Dear Fellow Laborers,
Highest greetings to each of you in the matchless name of Jesus – the name above every name, whether thrones or dominions in heaven or on earth!
Be encouraged saints! Many men have challenged Him down through the centuries – from lords, popes, and religious priests… to royal kings, queens, and even presidents; but all are only pawns in His Father’s hand! Today, amid the clamoring thunder of evil armies and all the enemy’s wicked sights and fearful sounds, let us not soon forget that it is Jesus Christ who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Son of God, our Savior… and it is HE who shall reign forever! It is in Him that our lives are hid in God. Under that Cornerstone shall all other kingdoms be crushed! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and His years will not fail. It is Satan who shall be bound for a thousand years before being cast into outer darkness, where the worm does not die and where the fire is not quenched! Hallelujah to the Lamb! Today’s battles are only the dust settling from a victory already won!
If, when in the midst of these darkening days of battle, we will remember that He has already won the war, we will have the confidence to fight the good fight of faith, and to stand, having done all, to stand. We are indeed in the final chapters of the Last Days, and we are swiftly approaching that glorious moment the Psalmist foretold more than three thousand years ago when he proclaimed the coming of the Lord, saying,
“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah” Psalm 24:7-10 NKJV
We trust that your feet are firmly planted upon the Rock of Jesus Christ, as we have already entered into the raging storms of the end of this age. To those who are lost, I feel a lot like a whistleblower calling “All aboard!” as the train slowly pulls out of the station; and to those who are called “Christian,” I feel a lot like the apostle Peter, who wrote, “Make your calling and election sure” (II Peter 1:10).
Like never before, we can certainly identify with what the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Ephesus, saying, “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand in the evil day” (Eph. 6:13). We have arrived to that “evil day,” and we are just beginning to get a glimpse of how great is the darkness among lost humanity.
On the one hand, we have the rise of what I call “the fullness of man,” when a somewhat tamed humanity looses itself from the moral grip of godly creeds in order to exalt its own proud head. Yet on the other hand, we have the rise of what the apostle Paul calls “the fullness of Jesus Christ” (Eph. 4:13). In the midst of it all there is a great spiritual warfare. Satan has not let up his deadly fight to keep those who are not in Christ, while at the same time he aims relentlessly at the church to keep those who are in Christ from spiritual maturity. He knows that if the body of Christ actually grows up into Christ’s image, the whole world will know what Christ really looks like. Then, and only then, the greatest harvest that ever the world has seen shall come. His battle is on two fronts, but the believer has always been Satan’s focal point for battle; and the goal of his warfare is to confuse and keep weak not only the believer individually, but also the believers corporately.
Satan knows that it is when we are truly strong in Christ that the world is truly won to Christ! This is why the apostle Paul, was called to nourish the body of Christ then; and this is why we are called to nourish the body of Christ now. We thank you for helping us to do just that. The Lord is using us always, and at all times, both with individuals and the corporate body. By His grace and favor, we are bearing much fruit and helping many members of His body to become truly strong in Him!
Now is not the time for the mincing of words. It is not the time for bashful men to be behind the pulpit – men who have more fear of men than of God. Today is not the day for reminiscing about the past nor for dreaming about the future, though the hope of tomorrow should still shine in our hearts. No, now is not the time for shallow men to stand behind pulpits, when they should be sitting and listening from the back pew. It is not the time for feeding baby food to those who have called themselves by His name for decades, but who are still spiritual toddlers. We have had enough of that! Too much!
Now is the time for men who will ask such things as “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” “Who is on the Lord’s side?” “Step over here!” Now is the time to hear from men who “lay hold of the horns of the altar,” who weep in their closets, crying aloud for God to come down in mercy! Now is the time to “lay the axe to the root” of religious trees; and for the sake of the safety and soundness of true saints, we must “preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching," just as Paul told Timothy! The evil day is upon us, beloved; and we do not have time to pander to the masses, or to piddle in the pulpits. Deception is running wildly in the camp! Paul’s writings to the Corinthian church warning of perilous times are certainly apropos with ours. “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit ye like men, be strong” (I Cor. 16:13)!
Even now, in a climate of nearing financial catastrophe, millions of Christians continue to pour their time and money into new programs and new facilities, only to find later that the power from above did not come down to fill them. We have begun to realize in recent years that it is in those smaller settings planted by God that the fullness of Christ grows best. Do we still fail to grasp what God meant when He plainly said, “I do not dwell in temples made with hands, but in broken and contrite hearts that fear My word” (Isaiah 66:1-2)?
If you suffer any kind of distress today, only believe that He is able to deliver you out, or that He will bring you through it. Wait patiently on Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He watches over His word to perform it. He will not tarry. He will come and save you! Let us remember that His work is deep; it is sometimes painful; but it is always sweet in the end. “The Lord knows how to deliver the righteous through tribulations” (II Peter 2:9). His work in us is sure; it is thorough; it is worthy of our thanksgiving, regardless of how painful or how long; and it leads to our becoming just like Him!
Let us remember to take His yoke upon ourselves and to learn of Him, for His way is easy and His burden is light. The hardest thing God ever asked anyone to do is to believe, to yield, to trust, to forsake all, and to follow Him by faith!