Earnestness

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Earnestness

and the article:

Living On Borrowed Time

Many Christians are simply unaware of their spiritual state.

Just as Jesus prophesied, the Church ‘slumbers’ (Matt 25:5).

You need to stir up what He has given you before it is too late to change.

By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries

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Our society is laid back, complacent, cool, self-satisfied, aloof, spiritually negligent, physically-minded, and self-centred, not God-centred. And Christians in this society reflect that decadent ethos in large measure. That’s not my appraisal. It’s Jesus’:

Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked (Rev 3:17).

The blindness is alarming! These warnings were penned in Revelation to alert believers through all succeeding years to the weaknesses in their spirit that human nature protects. And, though the Spirit is continually telling us all, the majority choose to ignore it. They think there’s nothing wrong with them. "I’ve accepted Jesus as my Saviour. I love Him and live for Him (or so they think). That doesn’t portray me!"

They can’t see that they’re in an in-between state. Jesus has begun the process of conversion in them, but it’s still got further to go, and they don’t like what He’s now trying to tell them:

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth (Rev 3:15,16).

That’s a frightening prospect! But it’s not without precedent in Scripture. You can read of it also in Proverbs 1:20-33, where wisdom ‘cries aloud’.

She (wisdom personified) is also the subject of Revelation 12, expanded to include the ideology that God gave Israel, and later passed on to the Church in fuller measure through Jesus. And yet, the world’s influences, depicted metaphorically as a flood, have attempted to erode and sweep it all away (Rev 12:15). The effects are to be seen everywhere throughout the Church, as truth is compromised, watered down and altered. And when Christians accept this watered down version, they think nothing of it. "I still love Jesus", they think.

That’s not good enough to Him. He wants a pure bride, not one with blemishes and spots that make her ugly. And He doesn’t want those imperfections masked with make-up. That’s hypocrisy or falseness.

Jesus foreknew that the faith once delivered would be lost, retained by only a few, a remnant. He said:

At the coming of the Son of Mankind, will He be finding the faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8, Concordant Literal Translation.)

He urges you to contend earnestly for it:

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend EARNESTLY for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

Who Is Faithful And True?

Jesus appears to you and me today – because we live in a Laodicean age, under its self-centred influences – as Faithful and True:

These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God (Rev 3:14).

Why does He present Himself with this emphasis? There’s a great unspoken message. "You (Christians) are NOT faithful and true!"

We live in an unfaithful age, where Christians for the most part do not care about absolute truth once they have got what they want from Him. They don’t care about the faith once delivered. They think – as they go to their respective churches on Sunday, or keep Christmas, or celebrate Easter – that what they do is OK and that they are being faithful to Him. What they don’t see – and often don’t care to see! – is that they are merely being faithful to their church or to their pastor, or to the traditions their compromised church goes along with for expedience sake. They are NOT being true to Jesus. He is True. The Church structure and customs we live with today are not!

We live in an age of deception and sham. Deceit governs the lives of most. Most prominent evangelists enact a lie – from Billy Graham to Billy Brag (I coin this name to emphasise what is behind most evangelists’ behaviour). God spoke in dreams to Kassahun in Ethiopia about the dreadful deceit in western performance preachers. They are a sham – ‘sham-ans’. Here is some of what He said:

Billy Graham

Dec 26/06. K. I met a friend of mine from the USA whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. We chatted together about the good old days. When we turned our discussion to religion he told me that Billy Graham is a member of the underground Freemasons. I couldn’t believe what I heard.

Meaning: Billy Graham is not converted. I remember telling someone that Billy Graham was a false minister, because what he established was a large institution to glorify his name. The man I told didn't believe me. He thought Billy Graham was a good man with laudable motives. But the telltale sign of falsity was when Billy G didn't move on and accept the healing ministries, and didn't go on to accept faith for God to heal. All he preached was a halfway house gospel of salvation only, and that was for his own self-glorification as much as Christ's. Whenever someone draws back from accepting more truth, and refuses to come into the full will of God, they backslide. The eventual outcome of that is to even lose what they think they have – salvation.

The Pride Of Some Big Evangelists

December 27/06. K. A friend of mine invited me to a crusade. I went there with him. The large auditorium was full of people. The preacher was preaching about himself being a great prophet. I didn’t like his preaching because he wasn’t humble before God. But the people were worshiping him as if he is a god. (The majority of Churches are under the rule of some kind of hierarchy where people are literally worshiping ministers instead of God and His Son Jesus Christ.)

Comment: Morris Cerullo falls into this category (see MM’s article Dreams From God About Morris Cerullo) and many other preachers with high profile (see MM’s articles God Is NOT Pleased With Televangelism, and GOD TV Is NOT God’s TV).

The pride, complacency and lukewarmness towards purity and truth is not confined to evangelists. The ‘disease’ infects many ‘ordinary’ folk, as these visions portray, followed by what God wants in you:

Hypocritical Christians

Oct. 19/06. K. I was preaching in a church of black Americans. I told them that if they don't repent of their sinful ways death will devour all of them. They all said with a loud voice 'Amen' but I knew that they were bluffing.

Comment: Some black American churches are merely singing and social clubs, where Gospel music has degenerated to the level of worldly entertainment.

Hypocrisy Everywhere

Dec. 3/06. K. In a dream wherever I went I came across the number 23.

Meaning: 23 represents hypocrisy. It is 10 (number of man) + 13 (Satan, curse, etc.). The Church is full of it!

Jesus Wants The Pure In Heart

July 27/06. K. Malcolm asked me what a person needs to be married. I answered saying it differs from person to person. But he simply said to me "Pure Heart."

Meaning: Jesus will wed those who are pure in heart (Matt 25:8). They will be His Bride (Rev 19:7,8).

Demonic Charismatic Worship

July 28/06. K. I was invited to a charismatic congregation. When I arrived there several people were staring at a white screen. They were watching a movie. The movie was about Jesus. He was seen training in kung fu (an eastern martial art that is demonic in its origin and influence).

I was furious and went straight to the screen and stood in front of it so that the people couldn't see that trash. They began shouting and cursing me. Guards came and dragged me to the door.

Meaning: This is an allegory of the demonic nature of much of charismatic worship. It has degenerated over the years into welcoming demons, because few people know how to test the spirits, or don’t care to do so (1 Jn 4:1).

URGENT!

August 16/06. K. Earnestness needed.

A new Newsletter arrived from Malcolm. There were large bold letters on the front page which said, "URGENT!" It made me curious to know what was written inside. Meaning: We are trying to wake people up and prepare people for what is coming.

Changing Your Lukewarmness

To deal with this problem, YOU have to stir yourself up (2 Tim 1:6). There is only one way to be purified, and that is through trial. Ask God to humble you (if you are prepared to suffer for this end). You need His ‘gold refined in the fire’, the ‘white garments’ of His righteousness, and the Holy Spirit to ‘anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see’ (Rev 3:18). YOU have to ‘be zealous and repent’ (3:19).

Zeal is earnestness. You have to be eager for the things of God, for His purity, for His righteousness.

You have to be prepared to accept ALL He says, not just some of His Word. You have to alter your life – drastically, if need be (it often seems that way to us!) – to abide by what He commands.

When you know the truth, you have to live by it. YOU must be faithful and true, too. You can’t continue with a lukewarm Sunday tradition when you know the 7th day is what God commands to be kept holy (Ex 20:8).

Seek Him in prayer each day. David prayed three times a day. It’s a good paradigm. Take time out to be with Him, to commune with His Spirit, to yield to His Spirit, to let His Spirit transform you and imbue you with His love, with His earnestness.

Let His gifts flow through you for the benefit of others. If He has given you the gift of tongues, use it each day; labour in intercession for others. As you pray in tongues, you don’t know for whom you are interceding. It doesn’t matter; you don’t need to know. As you pray for others, God will work for you. That’s the scriptural principle:

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (James 5:17,18).

Earnestness will bring forth its fruit. Malcolm B Heap

Living On Borrowed

Time

Jesus’ return is very soon – within a handful of years! We have repeatedly stated that for several years. So has ‘our’ estimate passed its ‘sell-by’ date? The sceptics and fault-finders like to think so, and also think that we are nuts.

I always say, ‘So be it; let them.’ God gives people the justification they want to scoff and mock. But the pure in heart shall see God.

I remember a friend asking me back in the late 70’s, "Malcolm, how long do you think we have?" And my reply then was as it is today: "Not long, Gordon. Not long!" Back then I thought that we would see the end of the age closing in shortly after 1980. It wasn’t because of anything God had said, because at that time Helena and I weren’t consciously hearing from God as we do today.

I just had that sense of urgency that His Spirit had put in me. You can see it in the early disciples, who all expected Jesus’ coming in their lifetime. You can read of it in Paul’s letters, where he wrote as if Jesus might come within a handful of years. And Jesus meant it to be like that. He stated things in such a way that they jumped to such a conclusion.

Now, over 1900 years nearer the time, we await His return with equal anticipation. Does it bother you that we still don’t know the year of Jesus’ return? It has shattered the faith of some to have believed in Jesus’ return by a certain date, only to see that date come and go, and Jesus nowhere in sight.

The thing is, we are not to set our sights on a date – because it can be like shifting sand. We are to set our sights on Jesus – to do His will, and to be in harmony with His Spirit. Then, He will give us what we need to know along the road, so we are suitably prepared.

2008

In 2004, God gave a dream to Kassahun in Ethiopia, in which He stated that darkness would cover the earth in 2008.

When God gives dates, it is rare. Usually, date-setting in revelations is a tack of the enemy to draw you away from your focus on God, to sidetrack you to focus on the physical, via a date. In this case, I feel that God gave a date for very important reasons.

Darkness symbolises evil; so I thought at first that evil covering the earth in 2008 meant that the Great Tribulation would be upon us some time during 2008. It seemed the most plausible meaning.

I also believe that the main focus of the date was for Kassahun’s benefit. God has warned him through many dreams about warfare that is shortly to engulf his country, and the horn of Africa, including Sudan, and even further afield. So, it is my belief that the dream is a forewarning of trouble to engulf Ethiopia that would begin during 2008 and lead into the Great Tribulation (probably shortly thereafter).

2 Years / 3 years

It doesn’t necessarily follow that the Tribulation will hit every area at the same time. Two dreams God gave us showed that, while two years were to be reckoned for America, three years were allocated for Britain and Europe. God did not say when those 2 years and 3 years are to be reckoned from, but I have a hunch that they are relative to MM’s work.

We have reported about the ‘invisible’ revival which began here around Pentecost 2006. God has also promised a two-year revival for MM’s outreach, which I take to mean a prominent revival triggered by God’s miraculous activity done for a public witness. If that were to begin sometime in 2009, then we have a benchmark to understand the dreams about "2 years" and "3 years". But God does not work according to human understanding, so don’t bank on this as anything other than speculation, until you see it come to pass.

One purpose in God giving the date of 2008 is to alert everyone who will listen to the closeness of the prophesied end-time events catalogued in Revelation. I don’t think now that He meant us to believe that the Great Tribulation in Britain will begin in 2008, but it won’t be long. Conditions are deteriorating fast! Watch and pray!

Two years is not a long time. Look back over the last two years in your life, and see how quickly it has disappeared. Then look at how much you have changed in that time, and you will see why God gives short spans of time as goads. Say the Second Coming was scheduled for 2012 (I’m not saying it is), if he had told us in 1992 that there were only 20 years left in this age, you and I would have become very lethargic spiritually, and some would have fallen away, thinking they had a long time and no need to do much, intending to pick up the pieces of their life in 2008. It doesn’t work. If you are not living it now, you won’t be living it then, either.

So, God always does and says things to help keep us on our spiritual toes. The moment you let down is the moment the devil takes you away, and blinds you, which is why Peter warned:

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet 5:8).

The time is now

One of the most accurate chronologies of the Bible has been Archbishop Ussher's. He placed Creation at 4004 BC. Using that as a benchmark, and moving forward 6000 years, many Christians in the 20th century speculated that Jesus' return could be in 1997. But there was something all overlooked – that is explained in Will Jesus Come Soon?

God has provided many indicators in revelations over the years, which, when all taken together, show that Jesus' coming is very close!

Just to cite a few, Mila Thompson (Midnight In America) received a dream in 2004 that Jesus' coming is around seven years away. The dream did not set a date. It merely gave seven years as an approximate time period. Once again, God didn’t say when that 7 years should be reckoned from. God’s purpose is to prompt a sense of urgency. This dream given to Helena explains why:

29th July 2003. H. The end of the age is very close!

In this dream I read some literature to do with the end of the age. I was stirred up by it. I wanted to share it with others, but somehow no one cared!

Meaning: The apathy in most people. They have become spiritually dull and don't care about what really matters. So they don't know where the world is in God's heavenly timetable! The time is late! God has to get people's attention, through raising the dead!

We have circulated many thousands of copies of How Soon Will Jesus Come? In it, we published information that indicated Jesus could return within this decade. That option has now expired, but it doesn’t alter the urgency of the hour. It intensifies it. Those who can't see how close such an event is are blind! Sin blinds most. Even of the Church, portrayed as ten virgins or bridesmaids in a parable, ALL are asleep! (Mt 25:5.)

It is time for the Church to awaken and put on the garments of righteousness Jesus has provided in the literature. There is so little time remaining! The Bride must get ready! We must all be urgent in response!

God is warning about the nearness of the end of this age of man's misrule:

25th Jan 2004. M. End of the world within 7 years.

This dream was about an occult prediction, showing that the demons know how short time is. (For more details see MM’s Dream Diary Supplement 26, p 8.)

Satan knows his time is short (Rev 12:12). You need to have a sense of URGENCY, too! These dreams to Kassahun illustrate what God is saying:

Oct. 18/06. World War 3 Is Close!

I read from a news magazine that World War 3 has begun and the world is now beginning to shake.

Nov. 10/06. Three Lunar Eclipses.

In three different dreams at night I saw lunar eclipses three times.

Meaning: Three portrays finality. The moon symbolises the Church. Its eclipse is shutting out its light. So it is a reminder of the final persecutions against God’s people that will soon be upon us in the Great Tribulation.

Dec. 12/06. Countries Preparing For War.

I was not permitted to know all the details but the dream was about countries preparing for war.

Oct. 3/06. Get Ready. Time Is Short! I was distributing booklets to people on the street, telling them that the end is very near and urging them to be ready for the coming time of trouble by returning to God.

April 22/02. ‘Hide’ In The Almighty!

I heard a voice from afar. It says, ''The end has come! The end has come! Hide in the Almighty! Hide in the Almighty." [When God repeats things it's for EMPHASIS. It emphasises the importance of heeding, and the certainty of what is coming, that humans cannot see!]

Meaning: We are entering the Great Tribulation very soon, the worst time in earth’s terrible history. The only safe passage through this time of horrors is to be sold out to God, completely reliant upon Him.

How To Prepare

Although time is short, there is no need to panic or fear. That is what the devil wants, not what God wants. God wants you to take seriously the imminence of the end of this Age, and to draw near to Him, to 'seek His face' in prayer and dedicated obedience.

If you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. So, spend meaningful time with Him. Study the truths He is revealing. Think on them. Hold onto them. Develop a greater love for His Word, and live out His way of life in selfless, uncompromising obedience to whatever He tells you.

Listen to His Spirit for opportunities to share His gems with others. Walk with Him daily, in humble and obedient gratitude for the price He has paid for us all. And He will prepare you.

Jesus’ coming, in two senses, is overdue. Never has this world needed Him more. So does the Church. The Church is not ready, so He ‘delays’ His coming. We are all living on borrowed time! Get Ready!

Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise stated