“A generation that knows only what God said will be followed by a generation that doesn’t believe what God said.” (A.W.Tozer)
It is so vital to know God.To know Him in His Spirit, know Him in His being, know Him intimately in the depths of who we are. To be found in Him,to be vitally connected to Him and know His presence, His presence being like manna to our very soul. I believe that Tozer’s words in the above quote have came to pass. At least one or two generations have passed that knew only what God said and have produced a generation that does not believe what God said. The wind has been sown and now comes the whirlwind. The seed of mere mental assent has harvested a crop of headless stalks that are no good for consumption and can feed no one.
How many of us “know ,” that the day of the Lord is coming and it is coming soon? This has nothing to do with proofs or opinions, you just know in your spirit, there is a witness in your spirit that speaks to you and you “know.” I could talk about signs and prophecies being fulfilled but I do not wish to do that in this word, you already “know,” that the Bridegroom is coming for this is a word to the remnant. Who are the remnant? Well, they are the Church, not to be mistaken for the established church. God is calling His people, His remnant, from all over the world which includes the established church to come out.
There are still many brothers and sisters within the established church but they will eventually leave. This is not a calling from man; it is a calling from God.God has all but withdrew His Presence from the established church. Eze 10:18 And the glory of Jehovah went from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubs. The continuing purpose of the remnant within the church is to be a witness to those who would also come out and establish judgment on that which calls itself the church.
The remnant are further identified in Eze 9:4 And Jehovah said to him, Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and are mourning because of all the abominations that are done in her midst.
They have been identified with a mark on their foreheads. They mourn and are deeply saddened at the condition of the established church. Those within the established church will not be able to identify their state for they allowed themselves to be blinded by their love for the world. They so identify with the world that they look just like it. They will be friendlier to those of the world than to those who mourn for the state of the church. The remnant will be and are increasingly marginalized within the four walls of the church and they lose their voice. Fellowship is ever more difficult to find as most in the established church simply have no idea where they are coming from. This process is happening across the spectrum of the established church, whether it is in the “Pentecostal,” circles or the more conservative Evangelical movement.
This isolation that the remnant feel eventually compels them to reach out and find other like-minded people. This reaching out reaches across denominational lines and “strange bedfellows,” are popping up everywhere. The remnant are not to be confused with “church-hoppers,” in fact the opposite is true. The remnant try everything to make a difference in their churches. They go above and beyond but there is simply no breaking through to the worldliness that they find. This is a hungry and thirsty people and they will eventually be compelled to move on in the hope of finding some water in a dry and thirsty land, they are desperate for the “former rains.”
God has begun to pour out His former and latter rains. The former rains have softened and are softening the soil to receive the remnant. The process is in flux all over the world. The winter planting of the wheat has begun for the last time. The Bridegroom is coming and the Bride is being made ready. Not righteous mind you, it has already been made righteous by the Blood of the Lamb; it is being prepared for the coming of the Bridegroom. The mansion has been prepared, the bridal chamber is ready and now the wheat, the Bride awaits the latter rains, they await the sounds of the trumpet. God’s remnant have been and are being prepared and it is they who call down the latter rain. Before they call down the latter rain they call for repentance.
They rend their hearts, they fast, they weep and they mourn. They assemble themselves, gather themselves together. They weep between the porch and the brazen altar which has all but been abandoned. It is they that have been marked by God, the remnant that do these things. It is upon these people whom the latter rains fall. The latter rains enlarges their capacity, they grow stronger in their spirits as the Lord pours out His Spirit upon them. This is not a good sign for the world or for what passes as the church. The remnant begin to dream dreams and see visions. In these dreams and visions they see that the Day of the Lord is at hand. They begin to prophecy against the world and the established church. They call them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of judgment. And even at this stage the remnant are being called by the remnant. Even now it is the valley of decision; it is still not too late for the heart to rend itself to God.
For the remnant, the called out ones, the chosen of the Lord, will stand in a continual downpour of His rain. Those who formerly thirsted, shall thirst no more. And directly proportionate to the outpouring of Gods Spirit will come persecution. Yet, this only drives the remnant deeper into the heart of God, which still infuriates the enemy of our souls even more. The remnant will then experience a fountain of living water that flows continuously “from the house of the Lord.” (Joel 3:18) And the valley that the remnant have been called to is flooded with living water from the throne-room itself (Rev14:7, Rev 19:6) The name of this valley is Acacias. This was the last known location of the children of Israel before they entered Canaan. (Num 25:1, Josh 3:1) This will be the last location of the Bride before the Bridegroom comes and they enter in and the door is closed behind them. Just because some folks have co-opted the phrase ” latter rains,” does not mean that the latter rains shall not fall. They are coming.
Joy and sorrow walking hand in hand
There is laughter through the rain and fire in the land
Look and see the wounds that pierce my heart
Causing me to stumble and tearing me apart
I can barely imagine there’ll be any tomorrows
And then I consider The man of sorrows
So acquainted with grief and rejected by all
That when I am lost I can hear His call
My love has failed it’s the end of emotions
I am drowning in fears in the deepest of oceans
The bridge to my heart is slowly being raised
Unless it is lowered there’s will be dark days
I cry out to God, fill my heart with your love
Don’t leave me in this place, come down from up above
I wait in the darkness I wait all alone
For wings that will allow me to fly to your throne
And suddenly I have wings and I know how to fly
Above all the tears to your glory on high
I fall to my knees for I cannot stand
As I take a hold of your outstretched hand
Jesus was a man acquainted with sorrows. It is not a part that we as Christians like to dwell on too often but there it is. When we are physically attacked, we at the very least, throw up our hands to protect ourselves. Yet when our heart is open, as it must be to walk with and serve the Lord, then it is utterly vulnerable to attack. It is so tempting to allow our hearts to begin to close down, it is even a knee jerk reaction to hurt and pain that comes and comes and comes again. I have cried out to the Lord so many times to fill my heart again, even when I had not the slightest desire. This is the Word of God doing it’s work, when our own love fails, when we come to the end of our emotions, when anger and bitterness and melancholy seek to drown us or perhaps apathy sweeps down like an avalanche to try to cover everything up, then we cry out to God for what we know is right and we wait.
For those who wait upon the Lord, for those who have grown weary or tired and faint, suddenly the presence of God lifts us and carries us beyond and above, high above the cares and pain of this world. He makes us lie down for a while in green pastures, He leads and guides us and comforts us. He feeds our hearts and waters our thirsty souls. He prepares a table before us right there in the midst of our circumstances and we are strengthened to carry on. Every time we walk through the fire or the flood and walk out the other side there is a growing realization that surely goodness and mercy has followed us and will follow us all the days of our lives. This is the joy of knowing Him on this all to often painful journey. We persevere and overcome because our hand is outstretched to His and that outstretched hand reaches high into the heavens and finds itself before the throne of mercy and grace.
How many times can a heart be broken
How many tears have to fall
How many times do I have to forgive
Or perhaps not forgive at all
When my steps grow tired and weary
And my sleep has vanished in the night
How can I go on day by day
And not simply give up the fight
Where can I find the strength to go on
When it seems I have lost my way
How can I lift my head from the pillow
Even for just one more day
Then all of a sudden I know He is here
My waiting has not been in vain
He comes to me through the fire and the flood
Through the heartache and through the pain
And suddenly I have the strength to carry on
I rise on the wings of His love
Who knew I would rise o’r this valley of death
And find myself far far above.
I soar on the glorious splendor of Love
On the wings of the eagle I fly
I feast on the banquet He prepares for me
As I revel in the endless sky.
Hi saints. I am back from Scotland. I spent sixteen days over there and I believe there was much fruit. On many levels it was difficult and I personally felt buffeted by the enemy of our souls. Yet, there were breakthroughs in some very difficult spiritual situations and God held me and kept me and ministered to me in ways that were very special. I appreciate all the prayers of the saints that I had and they certainly held me up. I believe for myself personally that many poems and songs will come out of my experiences while there. In fact two in particular that I wrote while over there may find themselves in an album that is being put together, along with a few other one that I have written. The three other singers that will be involved in this album are very anointed and we pray that when it comes it will be fresh manna. It may take several months because it will be done as the resources are available, but God is good and He equips and supplies that which He calls. I am looking forward to getting back to writing and sharing that writing on this page. My prayer has always been that this site would be a blessing to many. We are almost at the 200,000 mark with visitors from over 160 different countries. This blows my mind, yet God prophesied six years ago that He would use me to ” write to the nations.” This has come dramatically to pass and I praise God for His goodness and His mercy and His gifts which He gives to His children. I would appreciate the prayers of the saints as I finish up a book entitled, strangely enough ” A Call to the Remnant,” with the sub-heading ” A word to God’s children for the end of the ages.” Below is a wee video I shot from the hills above my hometown of Scotland…………………bro Frank
I wrote the poem below last night after speaking with a friend who is dealing with cancer for the second time. You can easily take out the word cancer and replace it with ” trials.” God is with us in out trials shaping us. Often times we are only a doorway away from His glory and presence. When He becomes our primary object and not the trial itself then we discover a way of walking through the door.
Trials and Comfort
It’s not the cancer that I fear
It is the thought that you’re not near
For in your presence worlds collide
Beneath your wings I’ll surely hide
Take me to yourself I pray
Walk with me along the way
I’m tired O Lord please hold my hand
And pull me out from shifting sand
For in the sands there is no ground
Nor solid place that can be found
No handkerchief to wipe the tears
Surrounded by my many fears
You pull me up you cover me
You saw me longing to be free
And now I’ve found a place in you
On solid ground I stand tis true
I fix my eyes on you alone
I lift my hands unto the throne
Of glory mercy love and grace
I gaze upon thy Holy face
And as my gaze is fixed on thee
I find that I am surely free
And in your presence I draw near
And perfect love casts out all fear
Oh my King take all of me
Take every part that you can see
Then in thy hand you’ll hold me tight
Two hearts entwined shall then take flight
Now here I am before your throne
Not forsaken not alone
Legs once weary now can run
Into the arms of God’s own Son
The joy of the Lord is my strength
And you shall go to any length
To take me deeper into thee
To heal me Lord and set me free
Joh 5:44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
In many tightly controlled circles there is what is called an ” echo chamber.’ This is where ideas and teachings are transmitted and amplified and no dissenting view is allowed or accepted. Some may call it strong leadership, others can clearly see it for what it is, but obviously not those within the tightly controlled group. In the best case scenario men and women are simply locked into their own little world where no other view is accepted. The worse case scenario is that a cult is formed whether large or small. Who are susceptible to the echo chamber scenario? Typically it will be those who were raised in very tight conservative circles and who have been taught to fear the ” outside.” Or on the very opposite scale there is the extreme charismatics who appear very different from the extreme conservatives but their motivations are exactly the same. Those who have very low self esteems, who do not realize that they are children of the living God but have been taught that God is an angry God just waiting to fall upon them at their every failure are very susceptible to these men who honor one another but who do not seek “the honor that cometh only from God.”
Now who are these men who seek to control people and set it forth as a virtue? They are men full of pride and vain glory as the old saying goes. Their ambition is worldly honor. They typically do not work and seek to be supported by others. They set their hearts upon receiving glory from other men within the confines of their own circles. They seek to add to their circles by using flattery. They flatter others in an effort to receive flattery back. They make the praises of men their idol. “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” (Mat 23:4-8)
There is a beautiful freedom in Christ. The enemy of your soul hates this freedom. He wants to see you in the chains of legalism. He wants to hear you cry out ” Oh wretched man that I am.” He sends out his emissaries to try to rob the children of God of their freedoms. “And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
(Gal 2:4-5)
Beware of such men brothers and sisters. Do not give place to them ” no not for an hour.” As the days grow darker all manner of attacks shall come against the Body of Christ but we know this, that greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world. God loves His children with an everlasting love. His thoughts towards you are more than the sands of the seas. We know that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church, praise God. Heb 5:14 “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” It is absolutely vital, as we enter the dark days that are upon us, to be able to discern good and evil. This comes through the baptism of the Holy Spirit so that we can be led and guided into all truth. To know the Word of God and be a lover of the truth is vital in discerning the schemes of the wicked one. May the Lord bless the saints in these ever-changing days. Praise God, His word never changes.
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.
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.
Shall time and tide ebb and flow
These are the things Lord you know
Shall the sun rise in the morning
Can you hear the Spirit, will you heed his warning?
Shall the birds continue to sing in the trees
Shall ships continue to sail the seas
The tyranny of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow
Shall only continue to bring great sorrow
Shall the moon rise and the sun set
Can we leave behind our yesterdays with all their regret
Are the chains of tomorrow just dragging you down
Have you forgotten Royal Priest that you wear a crown
Remember the lilies of the field they neither toil nor spin
Remember the Lord your God who has forgiven your sin
And every single day His mercies arise anew
Lift you hands to heaven and revel in the view
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
The closer we are to Him His glory simply increases
Great is His faithfulness and love towards you
It is this very love that will see you through
He directs the tide and makes the sun to rise and fall
He loves you with an everlasting love can you hear the master call
He is an ever present help in our times of need
With outstretched arms to heaven, your soul He’ll surely feed
Forget about your yesterdays and do not count tomorrow
Let your heart be full of joy and not be full of sorrow
Rejoice in Him and from your lips let praise release
For perfect love casts out all fear and fills you with His peace.
Born into the world children of men
Born into the kingdom sons and daughters
One in Christ and Him alone
This is what the Word has taught us
The glory revealed that we should be one
United in Christ this race we should run
Standing together and never apart
Hand in hand into the Father’s heart
United in Spirit intent on one purpose
Wrapped in His arms He will surely encompass
His Body, His children who stand as one
Who will fight the fight until the fight is done
Stand together and be of one mind
Embrace one another be loving and kind
Believing together one heart and one soul
Rising as one, the Body is whole
Behold how good and how pleasant it is
For His children to dwell together
To come as one, worship and adore
Blessings and life forevermore
Can you see I’m coming with my glory in the sky?
Put division aside and to your flesh die
For by one Spirit you were called into love
To glorify and honor your Father above
And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. (Luk 9:51-56)
What spirit were the disciples displaying in their zeal for the Lord? Is it not true that zealous men are often proud men? You see here we see what many today would have regarded as a virtue but in fact was a sensual earthly wisdom that led directly against the Spirit of God. Do you wish to call fire down upon your modern-day enemies? Homosexuals? Abortionists? Muslims? Do you incite others to do the same? What spirit are you of? Are you a son of God and a peace-maker? I have heard men who will endlessly recount gory details of martyrs. Now, what spirit is that of? Does it stir up within the hearer a Godliness and a love for their enemies? Perhaps the teller of such stories would say that he was only trying to wake people up from their slumbers? This is why I love the story of Algerius , the martyr from 1557. I have told that story countless times and never once gave the actual gory details of his three years of torture, enough to know that he was burned to death in the end. What spirit would I raise up in men and women by recounting the horrors of his years of torture?
No, just like the story of Stephen, the focus of the story is not the individual blows and what was happening to the flesh, the focus of the story is the visions each men were having, the encounter they were having with the living God thus proving the word that He would never leave us nor forsake us and that when the enemy comes in like a flood that He would raise up a standard within us. This is glorifying to God. Religious men always focus on the flesh, it is entirely their focus when recounting stories. And why? Because they are of the flesh, this is what spirit they are of. Flesh cannot discern spirit and indeed wars against it. Some men raise the spirits of others to look up to the glories of God, other men feed the fears and the paranoia and disgusts of the flesh and this in turn breeds mistrust and hatred. Religious men abound today and have found fertile ground in cultures that are in steep decline. Beware brothers and sisters, do not get caught up in this spirit. The Spirit of God encourages us to love more, especially those who are most un-loveable and yet in their sin. The spirit of man encourages fear and hatred and mistrust and all the while disguises it as a virtue and a service to God. What spirit are you of ?
I have met two groups of people in my life. The first group is small. They have wisdom and understanding. They draw from a deep well placed within their hearts by God Himself. From there they bring their buckets of water and if you desire more they simply draw again from the limitless source placed within them. The second larger group have buckets of water too. Within these buckets are knowledge. The contents of their buckets they have gleaned over the years from other men and from their own wisdom. Some may even have more than one bucket. But when these buckets are spilled out and shared, there is nothing left. These men have no eternal resources within themselves. They have to begin again and collect from those who do. These men are shallow and two dimensional. They do not have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. They only have ears to hear what other men are saying. Second hand information is a cheap commodity in a day and age where one more quote is merely a touch of the finger away. To know God and to hear His voice is to swim in a perpetual sea that has no end. That which flows from the throne through the saints to the hearers is recognized by the hearers as touching God.
Many know that after the sin of Solomon, the Kingdom was divided into two parts, there was the ten tribes to the north, Israel, and the two tribes to the south, Judah. Now in the broadest terms, we can see two kingdoms today. There is Christendom, which for our example is representative of Israel to the north, and there is God’s remnant Church, Judah to the south.
Now Israel had a king and his name was Jeroboam. Jeroboam had a big problem. Jerusalem, the city that houses the Temple of God and His presence was in the south in the land of Judah. Jeroboam’s solution? He creates two golden calves and houses them in two cities, one called Bethel and the other was called Dan. There the people came to bow down and worship the ” god,’ that took them out of Egypt. This form of worship had their own priests and prophets and system of worship which mixed the elements of the truth with idolatrous practices. It was indeed an abomination to God.
What is the comparisons between Jeroboam’s Israel and modern-day Evangelicalism or Christendom? Well, the divided Israel was separated from the presence of God. By sin and error it had been separated from access to the presence of God. And its solution was to set up alternative, counterfeit places of worship where the central aspect of worship was the golden calves. Modern day Christendom by sin and error is separated from the presence of God. And what is the solution of modern-day Christendom? Rather than seek out the genuine presence of God, it merely bows down to idols of Gold and indulges in a counterfeit worship , a man-made, man centered from of worship.
I believe with all my heart that Gods remnant children are being raised up all over the world. They are being separated, like the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares. Many of them are in a sort of desert, not of their own choosing, but by the calling of God. In that desert they are learning to depend upon Him entirely so that when the time comes, persecution and so on, that even if none go with them, still they shall follow. Yet that does not change the fact that they have a sincere and genuine desire to have genuine fellowship with those of like-mind, meaning those who burn with a passion for the Lord and are hungry and thirsty for His presence and simply just cannot do business as usual anymore.
This is the process of God calling His own. This is the process of counting the cost. Certainly, when the Lord was crucified, one would have to be found outside the walls in order to be identified with Him. To be outside the walls, to be detached from the system is not an easy or a simple thing, it comes with great cost and indeed if it did not it would not be the decision that it is. This calling is only going to get more intense as we move forward, as the day of the Lord approaches. Yet the Lord has called us to gather together, and all the more as we see that day approach and that is why I believe you will begin and are beginning to see a visible representation of these called out children.
This is the reply to this post from a dear sister who testifies to its reality in her life………… ” I know this is an old post, Frank, but it speaks so profoundly to me. How often has being called out of the system been commented on by others as simply a sort of laziness about attending church or perhaps a bitterness because of strife among members. How can I describe the heart wrenching decision it required, the loneliness and isolation that resulted, the abandoning of an entire culture my life revolved around, the shunning by those who were once friends? How often have I had the Hebrews 10:20 verse thrown at me? So often that I took this verse to the Lord for understanding. What a glorious meaning this verse actually has! How surprised I was the “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” was referring to the very assembling you are talking about in this writing.
The very words used here are used in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 being translated there as “our gathering together unto Him” speaking of the Day of Christ even being echoed in the Hebrews scripture when it says, “as ye see the day approaching”. Following Christ has always been the call to come out, lay down our lives, pick up our crosses and follow only Him. As you have said so many places, in each generation there has been such an assembly. That is the general assembly and church of the Firstborn we draw near to – that is the assembly we dare not forsake. THAT is the assembling of ourselves together IN Him. And the dreadful warning given in Hebrews for those that forsake this assembling together – this being gathered unto Him – and draw back! You have but to read the rest of the chapter to have the unbidden prayer roll out from the heart smitten by the enormity of this glorious call, “Oh God, may I be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man in the general assembly of just men made perfect and Jesus Christ the mediator of a new covenant in that day!” “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and not tarry.” Heb 10:37″
A Call To The Remnant 