Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words."
So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel.
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
If I at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,
and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 'Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.'
"But they say, 'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'
"Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing.
Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?
But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway, making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.
Jer 18: 1 - 17 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity."
The other day, the lord spoke to someone, and it raised questions in their mind as to whether it was for the church or the country, and what kind of destruction was the Lord speaking of? Destruction of America, or of the church? Was it to be complete, or partial?
The short answer is that we really have to stretch symbolism in the scripture to see the USA in Biblical prophecy. Now I know there have been and are Bible teachers who think America is in the middle of Bible prophecy. They get this through stretching types and symbols to accommodate their world view that somehow America is smack dab in the middle of end time events. I'm not saying America is not, but you just cannot prove it scripturally. It is actually part of our national arrogance to say we are a key component of end time events.
I've been thinking of the question what happens to the USA? I was thinking about it when the Lord brought the passage from Jeremiah above to my attention this morning. I think the answer He was giving me is perfectly obvious. What happens to the USA is going to be entirely dependent upon what the USA does. Does this country repent and turn to God, or does it continue along its present path? If the USA does not repent, if we do not humble ourselves and pray, AND TURN FROM OUR WICKED WAYS, and call upon Him, then His judgment will fall upon this country, or else He owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology, for we have outdone them in wickedness. The blood of 50 million babies cry out to Him from the ground - we now equal Hitler, Stalin, and Chairman Mao in mass murder. The spirit of murder and killing runs rampant in our streets, and is the main ingredient in the "games" our children play. We allow our children to be brainwashed in the school system, and we deliberately send them off to colleges and universities where we know their faith is going to be ripped to shreds. We turn a blind eye to wickedness, and allow sin to run loose in our own lives and justify and rationalize it like children, with excuses just as flimsy. We tolerate corruption in our government and in our churches. Seriously, if I have to tell you why this nation is on a collision course with God, then I'm wasting my time even writing this.
As for the church and what happens, we have to understand, ...and I mean understand...that judgment begins with the house of God. Jesus will return for a pure and spotless bride. Does this sound like the church in America to you? The church must be made pure. How do you purify gold? You heat it up till it melts. Then the impurities separate out. In the end, the American church will endure the smelter of affliction so that that which is impure will be made evident and will separate out from that which is pure. The world to which we have tried to accommodate ourselves will turn on those who will not reject Jesus and embrace the world system. Why? Ask the communists in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, China, Laos, the warlords in Sudan, ask any dictator anywhere, and they will tell you it is because a true Christian will not bow their knee, nor will they give ultimate allegiance to anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore they represent the ultimate threat to any controlling world system or any local expression of it. True Christianity is diametrically opposed to what the world calls greatness, and it's ideals are the exact opposites of what the world wants.
So there is coming the day when Christians will be scapegoated for the chaos the world creates and for the judgment of God the country is enduring. Biblical Christians will become enemies of the state. At that time, when embracing Jesus Christ and His cross and living for the Kingdom of God will mean being an enemy of the state, being hunted down, cast into prison, tossed into reeducation camps, even being beheaded - well, lets just say at that time those who have the form of godliness, but deny (deny, reject, have no knowledge of) the power thereof, those of whom Jesus spoke (to include those with "ministries," those with a "name," those who call themselves Christians now but whose lives evidence nothing of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ) when He says "Depart from me, for I never knew you" will separate themselves out from the true body of Christ because they will not endure the furnace of purification.
No one knows when this will be. But take a lesson from healing. The time to begin confessing "Jesus is my healer" is now when you are walking in health. The time to learn of God's power to heal is when some imp tries to lay a cold or the flu on you. Or you sprain your toe. If you cannot learn to stand in faith and rebuke the flu, what in hades are you going to do when the doctor walks in and tells you he wants to lop off your breast because of the cancerous lump in there? The time to begin preparing spiritually for what will happen is now. Husbands and wives need to talk and pray - "If the day comes when we cannot buy or sell because we will not take this mark, what will we do? Are we prepared to be homeless? Are we prepared to be on the streets with no food? Are we prepared to make our children suffer these consequences?" These are things we will face. The time to prepare our hearts is now. The time to prepare our children is now. The time to decide who we are and what we will do is now.
A word for those who believe they will never have to endure such persecution in times of trouble because they will be raptured before any such time...I really hope you are right. But, and if it's a big but, if you want an eye-opening experience, go to Amazon.com and get a copy of "The Incredible Cover-Up" by Dave MacPherson. Please don't clutter up this note with what you think you know. I taught and preached the Pre-Trib rapture for years. I know the arguments at least as well as you do, probably much better. I'll just tell you this - it is not, as it is represented to be, the historic position of the church. You can find no mention of it prior to Darby and the Plymouth Brethren in the mid 1800's. However, if you want to believe it, feel free to do so. This is America, and you can believe God is a cosmic egg roll if you want to. If you choose to believe in a pre-trib rapture I do not doubt your love for God nor your commitment to Jesus. I just don't think it would hurt you or damage your faith for you to ask yourself those questions - (what would I do if I had to choose to receive some mark or not have the ability to buy food for my children? what would I do if I had to choose to give my allegiance to a political system or face deportation to a FEMA camp?.........)
As for me, what I think isn't important. Who am I, that anyone should bother themselves with what I believe?
I believe it is much less important whether Jesus's return is pre-trib or mid-trib than being ready to hear his call when He does return for His saints.
I believe the timing of His call is much less important than being prepared to stand before Him when he does call.
Php 3: 12-15 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
If even the Apostle Paul would say that he did not count even himself as having apprehended, but that he continued to press in to the upward call of Jesus, should I do any less? If I have reason to believe that I live in the beginning of times so spiritually treacherous that Jesus warned that without His abiding presence and covering even the very elect would be in danger of falling away, does not even common sense dictate that I prepare myself spiritually?
Be far less concerned with times and seasons and much more concerned with having a ready heart and an abiding relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for our country, but understand God does not need us to accomplish His will on earth. We are not necessary for God’s plan for this planet. Israel can survive without us. We cannot survive without God. Jesus tried to tell us ----“Don’t be all that concerned for tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for this day is the evil you have to contend with…” Deal with today. Pray as if there will be no tomorrow. Pray as if what you pray for must be done today. Then get a good night’s sleep, because it all starts out again tomorrow.
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