Discernment and Separation in a Time of Judgment

 
"Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues." - Revelation 17:4, Holman

On the surface, my family and I live a pretty normal American life. We live in the suburbs and have two daughters, two bunnies and a cat. My wife organizes a book club for our daughters' friends and plays tennis on a league. I help coach soccer and enjoy training in martial arts. 

The difference is that we know it is the end of the age and Jesus is coming back very soon. We know America has come under God's judgment for its bloodshed and immorality. The final, irrevocable phase began last summer with the noontime solar eclipse, followed by three destructive hurricanes and the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Please see these posts for more details:

A Basket of Summer Fruit for the Season of the End
Hurricane Harvey Is a Judgment from the Lord, and More Is Coming

More is coming, growing waves of calamity that will culminate in the nation's destruction in World War III. There is no pleasure in saying it, but this is the reality. Particularly watch this summer because of the prophesy in Amos 8.

What gives us hope is that there will be a great harvest for the kingdom of God. The pressures of judgment will break people down, some in a good way and they will repent and believe in Jesus Christ and find the love of God. We get to be a part of this movement and that motivates us. Life is short, but eternity is forever. 

God has been shouting this message from the rooftops for years, even decades. No one will be able to say God didn't tell them, because He has.

Separating from the Mainstream Church

A few years ago when I began to understand how late the hour is, it became hard to continue sitting in church. What my wife and I heard from the Lord did not match what we heard there. We truly believed those things and the Lord confirmed them in so many ways. Our lives changed radically. I saw there were other people around the world who heard these messages too, a small and vocal remnant. Yet at church it was like the sound of crickets.

We reached out to church leaders and pastors, but they were not interested in talking about judgment. I naively thought lots of other people would hear and receive this message and we would come together around it and prepare. I even wrote an article explaining why I believed America is under judgment and sent it to most of the pastors in my area. Few responded and those that did mostly disagreed. What was the disconnect?

I remembered what Jesus said to the religious people who opposed him:

"You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me. And you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life." - John 5:39-40, Holman

The Pharisees and Sadducees read their Bibles and went to "church," but did not recognize the Messiah standing in front of them. Their hearts were hard. Only a small minority, a remnant, received Him. Hundreds of years before Christ, prophets in Israel like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel warned about God's judgment and the need for repentance, yet only a minority received the message. The religious and political establishment rejected it and instead persecuted the prophets. They threw Jeremiah in a cistern and sawed Isaiah in half.

I realized something similar is happening in America today. Mainstream churches and Christian leaders are rejecting God's message of judgment and repentance and not telling their congregations. Only a remnant is hearing it.

I felt strongly that I could not continue to participate in this church system. It wasn't a neutral proposition to sit in a church whose leaders were not hearing and speaking God's message to America for this hour. If they are not listening to God, then who are they listening to? Jesus said His sheep hear his voice and they follow Him. There was something anesthetizing or hypnotic about being in a group of religious people who acted like everything is normal. They were put to sleep spiritually and being there might do the same to us.

We stopped attending and have our own family "church" at home. God continues to speak loudly and powerfully to us. It's not that we're perfect or special, but we are willing to hear and believe an uncomfortable message and embrace God's mission for us.

Other Spirits Coming In

As Christian churches and leaders have rejected the voice of the Holy Spirit, other spirits, unholy religious spirits, have come in to fill the void.

One of the spiritual gifts the Lord gave me is discernment. I can discern true and false based on God's word, and sometimes can discern spirits, which is telling what kinds of spirits are operating in or through a person or a place.

The Bible talks a lot about the influence of spirits on people:

"For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily." - 2 Corinthians 11:4, Berean Study Bible

The Apostle Paul warned that false spirits can come in and speak false messages and false gospels. It is possible for people to receive these spirits, instead of the Holy Spirit of God, and be influenced by their messages and desires. People become vehicles for these spirits' agendas. These unholy spirits are from Satan and part of how he deceives the world.

Christians are supposed to be alert to this reality and carefully test the spirits:

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." - 1 John 4:1, Holman

Once I was visiting a conservative Baptist church and felt a spiritual presence of confusion and joylessness so strong I wanted to run out the back door. Honestly I could hardly think straight in that place and had to pray afterwards to the darkness off of me. I have had similar experiences around religious people, even while they are talking about God! As Christians have rejected the voice of the Holy Spirit, they are being infiltrated right and left with unholy religious spirits. It is toxic and spiritually dangerous.

I need to warn you. These religious spirits will one day animate people to persecute God's true remnant. Jesus said persecution will intensify in the end times:

"You will even be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will kill some of you. You will be hated by everyone because of My name." - Luke 21:1-17, Holman

For Jesus, the greatest persecution came from the religious establishment. The Pharisees and Sadducees harassed and opposed Jesus more than anyone else, and it was the Sanhendrin, the council of priests and rabbis, who consigned Him to death. Fast forward to the future portrayed in Revelation 13. There you see the second beast, the false prophet, will force everyone to worship the image of the beast and take his mark or be killed. The second beast represents the one-world religion that will align with the Antichrist during the final years of this age. The Vatican is the center and it will include all the Christian denominations and other religions that align with it. This is the real 

meaning and ultimate intention of the popular symbol "COEXIST." In the end it will mean "assimilate or else." All real Christians they get their hands on will be put to death and everyone else will receive the mark of the beast which alters their DNA and turns them into humanoid biological robots under control of the beast system. This is what it means in 2 Thessalonians 2 where it say the man of lawlessness "sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God." Human bodies are the temple and the mark is seat of control for Satan and the Antichrist.

My point is that we need the Holy Spirit's discernment about who to associate with and who to avoid, because the times are becoming more dangerous. Like Jesus said, be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. God will protect us if we draw near, hear his voice and do what He says.

Separation for God's Protection

In a previous post, I wrote about an unexpected conflict with a group I was fellowshipping with. The conflict was about a woman prophesying by a false spirit that others believed was of God. After a period of expressing concerns and confronting this spirit, the Lord used a curious passage in 1 Kings 13 to let me know that I needed to break fellowship.

The story is about a man of God from Judah who traveled to the Northern Kingdom of Israel to pronounce a judgment from the Lord because of its idolatry. God told the man to go straight there, return by a different route and not to "eat bread or drink water in this place." However, an old prophet deceived him by saying an angel said the man should come back to his house to eat and drink. The man of God did, and then the old prophet prophesied for real and said that because he did not keep the Lord's command, his life would be forfeit. On the way home the man was killed by a lion.

A strange story indeed. Note that eating and drinking at the prophet's house was fellowship. The Lord impressed on me that I too needed to break fellowship or would suffer a judgment, like the man of God. I don't know what the equivalent of being killed by a lion would be for me, but I didn't want to find out.

The man of God was to sent proclaim a message during a time of judgment. God wanted him to get in, deliver the message and get out. It seems there are special requirements for separation during a time of judgment. As another example, during Korah's rebellion against Moses in Numbers 16, Moses told the people, "Get away now from the tents of these wicked men. Don't touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins."

Looking back, there were two occasions while confronting the issue of the false spirit when I became persistently ill for weeks. I heard of others involved in the group who also experienced health problems and one a financial problem. That spirit was a curser! Fellowship was an open door for spiritual attack. Separation was God's way of protecting me, as well as pressuring the people involved in the spirit to repent:

"Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught, either by our message or by our letter... And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note of that person; don’t associate with him, so that he may be ashamed. Yet don’t treat him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother." - 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 3:14-15

Conclusion

I believe the Lord has a handful of missions or battles He wants each of us to engage in. Discernment and separation are important tools for making sure we don't run into harm, fall into traps or expend our energy unnecessarily. Otherwise we won't have the strength for the missions that are His will for us. 

The only way to do this is to stay in a close relationship with God - praying, worshiping, studying His Word - and following His instructions only.

The Lord God Has Spoken to America - Part 1

Furnace of Judgment Will Birth Revival 

The Lord has been speaking to me lately about the church in America, its condition and the need to repent and seek the Lord. This is a somber topic. America as a nation has walked away from God's law. We can point to a thousand causes and symptoms, but the root cause is the church has failed in its mission to be salt (preservative) and light (radiance of God's truth, law and power) in the world. Now evil has gotten the upper hand.

However, the good news here is that revival is coming to America. Many souls will be saved and delivered into the kingdom of heaven. This will be an exciting time, but also heartrending and tragic, because this revival will come at the price of national judgment. God has decreed judgment on America, just like He did ancient Israel. Through the heat of that furnace many will come into the fold.

Ancient Israel and Modern America - Covenant Nations Alike 

America and ancient Israel are more alike that many realize. Like Israel, America as a nation was founded upon a dedication to Almighty God. A week before the inauguration of its first president George Washington, a newspaper in New York made the following announcement:

"[O]n the morning of the day on which our illustrious President will be invested with his office, the bells will ring at nine o’clock, when the people may go up to the house of God and in a solemn manner commit the new government, with its important train of consequences, to the holy protection and blessing of the Most high. An early hour is prudently fixed for this peculiar act of devotion and . . . is designed wholly for prayer."

 - The Daily Advertiser, New York, Thursday, April 23, 1789

After the ceremony, George Washington's first act as president was to lead the Vice President and members of Congress to Saint Paul's Chapel in Manhattan to pray and ask God's favor and blessing on the nation. In his first address to Congress, Washington acknowledged and thanked God for his hand in establishing the nation, humbly requested his blessings and issued this warning:

"We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained." - George Washington

Though these facts are ignored by revisionist history and Common Core education, I believe America at its founding entered into a covenant with God like the one set forth by Moses to Israel in Deuteronomy 28 and again by King Solomon in his prayer at the dedication of the temple in 1 Kings 8. The dedication in America seemed more organic and sprung up from a movement of the Spirit among the people. 

The end times watchman Steve Quayle has received a number of prophetic words over the last couple decades, which you can read on his website. A consistent theme I see is that God considers that America made a covenant with him and broke it:

"Hear oh land of the broken covenant for I have a controversy with America!"

"Oh Nation, poised for destruction, you have broken the covenant of life that I made with your forefathers and whom I blessed with a nation unlike any other in the history of the world. The penalty for idolatry has always been destruction, as the Fallen Ones and their followers can only produce death."
 
"Oh that the land your forefathers made with me in covenant would open their hearts and their eyes that they might see and incline their ears that they might hear. No longer will you watch destruction, death, and the horrors of war in distant lands as mothers hold their lifeless children or children their lifeless parents, but you will experience this firsthand."

 - Steve Quayle, excerpts from various prophetic words

The consequences expressed in these words are consistent with the curses in Deuteronomy 28:

"Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God." - Deuteronomy 28:1-2

"But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you." - Deuteronomy 28:15

You can read the whole chapter to see the amazing list of blessings and terrible curses. If a nation under this divine covenant obeys God, it will be the most blessed in the world. Blessed in every way. But if it falls into unrepentant rebellion, it will be cursed in many ways and finally destroyed. What can we say about this? The Lord God generously rewards those who seek him and follow his ways. He is merciful and forgiving, and also holy and just. God will not allow a nation that claims his name to go on mocking and dishonoring him without consequence.

Without a doubt, America has been a blessed nation. It rose steadily over 150 years and became the world's greatest superpower after World War II. It had the largest economy, enjoyed peace and security, and sat atop the world. Its churches sent missionaries with the gospel around the world. But today, America has embraced bloodshed at home (abortion) and abroad (endless foreign wars), sexual perversion, injustice, massive deceptions, idolatry, hedonism and pride. Its churches - many of them anyway - have become feel-good religious clubs, devoid of the power of the Holy Spirit, friends with the world.

What comes next for America is already written in the Scriptures.

It is written in the book of Hosea, which I covered in a previous article: Punishment and Allure - The Message of Hosea for America Now

It is also written in the Old Testament book of Amos.

Message of Amos for America Now 

Amos was a prophet who ministered in ancient Israel, decades before the Northern Kingdom fell to Assyria and more than 150 years before Judah and Jerusalem fell to Babylon. Amos' messages were warnings of judgment and calls to repent and "seek the Lord that you may live." The words were written to the rebellious nation of Israel, but they also apply to America today.

"Thus says the Lord, 'For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke its punishment, because they rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept His statutes;
Their lies also have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked. So I will send fire upon Judah and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.'" - Amos 2:4-5

America's punishment has been decreed from the heavenlies because it turned away and disobeyed the laws of God. The people are caught in a web of lies that leads them astray. Every day I am astonished at the magnitude of deception in this country and how few people care to question it. It is like they are asleep in a deep trance and simply accept what the perceived authorities tell them, whether institutions of government, religion, media, education or finance. (Big Brother does not love you; he enslaves and exploits you. Jesus loves you and sets you free.)

Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed with fire, and so will be America. "For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong." - Revelation 18:8

Amos continues:

"Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt: ^'You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.'" - Amos 3:1-2

Hear the word the Lord has spoken against the sons of America, a family He established through independence from England and by drawing its sons from every nation around the world. America was a covenant nation, a chosen nation, so this is personal for the Lord. He will punish America for her iniquities.

Now we come to prophetic warnings:

"Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment? 

Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something?

Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all?

If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble?
If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?

Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear?The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?" - Amos 3:3-8

The first six verses establish a pattern of cause-and-effect: One event signifies and leads to another. An appointment leads to a walk together. Catching prey inspires a lion to roar. A set trap leads to a captured bird. A trumpet blast causes the people in a city to tremble with concern. 

Here is the main message: Before executing his plans, the Lord God promised first to reveal them through his servants the prophets. Has the Lord spoken to America through prophesy? Yes, He has spoken in so many ways and through so many people! In Part 2 of this message, I will cover some of the people who have prophesied to America, warning of judgment to come and calling for repentance. I have already touched on this topic in a previous post: Modern End Times Prophecies - Dudumon, Quayle, Gruver, Leal, Kleck. Of course, take everything to the Lord for confirmation first. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will lead you into ALL TRUTH.

God has absolutely fulfilled his promise to prophesy to America before judging her, just like did for ancient Israel. However, many churchgoers have not received the messages, just like most Israelites ignored and mocked the warnings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Habakkuk and so on. Some people say that prophesy is no longer an operating gift, but that is false. I covered this in a previous post: Turn on Your Spiritual Radar, Or Else. Others are simply caught up in the national trance and deception. What can we say about those who are not receiving and responding to the God's warnings and admonitions? Scripture says judgment comes first to the house of the Lord. God's supernatural protection is for those who abide in him (see Psalm 91) and share his heart about the sins and abominations in the land (see Ezekiel 9). This is why it is SO IMPORTANT TO WAKE UP AND HEED THE WARNINGS!

These are heavy messages, I know. Let's end on a note of hope with God's remedy:
 
"For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, 'Seek Me that you may live....

Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord God of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."

 - Amos 4:4 and 4:14 

Click here to read Part 2 of this message.

Punishment and Allure - The Message of Hosea for America Now

The Book of Hosea in the Old Testament was a message of warning, judgment and call for repentance to the people of Israel 2,750 years ago. The Israelites had turned to other gods, engaged in many sins and were headed for national judgment. Eventually the kingdom of Assyria defeated and destroyed Israel and sent its people into exile. Yet Hosea also contains a message of hope and reconciliation with God.

What struck me most when I read it is that its message isn't just for Ancient Israel. It is also a message for America now - right now. 

Israel's Unfaithfulness

The Lord's first directive for the prophet Hosea was to marry a prostitute:

"When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, 'Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.'" - Hosea 1:2

God wanted Hosea's marriage to be a metaphor and example of how Israel was unfaithful to God, so he asked Hosea to marry a prostitute and have children with her. Even the names assigned to his children were a message to Israel:

• Jezreel - "Visit the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu"
• Lo-ruhamah - "She has not obtained compassion"
• Lo-ammi - "Not my people"

NOTE: It's a tough job to be a prophet. Not only do they have to deliver messages that many people don't want to hear, but sometimes they are asked to do unusual and seemingly crazy things. God asked the prophet Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign against Egypt and Ethiopia, to show how their people would be shamed and led into exile by Assyria.

Be careful not to put God in a box and think He only operates along certain lines. God is far more amazing and interesting and less "religious" that people give him credit for.

Hope for Reconciliation

In spite of these hard words against the wayward people of Israel, the Lord expressed hope for a future day of reconciliation:

"Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and in the place where it is said to them, 'You are not My people,' it will be said to them, 'You are the sons of the living God.'" - Hosea 1:10

Judgment is not God's first choice for a people. He wants relationship, harmony, righteousness and obedience. But when rebellion goes on for so long, punishment becomes the last hope for reconciliation.

Punishment

Continuing with the metaphor of Israel as a harlot chasing after other gods, the Lord pronounced punishment:

"'Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; and let her put away her harlotry from her face and her adultery from between her breasts, lest I strip her naked and expose her as on the day when she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, make her like desert land and slay her with thirst...
 
I will punish her for the days of the Baals, when she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, and follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,' declares the Lord." - Hosea 2:2-3,13

God was like a husband to Israel, a nation set apart as holy and blessed. Yet like an adulterer, the people abandoned the true God and worshiped foreign gods such as Baal. So the nation will be punished and its blessings removed.

Allure

But punishment is not the end of the matter. God's true desire is to win back the heart of Israel:

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. Then I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. It will come about in that day,' declares the Lord, 'That you will call Me Ishi and will no longer call Me Baali. For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, so that they will be mentioned by their names no more.'" - Hosea 2:14-17

Ishi means "my husband," while Baali means "my master." For people to call God "Ishi" means there is relationship and intimacy. Repentance and faith in God brings reconciliation.

Problem - Sin and No Knowledge of God in the Land

The problem, the stumbling block in the land, are the people's corrupt practices, deception and lack of knowledge of God: 
 
"Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed." - Hosea 4:1-2 

What God wants is faithfulness, kindness and people who walk with him in righteousness and truth.

Solution - Know the Lord

What must the people do? Return to the Lord! Press on to know him:

"Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." - Hosea 6:1-3

In response, the goodness of God and his presence will pour forth like the spring rain.

Judgment Comes First

Unfortunately the hearts of the people have become so hardened that they will not respond to God's invitation without first experiencing and the shock of national judgment:

"You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors, therefore a tumult will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed." - Hosea 10:13-14

Message for America Now

Like Ancient Israel, America was once a "called out" nation, but has forsaken its original calling and purpose in the Lord. The American people have turned to bloodshed at home (abortion) and abroad (endless war), sexual immorality, deep deception and theft. They are arrogant and believe America will always be great, not matter how depraved it becomes.

Most American churches do not teach the full knowledge of God. They preach prosperity and happy-clappy, feel-good messages, but fail to vigorously confront sin, lies and injustice in the land. They teach religion, but not the powerful presence of God's Spirit. They talk about baby Jesus in a manger, but not about the Jesus of Revelation who is coming back on a white horse and carrying a sword to vanquish his enemies and establish his righteous kingdom on earth.

Like Ancient Israel, God has pronounced judgment on America. The sin, injustice and lies cannot continue.

Yet God still wants to allure the American people and draw them back to himself. A great revival is coming. However, the people are hardened, so revival must come the hard way, through the shock and pain of judgment.

Like Ancient Israel, a tumult will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed.  

America, let us return to the Lord!