Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD

I have had some spiritual impressions over the last several years, and I will share them with you.

First, concerning the United States. I think the Spirit is saying that Divine judgment is beginning to take effect in America. We are spiraling downward on our way to becoming a third-class nation.

The leadership of the world will move to an Eastern nation. I do not know what nation, and I don’t want to add to what I think God has shown me or speculate on it.

I think the Spirit is saying there will be much bloodshed. This is why I have written Godwill Castle (free download and purchase), Heaven—God’s Wonderful World (purchase), and John and Mary Visit Heaven. These are to comfort those who are facing death or the death of their children. Death is not to be feared, unless we have refused Christ when He came to us or have lived a wicked life. Then we really need to fear death, or else receive Christ and live a decent life.

Death, for those whose heart is right with God, is like the summer vacation when school is out. It is a time of release from the burdens and pains of life on the earth. Life in the spirit world, and then in the new world of righteousness that will come after the thousand-year Kingdom Age, is infinitely preferable to life in this “valley of the shadow of death” in which we now are attempting to survive.

America is entering a period of sin and rejection of Christ that is unprecedented in our history. Our current President seldom or never refers to God in his public addresses. It is as though we are to trust in him instead of God. God will use him to accomplish God’s purposes, and then he will be discarded, just as has happened to political leaders of the past who have ignored Christ.

We already are in a precarious position financially. Our schools rank beneath other countries in academic prowess. Also, in our schools in America, the most abominable curricula imaginable is being presented to young people, along the line of sexual abnormalities, as though they were normal or even desirable.

Gender confusion is increasing. Homosexual behavior, an ancient perversion, is being presented as something progressive and wholesome. Actually it is regressive, being an ancient practice, according to the Bible.

In the universities, evolution is taught as a proven fact. Not only is evolution an unproven hypothesis, what we see all around us is undeniable proof of an intelligent Creator. Also, our mind rejects the notion that all we can observe proceeds from a mindless confluence of physical elements. And then, where did these physical elements originate?

The American people at the present time are divided between old American values and new, untested political and financial paths. The two sets of people are drawing further apart each day. Hostility is increasing. Perhaps this is the reason the President has mentioned the idea of internment camps. He may perceive that we are not far from civil war—the atmosphere is that intense!

There are two major gods in America today. Which is the more important depends on the individual, I suppose. One is money. The other is sexual satisfaction. I don’t think there is a single day that the news does not comment on both of these idols.

We cannot even imagine a culture in which God and His worship are of supreme importance. Yet, there may be some cultures in our world in which God frequently is mentioned. Perhaps this was true of the American Indians before they became involved in casinos.

I think it generally is felt that if a person had enough money, all his problems would be over. The truth is, people with a great deal of money are little better off than people who are having a problem paying the rent. The rich person worries about his possessions. The poor person can call on God and get help. God loves the poor.

As far as our inflamed sexual appetites are concerned, these lead to crime, disgrace, remorse, disease, loss of employment, loss of respect, the breaking up our family, and poverty. What people will sell for a moment of passion!

The Lord has been telling me for years that there is going to be a spiritual awakening in America, but that it will be in the midst of great trouble.

I think the awakening will flow into the ministry of the two witnesses described in Revelation chapter 11. The two witnesses are composed of Christ dwelling in those believers who have been purified of self-will and sin by the chaos in America as we experience Divine judgment.

When we picture an “awakening,” we may think of signs and wonders being performed and people flooding into buildings to get “saved.” I don’t believe our awakening will be like that. I think rather it will be a case of individual Christians recognizing that the Holy Spirit is pointing out sin in their lives, and confessing and turning away from those sins.

Another aspect of the awakening might be that some pastors will become aware of the fact that the Gospel of the Kingdom is not being preached correctly. What is heard today is about how sovereign our salvation is. “Once we ‘accept’ Christ, we have a permanent pass to Heaven. God does not see our sin, only the righteousness of Christ. Christ suffered so we need not suffer. Christ was poor that we might be rich. All of our judgment was accomplished on the cross, so we never can be guilty of sin.” This is what is preached. It is dreadfully unscriptural, according to the New Testament.

America might be brought back to the previous blessing of God, if there were nation-wide repentance. But there cannot be nation-wide repentance unless the ministers preach God’s Word. People will not repent if we tell them that their salvation is a sovereign work of God and there is nothing they need to do about it except wait to die and go to Heaven. If God sees you through Christ, and there is nothing to do but believe that this is true, how can you repent? Of what are you to repent? That God sees you through Christ? This is ridiculous!

So today’s Christian preaching has removed the possibility of genuine repentance. Repentance is difficult. It means that we must change our behavior. We are not going to go through the embarrassing steps of confessing our sins and turning away from them if we believe we already have been permanently justified in Christ.

I am declaring that the present moral decline, and consequent physical decline, of the United States is due to the unscriptural preaching and teaching that is taking place in the majority of the Christian churches of our day.

I have prayed much about the destruction of our country, as you probably have also, and I am not hearing from the Lord that the hand of judgment is going to lifted from us. We have driven all references to God and Jesus out of many of our institutions. “We do not want to offend anyone.” The truth is, we are ashamed of the Lord Jesus and are denying Him. The punishment for this action is the loss of Presence of God.

The spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Day of Atonement has commenced. I believe it will continue until the final resurrection, after the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The Day of Atonement really is another name for the Judgment Seat of Christ. If we hope to rise from the dead and be caught up to meet the Lord in the air when He returns, we must be judged in advance. That resurrection and catching up is the sentence that has been handed down from the Judgment Seat. It is an eternal judgment and an eternal sentence.

How do we go about experiencing the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, which is the same as the Judgment Seat of Christ? After you have received Christ and been baptized in water, and if you are to be raised and caught up, the first step is to ask God in Jesus’ name to bring you through the judgment that must precede His next coming to the world. God always will hear that prayer. It will not be long before some sin that you have been practicing, perhaps without being aware of it, will be brought to your attention.

You may fly into a rage against one of your family members. You know that is not the image of God and is not pleasing to God. So what must you do? You get alone with God as soon as possible and confess your rage. Then you ask Him to remove this spirit from you and help you never to do this again. After this comes restitution on some occasions, depending on the circumstances. The Lord might give you the grace to go to the offended family member and tell her or him you are sorry and it will not happen again. No matter how the individual responds, you have obeyed the Lord. The next time you are tempted to be angry, look up to Jesus and remind Him that you have confessed this and you need help. You might be surprised at the answer. Today is the time to pass before the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Suppose someone insults you or offends you in some manner. Do not fight back. Get alone with God as soon as you can. Perhaps you have become filled with anger against this individual. Ask Jesus why you reacted so strongly. How did the individual get this power over you? The Bible claims that great peace have they who love God’s law and nothing shall offend them. When Christ reveals that place in your personality that is offended so easily, confess it as unclean and ask the Lord to remove it from you.

This program of confessing and turning away from our sins may last for a long period of time. If we die before all the sins of our personality have been dealt with, perhaps the program will be continued in the spirit world after we die.

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. (I Peter 4:6)

I suspect that when Jesus comes, if we have been faithful in confessing and turning away from our sins, He will remove all the rest of our sinful compulsions instantly. This could happen. However, that individual probably will not have the strength of the one who had to accomplish the entire program on earth. The Lord Jesus does in fact have the power to remove all sinful compulsions from any person at any time. The reason He requires us to go through the program of confessing and renouncing is that we might learn spiritual warfare. If we are to rule with Him, we must be skilled in the way of righteousness.

In any case, there can be no sin or self-seeking in those who are raised from the dead and caught up to meet the Lord in the air when He comes.

I believe the following passage has begun:

As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13:40-43)

You can see how a revival of this kind would flow into the ministry of the two witnesses.

The voice of the seven thunders in Revelation chapter ten has been silenced. This is because God’s preachers have been guilty of self-will and sin. There must come a time of cleansing, as noted here:

I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.” (Revelation 11:1)

The “altar” is the Altar of Incense. “The worshipers there” are those who have cried out, “Not my will but yours be done.” It is from this group that Christ will choose those who will bear witness with Him in the closing days of the Church Age. Because these chosen witnesses do not follow their own will but are living by the Life of Christ, the power of the seven thunders will be issued to them.

The troubles in America and the remainder of the world will provide the “measuring” that is necessary, the experience that will ensure His chosen witnesses are thinking, speaking, and acting according to God’s will. No individual will be glorified in that day! These people are clothed in the sackcloth of humility.

We now are in days of preparation. Let us prepare for the chaos of the coming days in America by determining to think along with Jesus; speak as Jesus is speaking; work as Jesus is working. We must learn to live by the Life of Jesus if we are to stand throughout the Divine judgment and help others to stand.

Also, if we succeed in learning to live by the Life of Jesus, we might be one of those whom Jesus chooses to work with Him during the closing days of the Church Age, in bearing witness of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.

(“Looking Ahead”, 3781-1, proofed 20210923)