CHAPTER 7
THE TRAGEDY AND GLORY OF BELIEVERS
Monumental things are about to happen to this world and to the Church of Jesus Christ. Are we truly prepared for them in our spirit? This is a highly personal question because the world is most certainly not prepared for anything that is coming. When it comes to believers, too few are being prepared by the Spirit of Our Lord for His Coming before the Tribulation. The Lord had not decided to prepare just a few, but too many do not care, do not even believe that they need any preparations, that they need to watch and pray and be ready (Mt. 24:42-44), that they need to take heed in what spirit they live, on what faith they stand. (1Cor. 10:12) They should not assume that they are ready only because they are born-again, baptized believers and they only have to wait. This would be a great blunder in their lives.
In addition to the light and understanding which the Lord had very graciously granted and I tried to describe in the above Chapters, He also brought me to His Word given to Isaiah and it is this:
“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a VERY SMALL REMNANT, we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” (Is. 1:9// Rom. 9:29)
This Word is first directed at Israel since it is written that “Isaiah ALSO cries concerning Israel” (Rom. 9:27). But it is ALSO directed at “His people in the Church”. The vision is that the Word in Is. 1:9 is closely followed by passages in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of Isaiah, which speak about the time of the Tribulation period and the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This is the time of the Church in its closing stage and we are living in it NOW. In Is. 2:19-21 the Word touches the events after the opening of the sixth seal. (Rev. 6:15-17) In Is. 2:4 and 4:1,2 the Word speaks about the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
And today a VERY SMALL REMNANT is similarly being left in today’s lukewarm Church of Laodiceans to which the Lord says, “I will spue you out of My mouth”! (Rev. 3: 16b) There are only few that find the narrow way which leads to life (Mt. 7:14), there is only a little flock to which the Father will now give the Kingdom with pleasure (Lk. 12:32); there are sixty queens and eighty concubines and virgins without number, but there is only one dove, the choice one born from her Mother (S.Sol. 6:8,9), the Woman (Rev. 12:1-6), the Israel-Church made one. (Eph. 2:11-16) There are only FEW that are chosen from among the many that are called. (Mt. 20:16; 22:14) Because of our depraved human nature, only few seek truth and are willing to face the truth, to face reality, to face facts presented to them. The majority of believers prefer their comfortable religion with “sweet deceit”.
What shall we say about this “few”? This very small Remnant is called to take a stand in the war against the Devil ON BEHALF of the Woman – Israel-Church! Because of this VERY SMALL REMNANT, the Father will not consume the rest of the Israel-Church existing today as He had consumed Sodom and Gomorrah, that is to say, with FIRE.
Yet, FIRE in some form will be present and used to try all the believers from Israel and from the Church, who did not obey the Lord, ignored His Word, refused to be changed from their natural, sinful nature to His Image! Why will God use FIRE? The Lord warns us saying:
“Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also Heaven… (Heaven includes the Israel-Church) let us (therefore) have grace, whereby we may serve God ACCEPTABLY with REVERENCE and GODLY FEAR. Because GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE.” (Heb. 12:26,28b,29)
This Word also means that those, who do not serve God to HIS ACCEPTANCE and with true REVERENCE and in true GODLY FEAR, they will all have to face His FIRE.
WHAT SERMONS, DISCIPLINING, CHASTISING, REBUKES OR POLITE PERSUASIONS WILL NOT DO, THE FIRE WILL! AND THAT EITHER IN THIS EARTHLY LIFE OR THEREAFTER! FIRE WILL MOVE LAZY BELIEVERS TO START SEEKING TRUTH VERY QUICKLY, ALSO TO MAKE RIGHT AND VERY TIMELY DECISIONS. FIRE WILL BRING SUCH BELIEVERS TO A SURPRISINGLY SPEEDY REPENTANCE AND WILL CLEANSE THEM FROM ALL FILTHINESS OF FLESH AND SPIRIT WITHOUT THEIR ENDLESS PROCRASTINATION AND RESISTANCE. DO YOU SEE IT? DO YOU BELIEVE IT?
THAT’S WHY OUR GOD BEING LOVE IS ALSO A CONSUMING FIRE. HE KNOWS WHAT HE MUST BE TO US AND WHEN.
* * *
The Lord constrains me at this point to declare His Word concerning the state of His Church and of Her ministers as She appears preparing Herself to bring forth the Man-child in the coming few years. (Rev. 12:1,2,5)
The Lord says that His Church does not need more teaching, more preaching, more sermons, more explanations or more knowledge of His Word. His Church needs to be shaken to its foundations to separate the grain from the chaff, to separate what the Lord built therein from what man built therein. And then the Church needs FIRE so that all the chaff and all that is manmade therein would be burnt. And that is precisely what is coming upon the Church and what the Lord has already started to do. No man will help this Church in any way. The latter rain had ended (Jam. 5:7-9) and the Lord will not strive with flesh (also in His Church) any longer (Gen. 6:3). The House of God is being shaken along with the world and it is ripe for His Judgment. (Rev. 14:15) HE THAT CANNOT PERCEIVE THE FALLEN CONDITION OF THE CHURCH IN THESE TIMES IS FALLEN HIMSELF!
Furthermore, the Lord shows His following Word:
“And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.” (Is. 4:1)
The Lord says that in that day (the time between the 7th trumpet when the Church will be raptured, 1Cor. 15:52 // Rev. 11:15,and the coming of the Lord to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, Rev. 19:11-16) the seven churches of the Book of Revelation (Chpts. 2,3) will take hold of one Man – Jesus Christ – saying that they are satisfied with what they have only let them be called by His Name to take away their reproach. Their reproach is in the fact that their spiritual womb had been barren and they produced no living fruit. (see also Lk. 1:24,25// Gen. 30:22,23) But the Lord gives His Name only to him that overcomes (Rev. 3:12) that is why He does not answer the request of those seven women-churches directly; rather, He continues saying that…
“In that day shall the Branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely FOR THEM that are ESCAPED of Israel.” (Is. 4:2; 11:1)
The Branch of the LORD is Jesus Christ, and the fruit of the earth in that day are all His Overcomers, His Bride, His Man-child. (Jam. 5:7-9) The Overcomers “escaped of Israel” and now also those “escaped of the Church” (of the Woman) being the Man-child, are caught up to the Throne of God. (Rev. 12:1,2,5,6; see also pp. 310-312[8]) They were washed and purged from the filth and from the “blood of Jerusalem” (old soulish, carnal life of traditional religion) by the SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT and by the SPIRIT OF BURNING (Is. 4:4). This points to the FIRE that all Overcomers were going through during their earthly lives and the non-Overcomers will be exposed to after their earthly lives. (For the overcoming of believers after their physical death, see Scriptures and other details on pages 206–208[8].)
His true Overcomer, His son/daughter and the Bride and Wife of His Son Jesus Christ believes, receives and then lives the Word of God which is POWERFUL and SHARPER than any twoedged sword and PIERCING into his joints and marrow (Heb. 4:12// Rev. 1:16) and which is like a FIRE and like a HAMMER that breaks his stony heart in pieces. (Jer. 23:29) Others are not receiving and not living it.
Those believers that built on the foundations of Jesus Christ wood, hay and stubble, will be saved, but tried and purged so as by FIRE. (1Cor. 3:15) Furthermore, the believers that did not overcome shall be hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:11) which is a lake of FIRE and brimstone. (Rev. 20:14) Also, they will not be allowed to eat of the Tree of Life, which represents Jesus Christ Personally, unless and until they overcome. (Rev. 2:7) Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden and not permitted to eat from the same Tree of Life for the very same reason. (Gen. 3:22-24)
When any man consciously breaks any Commandment of God, opposes, resists or ignores His Will, he invites upon himself a curse from God. Such a man becomes cursed and unless there is a repentance and change and the curse is destroyed, God will not be with him any more. (Jos. 7:12) This also applied to Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord consciously and hanged himself being accursed of God! (Deut. 21:23// Gal. 3:13b) The same applied to Ananias and Sapphira who consciously lied to the Holy Spirit and dropped dead at the feet of Peter the Apostle being also accursed. (Acts 5:1-10)
But when man does the same thing unconsciously, ignorantly, God remains with him to open his eyes and to guide him; yet, even in this case man has to carry certain consequences of an “indirect” curse. When Adam sinned, he did it in his naïvety not fathoming the unimaginable consequences of his sin. He was not accursed of God, but the ground was cursed for his sake. Adam suffered certain consequences of his sin and of the ensuing curse of the ground, which became his livelihood. He was cast out of the Garden of Eden and required to work in the sweat of his face and in sorrow to eat of it all the days of his life. (Gen. 3:17-19)
* * *
To be continued next week in chapter 7 – part 2
brother Hanola
…