He Decided When They Should Rise and Fall

For many days now I have been pondering the economic collapse of Greece. Why Greece? They are part of the European Union; one would think they would be an economically stable nation. Their history goes way back in time, even to biblical times when the vast Greek Empire ruled the known world, and thrived as a nation filled with philosophers and cutting-edge ideologies. As I thought about all this, the Lord directed me to Acts Chapter 17, where we find the Apostle Paul on a mission to the Jews and Gentiles in Greece. It is eye-opening:

"While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there. He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Yeshua and His resurrection, they said, 'What's this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he's picked up?' Others said, 'He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.' Then they took him to the high council of the city. 'Come and tell us about this new teaching,' they said. 'You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it's all about.' (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas).' So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: 'Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I wa walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about. He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since He is Lord of heaven and earth, He doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can't serve His needs - for He has no needs. He Himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need. From one Man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries.'"

Doesn't that last sentence strike a chord in your heart? With heart-piercing, conscience-pricking truth and authority, Shaul (Paul) spoke the Truth of Yahweh's sovereignty. The description of the One True God of Israel now being revealed to the people of ancient Greece would be received by some and scoffed at by others. So Paul continues in verse 30: "God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the Man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him from the dead."

How much more true this statement is today, not only for the nation of Greece, but for the whole world! In our day, the news of the Gospel of Yeshua haMashiach (Jesus Christ) has gone to the ends of the earth, and there is no more excuse. Now, more than ever, is the last days of opportunity for teshuva - the Hebrew word that means literally, turn around 180 degrees and go the other direction! Turn from worshiping unknown gods and false religions and philosophies - even those being fed by Hollywood to our children in the Hindu doctrines of the movie Avatar, and the glorified witchcraft of Harry Potter! Our kids are relishing the popular Twilight Saga books about vampires, and we even have Tiger Woods on TV telling us, "I would not have been unfaithful to my wife had I stayed in my Buddhist religion." We know that the spirit of the Greek god "Apollyon" (picture above) endures to the end of the Age, since the Antichrist is referred to as Apollyon in Revelation 9:11" "They had as king over them the Angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abbadan, and in Greek is Apollyon." Please note that the word Apollyon means Destroyer - and note that the verse revealing him is 9-11!

Those worshiping unknown gods without even realizing it need to be exposed to the Truth of the Gospel. Greece is falling for a reason: "From one Man He created all nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall..."

Oh, may we be a people that will repent and turn to Him before we too fall. "He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the Man He has appointed" - and that "Man" is YESHUA (Jesus) - the image of the invisible YHVH (Yahweh)!

Effective Faith: Belief + Obedience

In my last blog titled "Birth Pains" I wrote to encourage all of you to see the earth-shaking events of today as the in-breaking Kingdom of God. My encouragement is meant to keep building up our faith, so that we can endure to the "end" as Yeshua exhorts us to do. But I was challenged when my friend Judy wrote and said, "Go to Hebrews 11 and dig a little deeper." I am never one to turn away from a challenge! So, I've been pondering the words of Hebrews 11 for several days - and I have heard the Spirit ask me, "What is required for your faith to be effective?"

Good question! Hebrews 11 is the great "Hall of Faith" chapter, recalling for us all the men and women of great faith in the Bible, and how they overcame horrendous persecution and trials by their unwavering faith. But what can we really glean from this that will make our faith as enduring and effective as theirs was?

Here is what I found as I studied this chapter:
Hebrews 11:6: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
Hebrews 11:8: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
Hebrews 11:11: "By faith, Abraham, even though he was past age - and Sarah herself was barren - was enabled to become a father because he considered Him faithful who had made the promise."

What does it take to make our faith enduring and effective, as we too approach a time of tribulation and persecution?
1. Belief
2. Obedience

We are told in verse 6 that first we must believe that God exists. That is His very Name - YHVH - which means, I AM! Then we are told that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him, which is another way of saying that He desires His creation to be in relationship with Him, learning to know His Voice. Then we are told in verse 8 that we must be obedient to do what He tells us, even if it makes no sense to us. And finally, in verse 11 we are reminded that Abraham's faith was made complete because he believed the promise.

The way I see it, belief = Spirit because we are only able to believe by faith, through the power of the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit); and obedience = Truth because Torah is Truth, and when we are obedient to Torah, we are keeping the faith. So, if this is true, and we have both the Spirit (belief) and Truth (obedience), then we are the worshipers Yeshua said the Father is seeking (John 4:23). And as true, obedient worshipers of YHVH, the Holy One of Israel, we join together with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the ancient ones of faith, in believing the promise.

What promise? The promise of the Covenant God made with Abraham; the promise that all people on earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3), because through his seed would come the Messiah. And in the conclusion of Hebrews 11, vss 39-40, we are told, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

What? Abraham and Moses are not made perfect until you and I endure to the end?! No. To be sure, Abraham and Moses and many others from the Tanakh had their own encounters with the living Messiah Yeshua! And the redemptive, atoning work of the Cross reaches both backward and forward in time to keep all those who believed in YHVH. So what does this verse mean? I believe it means that our faith (belief + obedience) in the coming days of terrible tribulation, combined with their faith in past days of tribulation, will reveal the PROMISE in the fullness of His Glory! Messiah will return to establish His earthly kingdom, and all things will finally be restored - all 12 tribes reunited - Ephraim and Judah as one stick in the Father's hand! "I will make them one nation in the Land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one King over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms." (Ezekiel 37:22).

We who have the testimony of Yeshua - and keep His commands - will overcome. Our solid belief in the atoning blood of our Messiah is the "better plan" that comes together with the unprecedented obedience of those who have gone before us.

Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth!

BIRTH PAINS

"There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." (Matthew 24:7-8)

Last week there was, as you know, a massive earthquake in Chile was near the city of Concepcion. My friend Alicia called me immediately and in the Spirit she heard that word "Concepcion" and knew it was Yahweh's signal pointing us to the above Scripture in Matthew! Concepcion - or Conception - is certainly the BEGINNING of the process of birth. And birth cannot come forth without pain, as decreed by Yahweh in Genesis 3:16: "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children." And so for all these 6000 years since creation, we have known that the process of birthing involves pain. And we women have learned and experienced that when it is time to give birth, the pains grow closer and closer together and increase in intensity! So it is with Yahweh's signs in the earth today.

Within 24 hours large earthquakes struck Chile, Japan and Argentina. Yesterday magnitude 6.0+ after-shocks rocked Chile. The scientific reports are that "The earthquake/tsunami in 2004 and the recent one in Chile have moved the earth's axis." Time has even been shortened by milli-seconds because of this shift!

What is the meaning of all this? I caution you, dear readers, to remember that IT IS NOT AN END - IT IS A BEGINNING! We call these the "end times," but I think we should call them the "New Beginning Times." If we did that, we might just get our focus on the in-breaking Kingdom of Yeshua, in all its fullness and glory!

In Isaiah 24:18-20 we read: "The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind, so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls - never to rise again."

Never to rise again? Well, not as we now know it! PRAISE YHVH! The earth is reeling like a drunkard in the weight and the curse of human sin. And it will be our repentance and Yah's mercy that breaks through in Kingdom power and keeps those who love Yeshua and keep His Torah. The earth must go through its birth pains because the sons and daughters of God are being brought forth in purity. The Bride is being prepared for her Bridegroom.

As Shaul (Paul) writes in Romans 8:20-24: "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberat3ed from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God! We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to this present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redeption of our bodies. For this hope we were saved."

Our inner groaning is the Spirit within us, pushing us forth from decay and defilement, into glory and purity. We are being pushed through the birth canal, into the "glorious freedom of the children of God!" When we see the earth reeling, the seas raging, and the people perishing, let us not lose heart. Let us pray in the Spirit (which is our inward groaning) and let us rejoicing in our Bridegroom, who is coming soon! Let us strengthen our inner man, pray without ceasing, rise up in faith, be a light to this dark world, and eagerly wait for our adoption as sons and daughters of the Kingdom!