Take My Hand, Precious Lord..............

   "Should  I stay or should I go? " asked the Clash back in the day. The Apostle Paul wrestled with the same question (Philippians 1:20-24)  with going to Heaven looking better and better, yet remaining here on earth more needful to his disciples.

"The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness"

Isaiah 57:1-2

"Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them."

Revelation 14:3

   Over the past few years, I have seen my mother, mother-in-law, and several other friends and fellow saints pass from this world, and into the everlasting arms of the Father. I do not pity them; I do not pity any other family member, friend, or fellow minister whom the Lord shall see fit to call home from this time onward. Blessed are they, for they shall be spared the distress of all that is coming on this world!

  As Jesus was being led away to Golgotha, He turned and said to the women who cried after Him, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.......For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" (Luke 23:28-31) Yeah, things are gonna get really bad, really quickly, really soon. No, I don't feel sorry for those who get out before it all hits the fan! Whom the Lord chooses to keep from the hour of temptation (for they are worthy).

   But as for me, who am less than the least of all saints....do I wanna be here? Do I want to see the scoffers & scorners go scurrying into their holes like little mice when God's judgement hits? Do I want to see the Two Witnesses send plague after plague upon the unrepentant ungodly? Do I wanna see the look on the smart-mouth atheists' faces when every eye shall see Him, and every knee shall bow?

    Do I wanna hear the children of Israel ask the Messiah, "What are these wounds in Thy hands?" when they look on Him Whom they pierced?  Do I wanna see the Beast and the False Prophet taken? Do I wanna see Babylon fall? Do I wanna see the angel grab hold of Satan and lock him up 1,000 years? Do I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in?

 I wouldn't miss it for the world!

   God granted old Simeon his wish that he wouldn't die without seeing the LORD's Christ. My heart's desire and prayer is that I might not only survive and endure all the things that are coming quickly, but also that I might remain faithful unto the end,  to be among those that are alive and remain at His coming.  To be among those Isaiah heard say, "LO, this is our God, we have waited for Him.....this is the Lord, we have waited for Him!" (Isaiah 25:9)

    Lord, carry home whom You will, sparing them the grief of the fiery trial that shall test them that be upon the earth in these days, only let me serve you and abide faithful until You return!

Amen & amen. Maranatha!

September 2015: Hell, Hope, or Hype?

   Have we entered a critical period in history? Is the stuff about to hit the fan? Is humanity's destiny a step closer to fulfillment? Prophecy watchers warn that all hell is about to break loose, even as New Age gurus proclaim a new era of Light and Love! And it's all coming down in the next few weeks.......!
  I know what you're thinking. Y2K bug didn't exactly bite. Mayan Calendar off by more than a few years. We've heard it all before. One side says Doom & Gloom while the other cries, "Peace and Safety". Most of us just say, "Nuthin's gonna happen." Why is this time different? Or is it?
   Those of you who've been with me awhile know I'm no Chicken Little. I'm no sensationalist, I don't tickle ears with juicy gossip. I don't just repeat what everyone else is saying without checking it out first. But a lot of people out there are saying a lot of things about this month we've now entered. Listen, if half of what the prophets & prophecy watchers are saying is right, September 2015 is gonna rock you're world and not in a good way.
  Am I scared? A little, I'll admit. Not because of "blood moons" or Newton's timetable or any of that, but because everything written in the Bible is going to come to pass in its time, GUARANTEED. When? I don't know.
   When His Apostles asked Christ about the time of His coming and the signs thereto, He told them, basically, "It ain't none of yer business" (Acts 1:7) But now in our day many of the things John wrote of in Revelation-that were for ages total mysteries to Bible scholars & commentators  - are part of our everday life. Like using numbers and symbols to buy & sell goods & services. The political & spiritual aligments spoken of in the Scriptures are falling into place.
   I'm not here to tell you it's all going to fall apart this September. I hope to God it doesn't. Personally, I am not ready for all this! I would like things to stay "normal" a while longer. But what God said, He said, and He ain't changing His mind.
   His judgements are certainly coming down on this nation & this world; nothing can hold it back. God is merciful and gracious, and His ears are open to the prayers of His people. But He is not changing one word of what the apostles & prophets have written.
   What's going to happen this month? A new wave of love? Hell on earth? Nothing at all?
We can only wait and watch. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, hold onto Him with all you've got. If you are a fence-sitter, it's time to get serious with God. And if you are a scoffer, just keep laughing. Only don't say nobody told ya.

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"  Hebrews 2:3

NUMBERED!

   Are you ready to hunker down & ride out the storm? Daniel warned Belshazzar, "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it" (Daniel 5:26). The kingdom of the Antichrist also is numbered: it has an expiration date! Satan's kingdom is NUMBERED! And he knows it, too: "...the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time."   YES!
   I don't know about y'all, but I am SICK of Satan's rule! I am so ready for a regime change! I hate everything he says & everything he does. But the scumbag is a lame duck and he knows it. He's going to try a last ditch effort, not to win, but to make his defeat as costly as possible. The good news is, the clock is running!
   We don't have to defeat him, brothers: Jesus already did that!!!!  We just have to hang in there & hold on until the clock runs out. Jesus says: "...he that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 10:22) and, "In your patience possess ye your souls....and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."  (Luke 21: 19,28)
   All we have to do is survive until the kingdom of darkness is destroyed! Don't wimp out, don't back down, don't compromise.....just hold fast unto the end. Did not our Lord promise, "I will be with you even unto the end of this age." ? We don't have to throw a "Hail Mary" pass folks: just take the knee & let the game clock run out!
   Have you not read, "...from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."  Daniel 12:11-12)
   I tell you, the moment the abomination of desolation sets up, I will be marking my calendar: 1,335 days, 1334, 1333, 1332......that's not even four years, folks! Less time than you spent in High School (only a whole lot more evil). But we can do it! Be encouraged! Satan's kingdom is numbered! He's looking at a 1,000 year prison sentence! I can't wait!
 Sure, things suck right now, but "the triumphing of the wicked is short" (Job 20:5) For this Scripture must needs be fulfilled: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15) Yeah!
   And I ain't saying it's going to be easy, guys: far from it. But God has promised to give His angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways. This is the time for faith & patience. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus! Peace!

The View from Here

   Rip Van Winkle awoke from sleep after twenty years to find the world he knew had disappeared completely. As I look about upon my country, my society, my culture, I feel as bewildered as ol' Rip. When I was born again (as we called it then) back in the summer of '76, the world was a far different place!
   The Seven Words Ya Can't Say on Television weren't said on television. Books that today are required reading would have been banned from High School then. Though evolution was taught in public schools and Ancient Alien theory had already been born, most people still believed the Bible was the Word of God.
   Guys who wanted to be girly were called sissies, not heroes. Everything is upside-down and backwards from how it once was. Men are changed into women, women into men, kids into adults and adults into kids. The "Furries" masquerade as animals while lobbyists fight for human rights for apes. Computers are getting smarter, people getting dumber.
   The Confederate flag is coming down, the LGBT rainbow banner going up (and going up over many churches!). Vulgarity is so rampant that Charlie the Tuna doesn't even bother discussing "good taste" anymore; this generation wouldn't have a clue what he was talking about. And respect? Where will you find that?
   What of freedom? We had that, and privacy, too. There were laws against usury, protecting borrowers from exhorbitant interest rates. Now banks charge you $3.00 to use your own money!  The world has changed, the Church has changed, and yes, I too, have changed: not always for the better. Many have even tried to change the Scriptures themselves. But God says,

"For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." 

"Of old hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth: and the Heavens the works of Thy hands.They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same,and Thy years shall have no end."

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

"JESUS CHRIST the same yesterday, and today, and forever."

   What a comfort to know our firm foundation will never alter or vary! Peace!

Thw Walking (Wish They Were) Dead!

   It's nearly a year since my mother left this world to be with the Lord she'd loved and served since she was a child. And in a way, I'm glad she's passed on before the stuff really hits the fan. "The righteous perishes, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the the evil to come"  says Isaiah 57:1. What evil is coming?
   Some of you think I've lost it already, but I'm telling you that some of the Bible prophecies that for centuries theologians and commentators have assumed were allegorical or symbolic may actually be quite literal! That would be extremely disturbing! In particular, I'm referring to Revelation chapter 9, and the ungdoly beasts that ascend from "the bottomless pit" or abyss, asc John called it.
   In our day, the technology exists to open a wormhole to another dimension. Some of you say, "Matt, you've been watching too many movies", but I tell you , CERN is not science fiction. The people of the world are actually trying to fire this thing up. I believe it is the fulfillment of Rev 9's prophecy.
   When this door is opened, horrible creatures emerge into our world to attack the human race. John tells us things things have faces like men, yet hair like women. Friends, the beings from the other side are indeed androgyneous (that is, guy-gals) having both male and female characteristics as the prophet describes.
   Another terrible aspect of these creatures is, they have a sting like a scorpion, only far more intense; and worst of all, some component of their venom actually prevents their victims from dying. Imagine! People wracked with such unbearable pain they want to kill themselves, but cannot! "And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them."  Rev 9:6 This is what awaits those who reject God and His Christ!
   No matter what they do....jump out of buildings, crash their cars, set themselves on fire, toss themselves into the sea......nothing will kill them for 5 months! Sound  impossible? So does rising from the dead, but Jesus Christ did it. And He will both protect His own who trust in Him, and punish His adversaries.
 I know you think I'm crazy, but the Bible has this habit of being right. Like when Moses predicted the Diaspora. I am telling you that everything wriitten in Scripture will come to pass, not one jot or tittle shall fail until all be fulfilled. No matter how wild or far-fetched it sounds. Who would have thought one could rise from the dead, or people could speak in languages they'd never learned?
 Ads for a beer brand talk about being ready for whatever comes next. You're gonna need more than beer.......

Hold Fast!

   Are you ready for anything? Will your faith stand the test of time? Jesus encourages us: "That which you have already hold fast till I come."  (Rev 2:25). Paul adds: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Th 5:21) And in Hebrews we're told, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering" (He 10:23). Brothers & Sisters, we must hold on tight to what we have no matter what comes, no matter what we see or hear!
   Why? Be assured that Satan will huff & puff and try to blow you off your firm foundation. In the coming days, you will see & hear things you thought you never would; things absolutely and quite literally out of this world. 
  First, the world system will do all in its power to discredit God & the Bible. The prophets tell us: "...there was given given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them" (Rev 13:5-6) "....and a mouth that spake very great things.....I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them." (Dan 7:20-21)
   This is not some day, friends: it's happening now! Our education system drums evolution into our kids' heads from kindergarten onward. Comedians and cartoonists mock God & the Bible with impunity. TV, movies, cartoons all preach monism and evolution. As an example, the whole premise of Marvel Comics' The X-Men is that the human race is still evolving. Anyone see the movie Lucy ? Its theme is that we've evolved from ape to man and shall evolve from man to god.
   Brace yourselves: it will only get worse! Would your faith endure should the aliens arrive and proclaim they are our creators? Would that invalidate the Bible? Listen, it wouldn't faze me, 'cuz God already told us they're coming! Hear Revelation 9:1: I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit..."  This being seems to give man the technology to open a door to another dimension, with disastrous results as our world is invaded by locust-like creatures.
   Further, the rulers of the world consort with aliens who guide the nations' actions: "and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs...they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almghty." (Rev 16: 13-14) Hey, what are frogs like? Hairless, green skin, big bulging eyes, long thin arms & legs, long thin fingers & toes.....and what are aliens like? They're like frogs! But they're really devils!
   So, you ready? I leave you with Romans chapter 8. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
   Hold fast, brothers. Jesus told you, Paul told you, and now I tell you. Hold fast.

That Old, Rugged Cross

   "To the old, rugged cross, I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear...."  pretty much sums up where I stand and what I stand for. I'm not a member of the "Truth Movement" per se, ( though I rejoice in the truth!) but one who holds to the truth of the Bible, which has greatly come under attack lately. When Pontius Pilate sarcastically asked Christ, "What is truth?" our Lord might well have answered, "Yer lookin' at it, Numb-nuts!" (FYI, He didn't)
   But what is it about that old rugged cross? It's what sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. For every other founder of every other faith says, "Follow me, people; I did it and you can do it, too!" It being not merely acceptance by God, but becoming one with Him: becoming a god in your own right (and by your own efforts).
   But the old, rugged cross says, "Not so fast!" 'Cuz something happened there. Something gross, and ugly and wrong. "For 'twas there on that cross that the dear Lamb of God for a world of lost sinners was slain". See, we couldn't ascend Jacob's ladder up to God; He had to come down here to our level....to the lowest level, and be executed like a common criminal.
   "That old, rugged cross, so despised by the world..." Why do they despise it? Because it brands us guilty sinners....they know in their hearts they deserve to die there, but they don't wanna hear it. They don't want to hear about absolute, black or white right and wrong. "I'm ok, you're ok" is the message they want to hear.
   But it's not the message I preach! I don't care if I don't fit in: I never did fit in anyway! Here's the reality: THERE IS NONE GOOD, NO NOT ONE. and ALL OUR RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE AS FILTHY RAGS. On that cross, Jesus took our sins, and gave us His righteousness. That's the message I live for, and if so be the will of God, I shall die for.
   So let some stuck-up atheist sue the town of so-and-so to take down that cross; His nail-pierced hands are stretched out still, and still He cries, "Come to Me, you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." But this is, as they say, a limited -time offer, as the Holy Ghost says in David, "TODAY, if you will hear His voice"!
   Tomorrow? The day is coming when the grace period on the human race ends. The time is coming when, as in the time of Noah God closed the door of the ark. I don't care what everyone else is saying or doing, let them follow their fads & trends. I will cling to the old, rugged cross.