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Numbers 32:15 NKJV — “For if you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”
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A Signal to Turn
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Rush hour. Stuck in the middle of a traffic jam and looking for a way out. If you live in a major metropolitan area you probably face this dilemma every morning on the way to work or every evening when you’re trying to “rush” home to be with your loved ones. The traffic lights seem to be stuck on red and there you are bumper to bumper with others “packed like lemmings in tiny…” well, so a line in a song says. The desired destination we want to reach always seems impossible but somehow we manage to arrive. We ask ourselves, “Isn’t there an easier way? A shortcut? Where is that arrow where I can turn left and drive a different way?” The left turn signal is straight ahead. We take the turn but is it really the wise direction to follow? Whether it is or not, the decision has been made and now we must live with the consequences that come with that action.
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Another Choice
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2020 was supposed to be a year of great promise and prosperity. Instead, it became a runaway freight train that derailed before it had a chance to leave the station. Causing fear to rain down on all people from all walks of life. Personal and professional lives were left in tatters with some feeling like Armageddon was right around the corner. The world was trapped in a traffic jam of uncertainty. A direction had to be made and of course, the United States was under the microscope. The national presidential election was squarely focused on and scrutinized. The smoke has not cleared and questions have been raised about fairness and corruption on both sides. Historians and scholars will debate the final results for decades to come but in anticipation of a favorable outcome, globalists, leftists and progressive activists have taken the position of power and control to present their agenda which unfortunately does not include conservative Judeo-Christian values.
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1 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV — Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
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The Rules for Some
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Governors of New York, Oregon and California had all issued proposals about family and group gatherings for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. Limiting them to no more than 5 per household and encouraging citizens to report their neighbors if they were to violate their mandate. To impose fines and possible jail time for those violations. After receiving backlash from the public and being caught on camera breaking their own mandate, these Governors decided not to enforce their orders but now have decided to punish and deny the religious rights of their citizens by closing houses of worship.
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One could wonder, “How could this be happening?” In a country that was founded on religious freedom, the tide has begun to turn against those who enjoy religious freedom specifically those with the Christian faith. Despite the growing need for some kind of spiritual enlightenment, liberal government officials, antisemitic and anti-religious groups are pressing for closure of religious buildings and sanctuaries because they fear that traditional religious gatherings would be a public health hazard and a life threatening danger during this current climate of the Coronavirus pandemic. But is that really true?
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Minneapolis, Minnesota
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During the summer of 2020 these same groups seemed to be oblivious to health concerns while cities were set ablaze across the nation. Now that the political environment is in transition, more lockdowns are being implemented. Restaurants and those that offer outside dining are being forced to close. A proposed 8 week “reset” is planned but many feel that if this happens the country we call the United States will be a different place and will have a socialism tag attached. Religion and civil liberties could very well be legislated under government control and if that is not successful it could very well be done by “Executive Order.”
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The direction that the nation is taking should really not come as a surprise. Like many kingdoms, empires and nations before, the United States may find itself in a similar situation that Israel found itself during the time of the Prophet Amos. Success and prosperity are elements that usually contribute to the separation from, what historians call, the “God Dynamic.” Other factors such as material and monetary wealth can play a serious role in the direction a nation may follow. Since the inception of the “Great Experiment” known as the USA, great wealth, notoriety and power has been bestowed upon the U.S. and because of this, pride has taken a foothold in the country’s psyche to the point that the power hungry elite believe that God has no place in their daily affairs.
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Proverbs 16:18 NKJV — Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
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The Prophet Amos
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The prophet Amos lived among a group of shepherds in Tekoa, a small town approximately ten miles south of Jerusalem. Amos made clear in his writings that he did not come from a family of prophets, nor did he even consider himself one. Amos prophesied “two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1 & Zechariah 14:5), just before the halfway point of the eighth century BC, during the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, king of Israel. Their reigns overlapped for fifteen years, from 767 BC to 753 BC.
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While most of the prophets interspersed redemption and restoration in their prophecies against Israel and Judah, Amos devoted only the final five verses of his prophecy for such consolation. Prior to that, God’s word through Amos was directed against the privileged people of Israel, a people who had no love for their neighbor, who took advantage of others, and who only looked out for their own concerns. – The parallel between ancient Israel and our society of today is uncanny. – More than almost any other book of Scripture, the book of Amos holds God’s people accountable for their ill-treatment of others. It repeatedly points out the failure of the people to fully embrace God’s idea of justice. They were selling off needy people for goods, taking advantage of the helpless, oppressing the poor, and the men were using women immorally (Amos 2:6–8; 3:10; 4:1; 5:11–12; 8:4–6). Drunk on their own economic success and intent on strengthening their financial position, the people had lost the concept of caring for one another; Amos rebuked them because he saw in that lifestyle evidence that Israel had forgotten God.
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Many biblical scholars and historians agree that many of the troubles and sins that have plagued the United States are the same that troubled Israel during the time of Amos. The progressive secular accesses of the last 5 decades has led the nation to a rule of lawlessness, bigotry and deception. Glorified by the mainstream media and vilifying anyone who opposes their ungodly ideals. If we close the door on God, could we be asking for an action that we cannot control?
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Amos 8:11-13 NKJV — “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
But shall not find it. “In that day the fair virgins
And strong young men
Shall faint from thirst.
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A Barrier That Separates
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In just the past 4 years we have seen many changes that we thought we would never experience. Economic growth, military revitalization and a belief that it was unstoppable. But like the iceberg that ripped the side of the “unsinkable” mighty ship, COVID-19 hit our “Titanic” and our glorious cruise came to an unexpected end. – Why? – Because God was not recognized and was shut out of our hearts. A wall was placed between us and the Lord. Again, like so many times before, our egos got in the way. – Did we miss something? What about all this talk of “things” being set right and justice being served? Wasn’t the “Swamp” supposed to be drained? Why could we not cast “them” out?
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Matthew 17:14-21 NKJV — And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. “So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
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Wanting a Solution
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There are many who are looking for someone to do the job for us. Not willing to “get our hands dirty” or get off the couch and do what the Lord commissioned us to do (Matthew 28:19-20). The political circus we have witnessed since 2015 was a non-stop battle of conjecture and innuendo that the general public did not know who to believe. Christian leaders and modern day prophets went on the air on the shrinking Christian TV networks, TV stations and YouTube claiming that they had received messages from God and that the Lord was going to reclaim the country and deliver justice to the ungodly. The underestimation was not realizing what exactly they were fighting against.
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Ephesians 6:11-13 NKJV — Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
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Putting faith in the wrong things is a common problem.. Misunderstanding the spiritual can be easy especially since Hollywood, the occult and other religions in the world portray the spiritual realm as a mystical fantasy but whether they think so or not, it is a real thing. This is why, when the disciples could not cast out the demon from the young boy, Jesus said to them,
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Matthew 17:21 NKJV — “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
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Jesus is reminding us that it’s not a man in a designer suit or a lady in her Sunday best that we should put our faith in. Since the collapse of the Christian Network TV juggernaut in 1986 and the introduction of the “New World Order” in 1991, the message of Jesus, His death on the cross, resurrection, the redemption of mankind and our relationship with the risen Lord, otherwise known as the Gospel, has been important and essential during the era of terror attacks, war and pandemics.
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An Awakening
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There has been a movement of God’s Holy Spirit with evidence of revivals in Melbourne, Australia and Tampa, Florida and many believe that this may be a beginning of the fulfillment of words spoken by the disciple Peter in the book of Acts;
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Acts 2:17-21 NKJV — ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Shall be saved.’
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The Final Turn
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The human race is entering the final stretch but the freight train is showing no signs of slowing down. There will be an outpouring before the day of the Lord but Satan is determined to stop people from hearing the salvation message of the Gospel. The battle for souls is growing intense and we must focus on those who are close to us and share the Good News of Jesus Christ and put our trust in God. All hope is not lost.
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Can We Overcome?
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The turn our nation has made may not have been given the right away but what has been done has been done. So, how do we overcome the wall that separates us from the Lord?
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2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV — “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
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The answer is simplistic but it is very clear. Bringing it to a personal level, if you want change, if you want to see change and if you want to live a victorious changed life then it begins with you. The Lord is knocking on the door of your heart waiting to come in so that you may have peace. Through prayer and supplication can we find the guidance, wisdom and change that we all are looking for.
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A Triumphant Entrance
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When Jesus entered Jerusalem, many followers praised Him and hailed Him as the Messiah and therefore assumed that He was there to overthrow the Roman oppressors, to establish His kingdom but they misunderstood the reason why He was there. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, did not and could not understand why Jesus had to be sacrificed for the redemption of man. The time had come to accept and receive the promise of the New Covenant. The rejection from the Jewish people made it possible for the Gospel to be available to the Gentiles and the rest of the world. Now, the time of the Gentiles is quickly coming to an end.
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The 21st century has brought many twists and turns but the saddest trend we are experiencing is the falling away from the “God Dynamic.” We must look inward to ourselves and re-examine the choices or the unwise left turns we have taken.
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The Space Between
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As we continue to read the Word of God and follow the end-time prophecies written within, we may not be able to stop or control the world’s decisions and direction but we must realize that God’s plan and the fulfillment of that plan is unavoidable. If we truly believe in God’s Holy Word then we must pray and ask the Lord to help us get across the gap that has separated us from Him. We cannot put our faith in a system that man has implemented because it is imperfect. Even churches and ministries are subject to the same imperfections that plague all religious and bureaucratic systems around the world.
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A Viral Situation
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The worldwide pandemic showed us that our society is ill prepared for sudden change. The panic, fear and uncertainty has propelled our leaders to make drastic decisions that also brought forth the hypocrisy in the same leaders who frantically demanded that the public do what they ordered and not what they blatantly ignored. The empty streets, schools and public gathering places made it feel like the end had arrived. Now that a vaccine has been developed does that mean that we are ready for the next global event?
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In the Twinkling of an Eye
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1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NKJV — For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
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Could the Rapture of the church be next or will the events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 precede the coming of the Lord? Are we ready for this or will we face the wrath that awaits in the seven year tribulation?
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From the moment Adam and Eve fell from grace, the clock began ticking, winding down to the destiny that awaits for us all. God’s plan is in motion and only He knows the time when it will conclude (Matthew 24:36).
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The Narrow Path
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The masses may have taken the left turn but the path we are on, if we choose the Godly direction (Matthew 7:13-14), will give us life and reassurance because the Lord is with us every step of the way. It may seem that the world we live in has become a different unfamiliar place but maybe the place we were in before wasn’t the proper place to occupy? Wanting the status quo is not the answer, only a righteous life in Christ Jesus will we find the peace and rest we desire (Matthew 11:28-30).
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The page has turned but the chapter is not finished just yet. We must pray and fast for the harvest of souls that will happen in these latter days for soon the final trump will sound and we, who are waiting and ready for the Lord’s return, will be called home. It may be dark outside but the Light will soon be here.
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The Light is Near
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Luke 21:25-28 NKJV — “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
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