Looking Up!
My heart goes out to you.Originally Posted by Momma D
I'm glad she was saved! My best friend died about a year and a half ago. And mine was such a nut I wouldn't be surprised if she teased me about how SHE got to go to heaven FIRST!
Hopefully it won't be long until we see them again.
P.S. In the meantime, I sent you a little something ; )
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21 ______
My Heart Cries Out To God
Between both of our friends, I'm sure there will be a little game of "Let me show you how things work here."My heart goes out to you.
Hopefully it won't be long until we see them again.
P.S. In the meantime, I sent you a little something ; )
I can't feel sad for her, but I need to pray for her family. As much as she pumped the salvation message into them, there wasn't a lot of listening going on.
I pray her death will open their eyes to their mortality, and the absolute need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior while there is still time.
I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken because He is right beside me. Ps. 16:8
Looking Up!
My friend was worried about her (large) family, too. Her husband finally accepted the Lord after years and years of her influence. He died just a few months after her, so now they are BOTH enjoying the joys of heaven!Between both of our friends, I'm sure there will be a little game of "Let me show you how things work here."
I can't feel sad for her, but I need to pray for her family. As much as she pumped the salvation message into them, there wasn't a lot of listening going on.
I pray her death will open their eyes to their mortality, and the absolute need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior while there is still time.
Lord, please help both of our friends' families get right with you before the Rapture.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21 ______
for HIS return
DITTO. And I hve to tell you all that I must look like a crazy person walking about out with my dog, talking to the Lord constantly.Wow that was good and captures the sentiments of many of the watchers here! I live a blessed life and still I'm more than ready to go.
Thanks so much for posting this, we all must feel this same exact way!
" In the end, all we have is our relationship with Jesus Christ." Nearing Midnight
Behold, HE comes, riding on the clouds , shining like the sun, at the trumpet call.
Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee, And out of Zion's hill, salvation comes !
for HIS return
They have "the veil" over their eyes, and desperately need prayer! I live with unsaved family, and it is like Im Israel and they
are muslims, spiritually its the same. And they cant understand that in spite of the abuse and persecution I endure, I look up
and smile and I refuse to let it steal my joy! But prayer is a miracle to happen. I love You, Jesus. I desperately need You.
" In the end, all we have is our relationship with Jesus Christ." Nearing Midnight
Behold, HE comes, riding on the clouds , shining like the sun, at the trumpet call.
Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee, And out of Zion's hill, salvation comes !
Arribamod
Say no to the joy-stealers, they can't touch our hope.
Don't panic! Just be Rapture Ready.
Joel 3:2
I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.
Soldier of the King
Beautiful, wonderful true words! This is just what I've been needing! I've been so down and discouraged. I'm one of those who has literally been groaning for Christ's return! Seems our struggles are just getting worse and worse around here. I, too am so tired of evil and the battle. I don't even want to leave the house these days but have made an effort to reach out to people who really need help. I have no money but I can clean houses for those who can't and give them my time. I could go on and on...but you guys all know. You're experiencing it too. I pray God's blessing over all His children....thanks for this awesome article!
1 Thessalonians 5:4 (New International Version)
4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
Regular Member
Yes, that was an **EXCELLENT** and an **ENCOURAGING** commentary article by Jim Fletcher!!
This commentary is a "must read" for every Christian who is sick and tired of this evil, wicked, and God-hating-and-denying world in which we live, and, who is longing for and looking forward to going Home to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ FOREVER!!
"EVEN SO, PLEASE COME QUICKLY FOR YOUR CHURCH, LORD JESUS!!!!!"
Saved By Jesus
for HIS return
Amen!!!
Say no to the joy-stealers, they can't touch our hope.
" In the end, all we have is our relationship with Jesus Christ." Nearing Midnight
Behold, HE comes, riding on the clouds , shining like the sun, at the trumpet call.
Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee, And out of Zion's hill, salvation comes !
Ready to Go Home
Thank you so much for posting this. As I read Jim's commentary, the tears just began to flow, and they've been flowing off and on since. I know exactly what he meant by the cold wind that entered the world a few years ago. I recognized it. I knew, without a doubt, it was the beginning of the end. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I fell to my knees, thanking Him, and praising HIm, knowing it wouldn't be long before I would finally get to go home. It was at this moment, I began saying good-bye to this world, and I've been letting go since. It has been longer than I had hoped for and prayed for, but even still, I know in my spirit it is so very close. Soon the fullness of the gentiles will be completed, and at that moment, we will all get to go home and be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Can't wait to see you all!
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
I may not be perfect, but Jesus thinks I'm to die for!
I neeeeeeed cake!
You said it so much better than I was going to. Thank you!
Can't wait to see you all!
This deeply affected me when I read it. I think we all feel this. I just wanna go Home. I don't want to be in this sin-filled world--nor in this sinful flesh anymore.
Washed in His Blood
Wow what a great article! I was so blessed by it. Thank you for posting.
As I am now battling a second cancer I keep my heart and mind set on the soon return of Jesus. Come soon Lord!
Regular Member
Jesus is coming now at "Any Moment"! Are you ready?
Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem. Amen.
Member
Love to You All, Part II
Love to You All, Part II
By Jim Fletcher
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is Thursday, May 31, and I am taking time out of a very busy day (like you all have) to put down some thoughts. A recent piece I did here, “Love To You All,” garnered a good deal of response; it must have struck a chord, and it seems like many of us are having identical thoughts about our present circumstances.
I spent a chunk of the morning mediating two disputes between four Christian brothers and may I say (tipping my hat to Dr. McGee), both disputes are stupid. Unnecessary. Counter-productive.
And an attack of the enemy.
I am now, seven days a week, watching virtual chaos among friends and family. The friends and family, of course, include you, dear readers. It is almost to the point that it is all so common that all I can do is pull up a chair and open a box of Cracker Jacks and take it all in, like some weird foreign film.
But I don’t want to take it in, anymore.
Having just read another insightful piece by Ron Graham (“They Call Us Haters”), I am reminded of the state of the Visible Church, against the Invisible Church.
The Visible Church is not terribly buffeted by the world, due to mutual love.
For example, Andy Stanley can drop a bombshell message (April 15), doing everything but mouth the words, “Homosexuality is acceptable to me, as a lifestyle, for those who choose it,” and then sit back and not be held accountable. Notice the virtual silence from major Christian leaders about Stanley’s message, “When Gracie Met Truthie.”
Stanley won’t clarify his comments from that message, which was a superbly crafted and cleverly worded wink-and-a-nod to the so-called “LGBT” crowd. Stanley’s popularity will grow.
By contrast, those small discernment ministries and brave Christian leaders who do question Stanley’s intentions will be labeled “haters” and further marginalized.
Get ready for it.
Mega-ministries and churches, headed by people like Rick Warren and Mark Driscoll, will continue to denigrate and marginalize Bible prophecy teaching, and they will get away with it.
This follows closely the growing acceptance of the Palestinian narrative in churches and seminaries around America, so much so that those change-agents responsible for it are hugely advancing their agenda…well, to use a sports analogy, they are “winning going away.” They are bringing folks into their fold on a massive scale.
I believe it is the apostasy of the Church that has so many of us perplexed and—may I be truthful—anxious. Where did our world go?
It has gone the way of the Dodo Bird and the Victorian Era and the Edsel. It has passed from the scene and in its place is what the Germans called the Zeitgeist—the spirit of the age.
The spirit of the age is against us.
Ephesians 5:15,16 tell us, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
There is an interesting corollary to that thought, in Proverbs 15:15, “All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”
We must, through this fog of war currently raging in the spirit world, each keep a merry heart, to the best of our abilities. This requires diligent prayer and Bible study.
I heard yesterday of a woman not far from where I live who was found wandering, barefoot. Her caregiver daughter had turned her head for just a moment, and her mother—now in hospice care—left the house. Police found her. She is dying of brain cancer and a ghastly surgery scar mars her once-beautiful head of hair. She saw her family members and though she cannot remember basic things now, she cried with joy at the sight of them.
They will not put her out of the home because she’d be afraid. I applaud them for that, such tender love and loyalty in this cesspool of a world.
But I am just about at the point that I can’t stand this stuff anymore. At least that’s how I “feel.”
Please, God, give me a merry heart.
If my desire to see Jesus come back makes me embrace, in Brian McLaren’s gauzy world, “an eschatology of abandonment,” then, brother, get out of my way as I race out of this burning building.
I want nothing of McLaren’s parallel world, that shadow-land where a different Jesus is pretty much happy just to have playful, go-nowhere conversations, take another hit, and play the bongos. While evil flourishes.
Let me out of here.
The teen suicides, the adult suicides, the senior suicides, the vapidness of Hollywood, the stench from Washington, the child abuse, the blown-apart marriages, the sadness, the bizarre and murderous weather, the African warlords who rape and steal, the cancer, the mental problems, the despair of youth, the friendliness with lying, the ease with which some steal, the narcissism—I hate it all.
I honestly believe the Church Invisible, as it were, is made up of folks who actually believe Bible prophecy is true, and can discern the times in which we live. They see physical, emotional, and spiritual sewage rising rapidly to our knees, our hips…and they want no more part of it.
Read John’s three letters in the NT. Read Paul’s and Peter’s stark, cold warnings about the time of the end.
In Luke 18:8, Jesus asked a really important question: When He returns, will He find faith on the earth?
Wow.
But that’s not Purpose-Driven! That doesn’t fit the P.E.A.C.E. plan, man!
So who’s right? Is the whole big enchilada winding-down, ugly, or are we all going to an Omega Point, spiritual enlightenment for mankind, created by mankind?
I know what I believe. Specifically, I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that nothing at all can keep Him from keeping me.
The American Church is being engulfed by the Emergent Movement. It is so dark and systemic, you have no idea. Rapid alliances are being made in an…ecumenical way within the evangelical community. People who would have had serious doctrinal differences two years ago—six months ago—are now grinning at each other and hugging at “leadership” conferences.
It’s truly mind-boggling. The weakness of the American evangelical leadership is sinking the ship. Heresy has been brought in, and it is turning into apostasy.
If I’m an alarmist, then let me exhaust myself ringing the bell. If I’m crazy, I am at peace when I stand one day before my Judge.
I am not going down without a fight. I am not going to do it. If I had been in those Don Knotts movies of the 60’s, I would have been the…Don Knotts characters. I’m a worm. But I will not wave the white flag and surrender to the change agents in the Church Visible, in order to stay a few minutes longer in my comfortable bed.
How sad that they don’t understand that evil is coming for them, too.
A friend just now in correspondence said simply, “It’s underway.”
What a perfect description! The end-game is literally underway. As insanity and instability engulf our society, I believe it is clear that the biblical setting for the end of history is underway.
I am convinced the day is coming when we won’t be able to use present communications to talk to each other anymore. Someone will shut down the Internet, or worse. We will have to rely on prayer even more, and the knowledge that God is sure. Most of us will meet on the other side.
When that day comes, remember that I do love you all and I know it’s mutual, and better days are coming. Days of wonder and joy everlasting.
Let’s keep these things in the forefront of our thoughts.
And can I make a suggestion, or, better yet, ask something of you? From this point forward, will you show as much kindness and mercy as you possibly can to anyone who crosses your path? Will you take under your wing especially those who are alone and afraid? Turn your spare bedroom into a dorm, and cut back on your own food intake if you have to, but let’s try and make the way easier for the less fortunate.
We might be the less fortunate tomorrow.
We must do these things because it is underway.
Sure, the critics crow by saying we were saying that 400 years ago. Yet Israel was not born then, and if others were making embarrassing predictions of Christ’s return, I wasn’t. More importantly, the Bible wasn’t. Its message has always been sure and steady and pretty clear.
What Paul and Peter and John warned about is here.
Pray for yourself, frankly. Pray for wisdom, steadiness, discernment, humility, love, patience. Pray then for your families and friends.
Pray for a merry heart.
http://www.raptureready.com/soap/fletcher3.html
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. (First Thessalonians 5:9-11)
watching and waiting
Thank you for sharing part II. I too say, "Let me out of here."
and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead—Jesus,
who rescues us from the coming wrath
1 Thessalonians 1:10
Ready to Go Home
Every day, I keep praying, that today will be the day I will see my Savior face to face, and can finally leave the wickedness of this world behind and finally get to go home. As of today, I am still here, yet I keep reminding myself that today is not over yet. And if not today, maybe tomorrow, or maybe the next. Or maybe next week or next month, but soon, and very soon, we will be going home. I love you all.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
I may not be perfect, but Jesus thinks I'm to die for!
Regular Member
I was reading and thinking on that very passage of Ephesians this morning: redeem the time.
Too much I let the time slip away; I fritter it away. But it's something you can't get back.
I neeeeeeed cake!
Thank you for posting Part 2. Yes, please--Let me out of here!
It is so true of our church leaders. It just grieves me to see what is going on-going on. I just found out that in the church I attend, most of our [newer] senior staff are Amillenialists.Our senior pastor is not, but he is getting older and has so many physical ailments and is constantly sick, injured, or hospitalized, that it is really only a matter of time. The junior pastor, who is extremely popular and loved by the majority of the congregation will most likey move into his position. I, and a fellow-watcher and beloved friend, are watching and listening. It was heartening to hear our senior pastor declare that he will not bow down to political correctness or preach what tickles the ears. He also stated firmly that Israel is the apple of God's Eye, and that we will not abandon her. That younger fella, waiting in the wings? I am not so sure about that one; we have heard whispers of replacement theology...
In the meantime, my beloved friend and I are paying attention, and she would, likewise, cry with us, "Let me out of here!".
Maybe tonight, Lord?
homesick
Oh wow....I thought it was just me and a few others feeling like this. I'm so blessed by these articles. IMO, the cold wind started on 9/11 but got alot worse with Obama. This world has gone crazy and we all feel it.
Regular Member
Ditto this. I barely noticed 'a breeze' before 9/11, but now it has become a full-fledged gale. Maranatha...maybe today! In the meantime, we'll work until Jesus comes. "And the work of God is this, to believe in the One He has sent". Believe = worship, praise, pray, witness. Keep looking up, our redemption grows ever nearer.
Ph 3:15 (paraphrased):...And if on some point you and I think differently, that too God will make clear to us. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
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