AUTHENTICITY.

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC ?

To be authentic can be defined as, of undisputed origin, not a copy, genuine. Some synonyms are, genuine, real, actual, true, bona fide.

 God is authentic, His Word and Spirit are authentic. Therefore, as is the nature of the case, so must be the church. Why? Because the church emanates out of Him. Like kind produces after its own kind.  There are spiritual realities we are yet to grasp. Things written in the scriptures, that must come to us by way of revelation. 

In order for the church to be the demonstration to principalities and powers of the wisdom of God, see Ephesians 3:10, we need to live authentic lives. This will require us to live by and walk in the spirit. We are exhorted to live and walk accordingly in numerous instances in scripture. See Romans 8, Galatians 5.

This will require of us the very same spirit that was at the first, when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers gathered in the upper room on what we know as the day of pentecost. 

Something was born in that day, that altered the way believers lived their lives. Read the account in the the book of Acts, chapters 1 - 5. There was a radical change in attitudes and mindsets.The Love of God filled their hearts in such a radical way. The desire to share all things common, material possessions, meals and fellowship on a daily basis was common practice. The result of this, great grace was upon them all.  No one had any need, for their needs were met out of a common purse. 

The Acts way, was a way of great power and demonstration of the Love of God in action.  Grace is not just the unmerited favour of God, It is much more than that. IT IS THE DIVINE INFLUENCE IN THE HEART AND ITS REFLECTION OUT OF  IT. Consider this and see what manner of spirit we have today.The Acts Way is authentic life.

What has any of this to do with the end times? Everything. It has long been time for the church to get her act together. God affords us the time to repent and turn away from our own selfish ways and take upon us the very Spirit of Christ, enabling us to love one another in humility and true fellowship.

 If we choose not to freely turn away from selfishness or any other such thing, we will inevitably, come under the discipline and chastisement of a Father who wants us to be sharers in His holiness. See Hebrews 12:4 - 11 

God is settings things in order within His House. We are the House of God. The divisions, the pride in our own works, the rebellion and every other Ishmaelic thing has come under the scrutiny of the Spirit of God and He requires us His people to repent and turn away from our pride. 

Whatever falsity we have become accustomed to living by, is being challenged to be replaced by authenticity in each and every one of us. It's time to get real. This will affect the way we live in these end times. Consider these things. Grace be with you all.

2014 EVENTS.

As each year comes and goes, there are many changes that take place in the natural as well as the spiritual. Positive things happen and many negative things take place. The scriptures indicate that events will progressively deteriorate, 2014 is no exception.

Drastic changes in the weather, even catastrophic events as we are currently seeing around the globe, such as extreme temperatures unprecedented by extreme cold and excessive rains, resulting in floods, loss of property and even life, on the other end of the scale, droughts, loss of food production and loss of life.

Political instability, economic collapses, riots and violence in cities and towns in various nations. Racial hatred and even same race violence against each other. Men's hearts failing them because of fear of what is taking place in their nations. Overburdened, stress related diseases taking their toll on human life, increase in suicides. Shall we go on???

All this paints a very bleak picture of what lies ahead for this year and the coming years. Where does all these events and happenings place our faith? If our faith is in our own strength and that of man, we shall surely succumb to the stress's that are coming upon all that dwell on the face of the earth. Our faith needs to be firmly founded on and in the Messiah, the author and finisher of our faith. We need to be rooted and firmly fixed on Him, Who is our life, as branches are fixed to the vine. Then we need to be in right relationship with each other, walking and living in the unity of the Spirit and of the faith.

We, the whole body of believers, need to draw closer to Him in order to be kept safe in these days of trouble. In so doing and being, we shall not be moved, we shall be in the secret place of the Most High. We need to set our sights on things above and not on things that are on the earth. To Him be glory in the church. Grace be with you all.

PROPHETIC PREDICTIONS & SPECULATION.

We come to that time at the end of a year when, many will seek to provide "prophetic words or predictions" in the light of the coming year. I get the sense that many will get their "spiritual crystal balls" out and give so called prophetic words and predictions that will be in the interests of any body wanting to know what the future holds. Yeshua said, "Do not be deceived ..... the end is not yet" See Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21. The pressure becomes great to prophesy and predict future things because people want to know. The temptation then becomes great to give in and simply just prophesy what comes to ones mind and spirit. The result, many false predictions and prophecies, all of which, do not originate from the Spirit of God.

It seems that we assume God lends Himself to the whims of men to give multiple words of prophecy on demand. These things are always "as the Spirit wills". See 1 Corinthians 12. Yeshua has told us of things to come, the apostles Paul, Peter, and John have written things given by inspiration of the Spirit of God of things that will take place in the end of days. In our endeavours to fill in the gaps of the things foretold by Yeshua and the apostles and prophets, we tend to speculate on the order of events. This is because we do not rely on the Spirit of Truth.
In John 16:13, Yeshua says,"However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak. And He will announce to you things to come". 

All true prophecy comes from the Spirit of Truth; all false prophecy comes from the minds of men and lying spirits. Yeshua's admonitions remain our guide post until the end of all things .... BE ON YOUR GUARD, BE ALERT, WATCH & PRAY, DO NOT BE DECEIVED. The Spirit of Truth will guide us into all truth, let us therefore, walk and live by the Spirit.

What will 2014 bring??  Wars and rumours of wars, nation against nation ,unrest in nations, internal conflicts, economies collapsing, famines, floods, pestilences, earthquakes in various places, increased arrogance and pride, unholy desires, lovers of pleasure and selfish desire more than lovers of God. Let us not forget, there will be persecution of believers even more as we enter that time period when the mark of the beast becomes compulsory. One thing is certain, there will be an increase of these things in the coming year and years to come, but all the while God will be at work bringing about His holy desire in and amongst His people. Grace be with you all.

WAKE UP!!!

If you have read any of my previous posts, you will realise that I do not subscribe to a rapture theory before or during the final time of tribulation, that precedes the return of the Messiah. The Lord Jesus is the absolute and final authority of any and all matters that relate to the faith, our being and doing with it.

The scriptures teach us that all things need to be established in the mouth of 2 - 3 witnesses. the Father is one, Jesus as Son is another and the Spirit is another. therefore, as Jesus (Son) taught, the Spirit bore witness and Father instructed Jesus (Son) what to say. End of the matter.

Jesus taught that immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days, THEN, shall the sign of the Son of man appear in the heavens to gather together the elect from the four corners of the world. Any teaching of the apostles may elaborate on this but never contradict this fact. It is false teaching that has been added by men who fail to simply abide by the teachings of the Lord Jesus, that has come to be believed as if it were the very teaching of Messiah Himself. The teaching of error presented as if it were the truth; a little leaven has been mixed and corrupted the whole.

Books have been written, movies have been made, seminars have been conducted and men have profited off these false teachings as if it were the very gospel itself. By false teaching, I mean anything other than what the Lord Jesus Himself taught or the first apostles confirmed and taught themselves as having been instructed by the Lord Jesus Himself.

In saying this, what are your perceptions of this final time of tribulation? The book of revelation and other letters, have some harrowing things to say about this final time. One thing that comes to my mind is what we know as the mark of the beast, without which, we cannot buy or sell. Basically, we as believers during this final time, will not be able to conduct business of any sort. No buying food from the supermarkets, no selling product to make money to buy anything. No paying rent, no electricity or water. The book of prophecy, i.e. Revelation speaks of many saints being put to death because of their testimony. We will be pursued by the authorities because we refuse to have the mark of pay homage to the beast. This is why in the same prophecy, we are called to faith and patience, to endurance. We are exhorted and admonished by the Lord Himself and the apostles to persevere, to remain steadfast, to encourage one another daily seeing that day approaches. This is why this is a wake up call, if you have ears to hear, then hear and pay attention. Grace be with you all.

APOSTOLIC REALITY.

Please copy and paste the link below into a new tab. The you tube clip you will watch is a powerful interview by Jonathan Bernis with Art Katz on very pertinent matters that relate to life present and that which is to come in the not too distant future.

http://youtu.be/AuaIwmYhlto

WHAT THINGS REALLY MATTER.

In previous posts, I have mentioned that God is at work in these last of days, setting things in order within the church. The church currently and for past generations is in a place of confusion, turmoil and rebellion against God. It is quite clear that if one looks at the history of the life of the church, we see so much that has actually brought disrepute upon the church, more importantly, it has brought grief and sadness to the heart of God.
Many unbelievers have been and are put off "church" because of all the confusion that exists within.

One of the main arguments that comes from unbelievers is, "which church is right"? It is a valid question, the answers of which reveal even more, the division that is prevalent in and amongst the church. Let there be a clear understanding here, that any reference here of unity is only to the true church. There is no inclusion of ecumenity of different religions here whatsoever. The unity of the Spirit including the unity of the Faith is only for those who have repented of heir sin and have believed on the Lord Jesus, those who subsequently have been placed by the Spirit into the body of Christ. To this church, there is great confusion, turmoil and every other Ishmaelic thing, that is to say, the working of the flesh. It is to this body that God is at work setting things in order.

Our teachings/doctrines have been corrupted by false teachings. We have made doctrines for ourselves in preference to the teachings of the apostles which are the teachings of Jesus. We have chosen to build for ourselves our own houses / denominations at the expense of THE HOUSE of God. We have chosen to divide ourselves according to our own belief systems that we have made for ourselves. ALL these are the works of the flesh. God has not given us the authority to do this, He may have allowed it, all because of our own rebellious way. Reading the scriptures, we see over and over again, that when Israel rebelled against God and His ways, He gave them over to the things they desired more than Him. This is true also in and for the church ..... but, the time is here that God is setting things in order, till we ALL come into that unity of the Spirit and the faith, when we will measure up to the SAME standard of Christ's own perfection and so we shall no longer be tossed backwards and forwards by false teachings. God will have a glorious church, free from any spot, wrinkle, blemish or any such thing, one that is suited for the Head, namely, JESUS. Grace and peace be with you all.

SOME THINGS ARE WORTH REPEATING..

I have been pondering on what else is new or what else can be said to make another post. To be honest, nothing new comes to the fore except, to perhaps reiterate some things that have already been said.

Often we assume God is wanting to reveal new things so that we do not stagnate in our growth in the Lord. This may be true, sometimes. But God is a wise Master builder and perfect Father, He will not make us fat in spirit by feeding us day in and day out with revelation upon revelation so that we become weighed down in the things of the spirit.

Jesus' instruction to John to write to the assembly at Ephesus, has profound words for us to adhere to.
..... "But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent".  Revelation 2:4-5.

The love we had at the first, the things we have already heard, are we walking and living in and by them? Jesus means for us to be doing these things. Are we pre paring and readying ourselves for Jesus' return; are we casting off the works of darkness and walking in the light? Once again, hear these wise and true words, "We are not yet ready for the second coming of the Lord because we have not yet fully appropriated the meaning of His first coming". God is requiring something from us, His church ...... and that is, obedience to His instructions in ALL respects. It is of no benefit at all to pretend we do not know or understand and that God does not mind. We will continue to walk around the mountain and roam around in the desert UNTIL we are walking and living in the truth we have heard, in other words, UNTIL we are walking in obedience to the Head of the church.

IT IS TIME FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD TO AWAKEN OUT OF OUR SLEEP AND STUPOR, REPENT, SO THAT TIMES OF REFRESHING MAY COME FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. If you have ears to hear, then listen and hear.... Grace be with you all.

DREAM OF THE LORD'S RETURN..

The Lord gave me a dream in the mid 1980 s .

This is the dream.

I was visiting a friend and brother in the Lord. We were in his lounge which had long draping black curtains that blocked out any light from outside. We happened to be watching an animated film of the return of Christ, when I heard a shout. I went to the curtains and pulled them apart and looking outside I saw that Jesus was actually in the process of returning in reality. There was a very loud shout and I saw writing across the sky which read...... AND MEN'S HEARTS WERE UNPREPARED..... end of dream.

This dream has stayed with me ever since as if it were the first time; I see it clearly in my mind each time. When the Lord Jesus returns again, it will be that, THE MOST WILL BE UNPREPARED. This does not mean that you and I should be found in that state of being unprepared. We are not of those who have fallen asleep and are scoffing at His return. BE IN A STATE OF READINESS ALWAYS, WATCH AND BE ALERT..... not only for His return, but also for the events that will lead up to His return The grace of the Lord be with you all..