Great commentary this week from Grant.
I think all of us that are trying to remain watchful feel and hear the deafening silence in both our churches and society today.
I remember when I first started studying prophecy, you had to really search to find the articles corresponding to scripture. I use to make lists of them on my blog here to help others find them as they were hard to find sometimes. But I finally stopped a year or so back as they just became too much, I would have 3-4 pages of articles every couple of days. Today it is even greater. You can hardly pick up any news publication without seeing something that relates to end times prophecy. It is truly all around us and can be overwhelming…
Remember, the darker it gets, the brighter and farther our little light shines!
Maranatha, Lord come quickly!
myblessedhope
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By Grant Phillips
I’ve heard of the silent majority most of my life. They have resided in the churches, the neighborhoods, and the workplaces. I’ve met them in the restaurants, in the shopping centers, and at family reunions. The problem is they aren’t as noticeable as they once were. Their numbers are dwindling, rapidly.
The voices of celebration are getting louder and louder.
“When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp!” But Moses replied, “No, it’s not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration.” Exodus 32:17-18 (NLT)
While we, the silent majority, sat back and said nothing, Satan sneaked in the back door with a whole bag full of surprises. Now we stretch and yawn while looking around us, thinking, “What happened?”
Actually, I’m not sure there ever was a silent majority.
“Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?” “Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!” Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies.” Exodus 32:21-25 (NLT)
Obviously the majority were the evil people Aaron kowtowed to. Aaron was later to be the first of the Levi priesthood, the high priest at that, but at this time he was a sniffling coward, especially when compared to his brother Moses. Not only was he a spineless coward, he was also a liar. He was willing to trade what he knew was right in the eyes of God to participation in sin to appease the people. He didn’t want to “make any waves” in other words. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but why “rock the boat.” Let’s just please everybody. My goodness, don’t offend anyone!
I think Joshua would have stood up against them, but he was half way up the mountain with Moses. Surely there were many others who knew it was wrong to be worshipping a golden calf and dancing naked in the streets, but no one said a word.
Fast forward to the 21st century and guess what is happening today? People are dancing naked in the streets while worshipping the golden calf of greed, homosexuality, sexual escapades, entertainment, wealth, watered-down religion, and a continuing on-going list of putrid festered sins against God.
Almighty God miraculously delivered the Israelites from Egypt and did nothing less miraculous in delivering this United States of America from her enemies over the past 200 plus years. Are we grateful? How grateful is a child that is spoiled all their life? Don’t they normally turn out being ungrateful brats, even hating their own parents? We have forgotten that our blessings have come from God, not the work of our own hands. Maybe that is why we no longer want anything to do with God in this country. We’ve kicked Him out of our schools, our courts, our military, our government, our entertainment, and even our homes.
In my opinion, we are the most blessed country this earth has ever seen. We have been blessed not just spiritually but materially in ways that make other countries jealous. Even our poorest of the poor are rich in the eyes of others in some third world countries. Are we grateful? Many of our people are grateful. Many have given their lives because they were grateful.
Believe it or not, even today, many still realize that we have been blessed for one reason. That reason is that we started out in the beginning worshiping the one and only true God, our Creator. We acknowledged the second person of the Godhead as Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Even those who did not place their faith in Him still respected Him and His people. That crowd is dwindling fast.
Satan has attacked us from Hollywood to Washington D.C. He has thrown every tempting vice possible our way, and we have succumbed to his temptations as did Adam and Eve. Sadly, only a few have spoken up for Christ over the last several years. Satan’s crowd has been able to throw their garbage at us with very little resistance on our part.
I can remember when Jesus Christ was glorified from most of the pulpits and pews of America. Now, He is vilified. Most of those great warriors of God have gone on to be with our Lord. Few remain. Most of the churches now are social centers used primarily for politically correct, feel-good, fuzzy, tingly, give me goose bumps pep rallies for rebellion against God.
The world is now telling the church what it should preach. We are never to offend anyone, but how can that be? The Gospel is offensive. So what do we do? We stop preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We should never address sin. So what happens? Sin runs rampant, not just in the back alleys, but in the churches.
We should never say there is just one way to God. We should say there are many. We just pick the one that suits us best. Now what? Mass confusion is the result with the masses going to hell, because the church desires more to be politically correct than Biblically correct.
It is my opinion that Christ’s return must be very close. None of us know when, but He did command that we watch for the signs of His return. They are here, now. They are all around us. They are multiplying and intensifying as we draw closer to our Lord’s return.
Jesus says in Luke 18:8, “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” I believe He is referring specifically to His Second Coming at the end of the seven year Tribulation, but we can see true faith in God diminishing rapidly even now.
As the clock ticks down to Christ’s return, we who know Him as Savior and Lord need to speak up, loudly and clearly. I realize that fewer and fewer are listening, but it isn’t our job to make them listen. It is our job to speak. Let us boldly tell them about the Good News, the Gospel. Let us warn them that He is coming soon. Many will laugh and mock, but some, when in Heaven, will thank us for speaking out.
The silence from the Church has been deafening too long.
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
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Click on the article title for a link to full original referenced article.
In Romans 10 Paul lays out how salvation is open to all, Jew and Gentile. He writes:
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” – Romans 10:4-5
What he is saying is now it is not about works or how closely to a “T” you follow the law. But that it is through God’s gift of grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is really that simple, and yet a hard step for some of us.
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9
Christ is the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14), through faith in Him you will be saved. It is the only “works” that God requires for eternal salvation.
It is The Gospel of Jesus Christ. To learn more check out the following link.
myBlessedHope 