Safe is my soul in His keeping

Born in Hordeland Fylke Norway in 1885, hymn writer Haldor Lillenas, the son of Ole Paul­son Lil­le­nas and Anne Ma­rie Jons­dtr Tvei­ta, emi­grat­ed to Am­eri­ca with his fa­mi­ly as a child. They set­tled first in South Da­ko­ta, then moved to Ore­gon in 1889.

Lillenas, who stu­died mu­sic at the Sie­gel-My­ers School of Mu­sic in Chi­ca­go, is said to have writ­ten 4,000 hymns, and sup­plied songs for ma­ny ev­an­gel­ists.

According to one biography online: “In 1900 the family moved again to Roseville, MN, where he worked as a farm laborer and began attending a Lutheran high school at Hawick, MN. He sold a few songs at age 19.

"At age 21 he began writing more songs, encouraged by some earlier ones becoming popular (“He Set Me Free” was one). His mother died in 1906 and his father returned to ND, but Lillenas decided to move back to Astoria, OR, to finish a chemical correspondence course he had been taking. There he found employment in a chemical factory. He started attending a Lutheran church, but one evening he heard the song, “Tell mother I’ll be there,” sung at a rescue mission. It made him decide to commit his life to Christ. An elderly lady who worked there told him about Jesus and he started working at the mission himself. He was later appointed leader of the mission and saw many there come to know Christ and felt called to the Lord’s work.”

Here are some of the lyrics to “He Set Me Free”:

The Com­fort­er di­vine is dwell­ing
Within my soul to­day;
His love to oth­ers I am tell­ing
Since Je­sus came to stay.

He set me free, He set me free,
I was blind, but hal­le­lu­jah, now I see!
I shall ne’er for­get the day
When He washed my sins away,
And He set, He set me free.

The grace of Je­sus hath abound­ed
For all my sins I see,
Salvation walls have me sur­round­ed,

From sin I am set free. 

Here are the lyrics to his song, "My Wonderful Friend":

I found such a won­der­ful Sav­ior
In Je­sus, my Lord and my king!
Undying and true His de­vo­tion;
My heart shall his glad prais­es sing.

Oh, what a won­der­ful Sav­ior is He!

Constant and true is Je­sus.
More than I fan­cied He ev­er could be
Is Je­sus, my won­der­ful friend.

Surpassing the love that a mo­ther
May have for the child of her care;
The love of a sister or bro­ther
With His we can nev­er com­pare.

The plea­sures the world could af­ford me
Are naught to com­pare with His joy;
The rap­ture and peace that He gives me,
Earth’s sor­rows can nev­er de­stroy.

Refrain

When sor­rows and pain are my por­tion,
When tears of be­reave­ment must fall,
My Sav­ior, my friend, my com­pan­ion,
Will com­fort and keep through it all.

Refrain

When tem­pests around me are sweep­ing,
My pi­lot and guide He will be;
And safe is my soul in His keep­ing,
My migh­ty de­liv’rer is He.

*****

The first priority God has in your life is to make you more and more and more, day by day, like His Son. To conform you to the image of His Son; to have Christ formed in you, says Richard Jordan.

In your ups and in your downs, to take that vital thread of that relationship you have with Jesus Christ, that's rooted in the truth of His Word, and authentic living with Him, to little by little have Him transforming your thinking and thus your life.

It's so that there's someone who thinks and talks like Jesus Christ. Then in your life you bring this outrageous attitude of gratitude, thanksgiving and contentment. And in the midst of the injustices of life and the injustices of work, you think like Jesus Christ thinks.

Living out the sufficiency you have in the Lord Jesus Christ takes teachableness. You have to choose to be thankful, focus on what you have in Christ and then step back and look around and ask, "What do I need to learn where I'm at? What does God's Word say about this that I can bring into my circumstances?"

Philippians 4: [11] Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

[12] I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

[13] I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Poverty doesn't have the power to take away contentment. Paul says, "I''ve had more and I've had less. More can't bring contentment, less can't take it away."

We really don't believe that latter one, do we? We really fear the poverty and yet, in the midst of abounding poverty, you can see people with contentment, joy, that people in the midst of luxury are all the day longing for.

(new Bible study tomorrow. I have been dealing with several health issues the past week but I feel like I am now getting back to normal and so thankful to be able to report this)

Psalm 119 the way David thought

(I'm going through a real spell of dry, aching, strained eyes and hoping it's allergy related. new article tomorrow for sure)

There's really only one Bible character whose life fits what's in Psalm 119, because in the psalm he describes himself, his experiences and how the Word of God related to them. When you take them all together, they don't fit all these other (Bible writers people suspect).

Look at verse 17, for example: [17] Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

Thirteen times in the psalm, verse 23, for example, [23] Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

Verse 38: [38] Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

He calls himself "thy servant" all down through the psalm. Now, that title is used of David in the psalms and of nobody else, says Richard Jordan.

If you look at Psalm 19, a psalm of David, verse 11: [11] Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

That's the first time that title's used and it's used by David of himself.

Verse 13: [13] Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Psalm 27:9, a psalm of David, says, [9] Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Every time "thy servant" is singular, the individual, is in the psalms, it's David.

In Psalm 89 the Lord talks: [35] Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

[36] His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.
[37] It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

In the Book of Psalms, God Himself calls David His servant. Verse 20: [20] I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

Psalm 119:49: [49] Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

David uses the title himself, God uses the title of David, and there's no doubt David is the servant. 

When you look at the way he talks about himself, the terms that he uses and the experiences that he portrays, these things fit David and really don't fit anybody else. 

Psalm 119:2: [2] Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

You see the expression "with the whole heart"? 

Verse 34: [34] Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

That expression is used in about a half-dozen places. The only one who uses that expression in the Book of Psalms is David. You're listening to David talk. This is the way he thought.

Dead church with name, reputation

(new article tomorrow)

Revelation 3 begins, [1] And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

That goes back to Revelation 1:4 and 1:16 where Christ is seen as the Son of Man and He has the seven spirits of God and He’s got these seven stars.

Verse 4: [4] John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Verse 16: [16] And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

He’s seen in Revelation 3 in that capacity because of the problem at Sardis. The problem at Sardis, Christ says, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

They have a reputation and a name for living, because they’ve got all these works in their midst, but He says, “Thou art dead.”

According to a website article: History tells us that the city of Sardis was about thirty miles southeast of Thyatira and about fifty miles northeast of Smyrna. Sardis was on a major commercial trade route and also on an important military road.

The acropolis of Sardis was large and lay on a ridge of the Tmolus mountain range, forming a natural fortress which was extremely difficult for an invading army to penetrate. Today, there are very few ruins left.

One of the outstanding ruins is that of the temple of the goddess Artemis. It lay in the Hermus Valley about 800 feet below the Acropolis. The columns of the temple were so large that four men, holding each other’s hands, are needed to surround the entire columns. That helps us understand the size of the temple. The gymnasium in the ancient city was enormous.

Herodotus, the 5th century B.C. historian, tells us sarcastically that Sardis was a city of “tender-footed” people who could only play on the cithara, strike the guitar, and sell by retail. William Barclay adds that Sardis was a city of peace, where a “man whose dreams are dead and whose mind is asleep, the peace of lethargy and evasion.” In short, the people in the city were given to pleasure and leisure.

******

The problem the church at Sardis has is that they’re dead and yet they look like they’re alive. How can you be alive and yet dead? It’s talking about spiritual death, not physical death.

You remember the story of the prodigal son. In Luke 15 there’s a place where he uses the word dead and death in the context just like what’s in Revelation.

The prodigal’s gone off, he’s wasted all his substance in riotous living, but he came to himself and returned to the father.

Luke 15: [21] And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
[22] But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
[23] And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
[24] For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Now tell me, was the boy dead physically? No. Was he resurrected physically? No. He was separated from the father and now he’s been reunited with the father and so the father says, “My son was dead; he was gone and it was as though he were dead; he was just completely separated from me, I had no contact with him, but he’s come back and now he’s alive again.”

It's not physical death in Revelation 3:1. This church isn’t dead in the sense they don’t have any activity involved in their midst. The problem is they don’t have any spiritual life in their midst.

They’ve got the works. They have the form of godliness but they’re spiritually dead. The problem there is formalism. Dead religion. They’ve got the activity. They’ve got the name. They’ve got all the form, but they don’t have the life. It’s not the Spirit of God working in their midst.

That’s why Christ’s referred to as "him that have the seven spirits of God.” The Holy Spirit of God is the one who gives life. The Spirit of God is the one who gives life to the church and is the one who imparts spiritual life.

This Sardis church doesn’t have the real life of God. The works they have are not being produced by God; they’re being produced by their own activity.

Revelation 3:2: [2] Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Notice he doesn’t say, “Strengthen the people that remain.” He says strengthen the things; the works that remain. There’s some good works being done in their midst, but the works aren’t being done because God’s generating them; they’re being done out of formal activity.

Wrapping your mind around this

Paul finishes Ephesians 4 with: [30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

[31] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
[32] And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

A lot of times Jesus Christ wouldn’t be comfortable going some of the places you go, listening to some of the conversations you have, says Richard Jordan.

You see what a sanctifying, what a setting apart, what a cleansing effect it would have in your life to realize that all of the thoughts and all of the attitudes and actions you take, He’s sitting there in the living room with you, dwelling there?

How do you do that? By faith. What is it that activates God’s Word in your life? I Thessalonians 2:13: [13] For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

The first thing you have to do is settle the authority of God’s Word and when you receive it that way, it will “effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

Romans 5:2: [2] By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

You have access to bring it into your life and put it to work when you believe what God’s Word says.

So, you’ve been strengthened by His Spirit in your inner man. You’ve looked at the Scripture, you’ve gotten into the Word of God, you’ve found it, and now you’re believing it, and what happens? It activates the indwelling life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, “Now whose life is it? It’s His life.”

Ephesians 3:17: [17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Notice, he’s assuming that you’re rooted and grounded in love. How does that happen? When Christ’s dwelling in your heart.

Colossians 2:6: [6] As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
[7] Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

That’s how complicated the Christian life is. If you understand how you got saved (It’s not I, it’s Christ), you don’t get saved and then God says, “Now here’s a race course I want you to run to show me what a good deal I got.”

The Christian life is an impossibility for you to live; only Christ can live His life. You just get out of the way and let Him do it and when you walk by faith in what His Word says He does it.

Romans 8: [38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You see how there’s a persuasion? I’ve thought about it, I’ve calculated it, and here’s my conclusion “that neither death, nor life, nor angels . . . ”

You learn in the Christian life to never think, “I’m doing it.” It scares me to hear people say, “Well, I’m walking . . .” I’d be scared to say that about myself. Because, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

When could you ever boast that you’ve arrived? Well, every time you do, be sure that that boast demonstrates that you’ve haven’t, because it’s your Achilles Heel.

But in Christ . . . Oh, in Christ it’s all different, isn’t it? You know how I’ve arrived? I’ve arrived in Him. He’s the issue. That’s what Paul’s talking about back here.

God wants you to be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the “breadth and the length and the height and the depth.” When you can comprehend those four dimensions, then you can KNOW the love of Christ.

He says, “I want you to be able to wrap your mind around it. Get a grip on it. Understand it. It won’t work if you don’t know something.”

God says, “I want your mind to comprehend the greatness, the vastness of what God’s doing,” and when you can comprehend the vastness of what God is doing (this great cosmic plan He has in His Son that He’s made you a part of), you’ll know the greatness of His love for you. And when you know that, “that you might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

You can take that verse two ways. You have Christ in you the hope of glory, then you have God the Holy Spirit in you. So you have the fulness of the Godhead in you.

Years ago, and I say this reverently, a preacher Down South used to say, “God the Father was the brains of the godhead. God the Holy Spirit was the workhorse of the godhead and God the Son was the showboat of the godhead.”

Take that with a grain of salt but understand, who does God the Father have all His preeminence in? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who is the Word, the expression, the chief speaker of the godhead? Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2: [9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

So, where does the fullness of God really reside? Colossians 2: [9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

In essence, He’s telling you be filled with all the fullness of what God has given you and God has made you in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, the goal of all of this is to get to know something that will result in God being filled, being controlled. The result of all this if for you to know something that will result in God controlling your life. With it being His will, His Word, His life working through you.

Paul knew that to get that was going to take, not just knowing that, but it’s going to take prayer. It’s going to take personal accountability for your life to be brought in line with God’s will. The result is Ephesians 3:20: [20] Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

You ask things and you think things and God says, “You haven’t got a clue about what you’re talking about; better get in the Book.”

“According to the power that worketh in us.” That’s what it all leads to. The power that works in us. You see, today God’s chose to demonstrate His power, His working in and through the lives of Believers.

God intervenes in your life today through your inner man and then through your inner man. Galatians 2: 20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
[21] I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

That life in me lives out through that body of flesh to perform good works. The good works come not because I’m trying to get something, but because of who I am inside. He’s designed it that His Word works IN and THROUGH Believers, through the working of His Word and that’s the key.

That’s why Paul says all that victory stuff and then he says, “I’m in jail.” He’s not talking about changing his circumstances. He’s still in jail. But he says, “The word of God is not bound. I suffer trouble, but God’s word isn’t bound.”

That’s what we need, folks. To be strengthened by His Spirit so that we have that victorious life of Christ in the details of our life, so that Christ is at home in our life, so that His love will dominate our life, and out of that flows the very character of God, and thus God’s glorified.

It’s not enough just to sit and take it in. Paul said, “I don’t want you to just know all this stuff.” God wants to release the power of all that through you as an individual in your home, in your life, in your family, in your community, to give you the spiritual victory that he’s given you in Christ in the experiences of your life, in order that other people around you can see who He is, that He genuinely can save sinners like you, that He might be glorified.

Paul prayed for them, “I want you to get turned on to this,” and the way you flip the switch of all that you are in Christ is prayer. That’s why it’s that vital and that important.

Where there's smoke there's fire

(new article tonight)

Lucifer said, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." Clouds have to do with hiding the glory of God from His creatures.

Isaiah 6: [1] In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Verses 4-5: [4] And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Where does smoke come from? Fire. Verses 6-7: [6] Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: [7] And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Here's the fire that's going to come out of the throne's altar. Lucifer, says, "I'm going to ascend up above the clouds to where God lives above those clouds and I'm going to have them worship me like they worship Him."

This thing about the heights of the clouds . . . Did you ever notice all through your Bible in Baal worship they're always looking for the high places? It's not just for the purpose of getting some kind of tactical advantage, explains Richard Jordan.

What did they do in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel? It's top is going to reach to heaven. They're going there up in the high places and they're going to offer some sacrifices that are going to gain them authority to be heaven; to take God's heaven, take God's place, take God's rule. 

II Kings 15, talking in the reign of Uzziah, [3] And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; [4] Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.

He did everything except remove the worship centers, the churches of Baal worship. What are people doing in the high places? "The people sacrificed and burnt incense."

Notice the description Jeremiah uses. Jeremiah 13:15.[15] Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken. [16] Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

The dark mountains were the high places where they're worshipping Baal. He's not talking about physical darkness; he's talking about spiritual darkness. This is the condition Israel was in when the Lord Jesus Christ showed up.

Look at John 1: [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.[5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Now what kind of darkness is it that when the light shines it doesn't go away? It's not physical darkness. Chapter 3 says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. The dark mountains were the places of spiritual darkness.

Remember in Jeremiah 44, he talks about them worshipping the queen of heaven and all the accoutrements that go with that. Israel was in complete satanic captivity and the dark doctrines of the Baal worship had completely captured the nation Israel and held them captive.

So Israel is in that condition of being completely engrossed and captured by Satan, and when he talks about fire, when you burn something, it's sadistic to do that.

When you focus on drowning people, that's sadistic too. But there's a difference between being sadistic and being masochistic. One is you torment yourself and you get pleasure out of that, and the other is you get pleasure out of tormenting others. And the fire and the water represent those two extremes Satan has gone to.

He starts here in the courts of God and he winds up . . . listen, what sin produces and where sin takes you . . .  I Kings 8, when Elijah takes the prophets of Baal up on Mount Carmel and they cry out for Baal to light the fire, manifest himself, and he doesn't, they go and cut themselves. They flog themselves. That's the sadistic kind of torture that you get pleasure out of serving.

There's a place where sin takes you, where Satan takes a person. In Revelation 2 it's called "the depths of Satan." Where you're not just torturing yourself, you get pleasure in torturing others.

Romans 1:28 says, [28] And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

A worthless, useless mind seeking only its own ways, seeking only to deify the creature; worship and serve the creature to do those things that are not convenient.

Then he lists the things in 29-32: [29] Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

[30] Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
[31] Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

[32] Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

That's what happens in a culture. When you see that in a culture, that's how it got there. They not only rejoice in seeing people damned, they have pleasure; they get their jollies out of it. They don't just enjoy doing it; they enjoy seeing people damned in doing it with them.

Now, that's exactly the attitude of the Adversary. That's the depths to which sin takes a person. It will take you there if you mess with it. You go around with a reprobate mind, that's where you'll wind up.

Ezekiel 31, talking about Satan, says, [2] Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? [3] Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

Here's Pharaoh but he's called the Assyrian. Pharaoh's an Egyptian. How did he become an Assyrian? In Isaiah 51 he talks about the Pharaoh in Egypt being the Assyrian. In other words, he had become a captive of the Adversary. That's why Exodus says there arose a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph. He's now a part of the satanic program.

By the way, the Assyrian turns out to be the description, the title of the Antichrist. It's that spiritual whore who rules over the kings of the earth that goes all the way over to Revelation 17, and the Antichrist rides it to power.

The chapter goes on, [16] I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

[17] They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
[18] To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

What are they being comforted over? Come to Ezekiel 32:31: [31] Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

What's his multitude? All these people God had destroyed. He's going to look out at all those people who've just been damned to hell and destroyed and he's going to be comforted over that multitude back in verse 27-29: [27] And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

[28] Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
[29] There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

Even Pharaoh and all his army shall be slain by the sword. Now, that's the depths of Satan. That's what had spiritually captured God's nation. That's a terrible totality of destruction.

Satan is fascinated by the fire and the water because that was his original goal; it was to possess the position of judgment and authority of God's throne; to be the one they worship and answer to. "I'm your judge; you answer to me. I'm God; you worship me."

It turned out that sin destroyed all that. The fire turned into hell and the water--look at Psalm 18:

[8] There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
[9] He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
[10] And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
[11] He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
[12] At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
[13] The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
[14] Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
[15] Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

Fire and water are Second Advent phenomenon connected with the destruction of Satan and his program. That's why that devil there in Mark 9, when Jesus said, "This kind comes out only by prayer and fasting. Only by understanding that I've got to go to the Cross."

The passage reads, [28] And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

[29] And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
[30] And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.
[31] For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
[32] But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

He means this total, complete control over the nation Israel through that satanic program that held Him captive. "That kind comes out with nothing but what I as the Redeemer will do."

'Such a stupendous thing to grasp'

I have a study below, but first I wanted to share a classic old hymn from 1880, entitled "A Shelter in the Time of Storm."

The author, Vernon J. Charlesworth (1838-1915) was a British pastor who later became administrator of Charles Spurgeon's orphanage.  Ira D. Sankey composed the tune, writing in one account, "I found this hymn in a small paper published in London, called 'The Postman.' It was said to be a favorite song of the fishermen on the north coast of England, and they were often heard singing it as they approached their harbors in the time of storm." 

Here are the lyrics:

1      The Lord's our Rock; in Him we hide,

A Shelter in the time of storm;

Secure whatever ill betide,

A Shelter in the time of storm.

O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,

A weary land, a weary land;

O Jesus is a Rock in a weary land -

A Shelter in the time of storm.

 

2     A Shade by day, Defense by night,

A Shelter in the time of storm;

No fears alarm, no foes affright,

 

3      The raging storms may round us beat,

A Shelter in the time of storm;

We'll never leave our safe retreat,

 

4      O Rock Divine, O Refuge dear,

A Shelter in the time of storm;

Be Thou our Helper ever near,

When you read the Book of John, you have to do like in Luke—notice the little things.

John 5: [5] And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
[6] When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
[7] The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
[8] Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

When it says in verse 6, "Jesus saw him," and it will be the same way with the blind man, He sees that individual, not everybody else and yet there’s this great multitude: [3] In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

Out of all that crowd, God’s grace focused on this guy. Their faith in God’s Word to them brings God’s grace into their life. How is it that He’s going to give them power to become? There’s the how, explains Richard Jordan.

When you read these miracles, all of them are designed together to tell you: [11] He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
[12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

What the Holy Spirit’s doing as He writes the Book of John is He’s going back to this original plan that the godhead has. In verse 3, He talks about that original plan for creation and the One who is the expression of that plan.

What in the world would it mean to call the Lord Jesus Christ the Word? What do you do with words? You express yourself; you reveal what’s in your mind, your heart. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who’s going to reveal what’s in the mind and heart of God.

If you want to know God you’re going to have to look at Jesus Christ. To understand who God is and to grasp His person, you can’t look at creation because it doesn’t tell you about the person of God; it will tell you about the power of God.

Jesus tells Philip in John 14:9: [9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
[10] Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

There’s that wonderful passage in II Corinthians 4:6: [6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The whole issue of Jesus Christ being the Word is not just to tell you God’s righteous. You can get that by reading other things in the Scripture.

Jesus Christ is not just simply revealing God as God with all of His attributes. His purpose in revealing God is to reveal to you what’s in God’s heart, because that’s how you really get to know someone.

You don’t just want to know about them; you want to know them. The way you know them is to understand what they’re thinking. How do they think about things? How do they react to things? What are their plans? What are their purposes? Where are they going? Are they able to get there?

Well, Jesus Christ as the Word, that implies that the godhead’s got a plan and Jesus Christ is the agency of the godhead through whom that plan is going to be communicated.

That is such a stupendous thing to grasp. It’s not to diminish at all, in fact, it’s to glorify the fact that Jesus Christ is the revealer of God, and without Him you couldn’t know God.

What you’re learning about God isn’t just that He’s high and mighty and lifted up, righteous and holy. I mean, He revealed that to Moses about Himself.

The purpose in all that revelation is to bring you into an appreciation of what God’s plan in His creation is and what’s that plan? The ultimate goal of God is to glorify Himself in Jesus Christ.

John 1:18: [18] No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

When you declare something, you set it forth. You ever heard the southern expression, ‘Well, I do declare.’ You tell it out.

Hebrews 1: [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

In John 1 and 2, He’s going to tell you that Jesus Christ is the spoken out image of God. You want to know God and God’s mind? It’s in Christ. He’s completely, fully qualified to tell you that because He is God.

It says in John 1:3: [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

You’re going to learn that that verse isn’t just talking about the birds and the bees and the stars and the nebula and the plants and stuff. It’s talking about a government and creatures put in that government to run this universe, because God’s got a plan and it’s going to focus in His Son.

John begins his book by pointing out to you that the Son is the focus where all of God’s glory is going to be revealed. We’re going to behold Him in human flesh so we can ‘behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.’

Revelation 1:8: [8] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Verse 11: [11] Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Alpha is the first letter in a Greek alphabet; Omega is the last letter. What Jesus is saying there is, ‘I’m God’s alphabet and I’m going to spell out and display . . . Words are made out of letters and I’m the one going to lay out for you the mind of God and what God’s got to say.’

By the way, when He says, "I am Alpha and Omega," He’s saying, "The last thing God’s going to say to you is going to come from me." That why in Hebrews 1 He says "in these last days." The conclusion of revelation is going to come from Jesus Christ.

Acts 14:12: [12] And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

That term "chief speaker" is the word for "word" over there. If you took that translation of the word and applied it to John 1, what you would have is that Jesus Christ is the chief speaker of the godhead. They nominated God the Son for that job.

That’s exactly the idea there. In Colossians, it says He’s the image of the invisible God. He was like Adam in the earth back there. Adam was God’s spokesman in the earth. Jesus Christ is the one member of the godhead who’s going to speak on behalf of the godhead.

John 1 is not the first time the second person of the godhead has been referred to by that terminology. Psalm 33:6: [6] By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
[7] He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
[8] Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
[9] For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

Notice again how it’s connected with creation, just as it is in John 1. John 1:1: [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] The same was in the beginning with God.
[3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Notice it didn’t say the Word was with the Father. That’s because there are more than two members of the godhead. If He’s with Him, that means He’s distinct from the other members. There’s a difference between being in God and with God.

Genesis says Enoch walked with God. They’re distinct from one another. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" They’re walking together.

Not only is God eternal and self-existent, He is, in His person, distinct from other members of the godhead.

Paul: 'I want ALL lost people to SEE'

Paul writes in Ephesians 3: [8] Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

It’s unsearchable because you can’t go search it out in Scripture anywhere else except in Paul’s epistles, explains Richard Jordan.

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me,” Jesus told the leaders of Israel, and they can go find Him in the Old Testament. Paul couldn’t say that.

You go back in Old Testament Scriptures and try and look for Paul’s message and there’s just a hole; an empty place where it’s not.

So, if I’m going to go out and preach this unprophesied message; dispensationally it’s unsearchable (it’s hid with God), but doctrinally that word unsearchable means it’s "past finding out."

There’s some things about it, they’re so far ahead of where you are it would crack your skull to try and understand it. That’s verse 10: [10] To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

So there’s a sense in which the unsearchable is this manifold, multi-faceted wisdom of God. That’s Romans 11:33’s use of the word: [33] 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!
[34] For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?

Paul says, “I want to go preach that among the Gentiles. I want to go tell everybody that God wants you to participate in this message AND, my second purpose is to make all men SEE the fellowship of the mystery”, which is back in verse 6:

[6] That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

When he uses that word “see,” Paul’s not talking so much about making people understand it because he says “all men.” What does I Corinthians 2:14 say? [14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Paul knows that lost people aren’t going to see this stuff. He says, “I want all lost people out there to see. I want them to have a visible representation laid in front of them of what that doctrine represents and is.”

What he’s talking about there is the local church. He’s talking about I Timothy 3:16: [16] And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

You see, so often people forget the imperative in Paul’s epistles about the local church. Paul wrote 13 epistles and nine of them he wrote to local churches, or clusters of local churches.

He wrote four epistles to individuals who are leaders in local churches. God’s design in the dispensation of grace is that the work of the ministry be done through gatherings of Believers in communities that organize themselves for the purpose of doing the work of the ministry.

We’re not called to be Lone Rangers with our Tontos, just running around . . .  We’re called to be the church, the pillar and the ground of the truth, to hold up a testimony that says, “Truth is available, here it is, and whatever cost it is, we’re going to make it known.”

You see, what happens is people think church is the building down there. So, to have a church, we’ve got to have a building, and to build the church means you run the programs in the building and you get all that religious hoodiley-doo going on. That’s the church of the dead god.

Teachable spirit

(sorry for delay and will have new article tomorrow for sure. I have had the worst time adjusting to this Spring Ahead time change--just like I did last year--since my best sleep in the last five years or more always seems to happen between 4-7 a.m. and I have to be up around 7:45 for work. I am so sleep-deprived tonight that I think I will have little trouble falling asleep soon and I can't take any chance of ruining the "moment")

*****

I asked a man what changed for him and he said, “I just began to be grateful to God for what I did have in my life and I stopped focusing on that 5 percent of what I didn’t have.” He said, “Every time my emotions would begin to get all upset, I’d go off and sit down somewhere and take a piece of paper out and write down the things I was grateful about and begin to thank God for them.”

He said, “As I did that my emotions began to change,” and when your emotions begin to change, you know what you do? You begin to treat people differently, and when you begin to treat people differently, that 5 percent begins to shrink and shrink, says Richard Jordan.

Listen, people begin to change in relationship to the change in you. You can’t change other people.

What are the issues in your life where you’re constantly focusing on the negative instead of rejoicing and thanking God for what you do have? Those big issues today?

If you want to have contentment and have it be well with your soul, cultivate being grateful. You say, “But in my circumstances it’s not there.” I didn’t say anything about your circumstances; be grateful for who God has made you in Christ and you’ll find you’re equipped to live in whatever “up” or “down” it is.

Contentment, that deep inner sense of satisfaction with who you are, isn’t tied to the variables.

Paul said, “For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” It’s an attitude that you learn. Contentment’s not a thing that you achieve; it’s not a thing that you acquire. It’s something that you learn; it’s an attitude. Paul says, “In all things I’m instructed.”

It’s something that you take from some information from God’s Word; it’s not an external thing; it’s an internal adjustment to some truth from God’s Word.

Paul said it in Romans 12: [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

There’s a new way to think. We’re not thinking like the Epicureans or the Stoics; we’re not getting our instructions about how to deal with life off the TV or out of religion, or out of our flesh. We’re getting it out of God’s Word and the reality in His Word is that no matter where I am at or what’s going on, I am sufficient for all things in Jesus Christ.

By the way, the culture says contentment is some future event “and when it gets here I’ll be happy.” It’s like Lotto living. “When that ticket shows up, then I’ll be happy.” Forget it; it isn’t tied to those things.

The key is you need to be teachable to learn. The key to learning things is to have a teachable spirit, so that when you’re in the circumstances, and they’re calling attention to the things going on around you, you need to ask God, “What do I need to learn in these present circumstances?” instead of telling God what you want Him to change in them.

It doesn't have to be hard

Two absolutely crucial but much misunderstood verses in Paul's epistles are Romans 8:16 and 8:26.

Verse 16 says, [16] The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

Verse 26 says, [26] Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

People get mad about that reflexive pronoun 'itself''; they say it's dishonoring to the Holy Spirit because He's not an "it"; He's a he, explains Preacher Richard Jordan.

Well, your Bible knows that! If you look at verse 27, he writes, [27] And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Paul calls Him an "it" in verse 26 and a "he" in verse 27. So why does it say "it"? One reason is that's the exact translation. In the Greek language, the word "spirit" is a neuter noun. You have pronouns--he, she, it-- which are masculine, feminine and neuter.

Words have shades of meaning. The word "it" and "itself," when applied to a person, is designed to indicate honor, rank and status--to give dignity to it. "He's a king and he acts like it." He's acting like IT. What? That's the idea of status, like who he is.

So, it's a lack of understanding grammar to get upset about "itself" and "which." If the translators know more about your language than you seem to know, well, don't be mad at them because they're more educated.

When it says "the Spirit itself," it's talking about the function He's carrying on, not His person. You'll find sometime He's called the Holy Ghost and those verses talk about His person.

It doesn't say TO our spirits. That's the way people usually read that verse. We say, "I know I'm saved because the Holy Spirit bears witness to my spirit that I'm a child of God." That's not what it says. It says WITH my spirit which ALSO bears witness that I'm a child of God. So you've got a double witness here bearing witness together.

Then the question is, "Who are we witnessing to?" That's why verse 19 says, [19] For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

There's some people out there in the universe looking for what our testimony is about as members of the Body of Christ; what our being children is about and we're going to witness to them.

We are witnessing that we are the children of God. He's talking about a status, an identity. We are the folks. The reason that's important is in the next verse: [17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

What does it mean to be the children of God? "Then heirs; heirs of God." Oh, I see, our status means we have an inheritance. When you become a child, you become an heir of God. You will inherit the kingdom of God. We're joint-heirs with Christ.

Paul starts out giving you a kind of attitude adjustment. He says, "You know what the Spirit of God is going to lead you to do? Appreciate who you really are."

Antichrist's 'becoming'

(new article tomorrow)

When Satan’s cast out of heaven in the great tribulation, the beast in the bottomless pit rises up to become the “son of perdition.”

The Antichrist is killed in the midst of the week, and when a man dies his soul goes to hell. This beast out of the bottomless pit comes up and inhabits his body and he literally becomes “Satan incarnate.” There’s an angel who’s king over the bottomless pit in Revelations 9, so there’s a lot of weird stuff going to happen, explains Richard Jordan.

The Antichrist is described as “the beast who ascends out of the bottomless pit.” That takes place in the midst of the 70^th week when he’s killed. If a man dies, he’s dead. Your soul dies and goes to hell and you don’t get out of hell and come back.

This beast animates that body and so you have all these movies, books, TV shows, etc., about vampires and the walking dead.

There’s this fascination with all that kind of stuff because that’s part of the mythology of man’s mind; it’s part of what’s there because the creative genius of unsaved people is satanically inspired.

And if I want to prepare the world to worship me, what am I going to do? I’d take all the young people in the world and I’d teach them this is normal, common, ordinary kind of stuff.

*****

Regarding the Antichrist, Zechariah 11:17 reveals, [17] Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

The way that verse is understood in most teaching is the sword, like in the Book of Job, is his power that’s going to be broken. Then they say his eye--the source of light, wisdom, understanding--is going to be dried up and so the judgment’s going to come and his arm’s going to be “clean dried up.”

He’s going to lose all his power and his wisdom’s going to be completely gotten rid of and that's what’s going to happen in the Second Coming of Christ. The Antichrist and his power will be negated and gone forever.

That’s what the preachers say about the passage and that’s okay if you want to take it with a spiritual bent like that, but if you just leave it for what it says, there are some fascinating things in connection with this. What it would mean is that the sword shall be upon his arm and his right eye. This guy’s going to be wounded.

How do you get both a guy’s eye and his arm? You could probably get this eye and that arm, but you’d have to whack at him. You remember Peter in the garden; he cuts the guy’s ear off with a sword? How would you do that?

To swing hard enough to get it you’d hit his shoulder. But if he was ducking, you could get his ear and it would fly up in the air. Jesus caught it and stuck it back on and healed him. In other words, Pete was trying to cut his head off. Well, in the case of the Antichrist, there’s a sword attack that wounds his arm and his right eye.

Revelation 13, talking about the Antichrist in verses 1-2, says in verse 3, [3] And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

The Antichrist sustains a deadly wound that’s healed. If you have a deadly wound, that’s a mortal wound you die from, so this means he’s not dead anymore. In the process he lives.

Talking about the two witnesses, Revelation 11:7 says, [7] And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Notice there’s a beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit that used to be on the earth. You’ll see him again in chapter 17:8. The beast used to be on the earth, he’s gone out, and now he’s going to ascend and be the one who ultimately goes into perdition.

*****

Isaiah 37 reports, [5] So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
[6] And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
[7] Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

This is Hezekiah and the Assyrians that are attacking him, but notice what he says in verse 7. You can find all that in Daniel 11. ‘And I will cause him to fall by the sword.’

About the judgment on the Antichrist, Isaiah 14:18-19 says, [18] All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house (i.e., they’re all dead).
[19] But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

He’s killed by his enemies with a sword, but notice what happens to him. He goes down into the grave, wounded with a sword like all these others, but then he gets cast out of the grave.

The idea there is this guy professes himself to be God. Somebody says, ‘Well, how do you know Jesus Christ is God?’ Romans 1:4 says, [4] And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

The dude gets assassinated. He dies. When a man dies, you know where his soul goes? To hell. You know how his soul gets out? You know how people get out of hell? You get out at the Great White Throne Judgment when God casts you into the lake of fire.

But there lies that dude’s body and there’s a spirit down in the bottomless pit (a fallen angel) which ascends up, takes residence in that body and animates that body.

He stands up and all the world goes, ‘We knew HE was the One!’ That deadly wound is healed and all the world declares him to be God because he’s declared to be God by that resurrection.

Listen, Satan is a consummate imitator and counterfeit of what God has done. Satan is a counterfeit of God the Father; “your father is the devil.”

The Antichrist is a counterfeit of God the Son and “the false prophet” is a counterfeit of God the Holy Spirit. That unholy trinity--the beast, the false prophet and Satan--works together. Revelation 20:10 says they all wind up in the lake of fire.

That idol shepherd and the wound he has--the things we’re reading about and why those things become so prominent in the Scripture is because there’s some things that go on in the midst of that 70^th week in connection with the Antichrist BECOMING, and that’s the word people use—he’s becoming.

You ever seen the movie Red Dragon? The red dragon, the protagonist, keeps saying, “I am becoming. I am becoming.” And he’s transforming himself into this great demonic thing. That becoming is a part of the occult.

*****

“Mystery Babylon the Great comes into all of that. Zechariah 11:16 says, [16] For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

You remember how they worship the queen of heaven? They have drink offerings of blood, as Psalm 16:4 calls it, and are eating flesh. You go to a Catholic church and their Mass, and they believe when they ring the bell and do the blessing that little cracker becomes the flesh of Jesus Christ. When you put that cracker in your mouth you’re literally eating the flesh. When you take in that hooch you’re drinking the blood.

In Zechariah, when they eat that flesh, they’re literally sacrificing those believing Jews, the souls under the altar. They’re literally sacrificing them to this character in their religion. “They teach thy servants to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols.” That’s not just the symbolic stuff; at that point it gets to be the real thing!

So God’s people are being persecuted in a way that’s hard to fathom. Back in Kings it says they had such famine they ate their babies a span long. They’d take a little 18-inch baby and starve him so bad that he dies and then they eat him.

You think, “How does it get that bad?” This stuff, though, they’re not doing it just because they’re starving; they’re doing it to sacrifice to Satan.