The Players on the World Stage Are Merely Pawns on a Chessboard: God is in Control

A proficient chess player can see at least ten moves ahead.  Do you understand that God sees the beginning from the end?  He is omniscient (all knowing) omnipresent (everywhere at once) and omnipotent (all powerful).

We hear the names of present day world “actors”  on TV news casts; in stories from news sources and on the radio. When these people hear their own names mentioned, most of them are filled with a sense of self-importance and fame. Some are famous indeed, while others are infamous and pure evil.

“The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” (Obadiah 1:3)

Proverbs 6:16-19:

“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

I could easily go through the seven abominations to God and place beside each one several names. They would be people who have a great impact on our world. There would be names of rulers of nations, politicians, billionaires who manipulate world economies; mainstream media commentators who also work for certain candidates; leaders of terrorist organizations and their worker bees; leaders of “churches” who have become apostate.

Evil is rampant

There has always been evil in our fallen world. But I cannot remember a time when evil became the norm.  Why is this happening now?  I believe that we are very close to the last hour before the Lord Raptures His church, and the Great Tribulation begins.  Satan sees all the signs as we do. I believe that he has unleashed his legions of demons into this world as never before.  Good is called evil and evil good – just as the Word tells us:

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

Strong Delusion

The Word tells us that God Himself will send Strong Delusion to this world – it is all around us.  Why would the Lord send this delusion?

From gotquestions.org

Question: “Why is God going to send a strong delusion in the end times?”

Answer: The Bible makes it clear why God is sending a strong delusion in the end times: “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). Simply put, God sends a strong delusion to those who chose not to believe the gospel of Christ. Those who take delight in mocking and rejecting Him, He will condemn.

It is man’s choice whether to accept and believe the truth of Jesus Christ as presented in the Scriptures. To receive the truth and the love God offers is in keeping with its teachings, “This is love for God: to obey His commands” (1 John 5:3). Conversely, to know the truth and not obey it is to face the wrath of God: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18). Frankly speaking, there is no more dangerous condition for man than to know the truth and refuse to obey it. To do so is to harden the heart and make God’s condemnation sure.

When one knows the truth and refuses to obey it, he is subject to any lie, any deception, any untruth that man can conjure up. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22). Paul goes on in the next few verses to describe the mindset and behaviors of those who disbelieve (see Romans 1:29-31). As a result of man’s foolishness and his arrogant disdain of the things of God, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28). And correspondingly, “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32). -source

We have been sealed for the Day of Redemption

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:30-32).

I cannot think of anything more glorious than the fact they we, as born again believers in Christ, have been sealed unto the day of redemption.  I love that the Lord chose to place the Scriptures of how we are to treat the brethren right after telling us that we are sealed. He is simply telling us to love and forgive as our Savior did toward us.

These evil times

As we watch news unfold, and see the atrocities committed on a daily basis; as we watch our government become more and more hostile towards Bible believing Christians, and belligerent toward Israel, we must keep our eyes on our God – our King, who is in full control. These things must happen to further fulfill the prophecies.  The only time I experience true peace these days, is when I am reading the Scriptures.

This Election

Only God knows the outcome of this presidential election. Hillary Clinton is truly an evil person. She is a globalist (One World Government) and a proponent of abortion, right up to the time of delivery.  She loathes Jews and Israel, but she also hates born again believers.  She fought for the rights of gays to marry. She is one who is under “strong delusion.”  And make no mistake, if Clinton wins the election, the freedoms that we as Christians have enjoyed in America will soon be gone. Her first order of business will be to destroy the SCOTUS by appointing liberal justices.

Donald Trump picked for himself a Bible believing Christian when he chose Mike Pence as his running mate. He has shown to the press and to the people a list of conservative people, from which he will choose future justices. He has met with hundreds of Evangelicals. Trump has declared that he loves our Constitution and will fight to keep it intact.  I will vote for Donald Trump.  Anyone who votes for Hillary, yet calls themselves a Christian is deluded.

PRAY

Brethren, we must come before our Holy God and pray as we have never prayed before.  Don’t pay attention to the numbers that come out of the press regarding this election.  They use psychology to make us disheartened.  As Amir Tsarfati has said – how can Clinton be so far ahead, when Trump’s crowds are immense at his rallies, and Hillary can hardly attract a couple of hundred supporters?  Keep praying. Our God is capable of anything He wishes to accomplish!

But if in the end it turns out that voter fraud has put Clinton in our White House – do not fret. Only know that it was our God’s will. If that happens, we should continue to share the gospel with the lost and be about our Father’s business.

MARANATHA!

grandmageri422@gmail.com

My husband and I watched an old Adrian Rogers’ sermon yesterday.  Adrian Rogers went home to be with our Lord in 2005.  He is greatly missed.  During his sermon, he spoke much of “hedges” placed by our Lord. His sermon title was “Will God Impeach America?”

From gotquestions.org

Question: “What is a hedge of protection?”

Answer: In the first chapter of Job, God points out to Satan that Job is “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). Satan replies, “Does Job fear God for nothing?…Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” It is common for Christians to adapt this verse and pray a “hedge of protection” around a friend or family member, but few people understand the original inspiration behind the phrase.

In the time of the Old Testament, wild animals were much more prevalent in the Middle East than they are today. The Bible mentions lions (Judges 14:5), wolves (Jeremiah 5:6), bears (1 Samuel 17:34), leopards (Hosea 13:7), and hyenas (Isaiah 13:22). Although stone walls could keep predators away from living areas and livestock, the walls would have to be very tall and would take a long time to make. Wood was not plentiful enough to waste on a fence. Instead, a hedge of thorn bushes could be induced to grow around a living compound. Thorn bushes would be too dense to crawl through, too sharp to chew through, and too deep for all but the most determined leopard to jump over. A hedge would also be a deterrent to sheep and goats seeking to escape their pen. As Satan is compared to a “lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), a thorn hedge is an appropriate metaphor for the protection God gives His followers.

Is it wrong to ask God for a hedge of protection around yourself or someone else? Absolutely not. In addition to putting on the armor God gives us (Ephesians 6:13-17), there is nothing wrong with asking for God’s protection. As seen with Job, a hedge is an apt illustration for what God’s protection looks like. –source

Adrian Rogers referenced Psalm 80 in his sermon.  The Psalm was written about Israel. God had placed hedges of protection around Israel, but then He took down the hedge.

(Psalm 80: 12-13)

“Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?  The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.”

Pastor Rogers asks this question:

“Will God Impeach America? I say with a broken heart that our God Blessed America is sick unto death;  we are in a moral free fall, and soon we will hit rock bottom and there will be no repair. And America will become a molded crust in  history’s garbage can if something is not done radical, dramatic and done quickly.”

(Psalm 80: 1-7)

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.  Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

Pastor Rogers says that verses 1-7 is a prayer for revival.  How many of us are praying this prayer for America?  But is it too late? Pastor Adrian Rogers was spared seeing the definition of marriage changed by the SCOTUS.  He knew well that America was in great moral decline, but he was taken by our Lord Jesus before that fateful day when gay marriage was made legal across our nation.

Adrian Rogers speaks of four things in Psalm 80 which are applicable today in America:

1.     Great national despair  (Psalm 80:4-6)  Spiritual sterility – prayers were given up to God out of unrepentant  hearts. These prayers actually made God angry. The prayer of an unrepentant people is an insult to Almighty God. Religion without Righteousness is repugnant to God.  America is praying but the sin of America is running over.

2.     Personal Sorrow  Sorrow follows sin as night follows the day.

3.     National Shame   Our enemies laugh at us. No longer is America respectfed for her ideals.

4.     Glorious National Design  God planted the nation of Israel. He planted them and they flourished.   There is a striking parallel between Israel of old and America today.  They are not the same , but America was a God- planted, God-blessed and God-ordained nation. It was like no other nation on earth.

In 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren gave a speech which revisionists of history have tried to erase.  Earl Warren was not  known as a “Christian Right” Justice. As a matter of fact, you could see signs along the highway which read “Impeach Justice Warren.”  Nevertheless, he gave this speech to Time magazine:

“I believe no one can read the history of our country … without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Saviour have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses. … Whether we look to the first Charter of Virginia … or to the Charter of New England … or to the Charter of Massachusetts Bay … or to the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut … the same objective is present: a Christian land governed by Christian principles. …

I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it: freedom of belief, of expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice under the law, and the reservation of powers to the people. …

I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country.” – source

From our great national hymn “America”

“Our fathers’ God to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With Freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by thy might
Great God, our King.”

GREAT GOD, OUR KING!   (this would be considered so politically incorrect to sing today!)

Adrian Rogers goes on to say that our forefathers never believed in the separation of God and government.  That is TRUTH!

America prospered until:

1962 – Prayer taken out of school

1963 – Bible banned

1973 – Abortion on demand legalized

1980 – Ten Commandments banned

THE HEDGE IS DOWN! God had us hedged with His protection, but we as a nation turned away from Him.  We kicked God out of every area of our society.

Satan, the enemy of our souls, was kept out of America when we had God’s hedge of protection.  Satan was roaming about seeking someone to devour – but we were hedged.  But when America removed God from our nation, Satan was given free reign to enter every part of our society.

Is the hedge down forever?

Only God knows the answer to that question.  In my heart I do feel that it is too late for America. I believe that we are under God’s Righteous Judgment.  There is a great falling away within the church, which only exacerbates our doom.

Keep looking up

Never before have I been sensing just how imminent is the return of our King to take us away in the Rapture!  I believe that it could be any day.

Please take time and watch the entire sermon of this great brother in Christ, Pastor Adrian Rogers:

Adrian Rogers: Will God Impeach America?

MARANATHA

grandmageri422@gmail.com