Over 25 years ago
the Lord gave me the message of
the Blessed Hope to help the Church prepare
for when the Lord returns, and during
the last several years the Lord has been
amplifying that message. He helped
carry the first message across our
great land as the Holy Spirit opened up
doors at numerous radio and television
stations throughout the country. Ray
Brubaker helped me herald this vital word
for the Church with the words to the
foreword to my first major book:
“Surely revival must
come to
the heart of the person living in known
disobedience to the will of God upon
realizing their carelessness and
indifference. This condition, which
constitutes “lukewarmness,” could result in
their lack of being ready when our
Lord returns. If looking for our
Lord's
Return, will we not want to be ready for
that glorious event? As we read in I
John 3:2-3: “...
when He shall appear, we shall be like
Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And
every man that hath this hope in Him,
purify himself, even as He is pure.”
The latest
trilogy of free books the Lord has given
me are aimed at helping believers focus on
what’s really important as His
coming draws ever nearer (see www.ProphecyCountdown.com).
The “lukewarmness” that exists in the hearts
of many believers today is the result of the
fact that many Christians believe
that our salvation only entails being born
again. While I agree wholeheartedly
that we are
completely saved by the blood of our
Saviour, this message is only the
beginning of our redemption. (1Thessalonians
5:23)
The modern
teaching on salvation has been severely
tainted by today’s “ultra-grace” phenomenon
that allows believers to use God’s
marvelous grace to act as a bandage to cover
an unclean life. This reality was
recently driven home to this
author when he witnessed a dear brother
become entangled by sin because he had
not learned how to overcome it. While
this brother in the Lord had been saved
years ago, he had not properly
understood what many in our Churches also
fail to understand: the whole goal of
our faith should be the
salvation of our soul: “Receiving the end
of
your faith, even the salvation
of your souls.” (1 Peter
1:9)
Most believers
are satisfied that their spirits have
been saved, but have not been properly
instructed about saving their soul.
Satan is very pleased with the malaise that
has permeated our modern Church culture
because he realizes that many believers
are in great danger of being led astray by
him if they remain in their lethargic
state.
The message that
the Lord has given me at this final
hour is vital for every Christian to
consider.
While your spirit may be redeemed, have you
gone on in your faith and
allowed the Holy Word of God to teach you
how to save your soul? Do you allow
His mighty power and strength to
direct and control your daily life?
The Bridegroom is
getting ready to return any day
now. You may be actively involved in
many great activities and works for the
Lord.
You may be able to quote Scriptures or never
miss a time when the Church
doors are open. But have you allowed
the
Holy Spirit to fill you with His life in
order for you to overcome the many
tests God has allowed in your life?
The
Lord has recently been showing me how much I
need Him to help me every single
day. As the great Apostle Paul
wrote:
“Do you not know that in a race all
the runners run, but only one gets
the prize? Run in such a way as to get
the prize…” Because even Paul
was concerned: “that
after I have preached to others, I
myself will not be disqualified for the
prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 –
NIV)
If this great
Apostle was concerned for his own
spiritual well being, shouldn’t we take
notice to make sure of our own
lives? Jesus is returning for a Holy,
spotless bride who is longing to be with
Him.
Are you positive you are part of the bride
He is coming for?
A Wedding
Invitation
“Let us
rejoice and be glad and give the glory to
Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has
come and His bride has made
herself ready.” (Rev 19:7 – NAS)
The Great God of
Heaven has announced in His Holy
Word that a grand wedding is about to take
place. Mankind’s time on this earth is
about up, and
the Bridegroom is getting ready to return
for His bride. Will you be ready when
Jesus returns? Please notice that the
above verse says, “The bride has made
herself ready…” How did she make
herself ready?
“And to her it was granted to
be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright,
for the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints.” (Rev 19:8 – NKJV)
The bride made
herself ready for the wedding by
obtaining her fine linen. This was her
reward for her righteous life that she
lives.
The original Greek confirms that this fine
linen is not the
righteousness that is imputed to every
believer in Christ, but represents the
righteous acts or the righteous living of
the believer (conduct, acts, and
deeds) following their salvation. This
same teaching was confirmed for us by Jesus
when He taught about the ten
virgins:
“At that time the kingdom of heaven
will be like ten virgins who took
their lamps and went out to meet the
bridegroom. (v.2) Five of them were
foolish and five were wise. (v.3) The
foolish ones took their lamps but did not
take any oil with them. (v.4) The wise,
however, took oil in jars along with
their lamps. (v.5) The bridegroom was a
long time in coming, and they all
became drowsy and fell asleep. (v.6) At
midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the
bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' (v.7)
Then all the virgins woke up and
trimmed their lamps. (v.8)The foolish ones
said to the wise, 'Give us some of
your oil; our lamps are going out.'
(v.9) 'No,' they replied, 'there may not
be enough for both us and you.
Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy
some for yourselves' (v.10) But while
they were on their way to buy the oil, the
bridegroom arrived. The virgins who
were ready went in with him to the wedding
banquet. And the door was shut.” (Matthew 25:1-10)
Here we see that
only the five wise virgins who were
ready went to be with their
Bridegroom. All
10 virgins were Christians because all did
possess their oil which represents
the Holy Spirit who was given to each of
them upon their conversion. The 5
foolish virgins, however, did not carry
along the extra measure of oil that the 5
wise virgins carried in their
jars. The 5 wise virgins were ready
because they were obedient to the Word of
God which commands us to be “filled with
the Spirit” (Eph.
5:18). Because the 5 wise virgins were
filled with the Spirit, they allowed Him to
direct and empower their life. As a
result, they were ready when the
Bridegroom came. An accurate, literal
word-for-word paraphrase of Matthew 25:5
might be: “While the bridegroom tarried,
they all beckoned or slept.”
The wise virgins were “beckoning”
for the Lord to return, while the foolish
virgins were sleeping.
Are you a wise or
foolish virgin today? If the
Bridegroom came today, would you really
be ready to go into the wedding? Has
Christ conquered your heart…have you truly
allowed Him to rule and reign in
your life…is His power and strength living
inside of you on a daily basis? If you
are not sure, please consider making
the following prayer the prayer of your
heart right now:
“Dear God in Heaven, I realize that
I have not been living my life for
you. I humbly turn to you right now
and
ask you to forgive me. Dear Jesus,
please rule and reign in my heart and
life.
Please help me to live for you for
whatever time remains. I pray that I
may be able to escape all that
is about to happen, and that I may be able
to stand before you when you return
for me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen”
One of the main
objectives of Prophecy Countdown is
to help believers prepare to be ready for
when the Lord returns. As the five
wise virgins, we should be
preparing for our marriage every day by “trimming
our
wicks” and making sure we have that “extra
measure”
of oil by repenting of our sins and
asking the Holy Spirit to
direct our daily lives. If we desire
to
rule and reign in the coming Kingdom, we
should allow Him to rule our hearts
now. The power of His life allows us
to be
triumphant when faced with any obstacle,
trial or test that may come our way.
During the
Philadelphian
church age, great light was given to men of
God who properly expounded the
necessity for believers to sanctify their
lives in order to be properly
prepared when Jesus returns. Their
teachings fostered the call to holiness for
believers to be ready. Since that
time, the Laodicean church age has
emerged and almost all of the proponents of
the coming separation (Mat 25:1-13)
have gone to be with the Lord. This
time
of lukewarm Christianity was predicted by
the Apostle Paul:
“For the time will
come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto
fables.” (2
Ti
4:3-4)
The lethargy in
our
modern church culture has blinded many from
hearing the Word of God. As noted by
D.M. Panton: “Thus the cry
of urgency should now ring through
the whole Church of God. Why?
Because (1) To withhold the warning is
to rob
the Church of the very truth which is to
deliver from the peril . . . (2) the
coming judgement of believers is a
revelation leveled specifically at the flesh
in the believer and therefore can never be
popular. (3) The peril, however
imminent, has not yet fallen. Lukewarm
Laodiceans can be roused before it is
too late.” (D.M. Panton)
Do you long to be
with Jesus, or does the world
captivate your heart? Let’s make sure
we
are really prepared and ready when He
comes.
Our true citizenship is not of this world
and Jesus has gone on to
prepare a place for those who love Him and
keep His words (John 14:2-3,
23). Faithful Christians have a
tremendous inheritance that is about to be
revealed. Let’s not be distracted from
what God has in
store for us. While many trials may
come
to test our faith, we always must remember
that the magnificent Holy City is being
prepared for us. The bride’s heart is
longing for this glorious day and she longs
to please her Bridegroom as she gets
ready for their great wedding day. The
beautiful words of Kristian Stanfil’s new
song entitled Even So Come,
perfectly captures the heart and mission
here at Prophecy Countdown:
All
of
creation
All
of the
earth
Make
straight
a highway
A
path for the
Lord
Jesus
is
coming soon
Call
back the
sinner
Wake
up the
saint
Let
every
nation
Shout
of Your
fame
Jesus
is
coming soon
Like
a bride
Waiting
for
her groom
We’ll
be a
church
Ready
for You
Every
heart longing
for our King
We
sing
Even
so come
Lord
Jesus
come
May every person
who claims Jesus Christ as their
Lord and Saviour be found sincerely
espousing these words in their hearts and
lives as we await the Bridegroom’s
call.
Even so come, Lord Jesus come!
“Teaching
us that denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly, in this present
world. Looking for that blessed
hope,
and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:12-13)