Wednesday, January 15, 2020

-  Lest Any Man should Boast  -
 BY GOD'S GRACE
ALONE

Pastor Max Solbrekken preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Norway, the land of his forefathers and parents Ingvar and Anne Solbrekken.

HIS LIFE FOR MINE: 
MY LIFE FOR HIM
                                        By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
   The Bible says: "Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:" (Galatians 1:4)
   The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift ever given. It is the amazing story of God's great love for mankind. His astounding mercy and compassion was exhibited for all to see as Jesus hung naked on the cursed tree, paying the ransom price for our sins! 
   Christ's vicarious death for all humanity was the expression of God's everlasting goodness and the perfect plan to redeem our fallen race!  
    "For Christ also hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit." (1 Peter 3:18)
    "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)
                      BUT WHY DID HE DO IT?
   There is no rational explanation why anyone would sacrifice his life for the salvation of sinning humanity. To do so for a relative or a near friend, one might consider, but Christ died for the entire human race!
  For thousands of years the Jewish Rabbi would make the 'Cry of the Synagogue'. He would cry out: "Let one innocent come and make atonement for the guilty!"
  No one answered the call, because no one was qualified. The human race was contaminated by sin! The Bible states:"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
   Then one day John the Baptist stood forth and pointing to Jesus of Nazareth and said:"Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." (John 1: 29) 
                  THE INNOCENT ONE HAD COME!
   The Bible says: "For God so loved the world that gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)
    "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because He hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3: 17,18)
   "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3: 36); 
    "For the wages of sin is death; but  the gift of God is eternal life though Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23); "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life  for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 
    "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 3: 16; 4: 10); 
     But God commended His love toward  us, in that, while wt were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more than, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 
     "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son , much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." (Romans 5: 8-10)   
               I GAVE MY LIFE FOR THEE!
    By Francis R. Havergal, 1856 -Lutheran Church Hymnal no. 405

  1. I gave My life for thee,
  2. My precious blood I shed,
    That thou might ransomed be,
    And raised up from the dead;
    I gave, I gave My life for thee,
    What hast thou giv’n for Me?
    I gave, I gave My life for thee,
    What hast thou giv’n for Me?
  3. My Father’s house of light,
    My glory-circled throne
    I left for earthly night,
    For wand’rings sad and lone;
    I left, I left it all for thee,
    Hast thou left aught for Me?
    I left, I left it all for thee,
    Hast thou left aught for Me?
  4. I suffered much for thee,
    More than thy tongue can tell,
    Of bitt’rest agony,
    To rescue thee from hell;
    I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee,
    What hast thou borne for Me?
    I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee,
    What hast thou borne for Me?
  5. And I have brought to thee,
    Down from My home above,
    Salvation full and free,
    My pardon and My love;
    I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee,
    What hast thou brought to Me?
    I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee,
    What hast thou brought to Me?
  6.                WHAT A CHALLENGE FOR THE CHURCH!'                Jesus said: "...Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my  sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
  7.    "For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8: 34-38)

    In His High Priestly prayer to His Heavenly Father, our Saviour confirms that He wants us to KNOW who we really are in Him: "That they all may be one; as Thou Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.
    "And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them;  that they may be one, even as WE are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." (John 17: 21-23)

   St. Paul stated: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen." (Romans 11: 33, 36)
     "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places with Christ. According as He hath CHOSEN us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him love:
     "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, To the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us ACCEPTED in the Beloved.
   "In whom we have REDEMPTION  through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;  Having made known unto us the MYSTERY of His will, according to the good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself." (Ephesians 1: 3-9) 
    Almighty God had a secret which He did not reveal to any of the old Testament prophets. It is called Mystery of God which He revealed to St. Paul: “Whereof I am a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God:
      “Even the mystery which had been from ages and dispensations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27)
      The Mystery of God is the great truth that through the vicarious death and resurrection of His incarnated Son Jesus Christ, sinners both Jews and Gentiles, could be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And that God would dwell within and work through His children!
    It is all so magnanimous that it is literally unspeakable, beyond our intellectual capacity and ‘past finding out.’ It is: In Christ, by Christ, through Christ and for Christ. By His grace we pray for faith unchained, love unfettered, imagination expanded, mercy unending, anchored in truth and peace unsurpassed! Amen.  - To be continued

Thursday, January 9, 2020

WHY DOES EVIL EXIST?
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.     
Norwegian Misssionary Nurse Bodil Biørn saw and
witnessed unspeakable atrocities inflicted on the 
Armenians in 1890, 1895, 1909, 1915 & 1916. She
took multiple pictures to document the slaughter.
 The Armenian Genocide was the systematic evil
extermination of 1.5 million Christian Armenians
within the demonized  Muslim Ottoman Empire 
  from 1914-1923. The judgment of God awaits 
 those wicked, inhumane perpetrators!

MUSLIM OTTOMAN EMPIRE KILLED CHRISTIANS
DURING 30 YEARS OF STARVATION & GENOCIDE 
 Turkish Moslem Genocide of Armenian Christians
Roman Catholics massacred 70,000 Protestants
on St. Bartholemew's Day in France
3,000 Protestants butchered in Paris alone!
Nazi burying dead & dying Jews at Bergen-Belsen
HITLER'S NAZIS KILLED 
6 MILLION JEWS, 1933-1945
   “We must never blame God for the evil in the world. Ultimately we are to blame, for we live in a world that is in rebellion against Him. As the Bible says: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil.” (James 1: 13) – Billy Graham
      We are always shocked when we read of the atrocities committed by mankind, ever since the disastrous and treacherous rebellion of the archangel Lucifer against Almighty God.
    The treasonous Cosmic Rebel enlisted a host of God’s holy angels to join him in his evil, wicked and perverted pursuits against His Maker, which led to his expulsion from Heaven!
    The Bible states: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
     “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee…and thou hast SINNED: therefore I will CAST thee as prophane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub from the midst of the stones of  fire” (Ezekiel 28: 14- 16)
      “And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven.
    “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelation 12:7-11)
                         SATAN IS TO BLAME!
     I blame the devil! He alone was the instigator of the Revolt against Almighty God, our Heavenly Father!  He is totally EVIL and the creator of SIN, unrighteousness and Evil! There was no sin until Lucifer sinned!
    Jesus said: “Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a LIAR and the father of lies.” (John 8: 44; 1 John 3:8)
     Hell was prepared for the devil. It was not created in the beginning but prepared for him after his rebellion: “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good…Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” (Genesis 1:31; 2:1)
    Hell is such a horrible place because the presence of God is not there. It is the presence of God that makes the earth livable because Jesus is the light of the world, giver of life, and life itself. He causes the sun to shine and gives us oxygen to breathe and everything else we need for life. He alone gives eternal life!
     St. James states: “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.” (James 1: 17)
     “Then shall He say also unto them on His left hand, depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25: 41)
               NO SIN IS ALLOWED IN HEAVEN!
     How is it possible for sinners like us to be allowed into the holy, pure and perfect place called Heaven where God dwells? Only through the sacrifice of God’s Son Jesus on the CROSS, where He fully paid for our sins through the shedding of His precious blood and His resurrection from the dead, is that possible.
    He makes us ready for Heaven through the New Birth. He gives us a clean heart, places His Holy Spirit within us and adopts us as His very own children. O, what a Saviour we have. Glory to His Name!
     The Bible says: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission (forgiveness) for sin.” (Hebrews 9:22); “It is the Blood that maketh atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11); “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light… the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sins. (1 John 1:7).
    “…He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1: 6,7)
    “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3: 16, 17)
    “Who (Jesus) gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. To whom be glory forever an ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:4)
                 ADAM’S SIN IMPUTED TO US!
    Adam’s sin was imputed to the human race! We were born in sin and therefore sinners by nature and by choice. The Bible states: “Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) SIN entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12)
     The Bible states: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it.” (Jeremiah 17:3); “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3: 23). There was no way out. We were all lost
                      GOD’S AMAZING GRACE!
    Then, by God’s amazing grace Jesus entered into the situation and rescued the human race through His vicarious death for us all: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ.
      Therefore as by offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5: 17-19)
     “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a NEW creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.; That is that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…” (2 Cor. 5:17-19)
     When Jesus Christ became our Substitute, our sins were imputed to Him. He paid the penalty which we should have paid. Then, His righteousness was imputed to us! We are now Free!
                      HOW TO RECOGNIZE EVIL!
 The Massacre of upwards to 70,000 French Protestants on St. Bartholemew’s Day on August 24 and 25, 1572. Here is a report of that unbelievably wicked DAY of INFAMY:
    Shortly before dawn on August 24 the bell of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois began to toll and the massacre began. One of the first victims was Coligny, who was killed under the supervision of Henry de Guise himself. Even within the Louvre, Navarre’s attendants were slaughtered, though Navarre and Henry I de Bourbon, 2nd prince de Condé, were spared.
     The homes and shops of Huguenots were pillaged and their occupants brutally murdered; many bodies were thrown into the Seine. Bloodshed continued in Paris even after a royal order of August 25 to stop the killing, and it spread to the provinces.
      Huguenots in RouenLyonBourgesOrléans, and Bordeaux were among the victims. Estimates of the number that perished in the disturbances, which lasted to the beginning of October, have varied from 2,000 by a Roman Catholic apologist to 70,000 by the contemporary Huguenot Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, who himself barely escaped death. Modern writers put the number at 3,000 in Paris alone.
                MARK TWAIN IN PALESTINE, 1869
     The same evil spirits that had possessed the Roman Catholic Church for 500 years and Muhammed, continued their evil work in Palestine against Christians!
     A newspaper funded Mark Twain’s voyage to the Mediterranean, which he recorded in his book, ‘Innocents Abroad’, 1869. Bill Federer wrote: “In ‘Innocents Abroad’, 1869, which established his reputation as a writer, Mark Twain described Syria under the Ottoman Turkish Empire:
     “Then we called at the tomb of Mohomet’s children and at …the mausoleum of the five thousand (5,000) Christians who were massacred in Damascus in 1861 by the Turks. They say those narrow streets ran blood for several days, and that men, women and children were butchered indiscriminately and left to rot by hundreds all through the Christian quarters, they say, further that the stench was dreadful.
     All the Christians who could get away fled from the city, and the Mohammedans would not defile their hands by burying the ‘infidel dog’. The thirst for blood extended to the highlands of Hermon and Anti-Lebanon, and in a short time twenty-five thousand (25,000) more Christians were massacred and their possessions laid waste….”
                      HOW THEY HATE A CHRISTIAN!
      Mark Twain added: “How they hate a Christian in Damascus! – and pretty much all over Turkeydom as well. It hurts my vanity to see these pagans refuse to eat of food that has been cooked for us; or to eat from a dish we have eaten from; or to drink from a goatskin which we have polluted with our Christian lips, except by filtering the water through a rag which they put over the mouth of it or through a sponge!.... These degraded Turks and Arabs.
      Mark Twain wrote in ‘Innocents Abroad’, chapter XL11: “If ever an oppressed race existed, it is this one we see fettered around us under the inhuman tyranny of the Ottoman Empire.
     In chapter LV1, he wrote: “Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies… about whose borders nothing grows but weeds, and scattering tufts of cane, and that treacherous  fruit that promises refreshment  to parched lips but turns to ashes at the touch…Palestine is desolate and unlovely…”
     In ‘Innocents Abroad’, chapter L111, Mark Twain described the conditions of Jerusalem under Ottoman Muslim rule: Rags, wretchedness, poverty and dirt, those signs and symbols that indicate the presence of  Moslim rule more surely than the crescent-flag itself, abound…
       Jerusalem is mournful, and dreary, and lifeless. I would not desire to live here…The Moslims watch the Golden Gate with a jealous eye, and an anxious one, for they have an honoured tradition that when it falls. Islamism will fall and with it the Ottoman Empire. It did not grieve me any to notice the old gate was getting a little shaky.”
    -Taken from Israel & Christians Today
                        GOD WARNS OF JUDGMENT!
      What is Evil and why is God so much against it? What is Sin? How does He deal with sinners and evil doers? Is there grace for those who realize their evil ways? How does an evil doer repent to gain God’s favour? What is the mercy of God and why is He merciful? What is meant by the grace of God and how do we know that He really does love us?
    To get the answer to these questions we go to the Word of God, the lively Oracles of the Lord Most High, Creator of Heaven and earth, Giver of Life Eternal! Before giving His people the Ten Commandments, He told them why they should obey Him and adhere to His commands:
    “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage.” (Deuteronomy 5: 6).
     He reminded them that it was He, that liberated them from slavery and had kept them alive for forty years in the wilderness! And that He expected them follow explicitly His rule book for continued life, liberty and prosperity:
    The first law was: “Thou shalt have none other gods before Me.”  (Deuteronomy 5: 7). Jesus Christ stated: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37)                    
                       THE GREAT SIN IS UNBELIEF!
    The Holy Bible states: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened trough the deceitfulness of sin.
      “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end; For while it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation.” (Hebrews 3: 12-15)
      Evil is an enemy of God and righteousness. Evil is anything that opposes God, the Bible and the work of the Holy Spirit in this world. Satan and all his proxies are evil, and Evil is Satan himself!
    The greatest Sin is rejecting the supremacy of God and the righteousness of Jesus Christ and His redemptive work on the Cross for us all. Unbelief and hardness of heart is a deadly combination. Faith and Repentance are the keys that opens the door for God’s forgiveness, mercy and grace in our lives!
     God’s Word states: “The Fear of the Lord is to hate EVIL: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is a foundation of life, to depart from the snares of life.” (Proverbs 8:13; 9:10; 14:27). “And unto the man He said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from EVIL is understanding.” (Job.28: 28)
                          GOD MUST JUDGE EVIL!
      “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them all of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken unto them.” (Jude 14,15)
     “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great CHAIN in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand.
      “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it, from whose Face the heaven and the earth fled away; and there was found no place for them.
      “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the BOOK of LIFE: and the dead were JUDGED out of those things which were written in those books, according to their works.
     “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
    “And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20: 1,2, 10-15)
        CHRIST'S RETURN: BLESSED HOPE!
    “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
    “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is the victory?
    “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15: 51-58)
     Jesus Christ said: “And behold, I come quickly: and My reward is with Me, to give unto every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have life to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
    “For without are dog, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
     “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let them that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
    “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues, that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of His prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this Book.
    “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” (Revelation 22: 12-21)
                       HERE IS THE BOTTOM LINE!   
     Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. (1 Timothy 1: 15); St. Paul said, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” (1 Corinthians 9: 15). The Golden text of the New Testament states: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him should be saved.” (John 3: 16, 17)     
    Here is the final warning: Don’t gamble with your eternal soul and don’t play games with God. Take His warning seriously! St. Paul writes: “If any   love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema. Maranatha.” (1 Corinthians 16:22). What does that mean?
     Anathema (suspended) means that a curse as well as a blessing has its operation in Christ’s Kingdom and rises to its highest power at Christ’s Coming. He will surely come to bless as well as curse.
     “The religious curse of the Hebrews was used as the church censure and  final ex-communication. Why did Paul insert, without translation, an Aramaic formula in a Greek letter to Corinth, where Aramaic was not current? No doubt, it was because Maranatha was a FIXED and widely circulated formula.
     “It was understandably a key expression in the liturgy of the primitive church in Palestine, and from there it was passed into Greek Christendom without translation in fashion similar to Amen and Hosanna.”- anon
   This was an exclamation of the approaching Divine Judgment.  It means that there will be great blessing for believers but a Divine Censure or curse upon unbelievers! Amen.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

            
 THERE IS A NEW WORLD COMING
                               By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
     The Goncourt Brothers Journal of April 7, 1869, reported a conversation between leading scientists of that time, in which they predicted that in a hundred years man would know of what the atom is constituted, and will be able to create life synthetically in competition with God.
 “We have a feeling”, the Goncourt Journal stated facetiously, “that when this time comes to pass, God … will come down to earth swinging His bunch of keys and will say to humanity as they say at 5:00 o’clock in the morning, “Closing Time, Gentlemen.”
      God is calling us all back to Himself. We have strayed from Him, nationally and individually. In His mercy He calls us all: Come unto Me. I will give you Peace and Rest. We are entering a new season of healing, miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit that will re-awaken the Church in these 'End Times' to seek God to rend the Heavens and come down among us in 'old time power' once again!
       In Billy Graham's book, 'The Reason for my Hope: Salvation', he states that all the Signs given by Christ have now been fulfilled and are converging at this time! 
RETURN TO BIBLICAL TRUTH!
  "A new world is coming. The Paradise that humanity lost in the Garden of Eden will be regained. Regardless of what society says, we can't go on much longer in the sea of immorality without judgment coming. We are at the crossroads and there are profound moral issues at stake. It is time to Return to Biblical Truth."
      Armin R. Gesswein said: "When Jesus went back to Heaven, all He left behind was a Prayer Meeting."  
    C.S. Lewis wrote"God is going to invade, but I wonder if whether people who ask God to intervene openly and directly in this world quite realize what it will be like when He does!  When that happens it will be the end of the world. When the Author walks on the stage, the play is over.
    "God is going to invade alright. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing. It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realize it or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us a chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it. 
     D.L. MOODY stated: "Shame on the Christianity of the 19th. Century. It is a weak and sickly thing. Would to God we had a few men like Daniel living here today."
     During one of his last sermons he addressed the subject of the Holy Spirit thus: "It is not carnal to pray that He might come again and that the place may be shaken. I believe Pentecost was only a Specimen Day! I think the church has made this woeful mistake that Pentecost was a miracle never to be repeated. I believe NOW if we looked at Pentecost as a Specimen Day and began to pray, we should have the Old Pentecostal Fire here in Boston." 
    JESUS’ BLOOD ALONE SAVES & PURGES!
    Only the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son has the power to cleanse from sin and purge the conscience! The Holy Spirit agrees with the blood of Christ. The Holy Spirit works in and through the Blood of Jesus Christ to bring forgiveness, cleansing, healing and deliverance to His Body, the church. And to those repentant souls who cry out for mercy and deliverance from the power of the Enemy!
     DR. ANDREW MURRAY stated: "This does not mean merely that the Holy Spirit was in Jesus the Lord, and bestowed on His Person and His blood a Divine worth. It is much more than that - it indicates that the shedding of His blood was brought about by the Eternal Spirit and that Spirit lived and worked in that blood, so that when it was shed, it could not decay as a dead thing, but as a Living Reality it could be taken up to Heaven to exercise its Divine Power from there."
     The BIBLE states: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit of God offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God? For Christ is not entered into the Holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true: but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Heb. 9: 14, 24)
     "For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word (Jesus) and the Holy Ghost: and these Three are One. And there are three that bear record in earth; the Spirit, and the water (Word) and the Blood and these Three agree in one. (1 John 5:7, 8) 
  THE MIRACLE OF THE NEW BIRTH!
      JESUS said: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
  "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, except a man be born of water (Word) and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3: 3-6)
   St. Peter wrote: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." (1 Peter 1: 23). St. Paul declared: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become New." (2 Cor. 5: 17)
     "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with God. When Christ, Who is our life shall APPEAR, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory. 
     "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleaness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence (passion of lust), and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
PUT ON THE NEW MAN THROUGH CHRIST!
      "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the OLD MAN with his deeds: And have put on the NEW MAN, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Forbearing one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, and above all these things, Put on charity (agape love), which is the bond of perfectness." (Col.3: 1-14)
    Through His vicarious DEATH for us all, Jesus Christ purchased our Eternal Salvation from sin, fear, sickness, death and Hell. He has given us the Blessed Holy Spirit to lead, guide, teach and comfort us. If we have opened our hearts and lives to Him, He has filled us and SEALED us with that Holy Spirit of Promise! (Eph.1: 13; 4: 30)
     Jesus said: "The thief (Satan) cometh not but for to steal, kill and destroy. I am come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10); "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy works of the devil." (1 John 3: 8)
     In the Nazareth synagogue, Jesus stood up to read and He asked for the Scroll of Isaiah the prophet, which referred to Himself, the Jewish Messiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to HEAL the broken hearted, to preach DELIVERANCE to the captives; and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord."  (Luke 4: 8, 19) 
   JESUS USHERED IN THE YEAR OF JUBILEE!
    The 'Acceptable year of the Lord' spoke of the Gospel Age which Jesus Christ had come to usher in.  He would fulfill all Jewish Jubilees, in which prisons were opened, slaves redeemed and those who had sold their inheritances could redeem them. 
     We are still living in the Gospel Age, the Great Year of Jubilee, when all sinners who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved, the demon possessed can be delivered and the sick and suffering HEALED through the bloody stripes that Jesus of Nazareth bore for us on Golgotha! 
      The BIBLE says: "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21); "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then (when Christ appears) face to face: Now I know in part: But then shall I know even as I am known." (1 Cor.13:12). It is impossible for us to comprehend the glories which we will behold and inherit from our Heavenly Father when we shall see face to face the ONE Who took our place on the cross of shame and paid the penalty for our sins! Hallelujah!
     Jesus promised us all Eternal Life if believe that He is the Saviour of the world who sacrificed Himself for the sins of the entire world - past, present and future - and  CONQUERED death, Hell and the grave when He AROSE from the Tomb on the third day, as He said that He would!
   Our Lord said: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of God be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ETERNAL LIFE. For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should Not Perish, but have Everlasting Life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be SAVED." (John 3: 14-16). Amen.