The Priority of Preaching :: By Dr. Donald Whitchard

Summary: The preaching of the Word of God does not go out or return void, despite what we might witness or think otherwise. The Sacred Word continues to convict the heart and give new life to all who are dead in iniquity.

Fellow under-shepherd, I’ve been there. I know the frustration you feel when it seems that you preached your heart out this past Sunday, feeding your flock the food of the Word and proclaiming the message God placed upon you. I know what it means to study for long hours, to pray, to compose the right words, to allow the Holy Spirit to give you the right words to say once you are behind the pulpit, and to use you as a chosen vessel of service to care for the people whom God has graciously given you — whether it is in a church, mission, prison, hospital, battlefield, or other place where some angels fear to tread.

You’ve looked out at the crowd to whom you are preaching, and it seems as if most of them are either looking at their phones, or their watch, or the bulletin, or staring into space, and some have taken the opportunity to catch a few winks before heading off to the nearest restaurant for lunch.

You have given these people time, tears, preparation, and the Scriptures, yet it seems for a moment that it has all been for naught. You feel within you a mix of sadness, anger, frustration, and are tempted for a moment to walk away from it all and go do something else, which a lot of your peers have done at a rapid rate in these last days. Read on, be refreshed, reassured, challenged, and comforted in knowing that God is with you, is still on the throne, still the victor over sin, hell, death, and the grave, and is always ready and able to equip and strengthen you to fight the good fight of faith as have those before you and among you today.

If you have been faithful to Jesus Christ and the inerrancy and full sufficiency of the Bible, rest assured that what you have presented will not return without some kind of result. You have continually held out your hand to pull the drowning people into the lifeboat of salvation by the power of God, and many have taken it in gratitude and thanksgiving. Some stubbornly continued to founder in the waves, seeing if they can stay buoyant or hold their breath long enough until things get better, only to go under into an eternal place of terror and torment where rescue of any kind is wishful thinking.

Our Lord Jesus preached the Word to thousands in Judea and the surrounding areas, yet at the Day of Pentecost, He had only 120 faithful followers. This was certainly not failure on His part but was an object lesson in showing His elect that not everyone will accept the message of the Gospel, but once they have heard it, they are without excuse before God on the Day of Judgment.

If you have been faithful and stalwart in declaring the truth of the Gospel, the results are not yours to count. You must leave them in the hands of the Holy Spirit to wake the sleepers and open the ears of the indifferent, and to warm the heart of the skeptic in order for all of them to see that the Scriptures are the only reality and truth in this sin-soaked world in which we live, and the authentic source of real life and peace found in Jesus Christ alone (John 14;6; Acts 4:12, 16:31; Romans 5:6-11, 10:9-10).

We also need to remember that we have not just apathetic and hostile sinners with which to contend, but also their father, the devil (Matt.13:38; John 8: 38, 44; Acts 13:10; 1 John 3:10). Satan knows he has a short time to fulfill his wicked yet futile goals, so he will do and say anything he can to silence the message and messenger in order to drag as many souls as he can with him to the Lake of Fire (Matt.25:41; Rev. 20:10-15). He is a defeated foe but still fights like a fanatic with nothing to lose. Our job is to get his victims to the safety of the cross and the healing arms of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus called on all who would listen to Him to “repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). By repentance, I do not mean a half-hearted mumbling of “I’m sorry” to Almighty God, hoping He will look the other way the next time we sin. Repentance according to God’s standards means that He makes us look in His mirror at our reflection, darkened with wickedness and wretchedness, and it is something we do not want to face but must in order to see that we can do absolutely NOTHING to remedy the problem in our own strength or method (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Preacher, now is the time to gird up your loins, sharpen your sword, fasten your armor, and hit your people with the power of the Word and Spirit, and hit them three ways: hard, fast, and continually. Their souls are at stake, and as these days draw to a conclusion, the time to come to the cross is NOW (2 Cor.6:2).

God’s mirror shows us that we are not the center of the universe. The foolish and self-centered thinking that corrodes our senses has made far too many of us believe that we are indispensable, important, and that our well-being takes precedence over everything and everyone else. We have bought into the idea that we need to be “Number one.” Time for a trip to Reality City, everyone. Let God show us where we stand before Him. Nobody owes us one blessed thing in this world or the next, and neither does God. Why do I say that? We broke His laws, we disobey Him, we mock Him, we question Him, we think we know better than Him, we may even deny Him and foolishly demand that He provide us with answers to our questions, as if we have the authority to tell Him what to do.

Let me pour water on that campfire. God Almighty does not have to explain Himself, defend Himself, or answer to any of us. The book of Genesis tells us that God created us out of the DUST of the ground. We are animated dirt that had the unmitigated gall to disobey and rebel against our Creator. Who do we think we are anyway? If you think for one minute that you are the glue that holds everything together, go take a trip to the local cemetery, and you will find graves and tombs of people who once thought the same thing, now oblivious and forgotten after a generation or less, and all are in eternity somewhere either in glory or agony.

Here is another salient comment that neither the grinning “Colgate Boys” in the TV megachurches and far too many contemporary pastors won’t say to their people, preferring to be trendy and popular than Scripturally right. We have to stop throwing pity parties for ourselves every time something does not go our way, because the people around you are sick and tired of getting the invitations in the mail. This present generation, for the most part, has picked up a bad habit of not GROWING UP!! We have too many adults acting like spoiled children, afraid of being “offended” or being “triggered” by an upcoming situation or comment from someone who has the nerve not to agree with them on everything.

We are as an “unclean thing” and a “filthy rag” in the sight of God if we think we’re “all that and a bag of chips” (Isaiah 64:6). I will be a bit more graphic in what the prophet is describing in terms of our own self-righteousness. It is like bringing a bloody menstrual rag (tampon) before God and saying to Him that a saturated, stinking piece of cloth used to stop the flow of a monthly period is sufficient enough to grant us entry into heaven and His presence. Are we that arrogant? Yes. Keep looking in God’s mirror.

We cannot do or say ONE THING IN OUR OWN POWER, STRENGTH, OR WORDS to ever make us right before God. DEAL WITH IT!! Do not blame Him if your plans fell apart or nothing went right.

Too many of us have decided that we can do everything short of walking water and can get on without God, only to fall flat on our behinds and land in a mess of our own making. Perhaps that is when God will gently impress upon you this thought: “Now that I have your attention….” You are not an island in terms of suffering, sadness, and sin. Your friends and family have had their share of troubles, and all of you are in trouble if you do not come down from your pedestal, abdicate your throne and title of “King Me,” and humble yourself before the great and wondrous God who is ready to offer you mercy, grace, love, and forgiveness if you will but kneel at the cross of Christ and give your life to Him this day (Matt.11:28-30; John 10:28-30, 14:6).

We deserve eternal hell for the way we have treated God and rebelled against His decrees, but He is ready and willing to embrace you and make you one of His true sons or daughters this day. The Lord Jesus Christ who preached repentance then gives the same message to you now. Pastor, chaplain, and all servants of God charged with spreading the Gospel; this is the message the pulpits of America and the world need to hear, now more than ever.

Be strong and of good courage, brethren. Our God still saves, delivers, and heals. Preach the Word. Jesus expects nothing less.

donaldwhitchard@gmail.com

www.realitycityreverend.com

 

Tribulation Chronicles Pt. 9: Great Tribulation (2) :: By Alice Childs

Revelation chapters 8-18

As I finished my last letter in this chronicle of events, which will shortly be occurring during the time in which you are living post-rapture, I had brought you up to the midpoint of the last 7 years of Earth’s history under the usurper Satan’s rule.

Remember, I have told you that these last 7 years, the Tribulation, is the culmination of God’s plan to redeem back His creation from Satan, who was given rulership of the world’s kingdoms as a result of Adam’s sin and forfeiture of the “title deed” to Earth. As a result of Adam’s rebellion, he forfeited man’s rightful ownership of Planet Earth and, in essence, lost the “title deed,” if you will, to Satan the Deceiver. God’s overarching Plan for the Ages has been to—through Jesus—God the Son to:

(1) pay the penalty for sin incurred by inheritance to all of the descendants of Adam

(2) bring salvation to a lost, sin-cursed world through Jesus’ sinless life. Our redemption is made possible because Jesus is the God man. He and He alone thus qualified to pay the infinite penalty of sin that no fallen, sin-cursed member of humanity could ever hope to pay.

(3) By Jesus’ substitutionary death in our place, Jesus, being fully God and fully man, thus was able to pay the legal requirement of the payment for sin in full measure (that is, the penalty incurred by sin) and thus redeem (buy back) that which was lost in Adam’s rebellion (our righteous standing before a holy God). This was so that, upon each person’s salvation, man’s “filthy rags” self-righteousness could be done away with. The saved sinner thereafter, in his belief, then has the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed (transferred) to him.

(4) By the bodily resurrection of the victorious and risen Savior, mankind’s eternal salvation has now and forever been eternally set and secured by Christ’s victory over Sin, Satan, Hell, Death, and the Grave.

The “title deed” of Earth’s kingdom was lost and forfeited to Satan when Adam, by his deliberate disobedience, forfeited the rulership of Earth granted to him by the Creator. From that time until Messiah King returns to Earth, the Destroyer Satan has held legal dominion over every kingdom of the earth. For all of Earth’s history subsequent to the disobedience and fall of Adam, all aspects of creation have been subjugated and enslaved by the Law of Entropy, which is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. In essence, this means that everything in the universe is decaying and dying.

From the instant of Adam’s rebellion, God’s perfectly created order is and has been devolving into chaos and disintegration as a direct result of Adam’s fall. Adam and Eve died spiritually the instant that they disobeyed God’s one and only requirement of them, to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That was their one requirement, and they blew it – as God certainly knew, and Satan rightly suspected they would.

Additionally, the process of physical deterioration, which concluded in the ultimate deaths of their bodies (and as a result, ours as well), began in them the very moment they disobeyed God’s one rule – a rule that was meant for their spiritual and physical protection, by the way. Even animal life was affected by the curse of sin because all flesh began to die physically from that point onward.

Such is the curse of Sin, and its fruit is death – both the physical death of the body and far worse, spiritual death (eternal separation from God).

The very earth itself was cursed also as entropy, death, and decay began to eat away at God’s pristine creation. The stars and other celestial bodies too were affected by the curse of sin, for even the very stars in the vast multitude of galaxies within the celestial heavens also began to burn out and die.

The effects of Adam’s sin and rebellion have reverberated throughout the entirety of God’s created cosmos. This is why God hates sin. This is why mankind needed a perfect Redeemer, and this is why God the Son Himself knew even before He created anything that He would have to pay the penalty for sin that He knew would come, or else His fallen creation would have no hope and would be eternally damned.

God the Father knew beforehand that God the Son would have to die to redeem fallen man. Such is the love that God has for His creation that He Himself fashioned in His own image.

As we shall see, God is bringing to a close the millennia-old rebellious reign of the usurper of God’s creation. God is going to use these last 7 years to restore Paradise Lost; to exact final and ultimate justice upon Satan and upon all those who willingly follow him; upon all who have chosen to reject the free pardon of sin that God, through Christ Jesus, has made available to mankind.

God the Father, through Jesus the Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit (the Triune Godhead consisting of 3 distinct Persons yet still ONE God), made eternal salvation possible and freely offers it to “whosoever” is willing to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ for his/her salvation.

Jesus, being the 2nd Person of the Trinity and therefore part of the Triune Godhead, nevertheless chose to clothe Himself in mortal flesh, to come to Earth – the God-man — and die in our place in order that HE might pay the penalty exacted by sin and rebellion, and thus satisfy the infinite justice demanded by a holy God, a penalty that no fallen, sinful human being could ever hope to pay.

Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, died a sinner’s death so that HE could ransom and redeem fallen man. He sealed AND settled mankind’s salvation and eternal redemption when He was bodily resurrected from the dead three days later. Here is the reason you are now in the left-behind situation you have found yourself in. Salvation in Jesus Christ alone is the only remedy to your eternal dilemma.

During these last 7 years, God is wrapping up all of fallen human history. He is preparing to renovate and restore this sin-wrecked world. He is purifying a remnant of His chosen people, Israel, in preparation for fulfilling ALL of the covenant promises that He made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their physical descendants nearly 4,000 years ago.

He, King Jesus, is preparing to judge ALL SIN in order to set up His earthly kingdom, which will last for 1,000 years, after which TIME itself, as a created construct, will cease to exist and will merge into eternity in a newly-created, eternal new heavens and new Earth.

This is an explanation of the purpose of these last 7 years. As we prepare to move forward through the last 3 ½ years of what will be even greater horrendous destruction on a level unknown to mankind, you can take great comfort and hope in understanding God’s plan and purpose of the ages that is being fulfilled and finalized in preparation for the earthly reign of the Prince of Peace – the Lord Jesus Christ.

From here on out, the destruction will be staggering. The overwhelming majority of both believers and unbelievers will most likely not survive. Do not fear.

Let us now move, with great solemnity, into the next events you will be facing during these last 3 ½ years.

Remember what has already occurred by this point in time: there will have been a devastating World War that will have resulted in massive death along with ensuing pandemic diseases. The entire globe will have suffered a famine of such devastation that the entire world population (except, of course, for the uber-rich elites) will have been so affected that it will take a day’s work to be able to buy one meal for one person.

You will have witnessed earthquakes, volcanic activity, and unprecedented weather anomalies that will have further reduced the already decimated crops, and you will have seen every aspect of the natural world turned on its head.

Just after the ecological and astronomical judgments have passed that will have destroyed one third (1/3) of all trees, grass, oceans, fresh water sources, and will have darkened the light of the sun and moon by a third, here is what is coming next:

(1) There will be some type of eruption, quite possibly a volcanic eruption, or perhaps this eruption will occur from a giant ground fissure opening which will come about as the result of a massive earthquake. From this event (whatever form it takes) will spew forth a demonic horde of locust-like creatures that will be released from “the bottomless pit” (the abyss).

These unholy terrors will be released and loosed upon mankind by a powerful fallen angel. Their number will be so vast that their emergence en masse will appear as the “smoke of a great furnace” – so much so that the “sun and the air were [will be] darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” (See Revelation 9:1).

Exactly WHAT these creatures are is unknown to us on this side of the rapture. Whether or not these are visible, physical manifestations or metaphysical in nature (unseen in the natural physical world), I cannot say. You will know for sure.

It is highly probable that these things will be visible since the Word of God specifically states that the sheer number and volume of them appear to blot out the sun. Also, the Bible takes great care to explain, not just their physical appearance, but the sound made by the beating of their wings. So that lends credence to the speculation on our part at least, that these things, whatever they turn out to be, will be both visible and auditory within this earthly dimension.

Either way, what I can only speculate upon, you will know for sure once they are released from their abyssal prison and appear here on Earth in this dimension. Make no mistake; these creatures are UTTERLY DEMONIC in nature, in character, and in appearance. You can read about their physical description in Revelation chapter 9, verses 7-10.

They are supernaturally powerful and completely wicked to the core. They will have a “leader” who is a powerful, demonic entity named ABADDON (his name in Greek is called APOLLYON). This demonic ruler is (will be) in charge of these creatures. I do not know whether he will be visible in this dimension or only visible in the spiritual realm; you will know.

There is a similarity to natural locusts only in the sheer number of them and in their destructive power, but that is where ANY similarity ends. These are SUPERNATURAL creatures which will be allowed by God to bring excruciating, physical torment upon all those who are followers of the Antichrist – those who have willfully rejected God — all those who “have not the seal of God upon their foreheads.” Here is what they will and will not be allowed to do:

(2) God will NOT allow these things to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, or any tree (as a natural, earthly locust swarm would do).

(3) They will be permitted to torment “only those who have NOT the ‘seal of God’ in their foreheads.”

(4) They are NOT ALLOWED TO KILL any person, but rather to TORMENT the “earth dwellers” (God’s term for those who are willfully lost – the Christ rejecters who will not come to salvation, and who have accepted the “mark of the Antichrist in their right hands or in their foreheads”).

(5) They are allowed to torment the “earth dwellers” for a LIMITED period of time – 5 months.

(6) The physical agonies inflicted by these creatures will be so great that those suffering from their torments will plead for the release of death, but God will refuse to allow the afflicted ones to die.

After this, the next horrendous judgment will begin almost immediately.

Keep reading. Things are only going to get worse as God’s full wrath and fury is (will be) finally poured out upon all who have chosen to reject Christ – all who follow and worship the Antichrist.

alice.joan.childs@gmailcom