Repent and believe now
I pray you,
do have a little patience with us who preach to you,
for our time is short,
and you will soon be rid of us. Have a little patience with your Bible, it will soon enough be out of your way! Have a little patience with your poor Christian mother who tries to bring you to the Savior, she will be far from you soon! We, who now trouble you by desiring to do you good, will soon be out of your way.
Ah, poor souls! poor souls! for you will then be out of God’s way, and out of Christ’s way, and out of mercy’s way, banished from the Savior’s presence; and that because the kingdom of God came nigh unto you, and ye put it away from you, for ye would have none of the Lord’s reproofs, but ye turned every one to his own way, and rejected the counsels of God against yourselves. Beloved hearers, may none of you stand in that plight. While I breathe the prayer that it may not be so, may I ask you to pray for yourselves that it will not be so. Will you let me whisper in your ear, as though I stood close by each one of you now; and I will softly and lovingly say, — Repent, and believe in Jesus, now, with all thy might. God help thee, “for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Spur."
Image by Steve-h on Flickr under Creative Commons License.
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Is the economic meltdown we are seeing in this nation and around the world God's judgment? Back in early 2008, I wrote a Devotional on how God could use the economy as an instrument of His judgment on the United States. As we are now in August of 2011, 3 1/2 years later, do you still think what we are watching before our very eyes is an economic problem as opposed to a spiritual problem?
Have you seen the headlines lately? Our nation is over $15 trillion in debt and climbing, with our current obligations totaling well over $60 trillion. Friday evening, for the first time in the history of our nation, our credit rating has been downgraded from AAA by one of the major ratings agencies. At this moment, a larger percentage of our population is unemployed than we have seen in over 40 years, and a large percentage of those jobs are gone and never coming back. While President Obama celebrated his birthday with a lavish star-studded White House party last Thursday, over 1.2 TRILLION dollars of wealth was lost in the market sell-off that day. One out of seven people are now on food stamps!
In addition to these cold financial numbers, you are seeing anarchy in the streets. Every day I read about thieves stealing copper tubing from air conditioners, steel manhole covers, and metals of every kind. You have flash mobs of violence popping up all over the nation. This past weekend at the Wisconsin state fair, a mob of young black men attacked white fair goers, pulling people out of their cars and beating them. Acts of domestic violence are on a rise in all 50 states. As financial conditions worsen, these criminal acts are only going to increase.
DO YOU STILL THINK WHAT WE ARE WATCHING BEFORE OUR VERY EYES IS SIMPLY AN ECONOMIC PROBLEM, AND NOT A SPIRITUAL PROBLEM?
My friend, God's judgment can come in many forms. Most people think of God's judgment as what we read about in the Book of Revelation when His wrath is poured out on the world in the final days through devastating natural disasters that will affect huge percentages of the world's population. We also think of how God judged the children of Israel in the Old Testament when He allowed their enemies to take their land and enslave them. However, today, I want to take a look at another form of God's judgment that is also in the Bible, but one that most people never really think about, and that is the economy. I have personally felt that using the economy is not only the most likely form of God's judgment on this nation, but would be easily the most devastating since it will affect the lives of every person in some way.
The first issue to discuss is why would we even be talking about God's judgment on the United States? My friend, you don't need to be much of a Bible scholar to know that this nation is not only due God's judgment, it is OVERDUE God's judgment. In the Book of Deuteronomy the Bible warns," If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed."
As I have told you many times, the promises in God's Word are true but so are the warnings. This nation was founded on the Word of God and the hope of Jesus Christ. God blessed this nation abundantly, but over the past 235 years we have squandered those blessings and now live in complete rebellion to God and His Word. Just the fact we have abandoned God and have turned to the false gods and idols of this world, is enough for God to pronounce His judgment on this nation!
Sadly, in addition to worshiping the false gods of the world, we are living in utter rebellion to the Truth of God's Word. Sexual sin is rampant. Men treat other men in the most inhumane ways imaginable. People worldwide turn to drugs and alcohol for strength. Human life that can only come from God is no longer respected or valued. The greatest example of that is the fact that we legally slaughter over 4,000 innocent babies in this nation every 24 hours. That fact alone demands God's judgment on our nation!
As you read through the Old Testament, we see the children of Israel turn from God to the false gods of the world. We see them living in rebellion to God in every way imaginable. At some point, God says enough is enough and pours out His wrath and judgment on Israel. That judgment came in many forms, but usually it was allowing the enemies of Israel to take their land and the children of Israel into captivity. Sadly, it was only AFTER the judgment of God fell that the people would repent and turn back to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
PLEASE HEAR ME CLEARLY. IF GOD SPARED NOT HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE FROM HIS JUDGMENT, WHY WOULD ANYONE EXPECT THAT HE WILL SPARE THIS WICKED AND APOSTATE NATION HIS JUDGMENT?
My personal belief is that God's judgment on this nation will come through the economy. I remember distinctly back in he mid 80s when I was running from God and very heavily involved in trading some stocks, but mostly commodities and futures, how precarious the whole economic system really was. Now you have to remember, this was back in the mid 80s when the United States was clearly the dominant economic power in the world and the US dollar was the gold standard all currency was judged by.
Fast forward just 25 years later and the world's economic landscape has dramatically changed. China is clearly the dominant financial power today, the booming economies of the UK, Japan, Europe, and the United States have been replaced by China, India, and many Middle Eastern nations, and the floundering US dollar is no longer the monetary standard the world looks to. The weak dollar, sagging US economy, and what is now clearly a global economy in 2011, has all made the possibility of God using the economy to judge this nation even more likely.
This is not complicated to understand. I know economics can be intimidating, but this is actually very simple. Anyone who drives understands the pressure of gas at nearly $4 a gallon. With China, India, and other nations using so much of the world's energy resources, it wouldn't be a stretch to see gas at $10 a gallon. With the population of the world growing at the current rate, most people have no idea how precarious the food supply is becoming. We walk through our grocery stores with shelves stocked full of food, but it wouldn't take much for you to see many of those shelves empty.
The US financial markets have always been more tenuous than most people understand. For the most part, they are one big ponzi scheme, lots of hype with very little of substance to back-up any of the numbers you see. We have already seen the effects of this with the Internet bubble bursting in 2000 (another Internet bubble is right around the corner), the failure of giants like Enron and WorldCom, and the current nightmare the housing market is going through. If foreign money ever pulled out of the US markets, it would cause stocks to tank, sending a ripple effect that would be felt throughout the brokerage and banking industries as hundreds of trillions of dollars could be wiped out in days.
The point I am trying to make today is that it would not take much, a few tweaks here and there for our economy to unwind and this nation to experience a time far worse than even the great depression of the 1920s. God would not have to do much to use the economy as a form of His judgment on this nation and it would affect every man, woman, and child alive. Most people would be reduced to living like some people in other parts of the world, simply living from day to day trying to acquire the basic needs of life to survive.
I am not trying to scare you today, but to prepare you. Prepare you that life as we know it at this moment could change very easily and very suddenly. Now is the time to get serious about your faith and become bold in sharing that faith with others. I know God's judgment is coming, I know we are living in the last days, and I know Jesus is coming at any moment. That is why I have worked so tirelessly, especially these past 12 years since Liveprayer began, since I know that God has raised up this ministry for this moment in human history.
A great revival is about to be unleashed on this nation and the world. It won't be a revival of people chasing miracles, but a revival of souls as the lost come to repentance and turn to Jesus. They won't need signs and wonders to excite them, they will already be moved as they see the world around them crumbling and realize that they need something bigger than themselves to hold on to. There will always be those with the hard hearts who will curse God with their last breath, but hundreds of millions of souls will bow their knee and confess Christ as their Lord and Savior by faith!
Never fear. If you are a child of God, no matter what form God's wrath and judgment on this nation takes, we have nothing to worry about since our citizenship is not of this world. We have a Heavenly home awaiting us. Our only job during these few years is to do all we can to bring as many people to Heaven with us. This is the time, now is the moment, our opportunity to make our lives count for Christ is at hand. May we be found faithful as we take our stand for Him in these last days.
Practically, I will be praying for you and your family as God meets your every need. Never forget, HE, and HE alone is our supplier. If you have lost your job, God will open the doors for a new and better job. If you are struggling in your business, know that the Lord can give you wisdom and favor to see your business prosper, perhaps in a different form than it currently is in. Even in these times of economic trouble, the Lord can still open doors to provide for His children.
My word to you if you are struggling, be open to God guiding you down new paths, new opportunities, new ways to provide for you and your family. Keep an open mind!
Also, I know from our daily emails for prayer that many people have already been feeling the effects from the economic slowdown we are experiencing. Many have been hurt by the problems in the housing sector. Many hurt by the increased cost of food and gasoline. Many simply struggling to meet their monthly needs. Please know that I will be praying for you today and for the Lord to not only meet your every need, but bless your finances and give you FAVOR as you are faithful and obedient in that area of your life. Amen!•
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Keep Looking Up! Your Redemption Draweth Nigh! -Rev.Debbie ♥
