. You may think in your heart ” this will never end,” but it will end. The hope we have is not the hope of the world where it simply wishes things will get better. Our hope is a blessed one founded on the word and the promises of God. He has gone to prepare a place for us, if it were not so He would have told us. So lift up your eyes and gaze upon the glorious eternity that lies ahead of your circumstances, and when you do, the Spirit of God will begin to fill you heart and mind and body with the ambient glory of what you can see. Can you see His glory? Look saint, with Spirit eye, look!
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Posted by appolus on August 31, 2020
Psa 3:3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
The episode here described in this psalm of David is from one of the lowest accounts of his life. It is one thing to have enemies, its hard and we have to deal with that. It is quite another when it is a loved one who stabs you in the back. David’s own son Absalom has turned against him and has convinced most of the country to turn on David. So many of us can relate to Davids situation, he has troubles on every side. He is not a young man anymore and one could forgive him for thinking “have I not suffered enough?”
People all around him are telling him that there is no help from God. Yet this is not David’s reaction. He has learned to trust God after all these years of serving him. He says that he cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard him from His holy hill. He did cry, we see that in 2 Sam 15:30 where he and all the people who were loyal to him weep as they make their way up Mount Olivet. What a sad tragic scene.
Yet David says that the Lord heard his cries. He acknowledges that the Lord is His shield and the lifter of his head and that in the glory of the Lord there is strength and peace to be found. So much so that David could lie down and sleep. As so many of you know, in a crisis, sleep rarely comes easily. Yet David slept for the Lord sustained him and he was not afraid. He trusted God so much that he sent the Ark back to Jerusalem and announced that it would be God who would determine the outcome of this situation. Whether on a throne or on the run David recognizes that God is his shield. He recognized that there was power in the glory of God and that this power was able to lift up the hands that hung down low and lift up the head to survey the heavens, from whence his help came from.
Those around us, who do not have eyes to see the glory, many well intentioned people, whisper in our ears along with the devil himself that there is no help from God. The man whose eyes are fixed on the glory of God, he is drawn away from his doubts and fears and drawn deeper into the heart of God. He abides under the shadow of the Almighty’s wing. And so we see here a principle that was so clearly demonstrated by Peter when he walked on the water. If your eyes are upon Jesus, He elevates you above the storm. The storm is still raging yet it cannot consume you. If your eyes are upon your situation then you start to drown, you will go under.
Maybe today you face that kind of situation with a loved one, or perhaps you are just surrounded on every side by trials, or maybe it is your future that deeply troubles you for any number of reasons. Remember this dear saint, God is a shield for you and in His glory He will lift you up. You keep looking to Jesus and you will lie down and sleep. He will give you the strength to arise every morning. He is well able.
He knows your situation, just as he knew David’s. And David knew that. And in that trust that David had developed over decades of troubles, he could say with the Apostle Paul “I have learned to be content.” Be content today saint for God knows your situation. He will be with you through the fires and through the floods. He will not allow you to drown nor to be consumed by the fires of your trials.
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Posted by appolus on August 27, 2020
As I was walking this morning and praying I was telling the Lord that I was wearied of the flesh in all of its many manifestations. This daily fight can be very tiring and I was sharing with the Lord how lovely it would be when it was all over. As I rounded the corner on the path, I heard two different bird noises. I knew what they were, I had heard them before. One was a bird in distress and the other was a hawk screetching. Although I could not see what was going on, I have seen it before. The hawk undoubtedly had caught the small bird and the small bird was making very distressed noises, as were his little buddies all around him. The hawk would be unmoved by these noises and would never lose his grip on his little prisoner.
As I pictured this in my mind the Holy Spirit spoke to me, He said “Something has to die so that something can live.” It just seemed so profound to me because of the image in my mind of the hawk and its prey. Yet, this concept is fundamental to all of humanity. Every time we eat something, something had to die. It had to die that we may live. Dying and living, in that order, it is what sustains us. It is elemental.
As I walked on and pondered this, I thought about a show Angie and I watch on National Geographic. It is called “Alone.” The basic premise of the show is that they take ten people and scatter them in a rough wilderness area, and they have to survive for 100 days. This year the location was just 250 miles from the Arctic circle. A brutal place with limited resources. What actually happens is that they slowly begin to starve to death. When they do catch something, like a fish or a rabbit, they are so overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness that they often embrace the catch that they have just killed and weep. This is life and death and they know it. It seems to be a very spiritual experience, small c of course.
The relationship between death and life is so elemental to humanity, this notion that something has to die in order for something to live lies at the root of who we are. If Christ is to live in me then something has to die. There are no ways around, something has to die. I have to die, my flesh has to die so that Christ in me shall be manifested to the world. I have to d3crease so that He may increase. Jesus, of course, is the perfect example of this. In order for us to live then He had to die. Without His death we would not live. In John chapter six Jesus teaches that we must eat His Body and drink His Blood.
Jesus is the Living bread that came down from heaven. In order for us to partake of the this food and this drink then Jesus had to die. Something has to die so something can live. Jesus had to die so that we could live eternally. Now my flesh has to die, with all of the distress that accompanies that and all of the noise that I sometime make in the process. My cross taken up daily is the means that has been prepared for me by the one who bore the ultimate cross. An instrument of death that produces life. Lord, may I take up this cross daily so that something dies daily and from this death comes life.
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Posted by appolus on August 27, 2020
There are not many around today who have experienced the manifest presence of the Living God. And by that I do not mean ” the music was excellent this morning, I was really moved by it,” or ” that was such a great sermon.” What I mean by the manifest presence of God is when the music stops, when the preaching stops, when men can barely lift their heads because the holy heaviness of God has come down and laid bare their souls. Where the weight of His glory and majesty seems to even disrupt gravity.
Men and women are afraid to even whisper lest they interrupt a Holy God. Hands raised in holy adoration and men are on their knees. Tears flow like swollen rivers in the midst of spring time rains. Hearts are enlarged, hearts are melted, hearts are changed, hearts are filled to capacity then overflow. For the rest of the day, the week, the month these rain drenched swollen hearts fall with tears of overflowing at the mere thought of His presence.
The sensitivity of your touched heart is so great that even the mention of the name of Jesus ushers you once again into His presence. This is new wine, and the old has to give way to the new. We do not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God nor do we live on yesterdays memories but on today’s encounter for that gives life to your tomorrows.
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Posted by appolus on August 26, 2020
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.(Psa 2:1-3)
The world in which we live grows ever more angry against the Kingdom of God and His saints. As each day passes we see more and more that the heathen, the unbeliever and the people in general are aligned with the kings and rulers of this world against the anointed of God. The anger is rising in the hearts of men against the saints of God. Pretense is being cast away and kings and governments are showing their true colors, they are showing us who they really worship, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air.
Yet the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords still sits upon His throne. His kingdom and His people still carry the banner of light into the valley of darkness. Though the whole world rises up in a crescendo of darkness and evil, the saints, the bearers of the light shall stand firm upon Holy ground, they will not be moved. Those who serve the Lord with fear and who tremble in His manifest presence are soldiers in the Army of the Lord. We do not fight with the weapons of this world, our weapons are mighty for the pulling down of strong-holds.
Every saint who has ever walked Godly in Christ Jesus knows something of the heathen’s rage. You know brothers and sisters, you know. God has seen your suffering and is well pleased that you have stood strong against the exploits of the people in general around you, perhaps even those of your own household. Now consider our Lord and Savior Jesus, how in His day the rulers took counsel together to destroy Him. Kings and rulers, Pharisees and Sadducees, Herodians and the mob all came together against Him. The whole world turned on Him and yet He was true to His calling until He gave up His last breath.
Though the whole world come against you dear brothers and sisters, and it will, let us follow the ways of the Lord and stay true to our calling until we breathe our last breath. Whether we live or whether we die let us glorify the Lord. And whether we are still alive or have gone on before we shall all join our Lord in the sky in that great and terrible day of the Lord. The Kings and the rulers of this world and the raging heathens and all the vain peoples will bow their knees and acknowledge the Christ and receive His judgment.
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A Call To The Remnant 