I looked out the window this morning to see bright blue skies and a white snow covering over Mt. Hood.  We are told by the weatherman it won’t last through the week but it is still a nice sight to see.

Carla says that she thinks one of the reasons we are having this last great burst of beautiful tomatoes from her garden is that the deer have pulled down some of the stems and exposed the inner parts of the plant to the sun – in effect kinda pruning the tomato plants.

Of course the much cooler weather, they don’t really like 110 degrees, may also have something to do with it – but I give her a bad time because she absolutely hates to prune – if it grows let it grow.

Those tomatoes have great, beginning of the season flavors, wish we could have them all year round.

Revelations 6:9-11 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

¹¹ And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.  KJV cut and pasted from BibleGateway.com

How close are we to Christ coming back and reclaiming earth?

We look at the carnage caused by those who worship false gods, false teachings as they decimate their countries with maiming and slaughter of Christians and other innocent people.

We wring our hands and wonder what is happening in this world that we once thought was safe and secure.

That is the American in me speaking.  This world has never been safe and secure for many.  Satan has roamed the earth since Adam and Eve and lifted up those that would follow and do his bidding to destroy God’s creation.  America is just now beginning to receive what hundreds of other people in other countries have felt since Adam ate the apple and satan found he could make people suffer.

It matters little to satan how he does it, for he has many weapons – hatred, false teachings and twisting the Word of God, ‘education,’ technology, ‘love’ that is not Biblical but carnal, envy, as the list continues to grow and his works are becoming more and more evident as he becomes bolder.

We look at the carnage of the Old Testament where tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands were slain because God had been rejected and men, women and children died horrible deaths because of it. 

As promised, He sent a Savior who came that all of us would have the opportunity to have an intimate relationship with Him.  He was rejected, just as the prophets before Him because the people do not want to yield to God – the world wants to live their life without condemnation.  Jesus is a thorn in these people’s sides that must be removed.

Many countries have thought they were successful in removing that thorn and making government the new ‘god’ for the masses.  Laws have been passed forbidding the preaching of God’s Word or even acknowledging a Christian is a Christian.

This has been going on for hundreds of years – yet, Christ is still alive, many of these countries that have thought they conquered God, have found that Christianity has grown, even under their tyrannical hatred; they have not defeated God.

We look at these verses and we see tormented Christians asking God to stop the bloodbaths, avenge those that have suffered so much for their faith in Him.  Hold those who are following and doing the bidding of satan accountable.

I struggle so, I see what is happening in America and think, how long, God, must this go on?  How long before you say enough is enough and set us right?  Is America doomed to follow history in its destruction?

I have to admit I must take great care not to allow anger to well within me – asking God to just use a great sword and annihilate satan, stopping those who work against us. 

The sword He uses is His Word and yet, we feel it is ineffective – more and more people are rejecting it and declaring it null and void in this ‘modern’ world.  How can we convince them that the God of the Bible is their Salvation when they refuse to even acknowledge He exists and the Bible is fiction?

And I feel frustrated.  I feel that God is too forgiving, too patient.  Doesn’t He realize the pain and suffering that is going on in this world?

Doesn’t He see the persecutions and deaths of His children?  Can He not see that not only are His children suffering but others who could be but have not yet been given the chance have those opportunities taken away from them by all this violence and death?

We may have those thoughts at times, we may question His timing, yet we must let those thoughts go – God is God.  While the world may think they have made Him and His Word ineffective, it has not and we must continue to follow it, obey and tell of it.

Through it all, His church grows.  Men, women and children are heeding the Holy Spirit’s call and despite all the terror and feeling of hopelessness, as their governments condone and take part in this persecution, they are finding Christ.

They are not only accepting Him and living for Him, but they are sharing His Gospel and others, too, are finding their way to Christ.

The world says, “accept my way, compromise, love everybody, be tolerant of everything and everything will be okay.”  “If you want to believe in Jesus, fine, just don’t try and preach to us, we may want to believe in Buddha, or Mohammad or some other false god, don’t presume to tell us that Jesus came here to take away our ‘rights’.” 

The world tells us “that if you believe in Jesus at all, you must believe that He came in peace so that all people, no matter what they believe, no matter whether they accept Him as Savior, everyone will end up in heaven.” 

“After all isn’t that what the Bible tells us?”

What the Bible does tell us is:

Jesus came:

Mathew 5:15 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

As we remove the Ten Commandments from our public places.

Mathew 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

As we are told by the world, ‘If you really are a Christian then you will accept everyone for who they are and not try and convince them they are sinners; you will just love them.’

Proverbs 16:23-26  Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

²⁵ There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

²⁶ He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.

The world tells us that ‘we can do whatever we want to do; man is in charge of his own destiny.’  As the world erupts in hatred, persecution and slaughter of those that disagree with someone’s perceived destiny for the world.

Mathew 18:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

As the world tells us to ‘be afraid, very afraid, we will destroy you and your God.’  That is what many nations said to the Hebrews, yet, God lives and His Word continues to lift His people up and strengthen their resolve to spread the Gospel of Jesus.  The Jewish people live.

Luke 12:4-5  And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

⁵ But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

The world says that ‘we will persecute, we will mock and spit upon you and your God, we will decimate your numbers through fear of retribution and even death.  We will stop you.  YOU cannot stop us.’

Jesus says, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

There are times we will be discouraged with all we see and feel.  We will cry out to God to do something to stop the pain and suffering, we cannot take any more of it, yet. It shall continue until God says, “ENOUGH!”  We don’t know when that time shall come, but it will come, God does hear us And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

It is our responsibility, our command to continue to tell others about Him, to obey and follow the Holy Spirit as He guides us, each and every day.  We do not know when this verse will be fulfilled, but we must keep working until it does.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Later, Art :-)