AMERICAN APOCALYPSE
Most people, whether saved or not, know the word "apocalypse" refers to the bible Book of Revelation, which in turn refers to some awfully bad happenings including the end of the world as we know it. This message is not a prophecy, but a state of condition America is struggling in, which, in turn, will determine how our nation will face the future. Lots of bad things are happening, and the guidelines scripture gives us are being ignored. This is serious stuff, friends,
because if Christians (church people) don't use the intelligence God gave us, we are headed for trouble. This message is not intended to predict the end time or future. It is intended to explain truths we are neglecting, mostly because of pressure in our busy lives.
When we talk of the apocalypse, we often equate the four horsemen mentioned there. They represent the main troubles the world will face as God pours out justice. For those of us who have a sports background, the oldest of us will remember the four horsemen of Notre Dame football fame. One portends evil, the other portends good. While this message is for Christians and non Christians both, the content will probably be more understood by church people. We will take an in depth look at the real background leading up to the contents of Revelation. Like the reference to the four horsemen, the concentration is on four conditions. Go to 1 Corinthians 10:3-7. Here we find where we should apply our attention and corrective efforts to solve earthly problems.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." The second part of our direction for correct application of scripture to our life and future is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:8. "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. Add verse 9, "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation to our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."
These verses of scripture explain to us that the problems we are dealing with are actually not the physical problems politicians keep trumpeting, but spiritual problems. Everyone, including Christians is missing this explanation given in the Epistles. People, especially Christians, are given this message in 1 Corinthians and 1Thessalonians to augment the four gospels given us by Christ. The entire world, according to God, is ruled by substances we cannot see with our eyes,
or with any scientific instrument. These substances are spiritual, and we should know spiritual values consist of four elements.
Everything in existence is controlled by the spiritual values of Salvation, Faith, Hope and Charity. All are free. Charity is largely misunderstood because of translators' choice of a word to explain the original Greek "Agape." Christians should know that word should have been translated "Love," but charity was selected because it means a combination of giving with love. We tend to equate charity to giving, but not with loving giving. Herein is a major problem for many Christians. This requires much more definitive explanation, but that needs to follow a look at the first of the four horsemen, salvation.
Christians understand the spiritual process of salvation, but we have a serious problem with professing Christians who think they understand this cornerstone, but actually don't. Accepting Christ's offer of salvation is easy enough, but requires two things of the person. Words do not a Christian make. A commitment from the heart is the first requirement. If this requirement is met, there will be evidence of the completed spiritual contract. We know this because
scripture tells us so. The evidence will be the saved person's adherence to Christ's teaching in how we should live. If we don't follow through on instructions in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), we show a serious lack of FAITH, which calls major attention as to your salvation. Was it a commitment from your heart, or otherwise? Otherwise could be you want to be a good person, or it could be you were afraid you wouldn't be going to heaven. Neither of these reasons cashes your ticket to salvation.
Christians make a major mistake when they say salvation is free. Friends, it is not free. It is worldly free, but not spiritually free. There are strings attached, and they are vibrantly explained in the four previously mentioned gospels. Those gospels are God's rule book,
and He expects you to faithfully honor and obey them. If you know anything about sports, you know you must know and understand the rules to be a positive participant. That means you never quit studying the rules and methods required to be a winner. James 2:17 sums up
Christ's instructions for a saved person, "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." You see, the four horsemen of God's spiritual world require fulfillment of each part to guarantee each other. That is the only way to achieve victory in the future. We cannot be a part of God's ultimate victory unless we're fruitful and obedient soldiers.
Obviously most of the world's people aren't Christians, but God uses all peoples profitably. America has received blessings largely unmatched in history. As the leader of the world, America has a large obligation to God and the world. If America falters because of wrong
choices, Americans must expect the hand of God to bring about corrective measures. If you study the Old Testament, you will be familiar with the consequences of bad choices. Israel, as God's Chosen, became very self satisfied after a period of comparative wealth and peace. The religious leaders liked the privileged living of the times, because if the people were happy, their religious leadership was much easier. They did not rock the boat of good times, and when things began to fall apart, they weren't up to the task of standing strong and listening to God. The prophets were listening, but their voices were ignored or shouted down by the people who were or who wanted to be the governmental leaders. The temple pulpit was quiet and permitted the people to persecute the prophets and condemn Christ to death. Have you ever given thought to God's solution to bring Gentiles into eternal life? He used the desire of carnal (money) leadership to lure the misguided people into killing the Savior, which opened the way for the salvation of untold numbers of people.
All this is to point out yet another scripture, Luke 12:48. Christ was speaking here of faithful and evil servants. As Christians, we are His servants. Christ uses this verse to describe what should and will happen to His servants--that's us, friends. "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they
will ask the more." There are two important points here. Not every American is a committed Christian, and these people are those who did not know. They will suffer the consequences for doing things unscriptural, as will much of the world's people. For those who are committed Christians, things have been wonderful. In addition to the spiritual blessings such as happy marriage and children, they have material blessings in jobs, homes, cars, vacations and such.
If you are among this fortunate group, you are one of the people from whom much will be expected. In addition to eternal life, God has blessed you on earth. Now we get to the required part of this scripture. MUCH will be required. Scripture doesn't say SOME will be required. It also notes that "they will ask the more."
Christ died for us, and if you know the New Testament, you know that His apostles, teachers and supporters sometimes were required to be killed. They were "asked the more." There is a saying, "if you want to get something done, ask a busy person." While this saying has been applied to the material world, it also applies to the spiritual world. God knows how much time you spend attempting to learn the Word. You do know the Word actually represents God, right? See John 1:1 in your manual. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The biggest hindrance I see in studying the Word is a combination of other interests. These include, lust for power, lust for money, and lust for entertainment. Lust becomes worship in many cases. As long as a Christian tithes or donates money to an organization, the obligation is considered done. Or attendance at church or teaching Sunday School satisfies the obligation. Friends, all of these actions are good if your intention is to serve God, except when you want to be recognized by people for your supposed generosity. All blessings come from God. They include a committed spouse, a comfortable
home, a successful business, good job, respectful children and many other good things. You may have performed the above good deeds, but everything is God's doing, and He deserves the credit. You can see how far we've deviated from this principle in actions such as naming stadiums and buildings for people or corporations. Neither is Godly, but money has prevailed. The Christian community in America permits this to happen when some church member with deep pockets donates a large sum of money. Some "Christian" radio stations are circumventing the paid advertisement code by accepting donations in the name of the giver. Do you believe God doesn't know what is going on? What do you think about the Christian dominated Supreme Court ruling that corporations are people?
This decision was a legal bit of trickery based on the need to provide an organization (corporation) a method of making contracts. The group could be considered a person to enable business contracts to be legal. For Christians to accept the Christian Supreme Court ruling, they must ignore basic scripture: Genesis 1:26-27, John 1:1, and the undisputed reality of Christ, in person, to prove that Christ, the man, was the image and likeness of God. Yet, there has been no movement by Christian leaders to have this terrible ruling thrown out. The result has been an atrocious collect of "donations", not for Christian purposes, but to satisfy the lust for power and to establish rules, whether liberal or conservative, that history has proven unworkable.
To sum up the requirements of salvation and the relationship to the three other horsemen of Christianity, we should understand that real, committed salvation is free in that it can't be earned or purchased. But, we must understand that strings are attached to our membership
in eternal life. We are expected to follow the directions given in the four gospels. If there is a problem understanding the parables, it is an indication you are not following God's reasoning; or you need the help of the Holy Spirit, or have listened to the wrong pastor or teacher. As
we are told in Matt. 7:7-8, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Every Christian needs to understand the invisible four horsemen who give us the meaning of spirituality. The message will continue in Part 2.
Rev. Walbear
Most people, whether saved or not, know the word "apocalypse" refers to the bible Book of Revelation, which in turn refers to some awfully bad happenings including the end of the world as we know it. This message is not a prophecy, but a state of condition America is struggling in, which, in turn, will determine how our nation will face the future. Lots of bad things are happening, and the guidelines scripture gives us are being ignored. This is serious stuff, friends,
because if Christians (church people) don't use the intelligence God gave us, we are headed for trouble. This message is not intended to predict the end time or future. It is intended to explain truths we are neglecting, mostly because of pressure in our busy lives.
When we talk of the apocalypse, we often equate the four horsemen mentioned there. They represent the main troubles the world will face as God pours out justice. For those of us who have a sports background, the oldest of us will remember the four horsemen of Notre Dame football fame. One portends evil, the other portends good. While this message is for Christians and non Christians both, the content will probably be more understood by church people. We will take an in depth look at the real background leading up to the contents of Revelation. Like the reference to the four horsemen, the concentration is on four conditions. Go to 1 Corinthians 10:3-7. Here we find where we should apply our attention and corrective efforts to solve earthly problems.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." The second part of our direction for correct application of scripture to our life and future is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:8. "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. Add verse 9, "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation to our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."
These verses of scripture explain to us that the problems we are dealing with are actually not the physical problems politicians keep trumpeting, but spiritual problems. Everyone, including Christians is missing this explanation given in the Epistles. People, especially Christians, are given this message in 1 Corinthians and 1Thessalonians to augment the four gospels given us by Christ. The entire world, according to God, is ruled by substances we cannot see with our eyes,
or with any scientific instrument. These substances are spiritual, and we should know spiritual values consist of four elements.
Everything in existence is controlled by the spiritual values of Salvation, Faith, Hope and Charity. All are free. Charity is largely misunderstood because of translators' choice of a word to explain the original Greek "Agape." Christians should know that word should have been translated "Love," but charity was selected because it means a combination of giving with love. We tend to equate charity to giving, but not with loving giving. Herein is a major problem for many Christians. This requires much more definitive explanation, but that needs to follow a look at the first of the four horsemen, salvation.
Christians understand the spiritual process of salvation, but we have a serious problem with professing Christians who think they understand this cornerstone, but actually don't. Accepting Christ's offer of salvation is easy enough, but requires two things of the person. Words do not a Christian make. A commitment from the heart is the first requirement. If this requirement is met, there will be evidence of the completed spiritual contract. We know this because
scripture tells us so. The evidence will be the saved person's adherence to Christ's teaching in how we should live. If we don't follow through on instructions in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), we show a serious lack of FAITH, which calls major attention as to your salvation. Was it a commitment from your heart, or otherwise? Otherwise could be you want to be a good person, or it could be you were afraid you wouldn't be going to heaven. Neither of these reasons cashes your ticket to salvation.
Christians make a major mistake when they say salvation is free. Friends, it is not free. It is worldly free, but not spiritually free. There are strings attached, and they are vibrantly explained in the four previously mentioned gospels. Those gospels are God's rule book,
and He expects you to faithfully honor and obey them. If you know anything about sports, you know you must know and understand the rules to be a positive participant. That means you never quit studying the rules and methods required to be a winner. James 2:17 sums up
Christ's instructions for a saved person, "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." You see, the four horsemen of God's spiritual world require fulfillment of each part to guarantee each other. That is the only way to achieve victory in the future. We cannot be a part of God's ultimate victory unless we're fruitful and obedient soldiers.
Obviously most of the world's people aren't Christians, but God uses all peoples profitably. America has received blessings largely unmatched in history. As the leader of the world, America has a large obligation to God and the world. If America falters because of wrong
choices, Americans must expect the hand of God to bring about corrective measures. If you study the Old Testament, you will be familiar with the consequences of bad choices. Israel, as God's Chosen, became very self satisfied after a period of comparative wealth and peace. The religious leaders liked the privileged living of the times, because if the people were happy, their religious leadership was much easier. They did not rock the boat of good times, and when things began to fall apart, they weren't up to the task of standing strong and listening to God. The prophets were listening, but their voices were ignored or shouted down by the people who were or who wanted to be the governmental leaders. The temple pulpit was quiet and permitted the people to persecute the prophets and condemn Christ to death. Have you ever given thought to God's solution to bring Gentiles into eternal life? He used the desire of carnal (money) leadership to lure the misguided people into killing the Savior, which opened the way for the salvation of untold numbers of people.
All this is to point out yet another scripture, Luke 12:48. Christ was speaking here of faithful and evil servants. As Christians, we are His servants. Christ uses this verse to describe what should and will happen to His servants--that's us, friends. "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they
will ask the more." There are two important points here. Not every American is a committed Christian, and these people are those who did not know. They will suffer the consequences for doing things unscriptural, as will much of the world's people. For those who are committed Christians, things have been wonderful. In addition to the spiritual blessings such as happy marriage and children, they have material blessings in jobs, homes, cars, vacations and such.
If you are among this fortunate group, you are one of the people from whom much will be expected. In addition to eternal life, God has blessed you on earth. Now we get to the required part of this scripture. MUCH will be required. Scripture doesn't say SOME will be required. It also notes that "they will ask the more."
Christ died for us, and if you know the New Testament, you know that His apostles, teachers and supporters sometimes were required to be killed. They were "asked the more." There is a saying, "if you want to get something done, ask a busy person." While this saying has been applied to the material world, it also applies to the spiritual world. God knows how much time you spend attempting to learn the Word. You do know the Word actually represents God, right? See John 1:1 in your manual. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The biggest hindrance I see in studying the Word is a combination of other interests. These include, lust for power, lust for money, and lust for entertainment. Lust becomes worship in many cases. As long as a Christian tithes or donates money to an organization, the obligation is considered done. Or attendance at church or teaching Sunday School satisfies the obligation. Friends, all of these actions are good if your intention is to serve God, except when you want to be recognized by people for your supposed generosity. All blessings come from God. They include a committed spouse, a comfortable
home, a successful business, good job, respectful children and many other good things. You may have performed the above good deeds, but everything is God's doing, and He deserves the credit. You can see how far we've deviated from this principle in actions such as naming stadiums and buildings for people or corporations. Neither is Godly, but money has prevailed. The Christian community in America permits this to happen when some church member with deep pockets donates a large sum of money. Some "Christian" radio stations are circumventing the paid advertisement code by accepting donations in the name of the giver. Do you believe God doesn't know what is going on? What do you think about the Christian dominated Supreme Court ruling that corporations are people?
This decision was a legal bit of trickery based on the need to provide an organization (corporation) a method of making contracts. The group could be considered a person to enable business contracts to be legal. For Christians to accept the Christian Supreme Court ruling, they must ignore basic scripture: Genesis 1:26-27, John 1:1, and the undisputed reality of Christ, in person, to prove that Christ, the man, was the image and likeness of God. Yet, there has been no movement by Christian leaders to have this terrible ruling thrown out. The result has been an atrocious collect of "donations", not for Christian purposes, but to satisfy the lust for power and to establish rules, whether liberal or conservative, that history has proven unworkable.
To sum up the requirements of salvation and the relationship to the three other horsemen of Christianity, we should understand that real, committed salvation is free in that it can't be earned or purchased. But, we must understand that strings are attached to our membership
in eternal life. We are expected to follow the directions given in the four gospels. If there is a problem understanding the parables, it is an indication you are not following God's reasoning; or you need the help of the Holy Spirit, or have listened to the wrong pastor or teacher. As
we are told in Matt. 7:7-8, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Every Christian needs to understand the invisible four horsemen who give us the meaning of spirituality. The message will continue in Part 2.
Rev. Walbear
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