Message of Hope for America
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.
"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
"Immediately after the distress of those days
" 'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.' Matthew 24: 3-29
After the terrible tragedy of September 11th, many have asked in one way or another, "How could God have done such a thing?" Or, "Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen?"
It is important to understand that God did not do this, EVIL MEN did it. In the beginning, God made a sovereign decision to create man in His image. He wanted a creature that could love Him back, not a robot.
So He gave us His image which is - will, intellect, emotion, moral reason and everlasting existence. God knew that He was taking a calculated risk when He gave man freedom of choice.
Even though God gave man every reason to love Him, man chose to go his own independent way and reject his relationship with God. As God had warned, man instantly died in his spirit. The part of him that could know and understand God died.
Afterward, all mankind was born separated from God-physically alive, but spiritually dead. At this point, God was under no obligation to do anything. But because of His great love for man, the second person of the Godhead chose to step out of eternity into time and become a man, without ceasing to be God.
He voluntarily lived as a man without sin, thus qualifying to die for our sins. Then He purchased a pardon with yours and my name on it. He made it possible for everyone to receive as a gift His pardon and be forgiven; to be re-born spiritually and to enter into an eternal relationship with Him.
Now men say, "Why does God allow such evil to happen?" And God answers, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
You see, in order to keep the way open for man to receive His pardon and eternal life, He has to keep open man's freedom to choose to do evil. God endures the evil choices so that others may make the choice to receive His salvation. The only way He could stop evil, is to destroy all mankind. He cannot reverse His decision to give man free will.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit has restrained the mystery of evil since the beginning of the Church age. It also predicts that the Holy Spirit's restraining ministry will be removed with the Church, about seven years before the Second Coming of Christ to the earth.
I believe that His restraint is already being partially removed. The only reason we have not seen far greater catastrophes is because of His constant restraint of the Evil One. What happened in New York and Washington was a wake up call that the "last days" are upon us.
There is a pardon with your name on it sitting in heaven. But you must choose to receive the pardon to make it valid. If you do, God will instantly forgive all your sins. He will cause to be born within you a new spiritual nature that can know Him personally.
Jesus will come to live inside of you and give you a new heart that wants to follow Him. He will then give you the power to follow Him. Wherever you are, pray and receive your pardon for sin right now - ask Jesus Christ to come into your life. If you do, He promises that He will never leave you or forsake you.
You do not have to fear what is coming upon the world, for He is with you until the end of the world.
1. GOD LOVES YOU AND IS SEEKING TO HAVE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to remove the barrier of sin. (1 John 4:10)
God loves you and planned a wonderful, full life for you. He wants to enter a personal and intimate relationship with you that includes fellowship, inner peace, happiness, guidance in life and power to fulfill His special plan for your life.
2. SIN HAS CREATED A BARRIER BETWEEN MAN AND GOD
All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
GOD is Holy, and cannot have a relationship with anyone who falls short of His righteous character. Sin began when man went his own independent way and rejected his relationship with God. At that point, man became unacceptable to Gods Holy character.
The Ten Commandments were given to show us how good we would have to be if we try to come to God in our own merit. But God doesnt grade our law-keeping on the curve. He said, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. (James 2:10)
No matter how sincere we are, or how hard we try, or how religious we are, we can never produce a righteousness that God can accept. Even our good deeds are not acceptable in Gods sight, But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)
So our sin has created a barrier that we cannot remove. Even though God loves you, He cannot compromise His holy character to receive you. Only God can remove this barrier.
3. JESUS CHRIST CAME TO REMOVE THE BARRIER BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.
Jesus said of Himself, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28) You see, God so loved us that He stepped out of eternity into time and became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life as a man and thus qualified to die for the sins of the world. He then willingly died in our place to purchase a pardon for sins and satisfy the demands of His own perfect justice. When He did, He tore down the barrier of sin that separated us.
4. NOW THERE IS ONLY ONE BARRIER BETWEEN YOU AND GOD. YOU MUST RECEIVE THE PARDON JESUS PURCHASED FOR YOU.
Jesus Christ has removed every barrier that stood between you and God except one -- you must receive the pardon He purchased for you by an act of your will. You see, a pardon is not a pardon until it is received. There is a pardon with your name on it in heaven, but you must receive it to make it valid.
It is not a matter of how good you are -- are even how bad you are. The issue is, will you talk to God and tell him you receive the pardon he purchased for you. He wants you to come just as you are and confess you can never be good enough for Him to accept.
YOU can change your eternal destiny right now. Wherever you are, just bow your head and tell God you receive His pardon for your sins. Ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and begin to give you a new heart with new desires. He will come into your life and bring a new power and motivation for living you never dreamed possible.
Jesus gave us this invitation, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20) The door represents your will. The Lord Jesus Christ is knocking at the door of your will right now. Just invite Him in and receive the gift of pardon He gave His life to give you. Then thank Him for the pardon and that He must keep His Word.
Don't expect feelings right away. Some have them, some dont. The important thing is to simply believe God keeps His Word and He now has come to live in you. Seek out a Church that is true to the Bible and seek to learn about your new life.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
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If there was any doubt God was with those folks as the towers came crumbling down that fateful day, it will be removed when you listen to the short audio clip, "I was There!" Just click on the link below.