AN EXTRAORDINARY SERIES OF EVENTS IN THE HEAVENLIES SOON TO OCCUR

 

Hopefully you all are aware of Jesus’ warning about signs in the sun, moon, and stars in Luke 21:25 as we near the last of this age.  Elsewhere in the Bible there are other warnings regarding things to happen in the heavenlies in the times that are approaching swiftly.

 

Well, beginning in April and in the next eighteen months we will see some extraordinary things happening.  These are clearly unusual.  The interpretation and implications are yet to come.

 

As background, let me remind all that in Levicticus 23 God lays out seven basic appointed times, or “moeds” as they are called in Hebrew, that the Jews are to observe each year.  Often these are referred to as festivals or feasts.  The first three are coming in April of this year – Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits.  Then there is an appointed time called Weeks which coincides with what we call Pentecost.  And in the fall, three more - Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles (or booths).  There are historical implications to these as well as future implications. For example, Passover’s history goes back to when in Egypt each Jewish household covered the doorposts of their homes with blood from a lamb, and the angel of death passed over their homes the night before the Jews began their walk out of Egypt.  Centuries later, as you know, Jesus with the shedding of his blood on the cross and his victory over sin and death became our Passover lamb.  Now I am not teaching about these appointed times here, just laying groundwork for what is going to happen in 2014 and 2015.  I do recommend your reading Leviticus 23 to get a good grounding in these seven key times.

 

From the NASA web site, we know that there will be a full lunar eclipse in April 2014 on Passover.  This year Passover is the evening of April 14 and the day of April 15.  This eclipse is when the earth comes between the sun and the moon.  During the eclipse the moon should appear red, or blood red as often described in the Bible.  Then, and this is amazing, at the beginning of the last festival of the seven, Tabernacles, there will be another such lunar eclipse – on the evening of October 8 and the day of October 9  (remember, a day to God begins after sundown and goes through the following daylight period until sundown).

 

Then in 2015 the same pattern will be repeated – lunar eclipse on Passover and then on Tabernacles. 

 

These four lunar eclipses are referred to as a tetrad.  The occurrence of the eclipses on these four important days in back to back fashion has happened only three times in the last 521 years.  So this is rare indeed!

 

Now consider what happened at the time of the last three tetrads.  In 1493-1494, the Jews had been ordered out of Spain and were fleeing for their lives.  Spain had been like a home for the Jews, but King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had ordered them out.  And of course you know what happened in 1492 – Columbus discovered America which ended up being a home for more than millions of Jews and historically a strong support for Israel.

 

In 1949-1950 we have the period immediately after the reestablishment of the Jewish homeland Israel.  This was a period of great pressure on Israel from the Arab lands all around.  And then in 1967-1968 we have the period of the six day war, and Israel recapturing Jerusalem again after almost 2000 years of not being in charge there.

 

So it appears the occurrence of such a “tetrad” on these key Jewish feasts is an important sign indeed, important specifically for the Jews and Israel.  And now we have it coming once more. 

 

I want you to be aware and to be alert.  We are living in the last of the last days, are we not?  This appears to me as an extended sign, perhaps just to Israel and the Jews, perhaps more to the world.  That I do not know.  I also do not know if this signals the soon beginning of the seven-year tribulation or anything like that.  But I do know enough to recognize an extraordinary series of events when I see one.  I do not think this is a coincidence. 

 

                                                                                                                                       (February 2014)

                                                                                                                   Copyright © 2014 by John Newlin

 

 

 

 

 

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TO GOD'S ELECT, STRANGERS IN THIS WORLD

 

Have patience.  Have faith.  Your trials will not continue forever.  The continual testing of your very essence will survive this difficult place and time.

 

We believers are as people without a true physical home, though we know where that home truly is and we long to be in it.  To live is Christ and to die is gain – true words that reflect the seeming predicament of our lives.

 

The time is almost at hand when we shall move on.  Already you are in the Kingdom, already you are with him.  Ephesians tells us we are seated with him in the heavenlies even now.  But surely you wish that were full time and all about physically as well.

 

The Lord will complete the heavenly plan.  It will happen.  There will be more joy for the believer, and greater confounding and sense of being lost for those who are not.  And we who with unwavering faith keep our eyes on him must realize that in all things God works for good in those who have been called according to his purpose.  Though we persevere and intercede and pray and obey and at times still puzzlingly see no results that we recognize, we still maintain.  For he is good.  For his loving-kindness endures forever.

 

He is God.  And we are not, though we move steadily to being more and more like him.

He has told us what is to happen.  In explicit words difficult at times to comprehend.  He does nothing without revealing it to his prophets. 

 

Do not let your heart be troubled.  Find that place of peace and live in it, retreat to it, even though at times you must move and act and represent him in a desperate world.  He will never lose you. 

Sometime ago I wrote this poem that fits well here.  Maybe you have already seen it. 

 

We are never home.*

Not now.  Not here.

No matter how we try.

We cannot get there.

 

The moments of joy

Family and friends bring

Cannot dispel

The longing of our hearts.

 

Harsh though the words,

God’s children are

Strangers in a foreign land,

Aliens on planet earth.

 

This is not our world.

But we will soon be home,

That we know.

Our hope is secure.

 

*We Are Never Home, by John Newlin, published in Standard January 11, 2004

 

 

 

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

 

                                                                                                                                       (February 2014)

                                                                                                                   Copyright © 2014 by John Newlin

 

 

 

 

 

[NOTE:  This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

P  O Box 15797, Wilmington, NC 28408 * 910 395 1465

 www.johnnewlinministries.org           Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org

WHY DON'T WE HAVE BETTER AND MORE CAPABLE PEOPLE AS OUR POLITICAL AND GOVERNMENT LEADERS?

People that are

• Brighter
• Better leaders
• Better administrators and executives with demonstrated track records
• And most important – serious Christians who are living out the Christian faith?

Why do people with those attributes stay away from the national debate?  And we are left with individuals with harmful intellectual ideologies that in no way conform to the views and the life of a Christian.  Some even seem self-serving and arrogant.

For a few those behaviors may develop after they become elected and take up a powerful office.  The famous quote “absolute power corrupts absolutely” comes to mind.  But that doesn’t have to be the case, does it?  Not if we start with people who know the Lord and his commands and his values, know themselves and live the life of obedience to God.  Not if we have candidates and politicians who see themselves truly as servants of the electorate.

To take this further, such an elected body of leaders should, one would think, wisely and thoughtfully staff the appointed government positions with skilled like-minded individuals.  They would not look at their government role as an opportunity to get rich, exercise power, and build a group of people obligated to them for their jobs.

Then we would end up with a government that would see its role as being accountable to the people and that would go forward as was intended when the Constitution was written.

Why don’t we have such a government? 

I think the answer goes right to us, the people who elect the individuals.  If the electorate is not knowledgeable on the issues and the candidates, does not know what is really going on among the individuals running and the parties, does not recognize sinister ulterior and somewhat hidden motives, and is not itself a group of moral, God-fearing people, well, how can it be expected to elect the people we would like elected? 

The answer – it can’t.  And that is where we are today.

Most Americans have never wanted to be involved with politics or pay attention to the daily happenings in Washington and elsewhere in government.  So they are not knowledgeable.  As long as we had good, moral, God-fearing candidates who understood the Constitution and how America had been built and blessed, this was still ok.  But then the general morality of the country several decades ago began a precipitous slide, and now we live in a society that is rapidly falling away from God, accepts behavior among people that is abominable, is constantly besieged with movies and television programs and just general behavior of many of its most famous personalities that is often immoral and crass and greedy, and more.  Many of the electorate now have a greatly reduced level of Christian values, if they have any at all.  Many have a confused understanding of right and wrong.  And because of their lack of interest and effort, since they don’t know the issues or the true backgrounds of many running for office or serving in office, they just are not an informed electorate.

The second president John Adams addressed all of this:

• “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
   
• “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”
   
  Much further back in history, the famous Plato had some thoughts on the matter:
   
• The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
   
• One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
   
• In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state.”

Again, this is where we are.

If a truly good candidate comes along, will the press give him adequate coverage?  Highly unlikely.  We may never read or hear of his good points unless we hear him in person.

And the press, which itself is staffed with many apparently lost and confused individuals focused and intrigued by this world system and not by God, will seriously even attempt to mislead and destroy any such good candidate, anyone who does not hide his Christian faith, anyone who is not politically correct in every word out of his mouth.

We are in dangerous times, dear friends.  We spiritually are at the end of this age, with the Lord soon to return.  And living in this country which does not have the government we knew years ago is a dangerous and unpleasant thing.  To the extent possible, we should strive to get as many God – fearing individuals into office as possible to counter the evil and false doctrine that now pervades the government world, especially in Washington but also in many states.  And we can pray that it is not too late, that we may have some impact. 

When the Lord comes he should find us still striving to move forward in his commands, his love, his blessing.  And if we do that, for the country and in our own lives, we can’t do more. 

 

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                                                                  (February 2014)

                                                                                                              Copyright © 2014 by John Newlin.

 

 

NOTE:  This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.

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THERE ARE ONLY TWO GROUPS OF PEOPLE

There are all kinds of religions on earth, and an enormous number of academic systems, and diverse beliefs everywhere.  There are many different types of people as to education levels, knowledge and talents, and skills.

But in the end there are only two groups of people that really matter on earth:  those who know Jesus, and those who don’t.  This second group is lost.  Unless something happens that opens the eyes of people in this group so they can see the truth and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they are not going to have a good future. 

Unfortunately, this second group is much larger than the first group.  Throughout the Bible the point comes through that the group of true believers just is not the majority of people on earth.  Once Jesus even says that narrow is the way and few are they who find it (the way to life, to eternal life). 

Have you ever wondered why in history and even today certain Christians when threatened with death if they do not renounce Jesus choose to die?  And they do.  In ancient Rome.  And today in many places on earth where believers are attacked and killed by members of false religions.  You know those places.  If you do not you are not paying attention.  Christians are killed on a daily basis in today’s world.

Why would they prefer death over renouncing Jesus and continuing to live an earthly life?  Because they know Jesus.  Because they know their future with him.  And they know that life on this earth in its current form is as nothing in comparison.  Renouncing Jesus would condemn them to eternal hell, life in the lake of fire as described in the last book of the Bible.

We are right now at the great dividing time in human history.  Huge numbers are in the lost camp by virtue of being in false religions and lost societies.  Others actually may think they are Christians and are saved by virtue of going to a church somewhere and sitting there once a week, by growing up in a Christian home, maybe even by doing some good works in that church.  But for some of these nothing may be further from the truth.  Being someone whom Jesus calls out when he comes to collect his true CHURCH depends on your truly knowing him.  In his own words, you must be born again, or born from above (perhaps a better translation).  And the apostle Paul further elaborates:  You must confess Jesus as your Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.  In other words, it is all about truth.  God doesn’t play games.  As the stenographer said in Congress a few weeks ago, God will not be mocked.  She was quoting the Bible.  Mocking God is what happens in Washington, DC on a regular basis.

Two groups of people.   One group already spiritually in the kingdom and on its way to totally realizing that in all ways and the other a collection of lost people.  Unless God draws people from that lost group to Jesus, they will stay there.  As we approach the Lord’s return, I expect to see more and more drawn to Jesus, and I also expect to see a steadily increasing display of people obviously falling away from God, from the Lord, from a true faith.  The Bible in essence says as much.

So keep your eyes on Jesus no matter what happens in and around you.  The return of the Lord is imminent.  In recent decades numerous Biblical prophecies of things to happen before his return have indeed happened.  As described in the Bible, he could come in the clouds at any moment to call out his believers, with the horribly difficult seven year period of judgment on the world known as the tribulation beginning shortly thereafter and culminating in the great Armageddon battle and his beginning to rule from Jerusalem.

As possible, through your words and actions, seek to help the Father in his drawing others to Jesus.  Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, to pave the way for meaningful conversations about the Lord with others, to arrange situations.  He will.  Always remember, it is all about a personal relationship between a person and the Lord.  No one can get another person into heaven.  You can’t do that for your children or parents, and they can’t do that for you.

Two groups.  That’s all that counts.  What group are you in?  And what group are your friends and family members in?

Where are you all heading?

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

 

                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                              Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin.

 

[For more information on all this, go to the web site below and request the CDs such as HOW DOES ANYONE EVER REALLY GET INTO HEAVEN? and WHAT DID JESUS DO, PARTS ONE, TWO AND THREE.  Or watch the videos there such as GETTING INTO HEAVEN and WHAT DID JESUS ACCOMPLISH?.]

 

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CHRISTMAS - OUR GOD AND THE SPIRIT WORLD AROUND US

We are now approaching the day we celebrate the entry of God into our world as a real human being, not just in a temporary form of a person as indeed angels have from time to time appeared.  We cannot begin to truly understand this other than as God has revealed small parts of his truths to us. 

Let’s be honest.  We have no complete, detailed idea of just who God is, other than that he is indeed God – all powerful, all knowing, all seeing.  We learn about him by studying how he has acted in various situations in the Bible and also how he interacts with us as individuals in prayer and our daily lives.  And he has revealed to us several personality traits, just as people have personality traits.  Although with God, they are absolute.  He is loving, really loving.  And he is truth, real truth.  He doesn’t vary from any of that.  And he is ever patient or long-suffering as sometimes said. He hates sin, anything which is rebellion against him and the truths and commands he has passed on to us.  Absolutely hates it.  Can’t stand it.  Will not tolerate it.  And he is indeed a jealous God.  He will not put up with his people having any other idols or gods before him, whether they are little wooden idols or excessive devotion to some sport or team or other person or cause or whatever.  He must be first in the eyes and hearts of people.  This is very important to God.  People do not have an alternative if they are to be his people.  He also is a vengeful God.  He will take care of the evil doers, those rebelling against him.  Imagine how horrible that will be.  And there are still more personality traits given in the Bible.

That is God.  Our God.  We can’t fully conceive who he is.  We can’t.  Oh I know, flippant Americans like to think they can, just like flippant Americans often give lip service to loving others and caring for others and serving others and so on.  But we just can’t.  How can little human beings possibly understand someone who can make planets and stars and people and so on?  How?  And by speaking things into existence? 

For that matter how can we understand all the spiritual beings truly?  Angels, God’s messengers, God’s spiritual servants and workers who strictly carry out his assignments.  Some of us have at times seen angels, and how wonderful has that been.  They have been seen sometimes in the shape of human beings which somehow they have assumed for a short time.  They have also been seen as translucent spirits.  Once in a service while sitting on the front row during the praise and worship portion, I suddenly saw three such angels at the front of the room.  One giant one, about seven feet tall or so, stood by the podium and with his arms motioned for me to come up to the podium, or showed me it was my podium.  Something like that.  They were gigantic.  The one at the podium was smiling.  Later I received a message from a couple that their young daughter in the room had seen the angels too.

So we have these angelic beings who work with God and help him in caring for and running his creation.  They are all ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.  That’s all believers.  Angels do the Lord’s bidding.  They obey his word.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

We know that some time in the past one-third of the angels then followed a beautiful top angel today called Lucifer, or satan, or the devil, or the evil one in rebelling against God.  How could this have happened?  We can’t fathom an answer.  How could a perfect all powerful, all seeing, all knowing God have made a being who rebelled against him and led a third of the angels away from him, themselves rebelling?  Well, we don’t really know do we, although we see that God also made people, and millions upon millions of people have rebelled against God.  Even the first man Adam, who had an intimate relationship with God in the Garden, rebelled against him.  So we do have some insight.  God evidently created the angels with some of the free will that he gave people, so they had the freedom to decide to rebel. 

And then there are these strange spirit beings on earth called demons.  These are terrible things.  They torment mostly unsuspecting people.  And even though the Lord gave his believers the ability to cast them out in his name, very few are bold enough to try.  In our ministry, people occasionally will come for help who really are or who think they are being attacked by demons.  I remember one couple mentioning that the pastors in town (obviously just the ones they had contacted) had no idea of what to do or didn’t want to get involved.  But these demons are real.  Once in a while in a service we will suddenly be ministering to someone who has been attacked by demons, and we must deal with that.  And yes, it is true, we can cast them out in Jesus’ name.  Sometimes it takes some time as they don’t initially want to leave.

But what in the world are demons?  Some have thought they are fallen angels.  But there is no evidence in the Bible that angels want to inhabit human bodies, and that is what demons seem to want to do.  Failing that, they will inhabit animal bodies.  They have been called disembodied spirits.  Let me tell you, it is a bit unnerving the first time you encounter these beings in ministering or otherwise.  They have names, they have emotions, and they are intelligent.  And they will talk to you, out loud!  These are not to be laughed at.  Thank God for Jesus giving us the ability to cast them out.

About two thousand years ago in the event we now celebrate as Christmas God came down in real human form and lived among us for about 33 years.  He came in the form of his son, Jesus Christ.  He came to take upon himself all that separated people from God and to overcome that, thereby creating a way for people to be reconciled to God.  Jesus accomplished that by making himself the perfect sacrifice for the people and going to and through the cross.  Why did he have to do this?  Because there was no perfect sacrifice on earth.  Only God is perfect.  It is surely difficult to conceive that the creator would put his son through such torture in order to redeem people.  But he did.  That’s the truth.

And now we are rapidly moving to the time of Jesus’ return to earth.  Jesus told us we could tell the season of his return, and we can.  We see the signs everywhere that he pointed out, and we know it is imminent.  We also know that a precious few human beings have joined his kingdom already, which he called the kingdom of God.  To do that one must be born again, or born anew, in Jesus’ words.  In brief, a person must truly repent – or change - from his past actions, ask God’s forgiveness, ask Jesus to be the Lord of his life, and receive a new spirit.  This in essence is a spiritual rebirth.  As it says in John 1, God himself becomes the person’s true Father.  The apostle Paul described this as professing that Jesus is Lord and believing God raised him from the dead.  Professing Jesus is Lord means making him the Lord of your life.  You believe him.  You obey his commands.  Jesus himself said that if you obey his commands you are his friend.  He also said he will love you if you obey his commands.  One last observation.  After his resurrection, Jesus had the disciples wait before beginning their work until they had received power from the Holy Spirit – e.g., had been baptized in the Spirit.  And throughout the book of Acts, whenever the disciples ministered to other groups and prayed for them to receive Jesus and be born again, they also prayed for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  And the people were, gentiles and Jews.  Peter himself said the Holy Spirit was for everyone, every believer of course.  The Holy Spirit is the form of God that is on the earth today.

So really the key is to be born anew and baptized in the Holy Spirit.  It is this infilling and then receiving of the power of the Spirit that brings God’s clear guidance to a person, his anointing, his gifts such as the gifts of healing and prophecy and faith and miraculous works and speaking and interpreting in tongues.

I still remember when my wife and I decided to step out publically in faith and act on this anointing and Jesus’ commands and the gifts, specifically in healing people.  And the signs and wonders that followed and still do. 

Who is this God we are talking about?  Well, God the Father, God the son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.  One God, operating in three forms.

Quite a powerful ramble, this discourse on God, is it not.  I could write more about why did he create people, but of course we don’t know.  Or what is going to happen to those that go with the Lord when he returns?  Well, he does give some indications but not much detail and I’ll save that for another time.  Perhaps in the end we will help him not only in running his kingdom but also in establishing civilizations on other planets?  Who knows?  We certainly don’t.  Likely he has much in store for us we just don’t know about.

For now we believers have to live physically in a dangerous and uncomfortable world system where most in charge seem often to make decisions not based on the Lord’s guidance and truths.  It is where we physically are for a moment.  Spiritually, believers are already in the Kingdom of God.  We can dream and be thankful and wait and do whatever he asks us to, or already has asked us to in the Bible and in prayer and however else each of you hear from the Lord.  Remember always Peter’s words when he and John were ordered by local leaders to stop doing what they were doing.  He replied that these leaders should judge for themselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey them rather than God.  He then concluded by saying that they (Peter and John) could not help speaking about what they had seen or heard.  Another verse in the Bible makes the point clearly:  Let God be true and every man a liar.  Pretty straight, isn’t it.  God is always truth.  And men?

Christmas.  Can’t begin to truly celebrate and worship him as we should, can we.  But we should try.

                                                                                  Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

P. O. Box 15797, Wilmington, NC 28408, USA              Tel 910 395 1465  

www.johnnewlinministries.org           Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org

GIVING THANKS TO GOD

Some years I have written a thanksgiving message.  Some years not.

I thought this year to be succinct.  Straight to the point.

Thanksgiving is to God.  I know, our modern Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays become ever more secular, and many likely think little about God at this time.  But it is to God we owe all our thanks – he is the provider, the healer, the protector, the deliverer, the comforter, and much more.

It is helpful to note what Americans in the past thought about Thanksgiving.

Throughout the 1700’s individual colonies evidently held periodic days or times of thanksgiving.  Thomas Jefferson did this while governor of Virginia.

In 1777 right in the middle of the Revolutionary War the Colonial Congress recommended a day of thanksgiving.

In 1789, the first year of the first presidency of the US under the new Constitution, George Washington issued a proclamation establishing a day of thanksgiving that year.  Here are a few of his words from the proclamation: 

-          it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour…

-          I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be…

-          we may … unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions

Abraham Lincoln finally established legally the annual holiday we observe on the fourth Thursday of November each year.  Here are a few words from his proclamation:

I do …invite my fellow citizens …to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and the others establishing such days in our history had no difficulty understanding who the thanksgiving is to.  It is to God. 

So this Thanksgiving, even if you are a guest at a dinner with others where little serious thanks to God is offered, you yourself can somehow and sometime that day express your thankfulness to God for all he has done and does for you on a regular basis.  And if possible you can influence others perhaps to be thankful as well.  Actually, thanking and praising God should be something we do daily, a part of our prayers or time of devotion, or really just whenever we feel like it!

Remember, you and I are only alive because he allows us to be.  In fact, our every breath takes place because he allows it.  The Bible notes that Jesus Christ holds the entire creation together (Colossians 1:17 and Hebrews 1:3).  What do you suppose would happen if he decided not to do that?

For me, I am thankful for so many things.  And I am thankful he is coming soon.  Thank God.

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                                                                       (November 2013)

                                                                                                                   Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin

 

[NOTE:  This article may be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included.  We in fact encourage you to do so and especially to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]

P O Box 15797, Wilmington, NC 28408 * 910 395 1465

 www.johnnewlinministries.org           Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org

 

 

A CRUCIAL WATCHMAN WARNING: Should God Bless America?

There is no doubt that in the past God has blessed the United States of America in amazing ways.  From the initial exploration to the establishment of the country to the struggles through the growth of the 1800’s and the Civil War and the world wars and on and on, we can find countless national and individual examples of God blessing America.  Soldiers and sailors back from wars have specific examples of his amazing action on their behalf.  And consider the astounding individuals who led the founding of the country, like George Washington and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and on and on.  Amazing.  We could use some of them today!

But that is the past.  Where are we now?

For several recent decades it should be pretty apparent to any serious believer that the country has been on a steady path down.  The country has gotten away from its foundational rule of the majority while protecting the minority, and has turned things upside down.  Going against the will of the majority, the court of the land has tossed God out of public schools and the public forum.  Approaches to life that are unacceptable to the majority have for some reason been pushed into the law of the land as acceptable.  And in daily behavior of many leaders and citizens everywhere, there is a drastic fall in personal morality and integrity.  

Now many citizens seem to realize that something is drastically wrong.  Focusing only on their jobs and family and house and cars and sports teams is not working – their lives and possessions are slipping away.  But most don’t seem to know what is going on, despite some serious believers and preachers getting the truths out in various ways. Unfortunately many of the traditional churches that the masses have attended have been asleep themselves and have not preached a powerful gospel nor pointed out boldly the terrible ways of the modern life.

And here we are.  The enemies are clearly out there for people to see, but so many can’t see them no matter what happens.  Some of the enemies are internal to the country and the people. 

Some people, even those who are not so serious believers, pray for God to protect them and the country, pray for help.

But should God bless America?

You can’t just ask for blessings.  That’s not the way it works with God.  My experience over the years is that usually you have to be in a right relationship with him in order to receive his blessings.  Are you?  Is America?

The same question was asked before World War II by the preacher Peter Marshall.  While Britain was fighting valiantly and at great cost in lives, the US had not entered the war.  In fact, while Japan was attacking China and brutally handling the people, the US - or parts of the US - was evidently supplying materials to the Japanese.

Marshall gave a powerful sermon on this subject speaking to people of the 1940 period.  After talking at some length about the behavior of Americans then, about how Americans do things they know they shouldn’t do and say things they have no right to say, about how their dispositions are not those of children of God, he said:

“We cannot fool God…let us not be deluded into thinking we can fool ourselves.” *

Then Peter Marshall quoted the wonderful hymn God Bless America and concluded with these words:

“But God says:

‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways:  then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’”  (I added the bold print.) *

What is the chance the American people will do that?  Is there any national leader who will do that and lead the people to do it? 

Let me simplify all this - Are there any major leaders who have a clue?

*quotes taken from page 19 of THE WARTIME SERMONS OF DR. PETER MARSHALL, copyright 2005 by Rev. Peter J. Marshall, published by Clarion Call Marketing Inc.; scripture is from 2 Chronicles 7:14

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!
(November 2013)
Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin.

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