Are you a Ditch-digger, a Wall-builder, or a Bridge Constructor?

“See. I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers: or else I will come and strike the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5).

The ministry of reconciliation.

“Therefore if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. As ambassadors committed with the ministry of reconciliation, as though God were making an appeal through us, we implore you on Christ‘s behalf:
Be reconciled to God“ (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).

Distance and Separation

Definition of “Far away” in the Fuegian language of Tierra del Fuego. A seven-syllable word which means:

“They stare at each other, each waiting for the other to do what each wants but is not able to.”

One can appreciate the rich and insightful imagery of primitive language, but the question remains: Is it a matter of inability or unwillingness?

When the Lord Jesus was approaching the hour of His death, He himself prayed, giving us a model prayer: “Father, not my will, but yours be done.”

What keeps us separated? Basically, it is our pride and unwillingness to humble ourselves. We prefer to remain in a prison of our own making, when the key has been given to us that could release us from being captive to our own will and stubbornness.

Every argument won in a verbal conflict at the detriment of forgiveness and reconciliation ends up being one more brick we use in building a wall of separation, protecting us from the very ones that Christ has sent our way to help them in their struggle to find forgiveness and freedom from spiritual captivity.

Every argument won ends up being one more shovel full in digging deeper the ditch of distance between persons whose ministry is to be a bridge builder, not a wall builder or a ditch digger.

The Remedy

Do we have the key? Only God can give us the key to freedom.

Isaiah declares, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; The fear of the Lord is the KEY to this treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).

“The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous” (Psalm 19:9).

Do we need a sure foundation in our present time of confusion, perplexity, at a time when man is contemplating his navel and worshiping the earth to find the solutions with the greatest brains as guides in our cultures of death?

The Lord Jesus to John the apostle in Revelation chapter 3:7: “These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”

There is a time and a season for everything under the sun, but Jesus is sending his servants to proclaim that NOW is the day of salvation and that there is no other name under heaven but the name of Jesus by which man can be saved.

The only way men can experience real peace and reconciliation with others is to first be reconciled with God.

Oh, that we would heed the command of our Lord Jesus to build bridges and tear down brick by brick the strongholds in our hearts that we have erected patiently day after day, month after month, until it becomes the very fabric that makes up the callous covering of protection keeping other people from being welcome in our hearts.

This is my hope and wish for the readers of this blog:

Be reconciled first with God through recognizing and accepting the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus for you. He brought peace to us who were enemies of God; receive the pardon and salvation that are already paid for by His blood shed for you on the cross and the free gift of eternal life available to all who humbly turn to His light and life from their slavery to sin.

If you already know the Lord Jesus, His peace to you, and may His grace and love abide and rule in your heart as you seek to do His will, to be fruitful and keep looking for His soon return.

Heavenly Father, by your grace and the power of your love through your Holy Spirit, free the prisoners in our families, our churches. You alone can penetrate through and behind those brick walls and fill those ditches of separation. You alone can heal bitter, broken hearts and restore us to our call to love you and serve you as we obey your command to love each other sincerely from the heart and serve our brothers in humility and submission to your will and purpose in our lives.

His Name is a strong tower, and we are victorious by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony that Jesus alone is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and worthy of our praise. Blessed be His holy Name. Amen!

The Promise 

For us today, God´s promise still stands
He will act in power through our hands
Come rain, come snow or even hail
The gates of hell will not prevail
He said it to Abraham and to his church again

The call today is still the same
To go and catch fish in his name
Do not worry if you have the skill
The Master himself will teach you
Be obedient, faithful, and trust him
Your net with a good catch he will fill

Raise up today the standard of love
Rest in Jesus’ finished work
Walk circumspect, watch and pray
Now is the time to stand up and fight
In the awesome power of his might

Hear today, Oh Christian under his blood
You will not perish in the flood
Our goal is close, I hear his voice
Calling his own: “My bride, ‘tis time
Come up hither, my kingdom enter
Receive the fruit of your labor.”

 

 

 

(From Lamplighter magazine Jan/Feb 2026)

The Prophetic Word Made More Sure

Paul’s admonition to his protégé, Timothy, offers wise counsel to followers of Christ still today: rightly divide the Word of God. The challenge throughout the Church Age has been to remain true to God’s Word—contending earnestly for the truth it reveals in order to hand down the faith once delivered to future generations of saints.

The key to applying that wisdom lies in approaching the Word with fear and trembling—and without preconceived ideas sprung from the mind of man. That is especially true regarding the End Times.

Without besmirching the position of those who hold non-Pre-Tribulational and Pre-Millennial viewpoints, my experience is that most of them were taught to come to the Bible with a framework already established. For the Amillennialists, that tends to be an expectation that any prophecy dealing with Jesus’ Second Coming should be spiritualized. Some go so far as to say that although the First Advent prophecies were fulfilled literally, none of the Second Coming prophecies will be fulfilled in the same manner.

The same is true of Post-Millennial advocates. They elevate the role of the Church to the point that they believe the Church will usher in a golden age of peace, righteousness, and holiness on the earth—forgetting that while those characteristics should mark individual Christians and the Bride of Christ as a whole, the still-unrestrained Devil will continue to deceive and devour until Christ commands that he be confined for 1,000 years.

At the heart of the disagreement between the various eschatological viewpoints lies the Millennium. We have addressed the theological variance in those perspectives many times, but suffice it to say that anyone who simply opens the Book and reads God’s prophetic revelations will tend to come to a Pre-Tribulation, Pre-Millennial understanding.

Plain Sense Meaning

The golden rule of Bible interpretation is this: If the plain sense makes sense, don’t look for any other sense, lest you end up with nonsense.

This method of interpretation makes a few key presumptions:

1. God intended to communicate with mankind.
2. In addition to His revelations about Himself and His plan of salvation, He provides prophetic insights into what lies ahead in His plan for the Ages.
3. God wants everyone who opens the Bible to have access to His truth—regardless of their education level or pedigree.

Those presumptions play out in a clear pattern of understanding. Let’s explore each in turn and be encouraged by God’s lovingkindness and self-disclosure.

He Knows How to Communicate

Ours is the God who speaks. Unlike the mute gods of wood and stone, and the false demonic gods who cannot gaze into the future, the living God speaks authoritative words that convey His power and intentions.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and do not return there without watering the Earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

He revealed His intentions through His prophets. And, He sent His only Son to testify to the truth—namely, the Gospel of the Kingdom (John 18:37). Over 1,600 times in the Old Testament alone, the writers prefaced their God-ordained remarks with, “Thus saith the Lord.” Paul affirmed Him as the Source of the sacred writings handed down from on high: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The question is not whether God communicates, but whether we hear His voice and are listening.

He is Close, and Will be Found by All Who Seek

Too many Christians have been infected by the same insidious poison that infected the ancient Israelites, metastasized throughout the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and spreads like a cancer even today. People believe that only men with lofty titles or advanced degrees can understand the Word of God.

Things got so bad in the Medieval period that merely owning a Bible (especially one printed in a language the common people could read) was a capital offense. Priests lorded over their congregations—isolating them from their actual Lord and Savior. Bibles were chained to the altar of the church, lest some inquisitive parishioner dare to take and read for themselves.

In such an environment, biblical understanding was limited, and abuses abounded. That is one of the reasons Martin Luther and others instigated the Reformation.

We can rejoice that today the Bible is the most-published book in human history. Over 5 billion copies have been printed and distributed, in virtually every language in the world. The message of the Gospel—foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those who are saved (1 Corinthians 1:18)—can be understood by a child. It can be communicated to people who are illiterate. And it continues to be studied and pondered by men and women with multiple advanced degrees. In short, it is for every sheep who will hear the voice of the Shepherd and respond in believing faith.

He Reveals Things to Come

God seems to delight in revealing what lies ahead. This is not only a source of encouragement and blessing for us; it is also a clear demonstration of His omniscience and power.

We can be encouraged by the fact that none of the pathologies of this world are a surprise to God. He foreknew them, just as He foreknew the fact that mankind would require a Savior. That is why it was His intention from the foundation of the world to offer salvation through the shed blood of the Lamb—His only begotten Son (Revelation 13:8). So, even as the world grows darker around us, we can be assured that God is still in control and that He will orchestrate every stray thread into a beautiful tapestry to His own glory.

The LORD God rightfully boasts about His foresight and power. Contrasting Himself with the deaf, mute, blind, and dumb gods that mankind fashions and follows, He mockingly challenged the false gods, saying:

“Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell us the past events, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome, or tell us the future. Tell us the coming events, then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do something good or bad, then we will be in awe when we see it. Look, you are nothing and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable” (Isaiah 41:23-25).

As Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “There is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known… what will take place in the last days” Daniel 2:28).

In addition to revealing what will take place, God also chose to provide warning signs for those with eyes to see. I’m reminded of the rumble strips cut into a road as it is nearing an end, or the warning track at the edge of a baseball field that is designed to alert outfielders that they are approaching the wall before a dangerous collision. Woven into His prophetic Word are signs that can be recognized. It’s as if God was absolutely determined that there would be ample indications that His patience will not abide forever and His Son is coming soon.

Jesus expressed great disappointment that the supposedly religious Jews He encountered were oblivious to the Signs of the Times. Reminding them of age-old signs of nature evident in the color of the sky in morning or evening, He said, “Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3).

Do You Know What You are Reading?

At Lamb & Lion Ministries, we are great advocates of simply opening the Bible and studying for yourself. We believe the Holy Spirit is faithful to guide us into all truth. Jesus promised as much:

“When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:13-14).

I can attest that there is a great blessing in coming to the Word of God with no preconceived notions, no skeletal preformed “outlines” or man-made eschatological systems. When I began studying God’s prophetic Word, the basic outline of what lies ahead was plain enough to see: Jesus promised to return, reign upon the Earth, and institute a thousand years of peace, righteousness, and holiness.

Some nuances and details remain mysterious, but some of them have become more obvious over time—like the provision for the regathering of the House of Israel from the four corners of the world.

Having said that, there are points at which any student of Bible prophecy can be stumped. This too is recognized and recorded in Scripture.

For example, when the Ethiopian eunuch was returning to his home country after coming to Jerusalem to worship (marking him as a man loyal to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), he was reading from the book of Isaiah (Acts 8). The Bible does not clarify whether the man was Jewish or Gentile, but the lack of specificity (contrasting with the account of Cornelius in Acts 10) suggests that he was likely Jewish. Led by the Spirit, Philip had traveled from Jerusalem down the desert road toward Gaza. The Spirit then commanded him to approach the eunuch and ask, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The eunuch’s answer, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” offered an opening for Philip to share Jesus with him.

Because Philip was obedient to the Holy Spirit and willing to engage, the eunuch accepted his offer of illumination and was saved that day. It is in obedience to the same Holy Spirit that Lamb & Lion shares Gospel-focused prophetic truths and seeks to illuminate God’s prophetic Word.

https://christinprophecy.org/