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A STIFFNECKED PEOPLE [Part 1]
As a variation on the incredulous query of Nathanael in John 1:46, “Can any good thing come out of Israel?”
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AGAINST ALL ODDS
As I’ve written here many times, it is truly a great wonder that the ancient nation ever survived as long as it did. Without God’s ongoing support and supreme faithfulness Israel would have had no chance. Sadly, it was not so much that it was vulnerable to outside attack, though this was certainly the case, but it was much more about national suicide. As the Lord God stated directly on numerous occasions, starting way back as early as shortly after the Exodus from Egypt (1446BC), the emerging nation had a serious attitude problem and could be described perfectly through the use of just one word, which was first used here:
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people…” [Exodus 32:9 KJV]
Also, we see that it was the Lord God Himself who first used this term. And with regard to this perfect descriptive, God actually referred to His people in Scripture as “stiffnecked” a total of four times in the KJV Old Testament (out of eight overall) and once, through the prophet Ezekiel, as “stiffhearted.” In the KJV New Testament, Stephen, under a powerful spiritual anointing, used the term only minutes before his murder at the hands of, well, the stiffnecked, who were enormously convicted because the descriptive term described them so well:
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. [Acts 7:51] …When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. [Acts 7:54] …Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him… [Acts 7:57-58]
The evocative –S– word was later cleaned up somewhat in later Bible versions. For example, what follows is the NASB95 translation of the first OT occurrence which also includes verse 10 for context:
The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” [Exodus 32:9-10]
Whoa. That’s pretty harsh. If God said that today He would be censored and accused of, well, you know.
Here is the same passage in the KJV, which is just a tad more descriptive:
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. [Exodus 32:9-10 KJV]
Now, why in the world would God be so powerfully angry at His own people not long after showing great love by miraculously rescuing them from abject misery and hopeless slavery in Egypt? What could they have done that would want to make Him trash the entire plan He had for them and consume/destroy them and start again from scratch making a new nation with Moses?
Oh yeah. The golden calf. And they had lost all moral control and had “rose up to play” and “have corrupted themselves.” All this while the Lord God was up on the mountain delivering grand plans for the nation’s bright future to Moses who was fasting for forty days in order to effectively commune with God, receive the Torah, come down in glowing joy bearing great gifts and a wonderful message, and would later lead them to the Promised Land.
That.
Therefore, it is absolutely perfectly understandable why God was so extremely wrathful that He wanted to off them entirely. We must note, of course, that the golden calf was in reference to the Egyptian deity Apis which in part portends to a love of money and which also means Israel quickly reverted back to idolatry and vile immoral behavior as soon as their deliverer was gone for a while. They were always doing this. They always required, by their inability to control themselves and live a holy life, a powerful anointed man of God to deliver, shepherd, and maintain them since they possessed so little personal discipline and desire for spirituality and closeness to the Lord. There was thus Moses, and then Joshua, and then after they arrived in the Promised Land one Judge after another over not just a few decades but centuries.
However, the actual much bigger issue regarding the very quick fall from grace Israel made on that momentous occasion of the revealing of the Torah is that God allowed His perfect mind to be changed and that He eventually relented of inflicting due justice by wiping them off the face of the earth. How did this happen?—
PUTTING UP WITH GOATS TO SAVE THE SHEEP
The same as it always does. Someone stepped in and did some heavy duty interceding. Someone got on their face before God and pleaded and prayed and wept and wailed. Someone proved to God that though the great majority may be hopelessly hell bound by their own choosing, there are others, though few, who really, really, really love the Lord and want to serve and honor the Lord no matter what and are willing to put up with any humiliating circumstance, every indignity, much longsuffering, and even pain if that’s what is required to do it. Some people will choose to try very hard to live holy lives and not rise up to play or corrupt themselves. The Lord God knew that Moses not only had a great heart for God but also a spiritual passion for God’s people and God’s great plans for them, and that he was willing to do whatever and put up with anything to see it all come to pass as impossible it appeared to be, in part because he knew all things were possible with God.
So Israel was saved to live another day yet again—saved from itself—due to the righteous Remnant of Israelites of which Moses was a part—the few and far between—being faithful to God and standing in the gap and taking it on the chin and interceding in prayer and suffering persecution from the very people they kept praying for and preserving in hope of their eventual salvation which never came for the majority.
I remember long ago when the Lord first gave me the revelation that the greater the particular ministry the more time it would take to prepare for it. Thus, Moses would not only have to be a very strong man, and he was, but would also need much preparation because he was being tasked with one of the hardest ministries of all time.
He would have to deal with the great cloud of stiffnecked goats in order to minister to the few faithful sheep.
REAL MEN OF GOD
It goes without saying, of course, that the people of Israel were in general a very hard people to shepherd (understatement alert). Moses, the man God chose for the task, was surely a monumental figure in history—one of a kind—since he actually fulfilled for forty years a ministry which was not only akin to herding a million cats but effectively far more difficult and which involved eternal proportions. He also spent his first eighty years preparing for those last forty, first as a member of royalty “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22), and secondly as an obscure unknown sheepherder in the land of Midian. Yet Moses was just a man and could never have successfully completed the immense preparation requirements and then the massive task of transforming a great multitude into a cohesive nation able to conquer the wicked interlopers in their given land of Promise without the Lord God in complete control due to the humble man’s willing submission and the Lord’s powerful anointing, guidance, and strength.
For greater perspective on the actual nature of what had become a thoroughly sinful people deserving of not only ongoing rebuke but severe judgment back into exile, consider the following prophetic word of Ezekiel delivered eight and a half centuries later in 593BC in the midst of the Babylonian invasion (God uses the adjective “rebellious” four times!):
Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children (stiffhearted KJV), and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ As for them, whether they listen or not—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.” [Ezekiel 2:1-7] [1]
© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued…]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE RIGHT WAY WE’RE SUPPOSED TO DO “CHURCH” [Part 3]
If we are not following the example of the very first Christians as documented in the New Testament then we are not following the example of the Lord Jesus.
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“FOLLOW ME AS I FOLLOW CHRIST”
The preceding quote is a standardized version of a statement made by the apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 11:1. It is often referred to when discussing the appropriateness of following the example of a mature Christian in a leadership role. Since young, new, or immature Christians are ubiquitous and are frequently seeking answers from those who have attained an accepted and recognized position of respect, such as “official” Christian ministers, they are often told in lieu of the actual answers they seek to instead follow the example of one who has gone before.
This is all well and good, of course, as many mature Christian ministers have proven their established place in Christian ministry by their growth, maturity, and achievements, as well as in overcoming all the challenges and difficulties toward reaching such a place. As Christians, we honor such people. We especially honor them if they have achieved their position in one’s respective denomination or in accordance with particular beliefs or practices that one holds dear.
However, it is regularly the case that one accepts a current generational Christian leader without seeking forth his or her bona fides regarding the previous generation or what might have transpired in the past to produce such a leader. For example, it is usually the case that such a leader followed in the ministerial footsteps of his or her parents, denomination, or another central leader who acted as a mentor. This means the makeup of a minister is commonly derived through the influence of others or established Christian bodies rather than through the purity of Scripture.
In fact, there are two particular major Christian denominations in the world, truly international in scope with effectively and comparatively ancient origins going back multiple centuries, that refuse to honor an exclusive foundational belief in the New Testament writings first and foremost because such a belief cuts into their desire and necessity for supreme authority. This belief which places Scripture first is referred to theologically as Sola Scriptura in that the Bible in general and the New Testament in particular is honored as the only infallible source of authority for Christian practices and faith. In was the Protestant Reformation which began five centuries ago that brought this truth into the light and established the belief in Scripture as primary which overrode the authority of customary ecclesiastical leaders and “Christian” potentates.
The reason this issue is so important is because a belief in “Christian” authority over Scripture removes the mandatory overall authority of the Lord Jesus. This means His authority is reduced to a secondary position at best which is a blatant violation of His own teachings and the beliefs of those who followed and honored Him in the very beginning who contributed their inspired writings showcasing His teachings. In other words, casting doubt on the veracity of the New Testament Scriptures and refusing to honor them as our sole foundation for Christian belief and practice also casts doubt on the Lord’s supreme authority as the only legitimate Leader of the Church—His Community of Called-Out Ones.
One wonders then at the asinine attitude of those who believe their Christian authority overrides the authority of the Lord Jesus. This is actually pure heresy on their part. However, they counter that the actual heresy is placing the authority of Scripture above their own. How did they arrive at such a place? What prompted them to entertain such a ridiculous notion? By way of answer I will say this: If one were to cut through all the fog and go to the very source one will arrive at the following:
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony…” [Revelation 12:7-11a]
Therefore, regarding the statement of the apostle Paul at the beginning of this article, Christians should only honor the authority of those mature Christians, such as Paul, if they follow the Lord Jesus. Such a condition is paramount. The apostle Paul would never in a million years attempt to supersede the authority of the Lord Jesus as so many traditional Christian leaders have done. Though it is obvious that some of these embrace Pharisaical pomp to the nth degree parading around as religious potentates and glorying in the honor and prestige associated thereof, many other Christian leaders downplay such an attitude somewhat while others are very subtle about it. These people don’t want you to know what they actually think of themselves and the position they’ve taken though it is otherwise obvious to those with eyes to see in that everyone knows who is actually in charge. And it’s not the Lord.
So Paul made it clear that one should only look to his example and accept his teachings if he indeed follows the Messiah, having recognized, honored, and submitted fully to the authority of the Lord Jesus:
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. [1Corinthians 11:1 NASB95]
Pattern yourselves after me [follow my example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah). [1Corinthians 11:1 Amplified Classic]
The English word “imitate” is from the Greek μιμητής mimētḗs (mim-ay-tace’). It is defined by Strong’s as: “an imitator:—follower.”
We know, of course, by what the Lord teaches as written in the Gospels, that to “follow” Him ultimately means that one must imitate Him, which means one must follow the Lord’s example, one must honor and obey His teachings, and one must do one’s best to represent Him correctly and properly. Now this is obviously a very tall order and the mind reels at the prospect of getting such an otherwise impossible thing right. But He said to do it which means it is not only possible and doable but mandatory. Or else one is not a real Christian.
This being said, and regarding the particulars of this teaching series, one must consider the following statements of the apostle Paul which appear in our subject Scriptural passage, 1Corinthins Chapter 14:
(1) Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. [14:1]
(2) Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; [14:5a]
(3) So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. [14:12]
(4) Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. [14:13]
(5) I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; [14:18]
(6) So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe. [14:22]
(7) If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. [14:27-29]
(8) Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. [14:39-40][1]
© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued…]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (8)
They have created an Ishmael—an illegitimate counterfeit. Most Americans are none the wiser (sleeping). This illicit replacement imitation is wreaking havoc on what’s left of the country.
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ISHMAEL
His name was Ishmael. He was the product of an unholy and faithless union. Ishmael was conceived because the great patriarch abandoned his faith in God and did the unthinkable. He had illicit relations with a foreign woman not his wife. Yet this great sin was not characterized as the adultery it surely was because Abraham performed this unholy deed at the behest of his wife Sarah. She convinced him to do it. It was a strange love triangle born of spiritual infidelity and outright rebellion against the Lord God. The good man was overcome by the incessant pleadings of his faithless barren wife. Sound familiar?
What Eve did to Adam is what Sarah did to Abraham. However, what these two women did obviously reverberated far, far beyond their respective significant others though they never saw that at the time. Both men knew better but both failed in their faithfulness to God. Had these two men stayed faithful to their overriding spiritual covenant as God had highly advised and counseled them, the great evil that resulted which continues even until this day would never have happened.
Both men made a spiritual recovery later on but the great damage had already been done. There was nothing that could stop the ongoing burgeoning of sin and evil in this world which has grown exponentially ever since. We are currently seeing evil shooting upward as never before like a proverbial rocket, as so many explosive and fiery launches over the last sixty plus years has enthralled a rapt but clueless audience beholding the wonder though never understanding the means and motive.
We see that the serpent was responsible in Eve’s case. Was the serpent also not responsible in Sarah’s case? God had promised Abraham a son, a very special son. He had made the promise to Abraham and Sarah roughly fifteen years before. This childless couple had kept the faith throughout those years. Sarah had always been barren. For all they knew it could have been Abraham’s problem also. The point is that this couple called by God could never have children yet God promised them a very special child who would have an immense and immeasurable beneficial effect on the world.
But they wavered. They grew tired of waiting. This was especially pronounced in Sarah. Her hopes were raised to the heavens when she first heard the promise many years before but then nothing ever came of it and her hopes were dashed. Abraham held on but only in a weakened state. He did his best. There was less and less to sustain his faith. Once Sarah quit and returned to her faithless condition, which barrenness portends, it would only be a matter of time before Abraham’s little remaining supply of faith in God regarding the promise would drain away. And it did.
A surrogate wife was found. The surrogate would be the mother of the promised child. Sarah decreed this. Sarah was just as wrong as Eve, of course, but because the correcting voice that had authority over her was effectively silenced—the voice of Abraham—as Adam’s voice was also silenced by his wife, Abraham proceeded to engage in the unholy, faithless, adulterous union. Again, Sarah did not merely suggest he do this or tell him to, she insisted upon it. Abraham was waylaid. Perhaps he was also tempted in his own right with forbidden fruit that was pleasing to the eyes and flesh. Perhaps he thought of his future great patriarchy and enjoyed the prospect of having another mate for such a purpose. Whatever the case, these two chosen ones messed up really, really bad. Being born into this world wasn’t Ishmael’s fault but the replacement boy later proved to be what he was—the fruit of an illicit union of which God had never approved.
Thirteen years went by. Abraham and Sarah apparently kept up the ruse the entire time, at least in part, and treated young Ishmael as the promised one. Hagar, the boy’s real mother, had something to say about this however. She likely never bought into the narrative and didn’t care. She only knew Ishmael was her boy and she couldn’t help but fight in the tug of war instigated by Sarah. Abraham thus had two wives and they were at odds always and he had to play the referee always, and as his faith had waned which brought forth Ishmael so had his good nature waned, being caught between two warring women, and he must have grown seriously weary as a result.
He also knew in his heart that Ishmael was not really the promised child. He was forced to engage in the deception initially to please his wife and was also forced to continue the charade to stay in her graces. As far as Sarah was concerned Ishmael was her son and anything contrary to this was forbidden. There is thus no possible way she could have had a relationship with God during the entire time for if she had she would have been convicted of her sin and changed her way of thinking.
It is quite interesting how the Word of God gives us clues that bypass most Christians, likely because most Christians are also stuck in false narratives as Sarah was and cannot see them. We know in Adam’s case he lived another 130 years after his initial sin and banishment. At that point he finally repented and did what was required to get right with God. Eve also repented and got right. Their third son listed in the Genesis account—Seth—was the result. He was the fruit of their return to God and effectively replaced Abel who the devil had eliminated by the murderous hand of the abominable Cain.
The point here is the 130 years. It is ten times thirteen. Ten is the Biblical number of ordinal perfection and thirteen is the number of rebellion. Once the rebellion ended, the Messianic generational bloodline was reestablished. For 130 long years there was no hope of a future Savior. If Adam had never gotten right with God there would have been no Lord Jesus. We would all end up in hell with no remedy. The devil would have won the universe. It is therefore no surprise that the number thirteen entered the picture once again in the case of Ishmael:
Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. [Genesis 17:24-26]
It was imperative that Abraham be circumcised prior to the birth of the promised child. Should he not have known that Isaac was impossible until he had done this? That Isaac would not only be the product of pure faith but also, by implication, the circumcision of the heart? How often do we as Christians make claims upon God’s promises but remain unwilling to fulfill the terms thereof? Circumcision portends spiritual cleanliness. It portends pure seed. It was the cutting off of the flesh. Though Ishmael was conceived while Abraham was uncircumcised (flesh), Isaac, the promised son, must be conceived in circumcised purity (spirit).
Also, the outward end of Ishmael’s development as a son of flesh must be officially stopped and was stopped at thirteen years. The big picture, of course, illustrates the nature of Abraham and Sarah’s sin in that, like Adam and Eve, it was a sin of disobedient faithless rebellion. Abraham’s faithlessness and rebellion against God ended, fully, with his circumcision. In fact, everyone in his entire household was also circumcised. God does not merely suggest spiritual purity if an Isaac is to come forth—He demands it.
Perhaps this is why much of Christianity never brings forth an Isaac but can only ever manage an Ishmael.
ISAAC
Immediately after this wholesale repentance/circumcision event when Abraham returned to rightness with God, he was paid a visit by God and God confirmed the initial promise He had made many years before. Keep in mind that God never would have shown up if Abraham did not fulfill what he must. God always has more time than us and will wait forever if need be. Also, the wholesale repentance/circumcision event of Abraham’s household broke the power that Sarah had gained over Abraham and to which he had fallen victim to when he obeyed her in forcing him to bring forth an Ishmael. As long as her power over the situation remained, Isaac could not possibly be born because he must be born of Sarah and not a surrogate. His birth would never happen as long as Sarah was in charge. Sarah would never have an ounce of faith as long as she was in charge. She would never be fertile. She would be unworthy of receiving spiritual seed. Of course, in her case, she was also unable of bear children in the flesh. She was barren both physically and spiritually. She was also faithless. The only way this could change is if she submitted to God. Fully. Why was Sarah so hardheaded and stubborn in this regard? Why did she demand to have her own way? Was this not the vestige of fallen Eve in her nature? (Abraham had also partaken of the vestige of fallen Adam by weakly complying with the demands and/or manipulation of his wife.)
The process toward spiritual life and away from fleshly rebellion, as it was in the exact case of Adam and Eve, started when Abraham took back control from Sarah and then submitted total control to God. (As long as Sarah was in authority she would never submit to God and there would never be an Isaac.) This is why there was such an immediate dramatic change for the better once Abraham repented and was circumcised. The change was so dramatic that even Sarah herself would be blessed with pure faith and her newfound faithfulness to God would result at last in spiritual fruitfulness. God had initially told them Isaac was coming 29 years before. The time had now arrived for Him to tell them again, this time face to face:
Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” [Genesis 18:1-5]
Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” [Genesis 18:9-14][1]
THIS PRESENT DARKNESS
Though an Ishmael has taken over and gained great power at the behest of evil forces he will not and they will not have the last word. Regardless of their success to date in establishing a counterfeit which appears to be legitimate, there remains much more to this story. We see many forms of attack against this Ishmael but none have worked so far nor will any other work. Except one.
As I have faithfully reported over the last eleven and a half years, primarily through this medium, a Great Awakening had always been in the plan of God for America. Just as He has done on countless other occasions, if we as His followers fulfill the terms of the promise, the present illegitimate Ishmael in control will not only be stopped but circumcised. Its evil fleshly power and connection to the devil will be cut off. This will happen when the rebellion is complete, when the perpetrators thereof have spent themselves in an ultimately losing cause. And every real Christian in America has a vital part to be engaged in toward that end. The Lord Jesus will do this, as He always has, through His people, His spiritual kingdom-minded Community of Called-Out Ones who bow the knee to Him, confess His holy Name, and circumcise their hearts.
In the interim, get faithful and stay faithful.
Isaac is coming.
© 2022 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (1)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (2)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (3)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (4)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (5)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (6)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (4)
God is forced to put up with never-ending willful sin and outright rebellion against His authority every second of every day in this fallen world. HE HAS HIS LIMITS.
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THE REAL VS. THE UNREAL
In this magnificent day in which we live, when long time sleepers are being stirred awake to varying degrees and unaware “normies,” as they are called, are finally starting to see through so many false narratives that had previously captured their minds, we must take note that the Lord will hold everyone responsible, regardless of their sleeping or awake condition, because of the massive effort over many years that was put forth to get us here.
Anyone who has spent years doing manual labor of some sort knows the cost of which I speak. Hard work gets things done. It can be tiring and draining, as we all know, but greatly rewarding. It gives us a great sense of accomplishment. Such effort demands the required rest afterwards to regain one’s health and ability to function properly. This normally comes with a good night’s sleep, of course, but many people who do such labor don’t often get the sleep they need and the labor takes a cumulative toll. Spiritual work involves the same dynamic.
For a brief synopsis on spiritual work and how things operate and get done in the spiritual world, it kinda goes like this: Some nobody real Christian somewhere of no reputation or notoriety labors intensely in total obscurity for pretty much forever in a determined ongoing effort to turn things from darkness to light. It may be someone engaging in heart-rending intercessory prayer, often not even aware of what or who they are praying for. They pray incessantly until the Lord says stop. Prayer of this kind costs. It costs a great amount. But what is gained from such prayer makes a massive difference for something or someone. Our prayer warrior may thus move mountains in answer to God’s call who uses such a method to accomplish His will in the earth.
Most people, including Christians, are never aware of such things. Great things happen and they appear to have just happened on their own. Imagine someone who engages in some kind of secret blessing ministry in which they give to others in such a way that no one knows who the giver is. Some of the recipients know exactly what happened and are extremely grateful. Others simply accept their gift, whatever it may be, as if they were somehow entitled to it with little or no thought of thanking the giver or even knowing there was a giver. They accept the gift without understanding or caring about the great effort that went into appropriating the gift to give. Sound familiar?
THE WAY THE KINGDOM WORKS
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” [Matthew 6:1-6]
It can never ever be overstated what the Lord Jesus has done for us. He did it all with the most humble self-effacing attitude. His greatest work was done in secret in that no one knew by observation that He was the Author. During His ministry, He spent hours in prayer pretty much every night and there must have been times when He pulled all night prayer meetings all alone. The results of His prayers showed up in His ministry work the next day. Keep that in mind when you see so much “Christian ministry” going on all across the country while New Covenant miracles are pretty much non-existent among such people. If the results are not there it should be obvious that the spiritual work was never there either.
The Lord has His reasons for keeping a very humble and obscure low profile and for commanding that His followers have the same. One cannot help but notice that the Lord Jesus always gave the credit and glory to the Father. He would not allow the glorification of flesh or mere humanity in the spotlight, even if it meant His own humanity, perfect and pure as it is. This should give all the glory hound in-the-spotlight Christian ministers great pause. Those who stand in such a place had better deliver or there will be consequences. Most such ministers, of course, never deliver. Their efforts remain squarely in the natural flesh realm. Not only do their ministries never see miracles many don’t even believe in miracles. And Christian ministry without miracles is NOT Christian.
Again, a great amount of behind the scenes spiritual effort by hard-working obscure nobody Christians has gone into the current Great Awakening. It is certainly the Lord Jesus who is bringing it but He must work through His people and He can only work through those who fully surrender to His will and are willing to be used in whatever way He desires. So, just as the Lord Jesus, as our example in this regard, gave all the glory to the Father (even though He later explained that He is the Father), so must all real Christians give the glory for the accomplished work to the Lord Jesus. He is the One with all the authority in both heaven and earth. There is nothing He cannot do. Once Christians actually see and understand this and apply His methods for achieving the work He has commanded must be done, they gain effective understanding that truly, all things actually are possible with God. They shift over into believing in miracles. They see that the help the Lord wants to give MUST include the supernatural.
OUR GREATEST OPPONENTS ARE NOT HUMAN
The devil is a powerful spiritual entity. This is simply fact. The majority of Christians don’t know this, don’t acknowledge it, lose sight of it, refuse to address it, or are much too fearful toward addressing it. Yet, the New Testament states this very plainly. The devil is in fact so powerful that he has gained control over the entire world. The only place he doesn’t have control is in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. There is a huge disconnect here among Christians, however. The Lord Jesus acknowledged this fact. The Early Church in the first century was well aware of it. To refresh our memories there is this:
And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” [Luke 4:5-8][1]
How did the devil gain control of all the kingdoms of the world? Why do we think this passage of Scripture does not apply to the present? Do Christians really believe that the devil controls all the kingdoms of the world at present? How many Christians actually acknowledge this?
It must be few. The few who do are most likely the real Christians of the world. They know this to be true because they are Kingdom-minded. They know when they were born again of the Spirit that they left the sinful world and entered the Kingdom of God. They know they were previously bound by sin and living in the devil’s prison. They know the Lord Jesus busted them out of jail. They thus know how this world really works. They are not unaware of the devil’s power and authority in his own realm. They also know, however, that the Lord Jesus has much greater power than the devil. They know that the Lord’s spiritual power is vitally necessary because the devil is a spiritual being and uses spiritual warfare against us. We MUST in turn use spiritual warfare against him. The Lord Jesus taught all about this and demonstrated clearly how such spiritual warfare must be done.
Therefore, though the great bulk of “Christians” in the world have no spiritual power by choice because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit and don’t want to be, though many convince themselves they are when they are not, and though these Christians represent little or no threat to the enemy, the relatively few real Christians in the world are the ones who work with God and are actually getting the work done and accomplishing the works of their Father. It is the few real Christians who have the courage to actually attack the enemy. The devil has created a prison planet with most of his subjects in jail, unknowingly, and God is intent on busting as many people out of the devil’s jails as possible. That takes effort. It takes great spiritual power. It takes the Lord having actual strong disciples intent on doing His will and being used of Him so He can work through them. Every time someone is actually busted out of the devil’s jail and brought into the Kingdom of God IT IS A GREAT MIRACLE.
THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL
Therefore, if you’re wondering when this evil will end, it is ending in part as you read this in that great spiritual work is being accomplished behind the scenes as it were and we see the evidence in part every time someone gets saved, set free from sin, and busted out of the devil’s prison.
Someone paid a great price for such to happen. Someone paid it forward with His very life. Moreover, we know great miracles are happening worldwide and the Lord’s Kingdom is growing larger because the devil is being exposed. The Lord’s LIGHT is shining on the great darkness in this world. His TRUTH is exposing all the lies and false narratives. This combination of spiritual Light and Truth means the enemy must be on the run from both.
He and his minions, including those of the human variety, can run for a while and hide for a while but will never be able to outrun the Lord Jesus or hide forever.
© 2022 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (1)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (2)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (3)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (5)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (6)
IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (7)
THE TEARS OF GOD
For all the senseless sins of humanity
For all the hate
For all the children
Whose lives are snuffed out
By their parents.
And other beautiful children
Born deaf or blind
Who love their lives
And give their might to prove their worth
While privileged ones
Throw theirs away
For so many so rebellious
No one can reach them
Intent on evil
Who deceived them?
And on it goes
Century after eon
Nothing ever changes
Man’s inhumanity to man
Brings untold misery
And hard, hard work for nothing
Destroyed in a day
Lifetimes achieving
She said it wasn’t worth it
And darkness descended
But what of another choice?
What of beauty?
What of kindness and love
And compassion?
What of joy?
Why the hate and discontent?
When air can be so pure
And nature so rich?
How can creatures so bright
Descend into such a pit?
Day after day after day
Misery upon misery
And evil people in power
Will no one ever stand to save?
Will we let it all slip away?
Day after day, tears fall
Year after year, tears fall
Century after…
The dry void receives the wet
Salty, salty tears
The levels rise
Overflowing banks
And continuing upward
So much sin
So much pain
So much flat out rejection
Of the cure
Of the means to stop it
To live right
To get it right
To stop the bleeding
But they would not
And the levels rise
More tears, flowing daily
Won’t you stop?
Won’t you try to live right?
Won’t you take care of one another?
I’ve given all I can give
I can give no more
And the levels rise
Drowning continents
Filling the earth
Overcoming all bounds
An unending stream
Of the Creator’s anguish
Oceans of tears
Jesus Wept
.
© 2020 by R.J. Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
Of Their Father the Devil: Political Pharisees
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” [John 8:44]
To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. [Titus 1:15-16]
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! [Isaiah 5: 20-21]
.
One of the greatest evils in this fallen world is evil people in positions of great power. And the worst kind of evil people are those who pretend to be good.
As sin increases exponentially and the authority of the devil continues to invade powerful positions of authority, millions of otherwise moral people with sound minds are so affected and influenced by the power of evil in authority figures that, barring a close walk with God, they also become depraved.
And despite the presence of any number of maniacs engaged in isolated incidents, the worst maniacs are those who use their positions of great power to corrupt huge populations.
For such people, the very best course of action is to repent and get right with God while they still can.
Barring that, they choose the worst course of all—choosing the devil as their father—and expose themselves to the worst judgment of all—eternal separation from God—that perpetrated upon themselves from which no one else can be blamed. They become the worst the human race has to offer and those who should never be in any position of authority.
They will receive the justice they deserve when they face God at the Judgment.
DEFAULT: HELL
The Word of God states that prior to making a decision for God everyone is a sinner bound for hell.
Most people, including most professing “Christians,” do not believe this. Never mind that their own personal history is laden with sins acknowledged or not (most often not), the history of the world clearly reveals, from anyone’s perspective, that it is absolutely true.
Mankind’s history is one of sin, depravity, immorality, murder on a grand scale, and pure evil. Such sin is in every society, culture, and nation that has ever existed.
No one can disprove this because it is impossible to disprove. One won’t get far if one tries and will consequently silently close the book, put it away, and stare with great disillusionment into thin air at the revelation.
This world is no playground. Those who believe it is eventually get creamed. People learn early on that they must defend themselves and quickly seek some form of protection for the purpose of survival. A few, very few, are ultra-protected and blessed with unlimited money and appear to be beyond judgment.
But for such people who have chosen a very temporary dream world, they must know that human bodies do not last forever: They wear out; they get old. And the people existing within said bodies will have to leave the comforts of home one day and enter into what is a completely mysterious future from their perspective.
Eternity is a great unknown for them because they risked everything on this life and living for this world, this very short sojourn that all humans get a chance at, without doing anything whatsoever to prepare for what comes after, which leaves them completely unprepared.
Such people are bold and strong when young and vibrant, when they seemingly have the world by the tail. They shoot their mouths off though they often have no real clue about whatever subject they may be discussing.
Most never consider the cost paid by parents or others, but mostly the cost paid by God to both create them AND die for them to purchase their salvation. They laugh at the idea. They take for granted the cost paid to get them to the place of their comfort from which they choose the opposite of the correct attitude and adopt instead a brash, spoiled-brattish stance revealing them to be the mere posers they are.
THE DOWNWARD SLOPE
But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. [Matthew 12:14]
All nations go through stages. Great nations are led by great people who are mature, moral, and battle-tested. The final stages of a nation, however, are staffed by the opposite.
When nations go bad, it is because the people in said nation grow immature. They live off the great strength of those who have gone before them, who knew the price that must be paid for greatness.
Immature, spoiled people then choose likeminded people to be their leaders. A nation’s leaders are always a reflection of the populace. Poor nations are poor because they lack the moral strength and resolve to do something about it, and evil leaders rush in to take charge, since no one stops them. They end up taking everything for themselves.
In America, it used to be that political leaders must pass a very strict test placed before them by society at large. It included a morals test. But presently, the idea of a morals test placed upon prospective leaders is a joke. We have not had a series of moral leaders in a long, long time.
Why? Because the country has drifted downward. It began the descent by drifting downward morally. Once morality was thrown out the window no one could put a morals test on leaders. Hence, leaders became depraved.
But there is something else. When a nation of 300 million begins to go bad it takes a while. And while it is descending toward a moral cesspit having lost its way, and thus making completely idiotic choices for leaders, it goes relatively slow. There are many within the down-sliding group that continue to speak out and warn, and the warnings are always given with sufficient time to change course.
But not so with the chosen evil leaders. Their decline into abject immorality is relatively fast. Depending on the immoral state of the country, there are fewer and fewer checks and balances against evil overseers. No one can thus stop them without a drastic course correction.
WHO’S THE BOSS?
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” [Luke 12:48] [1]
In America, the Constitution states the people are the masters and government representatives are servants of the people. Hence, the people are the boss and must therefore always take their responsibility seriously.
This is why, even in a place like America—always imperfect but overall historically more moral and especially free than most other countries—it creates the saddest state of affairs when decent people choose evil people to lead them.
They choose them because they believe their lies. The people are cheated, but the people actually cheat themselves.
Why? Because a big part of immorality is willful ignorance. Americans knew better but neglected their homework and became a nation filled predominantly with ill-informed voters who chose people to lead them for all the wrong reasons.
And now we are stuck with a few, very few, in very, very powerful positions who no longer listen to voters AT ALL.
And why should they? They know the majority of voters are stupid which can easily be proven by their own elections and appointments.
And they know if they can deceive the American public so easily while merely running for office, they can deceive them that much more easily once they gain office.
Hence, Americans have chosen leaders who have zero respect for them and treat them exactly as they feel they should be treated according to their evil inclinations and attitudes.
This makes them maniacs.
Americans should be ashamed.
Things are backwards and upside down.
Americans should do what is required to right the course and regain control.
It begins with repentance and getting right with God.
We have been taken over by Political Pharisees.
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
New York City is the Undisputed Abortion Capital of America
Please continue to pray for those who are suffering as a result of Hurricane Sandy. There are incredible reports coming forth of great love and support all over the region. Neighbors are helping neighbors. Friends are helping each other. Sacrificial giving is taking place. It is very encouraging to see what is largely a purely American response to help one another—one stemming directly from our Christian heritage—that is relatively rare in other parts of this world.
While we are all greatly concerned about the extensive devastation and suffering currently taking place, we must stay on point in remembering possible reasons for such devastation.
Some are saying this is simply a cyclical change, and that the planet is merely going through the same cycles it has been going through over millions of years. The difference now, it is said, is that a lot of our stuff happens to be built in danger zones. It certainly appears that some kind of climate change is taking place, but the northeast has experienced massive storms like this before, just not this massive.
And the destruction from Hurricane Sandy has been off the scale. There is really no precedent for a storm this large and destructive. It would take years to repair the damage and rebuild, if indeed all will be rebuilt. No one wants to use the “K” word but is has already been floated by those on the scene when the monster storm blew in. Comparisons to New Orleans are obvious.
For those who insist on keeping this event on a mere natural plane and claim it is just nature being nature, you probably do not need to read any farther. The truth of the matter is that actions have consequences. Great civilizations have arisen in the ancient past and vast empires have been constructed. But they are all gone now. Nothing remains but ruins and historical accounts, some quite brief. They did not just come and go with no rhyme or reason. There were in fact perfect reasons for their demise.
And the number one reason was sin and rebellion against the Creator.
Speaking of sin, the most vile, disgusting, wicked, and perverse choice ever perpetrated by humanity is the act of violently reaching inside a mother’s womb and ripping an innocent growing baby out piece by piece (or using some other horrendous method, such as vacuuming the little one out, or even allowing the innocent baby to be partially born and then knifing it in the neck and splitting its skull and…)
People actually do this.
Every day.
In America.
And it’s all perfectly legal.
And not enough people care to do anything about it. For the most part we waste all our steam on political rhetoric and false promises. We are actually satisfied that some bigwig says he is against the practice and let it go at that. Or we continue playing the fool’s game of electing false pro-life presidents so they will appoint the right Supreme Court justices to change the law. It didn’t work with Reagan thirty years ago and it won’t work now.
The only thing that will work is repentance. And repentance requires a humble, contrite heart. And until enough people in America put forth some real repentance with the fruits of repentance to match nothing will change. Innocent babies will continue to be butchered.
There is such a huge disconnect in this area. If parents think of their own newborns they are horrified at the prospect. Grandparents think it the worst of all scenarios. But when it comes to all those other babies who have no advocate to save them from the worst form of child abuse ever invented, almost everyone goes silent.
Why so many abortions are performed there might have many reasons but the facts are clear: If you are a baby in the womb the last place in America you want to be is in New York.
Of course, there are many wonderful, loving parents in New York and births take place there every day all day long, and the little ones are perfectly cared for. But it’s like those men sitting in a briefing room about to go on a bombing mission during a war. The instructor tells them to take a good look at the men on either side of them. He then tells them there is a fifty-fifty or better chance you will never see them again, because many will not be returning home.
If you’re a baby waiting to be born in New York it is exactly the same: “Hey little buddy, you might make it, you might not. You have about the same chance of being tortured and cut up in pieces as you do being born healthy and whole.”
And that is simply the fact. Abortions in New York City almost equal live births. The metropolis has the most liberal laws in the entire country for killing your unborn baby (or terminating your pregnancy if you prefer).
Since science tells us that every action demands a reaction, and we all should know that our choices have consequences, what does one think the reaction or consequence might be for the worst sin ever committed by a human? Especially when the sin is multiplied a million times? Or about 54,000,000 times? That’s the number of babies legally killed in this country over the last forty years.
It was about this time of the year in 1972 that the Supreme Court was officially deliberating the verdict, but the decision had already been made. It was part of the world population reduction agenda by the globalist traitors in power. January of 2013 will mark forty years since the verdict was rendered. And when Roe v. Wade was decided on January 22, 1973, babies within the womb across the entire country were instantly denied every single one of their rights legally granted to them by the Constitution of the United States, most significantly their right to life. They no longer had a single viable advocate. Each of them was rendered a non-person, a gob of tissue, a nothing. And America has been awaiting the worst form of judgment ever since.
As they say in financial circles, follow the money. In this case, follow the judgment. Unless America repents as a nation it will one day be judged as a nation. Until that time, keep your eye on certain states and cities. Those who reject God and consequently embrace the devil the most are first in line to receive their just fruits.
Forty is a very significant Biblical number. It can be defined as a generation or significant time period. Most of all, it is termed a period of probation. Just as it is that there is no longer any chance to repent once a person dies, it is often the same with this time period:
“So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was destroyed. Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.” [Numbers 32:13-14]
“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” [Deuteronomy 8:1-5]
“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” [Deuteronomy 8:11-14]
“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.” [Ezekiel 16:20-22] [1]
The most defenseless and innocent among us are the little ones. Only the heartless do them harm. Only pure evil is responsible for their deaths.
There will be hell to pay.
© 2012 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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