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January 20, 2013 Dear Friends, I appreciate being able to be in church. Every Sunday is precious and I believe that in the future we won’t be able to hold church on Sunday’s. At that time we will look back with sadness and wish we had put more effort into it. This week we sent out a briefing paper called, “The Future Is Here,” and the rejections started to come in as people angrily demanded to be taken off the mailing list.
There is going to be a falling away as we approach the last days of freedom on earth before the Antichrist system takes over. When the apostle Paul came to the end of his life, most of his friends had left him. When he stood in the Roman court facing the charges brought on by the Jewish leadership, no one stood with him.
When Paul came to the end of his life, one would think that having been such a great apostle, having showed such great compassion on so many people, healed the sick and started many churches, you would think that the seven churches in Asia that he had a hand in founding, would have sent a delegation to stand with Paul. But there was persecution and everyone abandoned him as a result. They were fond of him but they weren’t willing to stand with him. Many of you have been watching the webcast and archived videos, read our material, and you’re beginning to feel the heat and that makes you unsure if you want to be affiliated with us anymore because they might come and take you away. I called several people this morning and repeatedly was asked if I had received a visit from the FBI or Homeland Security? Praise God, I haven’t received such a phone call or visit yet. The tendency is that God is great when the sun is shining and there is plenty of food but there was a time in Jesus’ life when He began to talk about drinking His blood, eating His flesh, and people said, “Who can stand to hear this?” and they began to leave him. Jesus had about 30,000 people following Him around Galilee, but by the time He arrived in Jerusalem, that number had melted down to 120. On the night prior to the crucifixion at the Garden of Gethsemane, all the disciples fled when He was arrested, no one stayed with Him. When Jesus hung on the cross, only the women stood close, while the men stood afar off. There is going to be persecution, we don’t look for it, but it will certainly come to us as many Christians will be martyred. In these last days, are you willing to stand up for truth? When the discussion was going on in the 1760’s and early 1770’s here in America about a revolution, about throwing off the yoke of the British, we don’t hear much about it, but did you know that a large percentage of the colonists sided with the British? They even fought against the forces of George Washington to put a stop to the revolution.
I have shared this because we are living on borrowed time. January 21, 2013 is a day of mourning in America. This is the day that Barack Obama is going to be sworn in for a second term. The mourning is not over the man but over the policy changes that he is determined to make in his second term. Let know one fool you, there is going to be festivities with dancing and drinking that actually started a few days ago. These people are rejoicing because they want to destroy our Constitution and change America, but for those of us who walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in the authority of the Constitution, tomorrow is a day of mourning. I got an email to boycott all television programming in protest, I can tell you that I won’t be watching anything coming out of Washington D.C. tomorrow; I will be praying and feeling sad. As thousands of Christians around the United States pray and fast for our nation this month, we need to join them and ask that God would once again pour out his Holy Spirit upon this nation. It doesn’t matter how dark and late it is, there is nothing that God can’t reverse, but if we do not pray and repent of our sins, there will be no move from God. A couple in our church has a daughter who is a pray warrior, and she has been heading up a prayer network to bring prayer back to America. I want us to be much in prayer for our nation.
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There
is a tendency in human beings to say, “I don’t want any trouble. I have my
family, a job and a future. I don’t want to take any chances and jeopardize what
I have.” Jesus said that he who tries to save his life will lose it but he who
loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it. (Luke 9:24) I have said it before
that there are many cowards in Sweden; I haven’t found many pastors who are
willing to stand up for truth. But there are also many cowards in America that
will melt away when it’s crunch time because they care only about themselves. I
challenge you, when everything is said and done, and we all appear before the
Judgment Seat of Christ, will you stand there in shame when it is announced that
you didn’t want to make any waves and refused to stand up for Jesus? Or will
Jesus call you a blessed and faithful servant who stood strong while His name
was blasphemed, the church was destroyed and people were scattered? The decision
has to be made in your heart because once you die and pass over to the other
side, you can’t protest that your heart was in the right place and you wanted to
take a stand, but did nothing. Jesus will simply tell you to be quiet and you
will know that you failed Him. Jesus said if you will deny me before me, I will
deny you before my Father. But if you confess me before men, I will confess you
before my Father. (Matthew 10:32-33)
