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STAND & COMFORT Newsletter #1 Email From Ian Cook (UK) Dear Friends, I write in the aftermath of the events in the USA. By now we have all seen the pictures,heard the figures of casualties, listened to the speeches and tried to make some sort of sense out of what we are witnessing. Television has quite literally bombarded us with pictures and information, until we are almost numb, past feeling and noticing anything except the rhetoric of war. Quietly slipped in, here and there, some very significant things have been said. One statement was by Ehud Barak, "The world is going to become a different place from now on". The other I happened to hear was by Jack Straw, "The world as we knew it no longer exists". Things like this often get said in the heat of the moment, and as soon as they are said they are forgotten. But sometimes, just sometimes, statements like these are said very deliberately. Have you really listened to what is being said and printed about Globalism and World security. Hitherto all our different countries were having problems with manpower for law and order. Suddenly its as if the shortage never existed. To make us all feel secure, security will be stepped up absolutely everywhere. Overnight everybody wants to feel so secure that we are all willing to give up personal liberty and be inconvenienced by security checks all over the place. Suddenly everybody wants controlled freedom. It couldn't have worked out better for the Globalists if they had done the deed themselves. What we need to do now is put this whole scenario in its Biblical perspective, the perspective that Daniel wrote about 2600 or so years ago, and John wrote of in the last book of the Bible. Remember we are promised a World Government and a World Church, being brought about through catastrophes such as we have seen in America, such that people will actually ask for these sort of changes to take place. We also need to remember that while all this is the result of mankind's evil and the Devil's work to destroy, the whole sequence of events is being overseen by the Almighty God. So while, as the scripture says, 'mens hearts fail them for fear of what is coming upon the earth'; it will not be easy to believe God is in control, but He is, and that is our strength and our hope. The Devil and those who do his destructive work, are not interested in who is killed, only in the killing; after all he is the 'destroyer'. [They believe] How many of their own are killed is immaterial, as long as destruction takes place. If you have read 'The Lord of the Rings' you will know what this means. So as we take stock of our new world order, reel from the shock, and wait for the outcome; we pray for all who suffer from indiscriminate evil, and as Paul would be quick to remind us, 'especially those of the household of faith'. Yours in the Lord, ================================ #2 Email From Sandy Simpson (Deception In The Church Ministry) Ed, I agree on some levels with what you are saying. But lest we forget, the beginning of judgment on America is not brought about so much by people who do not know the Lord and are living wordly lives, but by an apostate church that has been unwilling to "judge those within". For people like Pat Robertson to state on 700 Club that judgment is coming on America because of the sins of America is great hypocracy. It is CBN 700 Club and TBN that are responsible for turning people aside from a true relationship with Jesus Christ to greed, fleshly pursuits, to a false understanding of the power and work of the Holy Spirit, to a different gospel. What we see today on these worldwide networks is nothing less than anti-evangelism. Even in this hour of crisis not only is most of the country clearly not repenting, but those most responsible for there being no light and destroying the Christianity from within have the gall to stand there and accuse everyone else. It is a travesty in my opinion. If repentance and a return to the Word of God and Jesus Christ does not start with the Church, where can it start? God judged his people, Israel, because they refused to be a light to their generation and the countries that surrounded them, but instead compromised and ended up acting just as bad as the pagans themselves. That is what you and I have seen in the church and it has come to this end. All this is leading to the rise of the antichrist. We need to stand together as a little flock and stand true to the Word of God no matter how unpopular it may be. We need to encourage each other in the Lord Jesus Christ, not in ecumenical unity of the world. I hope none of the discernment ministries will capitulate to a false sense of unity and religious fervor during this time when they are needed most. I know you believe this but I just wanted to caution that we need to be careful because the spirit of antichrist is rising in the world and it is going to become even harder to speak out against apostasy in the rising tide of political correctness that is coming. Islam will be repudiated for the present, but Christianity is next. Let's continue to stand for the truth against whatever rises itself up to destory it, no matter what or how many of the masses are in agreement. We need to encourage one another in truth and love. Sandy Simpson Hi Sandy, "We need to stand together as a little flock and stand true to the Word of God no matter how unpopular it may be. We need to encourage each other in the Lord Jesus Christ, not in ecumenical unity of the world." (Sandy). You mention here the first point of the name and purpose of this newsletter: STAND. We need to continue to stand against the apostasy and its false "Jesus," spirit and message ("gospel"). We also need to acknowledge that there are those who fight the apostasy of "revival", but have brought other heresies into our midst. All the apostasy and all the falsities are not found in the revival group alone. The ones standing next to us are not necessarily Christian simply because they stand against the revival. You have said it right. Of primary importance is to stand for the truth of the gospel as delivered in Scripture, and that is what Scripture says to contend FOR - as it was once delivered to the Church. That is primary because without it, you cannot truly stand AGAINST heresy, lies, deceptions, "new" revelations and the like. Otherwise, it would be like sending a batter to the plate without a bat. I did a lot of thinking about the mixed emotions Christians, as individuals, must be experiencing through all that has happened in New York and Washington. I tried to express what we all must have felt because of still having our old natures while the Spirit rests in our hearts. I think that, in many Christians, there may have been a pull towards wanting to be part of the ecumenical service because it was a very powerful thing. For those, this would have been in conflict with the Spirit in our hearts giving a reminder of where this is leading. There was most likely a mixture of fears of the flesh beckoning to a place of comfort as the world knows it, as opposed to the comfort of God in the believer because of the understanding we have of such events. In my first newsletter, I tried to get across in a somewhat gentle, levelheaded manner what we Christians should strongly remember about where all this is going. Spiritually, it was obvious when one of the religious officials spoke at the service with a message that enjoined all the various religions, praying to God in unity. There are strong currents of an ecumenical foundation for spiritual support through all of this. It's the very thing we said would come about and this has advanced the creation of that foundation. It's on this foundation that the world will say to the Christian, "We are repenting. Can't you see? Why are you so intolerant? You need to repent for your intolerance." If anyone doesn't see the ramifications of all this, they need to open their eyes quickly. "We need to encourage one another in truth and love." (Sandy) Here, you've hit on the second part of the name of this newsletter: Encouragement in truth and love. I express it as COMFORT. ENCOURAGEMENT IN TRUTH: I think there has to be a sharpening of what we as Christians say, a cutting off of those things which dull the Christian message and the truth as it is found in Scripture. For example, truth has been dulled because of debates (the word of God is not debatable) which bring forth the fruit of contention, division, and the proliferation of more false doctrines out of already FALSE DOCTRINES, SUSPICIONS, IMAGINATIONS, EXAGGERATIONS, SPECULATIONS, PROPHETIC FANCY, SPIRITUAL GUESSING and any other synonym you can find for those I've listed. For years, Christianity has "prophesied" the failing of the banks and the fall of world economies. That may happen, but the time limits that were "prophesied" have come and gone and have been proven wrong time and time again. When Clinton was in office, I got emails that speculated that before he left office, he would call martial law and turn the presidency into a dictatorship. I couldn't send those emails out. They were speculative and imaginative and some in the bodyh fo Christ didn't understand that. How many times have we heard specific dates for the Lord Jesus' return? We're still here. We can't trust the world, but with such speculations in the Church without any legitimate basis, people look at Christianity as a mental case whose God does not seem to know what's going to happen next. But the tragedy is that we do have the one message that will save their souls. Do you see my point that we need to sharpen up what we as Christians say? I think God does: 1 Pet 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Ridding ourselves of the types of "prophetics" I described above is important to help sharpen our handling of the word: Heb 4:12 For the word of God IS quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The judgment of God's Church is not yours or mine. It's God's, and a lot of what has been spouted as Christian will be judged by Him alone. I am not speaking words of judgement. I am speaking words of concern and care and comfort and encouragement to the body of Christ that I have been a part of for 30 years. And, I'm not to be believed at face value. What we Christians hear any word, it is for the Holy Spirit to honor and correct and convict and witness to, and if that is not coming through what I am saying, then it's to be disregarded. What I am talking about is the bushel over the lamp that Jesus spoke of: Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. We are the light of the world because of the message we hold in our hearts, but if one visits the forums out there on the web, it gives a picture of a field of overturned bushel baskets. I am speaking of those who are doing their best to be a light to this world as Jesus said, to stand for the truth. But when someone who holds the word of life doesn't show self-control over what is said, or someone has a fleshly desire to be a powerful minister, or someone craves to be the first to have "the insight" on what MAY happen, and ion many cases projecting falacies as truth, then that bushel of words covers up the light of our foundational message, not to mention the confusing of the mind of Christians. Ambition has gotten in the way. We've all seen this type of thing. It is the same as lighting a lamp and then, through ambition leading to speculations and spiritual guesses and prophetic fancies, etc., placing a bushel over the lamp, sitting down on the bushel and spouting out our speculations so others will see us as God's answer to truth and direction. We're not. Scripture in its proper context is. Such things as I've described ought to be just as abhorrent to those who have not followed after the revival and have not followed the "prophets of this age" yet say such things. Through such things as I have described, Christianity and its message have suffered much damage. It seems so easy now to expose the falsities and heresies and deceptions of the "revival," and that has to be done. Absolutely essential and you and others do a tremendous job. It seems easy now, as well, to expose the heresies within Christian circles by non-revivalists, if you will. Having the individual Christian in mind, I have seen a tremendous lack of emphasis, warning, or encouragements about GUARDING THE TONGUE, GUARDING THE THINKING, GUARDING THE IMAGINATION, GUARDING THE HEART AGAINST AMBITION, GUARDING AGAINST MAKING SOME OTHER MESSAGE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE GOSPEL, etc. because many have made the word of God a spiritual plaything or a means to self-importance. What I am trying to express and what I believe the Lord has been trying to get me to see is that it is like (and because of the revival, I don't really like using this term) describing the adversary to an army, sending them out to do battle and then not giving them personal care when they return all battered and bruised and wounded. Nobody seems to be doing that and I am working through how to do that at the moment, not to discount why they are in that condition in the first place: 1 Cor 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. The body of Christ has a message, THE message that God has given and it concerns His Son. Not only is the revival covering up that message and the reason for that message, but non-revivalists, if you will, are doing it more than ever and I believe God is saying clean it up, get it right, let it be what I meant it to be, "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword." The world uses material swords, but the Christian has been given only one sword, the word of God. I think one of the most crucial commands of Paul is most needed right now, especially on forums and lists that breed the thing I have described: Titus 3:10 A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; I think it would be legitimate to insert other words for "heretic" and follow that same principle, such as a man who BREEDS CONTENTION, CAUSES DIVISION, PROLIFERATES MORE FALSE DOCTRINES OUT OF ALREADY FALSE DOCTRINES, A MAN WHO IS IMAGINATIVE, AN EXAGGERATOR, A SPECULATOR, A SPIRITUAL GUESSER, etc. What has happened in New York and Washington is tragic, growing more frightening by the moment, and one can almost feel the fear flowing through the world. There is no speculation about those things, nor is there speculation about where this world is heading. God has told us of those things to come. But Jesus has said He will be with us to the end of the age. He has said to fear not. The word of God encourages us to be sober, alert, levelheaded, patient, persevering, longsuffering, faithful, filled with self-control and clinging to the hope of the gospel by the faith presented to us in God's promises. The will the body fo Christ be good servants of Him whom we serve. We know where the world is heading. Things will escalate. Christianity will respond and we should be discerning, evaluating all we hear with a sound mind, the word of God in our hearts and in reliance on the Holy Spirit. My emphasis is on this: the word of God has told us these things will happpen, and it has also told us to keep our eyes on Jesus, hold fast to His word and not deny His name. Ed =========== To sign up for this newsletter, email Ed at ejt@ncinter.net
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