Tom's Journal.
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I enjoyed reading this message-- and intend to at least visit this church in Wisconsin some time. Sounds like pastor Matt has a firm grip on the truth of the Bible here.
Sometimes I just wonder why we have to have so many holidays on Monday and then all the banks, credit unions and Post Office are closed for business.... LOL. Well, it's nice for the people who get the day off so they can relax with the family, etc., I guess. I will also have a busy day in visiting my dear wife in the hospital, buying some suspenders to keep my pants up, filling gas into the family truck, reading, studying and maybe visiting my Mom who lives about 12 miles away. it's so quiet and peaceful in the house now-- so I have plenty of time to think and ponder things.
Have a nice day.
Tom S
It's All Suppose To Happen This Way!
By Pastor Matt Trewhella
The Covenant News ~ January 18, 2010
I see no heartfelt desire amongst Christians to serve Him, and see His kingdom expanded in the earth (Lk.13:18-20). There seems to be no desire to truly follow Christ or glorify His name. We seem to have forgotten that Jesus said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mk.8:34)
I have noticed over my years that one massive contributor to this lackluster desire to serve Christ and see His kingdom expanded in the earth is the popularly held eschatological belief that Jesus is coming back any day now.
Last week I had a conversation that I have had or listened to thousands of times in the past. A woman, who recently came out of the slumber which grips the American Church, called me to tell me how much trouble she is having getting people involved to take action against legislation which is a clear attack upon the law of God and family government.
She said that they all tell her “don’t you know these things are suppose to take place? These are the end times. Things are suppose to get worse. Jesus is coming to take us out soon.”
I responded by telling her that the Chinese Christians thought the same thing when Mao Tse-tung was coming to power in the late 1940’s. They stood by and did nothing because they thought it meant the end times with Jesus coming back any day. They were wrong. The utter persecution they suffered afterwards is well preserved in history.
They learned the hard way that God doesn’t fly a Chinese flag in heaven. They thought for sure that the Jesus had to be returning because things were getting worse in their country. They paid dearly for their egocentrism and their faulty eschatology.
Nor does God fly an American flag in heaven. Just because things are getting worse in America doesn’t mean that Jesus has to be returning any day now.
What about all the countries where God’s kingdom is growing and expanding? Countries in Africa, South America, and even some places in Asia have seen thousands upon thousands won to Christ over the last decades. Many of these countries are even embracing the moral law of God for the legislative law of their land. What about them?
What? Jesus has to return just because things are getting worse in America? Our egocentrism and faulty eschatology has blinded us, just as it did the Chinese Christians of the 1940’s.
Think of this – in 1900 only 10% of the population in Africa was Christian. Today, it is 48%! Nations like Zambia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda have seen spectacular growth. The Church in Africa is alive with a strong commitment to Christ and righteousness. They – who once had missionaries coming to them – are now sending missionaries out around the world!
But Jesus has to return just because things are getting worse in America?
The truth is things are getting worse in America because the Church is playing the whore. We have decided that we like being the sugar of the earth, rather than the salt of the earth Christ calls us to be. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under the foot of men.” (Mt. 5:13) This is why things are worse in America.
Those who say it is the end times so things are suppose to get worse, neutralize Christian men, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The preoccupation with ever-changing prophecy charts by Christians in America has produced bad fruit which is evidenced by the state of our nation.
The truth is Christ is a king (I Tim.1:17). He is “the ruler over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5). He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (I Tim 6:15). His kingdom is to expand in the earth (Lk.13:18-20). His is a conquering kingdom (Mt.16:18). The reputation of the early Church Christians was that they “turned the world upside down…saying there is another king – Jesus.” (Acts 17:7).
Unfortunately when it comes to the Church in America, all His ambassadors and soldiers have left the field of battle having been neutralized by the faulty idea of present-day, popular, ever-changing eschatological schemes.
Matt Trewhella is the pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church (http://www.mercyseat.net) and founder of Missionaries To The Preborn (http://www.MissionariesToThePreborn.com) both of which are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Clara, have eleven children and reside in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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1 comment:
Tom, that was excellent. While I agree with most of what this pastor said, I do believe that our time is different than the persecuted people in Mao's time- as there are more and more prophecies coming into immediate view in our time. All of the rest is spot on- and the part about believing since Jesus is coming soon, we can all just sti back and relax until He gets here.
Our friend David Jeffers, in his morning devotionals had a great quote from Ravenhill, which says much the same thing :
"we go on as though we were on the edge of the millennium instead of on the edge of judgment.”
The message this pastor says is a good one, and one I pray the American church heeds.
God Bless, and thank you for posting it!
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