Luke 21:34 and 35 warn us not to be caught up in drunkenness and other sins for the day of the Lord will come as a snare upon the whole earth. There are further warnings in the book of Isaiah as well as James about putting our hope in the security of gold and silver (see Ezekiel 7:19; James 5:3). Wisdom and prudence are good virtues for preparing for economic turmoil; wars and other disasters that we can foresee but we also can't be obsessed on a plan to make us secure from all fears at the expense of prayer and trust in the Lord.
The Lord has given us many benefits through the fellowship of saints and this should in a large part give us a resource in time of need for food and raiment ( 1 Tim. 6:8; see also Matt. 6:25). This is what the collection for the saints should apply to in part; along with money for missionaries; the Pastor himself and other church expenses. Our church apparently has some sort of asset division written into the contract with the building ownership should it be sold or liquidated the assets in theory would go to members. In any event; it seems strange that giving and sermons on the subject hardly ever seem to touch on meeting needs of the congregation; but occasionally on giving to the needy and other causes. Obviously, we are not to go to church with a mindset of having others provide for us as an incentive to give; but we should make our giving an investment we are personally connected to whatever the cause. The gifts and talents and time we share with one another should come naturally with mature Christians in fellowship. If our life is invested in the Kingdom of God and His people we are not going to be so concerned about things of the world; that's my main idea.
Evangelism and prayer among the saints on a regular basis as a lifestyle makes it a lot easier fulfilling the Great Commission. It is a rare thing though to find in churches today; at least regular street witnessing or going to nursing homes ( 1 Cor. 12:27).
The Word of the Lord unto the land of Israel;An end,the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
Ezekiel 7:3-16
3Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will Judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
4And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
5Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
7The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
9And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.
10Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
11Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain,nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.
12The time is come,the day draweth near:let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn:for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13For the seller shall not return to that which is sold,although they were yet alive:for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return;neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
15The sword is without,and the pestilence and the famine within:he that is in the field shall die with the sword;and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
Further insights on prophecy: Conspiracies vs fulfillment
The line of demarcation exists when we consider 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7. For now; the gates of hell do not prevail against the church ( Matt. 16:18); but in the Tribulation or time of Jacob's trouble they will be overcome ( Rev. 13:7; Daniel 7:25). While we remain as salt and light the putrification is held back along with the final fulfillments of prophecies.
Ezekiel 38 is something geopolitically that seems to have aligned uniquely with Iran; Turkey and Russian agreements. As with anything else; those who look to the current war in Ukraine or any other conflicts basically are repeating centuries old patterns.
The downfall of currencies also seems to have been thwarted temporarily as of the last few days; apparently some small countries are utilizing the dollar more; and there seems to be both a new gold standard backed currency with the BRICS nations; and the concept of electronic currency concurrently happening; for now. Certainly there are harbingers of things to come. The recent lowering in prices of gold and silver (See Zephaniah 1:18; Ezekiel 7:19; and James 5:3) could indicate a collapse either just before the Tribulation and or during it (perhaps further enforced by Antichrist). To have the Mark of the Beast all other trade methodologies must be cancelled; I don't believe that can happen prior to the Rapture of the church in entirety.
Isaiah 8:12 reminds us not to call everything "conspiracy" that everyone else says is. The two dangers we have are thinking everything is an indication that the end has come; OR belittling the literal final fulfillment after all the predictions of the past proved false. Such could of course be argued with verses such as 1 Cor. 15:52 on the Rapture (Rapturo in Latin). Full Preterists think everything happened by 70 AD. Most think it was partially fulfilled; which again makes the most sense with a literal interpretation of the texts.
Principle Six: All new converts eligible for the Rapture
Whatever our position on the Rapture as a reward or only salvation issue; at the moment of salvation everyone is qualified for that event! The verses in Luke in my last post also warn that NONE of those originally intended for the "supper" will in fact be there (loosely translated). That should be "food for thought" in regard to those who are supposing that they are mature enough or smart enough or whatever other reason they can entertain a false confidence that their own righteousness is able to help them.
Again; the warning of the Ephesians (see Revelation 2:4) should caution against arrogance on our part. It was only the heart issue that was errant but of course without love we are merely a clanging symbol ( 1 Cor. 13:1). We need; of course to balance against merely acceptance of Christ without roots and falling away after initial enthusiasm ( Matt. 13:1-23) and not having ANY emotion that RESULTS from the influence of the Spirit within. Works that cease to have the power of God as the source become as "dead works" that are basically the same as that of the world doing "good deeds". Thus is point #7
Principle Seven: Utopia vs the glorification of the Church
Ugh this is hard to say. As a society today; we have been led quite a distance already down the broad road; destruction is just ahead of us. There are other more graphic things I could say but don't want to be flagged. What has engrossed the hearts of men with all the virtual realities out there; the Babylonian world system of worthless currencies rapidly becoming extinct and no doubt soon to be followed by gold and silver tarnishing and eventually being cast into the streets (see book of James and Ezekiel 7:19; also parts of Isaiah); pornography; violence etc has led many to sense things are coming to a head. Sadly; it is the first seal and the clamor for peace that will drive the world at large to accept Antichrist.
Hi Tim. Today, we use that expression to describe the full expanse of the globe, or if people are coming for a conference from the 'four corners of the Earth', we easily understand its meaning: that almost all countries are sending out people/delegates for that meeting.
In the Bible (Old Testament) we see this expression often ( Ezekiel 7:2; Isaiah 11:12) giving us the Hebrew word, kanaph, which in this usage, means 'extremities'. In the New Testament ( Revelation 7:1) the Greek word is 'gonia' & here it means 'angle, corner, division'. So the 'angels standing on the four corners of the Earth' seem to represent the division of the earth into four, and each angel covering the quadrant assigned to him, holding back the winds. Today, we would use the four points of the compass to describe the expanse of the Earth ( Luke 13:29), though the meaning in those days was that 'people would come from where the sun rises, from where it sets, from where the North wind comes, & from the direction of the South wind'. All these speak of the 'four corners of the Earth', never implying that the Earth has actual corners, which could never be identified anyway, no matter how hard man searched for them.
A Christian is a Christ follower. That's the literal definition. It's not a one time event, but an active lifestyle. To follow someone is an action. The opposite of that is to not follow or to do nothing. God won't force anyone to be with Him in heaven- He gave everyone freewill to choose for themselves what their priority is. In the New Testament, Jesus spoke a lot of parables about how most people will go to hell and few people will be saved (narrow is the gate). He gave a lot of warnings to people including his followers to avoid sin and keep His commandments. If someone wants to spend eternity and be in heaven this isn't something to be taken lightly. Sin is no joke.
This life is nothing compared to eternity and people often treat this life like it's everything, like they want power, money, status and that will 'make them happy'. Even though this has been known for countless years people still pursue it. The Bible says such pursuits are worthless. We should invest our treasures in heaven, not on earth. We are to be a light to the world in love and through our actions, not follow the world in sin.
While genuine Christians are imperfect and sinners and saved by grace, that doesn't mean we should not genuinely try to follow Jesus and obey His commandments. There are lots of verses I could quote in support of this, but these are easily found in reading through the Bible. Romans explains this in greater detail, as does James, etc. God bless.
Not one of us are sin free or, I guess pure, as some of you say. Do people who go to church every week and try to live a life with lots of church, Bible reading, studies, without drugs or alcohol believe that living this way, asking God for forgiveness, and being baptized makes you pure? Do you believe you will be we welcome in Heaven by the Lord over someone who doesn't go to church, has sex without marriage, uses & addicted to drugs, someone such as myself? It seems to be the belief by lots of religions is why I'm asking. One of you made a comment seeming to insinuate this as well. Ty
The histories of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, the old and the new give us a glimpse to what was done to those who disobey the covenants and commandments of God. Ezekiel 7, represents God's wrath on his disobedient children. Then and also now. Ezekiel 7 is describing the great tribulation upon the earth.
From the very beginning, in the garden of Eden to this our present time. Those who were disobedient to the holy precepts were utterly destroyed, it will be done today also. Ezekiel a Prophet of old foresaw our future and he wrote it as evidence for us. We are being forewarned of what is coming, if only we repent and turn away from doing what is evil, only then, we will obtain mercy from God and the nations will be healed from such severe calamity.
The scriptures tells us that it will be the same as Noah's time and as Sodom and Gomorrah, this was an example for all humanity to learn from. There will be only a handful of righteous people that will be saved, out of all the earth, this is something to seriously meditate profoundly. We have to go back to the first love, God loved us first, therefore the creation. God chastises his children because he loves them. God wants his children to love him back by doing so, we are to obey him.
He is calling us through dreams and visions, mostly now for his second coming. He is coming soon! We are to keep watch and be prepared by repentance, baptism and in keeping all of his commandments. For anything that is impure will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. God is love, for who would give up his only son to die for all humanity?(including the sinners, but only if they repent.) God bless those who obey him.
Not long after the first century church - two church's or brides had evolved. The Apostate and the backsliding brides. The Day of the Lord come for a reason and purpose in these latter days of the gentiles indeed amen. Shalom.
This is a warning from God of our future.what God did to the children of Israel ,He.s still doing it today .Let,s repent from our evil ways coz none will be spared
When God is ready to use you he God will provide you with all the equipment and nourish you with food which is the word. God gives you what is needed for each journey and for those to whom you are presenting the word.
"They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof." On one level, we just can't seem to understand how most people can be so indifferent to all the terrible things unfolding in the world right now. How can they not care, and not want to know? As restraint is being taken away, the righteous is becoming the prey!
We must know and understand, that if God has so done to His own people Israel; He will in no wise spare the Nations which have done the same evil, and filled their land with "Bloody Crimes." Read every verse of this chapter, and know, that it is certainly coming upon the United States, as it is already started on the "Christian" countries of Europe. Only repentance and faith in Jesus will save us.
Our Nation had turned its back on the only True and Living God Almighty Yahweh along with His only Son who Lives and Abides now and forever our Blessed Lord and Savior Christ Yeshua with Holy Written Word of Life the Holy Bible. They are and have been in bed with the woman of the seed of the serpent who was and is today. High Treason Treachery Tyranny are truly upon all of us WOE ! There is HOPE.
Verse 6 is referring to all these buildings that's talked about in verses 1 and 2. People pay money to go in these buildings to hear falsehood. 6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. Jeremiah 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. Ezekiel 7:22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
Patty, Almighty God, the LORD and only SAVIOUR will pour his wrath on the children of disobedience in America, the great whore, beginning with NYC as the whole world descends into spiritual damnation. Only JESUS CHRIST can and will save your soul from this hell if you receive Him. Blessings to all, specially those who receive the Holy Spirit of JESUS to day. JESUS SAVES. Amen Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
I opened the bible looked down Ezekiel 7:6 An end is come, the end is come; it watcheth for thee; behold it is come. Wow wow wow read to the end of chapter. Wow!!! Are you part of the remnant?
many chapters in the bible are replete with prophecies for today Ezekiel 7 is no exception which i addressed to overwhelming majority of the british people who ARE the BLOOD decsendants of Israel ;other chapters are Zechariah 11 ; Ezekiel 21-22 and 13 Isaiah 1 and Ezekiel 16 compares Thatcherism to Sodom and Gomorrah ;ie This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom (God to Blair )
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Verses 11 to 13, the rod of wickedness is a nuclear missile. Both buyers and sellers of these weapons will ultimately suffer the end result of worldwide nuclear fallout and nuclear winter.
The bit about the evil ones throwing their silver and gold in the streets, it is good to know that the metals are used as money, up until the very end. It is the evil greedy bastiges who cheat everyone else out of their gold and silver, and amass Hugh piles of it, who suddenly realize that their greed for wealth is what is now causing their destruction. They fail at trying to buy off the wrath of God, and realize that money just won 't do the trick this time. This passage is not to be construed that gold and silver in themselves are evil or worthless, but that it is the evil greed for it that caused the judged to do evil things to acquire it. Money in the form of gold and silver is the most honest form of currency the world has ever known, and that is why the wise men gave it as gifts to baby Jesus when He was born. They sure didn 't give him FRN 's !
Look at Israel today! And in men 's own words HISTORY repeats it 's self. We might take a hard look at the land thats called Israel today and those whom surround it.... The tribes of Ishmael, a wild men. look to Jerusalem, what has happened, what has happened? It 's a mirror image. Judgement comes! Should we not pray YHWH repent of HIS Judgments, and turn speedily. The people of the entire earth have made HIS creation a dug heap! I personally am ashamed,each and everyone of us are guilty in one way or another. When YHWH speak 's HIS words LIVE, their ALIVE, when people speak their words die just as their bodies. We shall know HIM, YHWH.
The Lord has given us many benefits through the fellowship of saints and this should in a large part give us a resource in time of need for food and raiment ( 1 Tim. 6:8; see also Matt. 6:25). This is what the collection for the saints should apply to in part; along with money for missionaries; the Pastor himself and other church expenses. Our church apparently has some sort of asset division written into the contract with the building ownership should it be sold or liquidated the assets in theory would go to members. In any event; it seems strange that giving and sermons on the subject hardly ever seem to touch on meeting needs of the congregation; but occasionally on giving to the needy and other causes. Obviously, we are not to go to church with a mindset of having others provide for us as an incentive to give; but we should make our giving an investment we are personally connected to whatever the cause. The gifts and talents and time we share with one another should come naturally with mature Christians in fellowship. If our life is invested in the Kingdom of God and His people we are not going to be so concerned about things of the world; that's my main idea.
Evangelism and prayer among the saints on a regular basis as a lifestyle makes it a lot easier fulfilling the Great Commission. It is a rare thing though to find in churches today; at least regular street witnessing or going to nursing homes ( 1 Cor. 12:27).
Ezekiel 7:3-16
3Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will Judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
4And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
5Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
7The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
9And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.
10Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
11Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain,nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.
12The time is come,the day draweth near:let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn:for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13For the seller shall not return to that which is sold,although they were yet alive:for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return;neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
15The sword is without,and the pestilence and the famine within:he that is in the field shall die with the sword;and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
The line of demarcation exists when we consider 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7. For now; the gates of hell do not prevail against the church ( Matt. 16:18); but in the Tribulation or time of Jacob's trouble they will be overcome ( Rev. 13:7; Daniel 7:25). While we remain as salt and light the putrification is held back along with the final fulfillments of prophecies.
Ezekiel 38 is something geopolitically that seems to have aligned uniquely with Iran; Turkey and Russian agreements. As with anything else; those who look to the current war in Ukraine or any other conflicts basically are repeating centuries old patterns.
The downfall of currencies also seems to have been thwarted temporarily as of the last few days; apparently some small countries are utilizing the dollar more; and there seems to be both a new gold standard backed currency with the BRICS nations; and the concept of electronic currency concurrently happening; for now. Certainly there are harbingers of things to come. The recent lowering in prices of gold and silver (See Zephaniah 1:18; Ezekiel 7:19; and James 5:3) could indicate a collapse either just before the Tribulation and or during it (perhaps further enforced by Antichrist). To have the Mark of the Beast all other trade methodologies must be cancelled; I don't believe that can happen prior to the Rapture of the church in entirety.
Isaiah 8:12 reminds us not to call everything "conspiracy" that everyone else says is. The two dangers we have are thinking everything is an indication that the end has come; OR belittling the literal final fulfillment after all the predictions of the past proved false. Such could of course be argued with verses such as 1 Cor. 15:52 on the Rapture (Rapturo in Latin). Full Preterists think everything happened by 70 AD. Most think it was partially fulfilled; which again makes the most sense with a literal interpretation of the texts.
More to come...
is
the
day.
Whatever our position on the Rapture as a reward or only salvation issue; at the moment of salvation everyone is qualified for that event! The verses in Luke in my last post also warn that NONE of those originally intended for the "supper" will in fact be there (loosely translated). That should be "food for thought" in regard to those who are supposing that they are mature enough or smart enough or whatever other reason they can entertain a false confidence that their own righteousness is able to help them.
Again; the warning of the Ephesians (see Revelation 2:4) should caution against arrogance on our part. It was only the heart issue that was errant but of course without love we are merely a clanging symbol ( 1 Cor. 13:1). We need; of course to balance against merely acceptance of Christ without roots and falling away after initial enthusiasm ( Matt. 13:1-23) and not having ANY emotion that RESULTS from the influence of the Spirit within. Works that cease to have the power of God as the source become as "dead works" that are basically the same as that of the world doing "good deeds". Thus is point #7
Principle Seven: Utopia vs the glorification of the Church
Ugh this is hard to say. As a society today; we have been led quite a distance already down the broad road; destruction is just ahead of us. There are other more graphic things I could say but don't want to be flagged. What has engrossed the hearts of men with all the virtual realities out there; the Babylonian world system of worthless currencies rapidly becoming extinct and no doubt soon to be followed by gold and silver tarnishing and eventually being cast into the streets (see book of James and Ezekiel 7:19; also parts of Isaiah); pornography; violence etc has led many to sense things are coming to a head. Sadly; it is the first seal and the clamor for peace that will drive the world at large to accept Antichrist.
In the Bible (Old Testament) we see this expression often ( Ezekiel 7:2; Isaiah 11:12) giving us the Hebrew word, kanaph, which in this usage, means 'extremities'. In the New Testament ( Revelation 7:1) the Greek word is 'gonia' & here it means 'angle, corner, division'. So the 'angels standing on the four corners of the Earth' seem to represent the division of the earth into four, and each angel covering the quadrant assigned to him, holding back the winds. Today, we would use the four points of the compass to describe the expanse of the Earth ( Luke 13:29), though the meaning in those days was that 'people would come from where the sun rises, from where it sets, from where the North wind comes, & from the direction of the South wind'. All these speak of the 'four corners of the Earth', never implying that the Earth has actual corners, which could never be identified anyway, no matter how hard man searched for them.
A Christian is a Christ follower. That's the literal definition. It's not a one time event, but an active lifestyle. To follow someone is an action. The opposite of that is to not follow or to do nothing. God won't force anyone to be with Him in heaven- He gave everyone freewill to choose for themselves what their priority is. In the New Testament, Jesus spoke a lot of parables about how most people will go to hell and few people will be saved (narrow is the gate). He gave a lot of warnings to people including his followers to avoid sin and keep His commandments. If someone wants to spend eternity and be in heaven this isn't something to be taken lightly. Sin is no joke.
This life is nothing compared to eternity and people often treat this life like it's everything, like they want power, money, status and that will 'make them happy'. Even though this has been known for countless years people still pursue it. The Bible says such pursuits are worthless. We should invest our treasures in heaven, not on earth. We are to be a light to the world in love and through our actions, not follow the world in sin.
While genuine Christians are imperfect and sinners and saved by grace, that doesn't mean we should not genuinely try to follow Jesus and obey His commandments. There are lots of verses I could quote in support of this, but these are easily found in reading through the Bible. Romans explains this in greater detail, as does James, etc. God bless.
From the very beginning, in the garden of Eden to this our present time. Those who were disobedient to the holy precepts were utterly destroyed, it will be done today also. Ezekiel a Prophet of old foresaw our future and he wrote it as evidence for us. We are being forewarned of what is coming, if only we repent and turn away from doing what is evil, only then, we will obtain mercy from God and the nations will be healed from such severe calamity.
The scriptures tells us that it will be the same as Noah's time and as Sodom and Gomorrah, this was an example for all humanity to learn from. There will be only a handful of righteous people that will be saved, out of all the earth, this is something to seriously meditate profoundly. We have to go back to the first love, God loved us first, therefore the creation. God chastises his children because he loves them. God wants his children to love him back by doing so, we are to obey him.
He is calling us through dreams and visions, mostly now for his second coming. He is coming soon! We are to keep watch and be prepared by repentance, baptism and in keeping all of his commandments. For anything that is impure will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. God is love, for who would give up his only son to die for all humanity?(including the sinners, but only if they repent.) God bless those who obey him.
Proverbs 7 (Fear the Lord and depart from evil.)
Isaiah 1 and Ezekiel 16 compares Thatcherism to Sodom and Gomorrah ;ie This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom (God to Blair )
They were over f