Watchable Plan
I John 3:2-3 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
I have been writing a lot lately about the return of Jesus, and posting a lot of news stories that reflect what the Bible describes happening in the years leading up to the return of Jesus. This plan of Jesus' is knowable and is "watchable." I believe we are seeing it in a dramatic way, and the stories I post back that up. Almost no one teaches this stuff with any sort of certainty, so most people have no idea what the Bible plainly and clearly says about the days we are living in.
If I am right about the time, the truth of the Bible is that this is the greatest time to ever be alive for those who are READY in agreement with Jesus. It is the hardest time to be alive for those who approach this time casually and/or in disagreement with Jesus...and it is only going to get harder and harder until the day of His appearing, by design.
I really believe this stuff, which is why I am unwilling to stop beating the same tired drum. I actually get tired of my own tenacity. BUT, I don't say the things I say "speculatively." I am not rolling out ideas I think "might" be true, or I "hope" I might be right about. I could be dead-wrong...I get that...But I ACTUALLY believe God has given me insight into His plans that is completely demonstrable in the Bible, but also very uncommonly taught. I believe God has done this simply because I began asking Him for insight like I meant it, and when He started to unlock His word to me, I did my best to be faithful with the initial amounts...I tried to teach it to anyone who wanted to listen.
I could be dead-wrong about what I believe, but the truth is, I believe it to the point I am in the process of trading all of my time, all of our money, all of our comfort we had gotten used to as a family... and every other goal and dream I have ever had... to do my best to live out agreement with God about what His word says to do in this time, which is to "bet everything" on Him in a tangible risky way. The Bible is clear that God is going to strip away every tangible strength, so the cure for the pain of that is to give it away in your heart before circumstance actually tries to take it away.
I didn't start trading in failing hopes...I wasn't having a mid-life crisis and searching for something to bring me meaning or prominence. I wasn't grabbing onto a new idea I thought might make me more interesting or successful...the truth is, God brought me into this understanding at a time when I was the most successful I have ever been...my business was doing great, and my kids were turning in to stable and successful young men. My marriage was blessed, and my home at peace. Trading all of my earthly comfort and the stability of my home, my reputation as a self-employed consultant and local businessman, risking relationships with friends, clients, other believers, and associates has been the biggest risk I have ever taken. The risk in putting my "money where my mouth is" has been...and continues to be increasingly real.
I don't say all of this to point to myself, or try to garner sympathy, or get people to understand my point of view...I simply say it as a testimony that I REALLY believe this stuff with certainty. I have this hope...this surety... that Jesus is coming back very soon...I believe in years not decades. I may be crazy, or I may be right on, but I actually believe it enough to change everything about the way I have lived for the last 40 years.
This belief that Jesus' plan is knowable, watchable, and requires praying into is the only reason I write anything...the only reason I am involved with something as admittedly odd as trying to organize a group of people to pray night and day to music, and the only reason I am willing to trade an otherwise "ideal" lifestyle as America defines it, for one of looking and sounding like the local loon. The whole truth is I haven't actually lost anything of value, and have gained much more than I had... But it was a risk!...it just happened to be a good one to take...
The reason John said that everyone who shares the hope that Jesus is about to return "purifies himself" is because that is what is required...the purification that comes from living the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle. Jesus is returning to a pure Bride...it is the only kind of Bride that will be standing in the hour of His appearing.
Purifying yourself is defined as being perfect...complete...in attempting to actually give away your money, your time, your "earthly" life, and making completely relying on God your actual strength and goal. Jesus' coming is not for the faint of heart and requires all to "be ready, watching, and praying"...just like a big storm coming. A big storm requires preparation and focus on the task at hand. I firmly believe that no one is going to be sucked up into the sky before Jesus returns, because He's coming HERE to stay. No one is going "away" to heaven unless they happen to die before it is over...because heaven is coming here. Jesus himself spoke often of endurance being a necessary component of His return, and, according to the Bible, the world aint' seen nothin' yet.
There is MUCH to do to be ready. The Bible is actually MOSTLY about this generation...from Genesis to Revelation, you will have a hard time finding even one book that doesn't mention the last seven years of the earth leading up to the return of Jesus.
This is what I truly believe. My honest opinion is that I think anyone and everyone would be very wise to find out what the Bible says about Jesus' return and decide for themselves what to do...get ready themselves...in whatever way God tells them to. There is a storm coming of once-in-creation proportions...and it requires being ready:
This is an end-time promise:
Matthew 7:22-27 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
I have been writing a lot lately about the return of Jesus, and posting a lot of news stories that reflect what the Bible describes happening in the years leading up to the return of Jesus. This plan of Jesus' is knowable and is "watchable." I believe we are seeing it in a dramatic way, and the stories I post back that up. Almost no one teaches this stuff with any sort of certainty, so most people have no idea what the Bible plainly and clearly says about the days we are living in.
If I am right about the time, the truth of the Bible is that this is the greatest time to ever be alive for those who are READY in agreement with Jesus. It is the hardest time to be alive for those who approach this time casually and/or in disagreement with Jesus...and it is only going to get harder and harder until the day of His appearing, by design.
I really believe this stuff, which is why I am unwilling to stop beating the same tired drum. I actually get tired of my own tenacity. BUT, I don't say the things I say "speculatively." I am not rolling out ideas I think "might" be true, or I "hope" I might be right about. I could be dead-wrong...I get that...But I ACTUALLY believe God has given me insight into His plans that is completely demonstrable in the Bible, but also very uncommonly taught. I believe God has done this simply because I began asking Him for insight like I meant it, and when He started to unlock His word to me, I did my best to be faithful with the initial amounts...I tried to teach it to anyone who wanted to listen.
I could be dead-wrong about what I believe, but the truth is, I believe it to the point I am in the process of trading all of my time, all of our money, all of our comfort we had gotten used to as a family... and every other goal and dream I have ever had... to do my best to live out agreement with God about what His word says to do in this time, which is to "bet everything" on Him in a tangible risky way. The Bible is clear that God is going to strip away every tangible strength, so the cure for the pain of that is to give it away in your heart before circumstance actually tries to take it away.
I didn't start trading in failing hopes...I wasn't having a mid-life crisis and searching for something to bring me meaning or prominence. I wasn't grabbing onto a new idea I thought might make me more interesting or successful...the truth is, God brought me into this understanding at a time when I was the most successful I have ever been...my business was doing great, and my kids were turning in to stable and successful young men. My marriage was blessed, and my home at peace. Trading all of my earthly comfort and the stability of my home, my reputation as a self-employed consultant and local businessman, risking relationships with friends, clients, other believers, and associates has been the biggest risk I have ever taken. The risk in putting my "money where my mouth is" has been...and continues to be increasingly real.
I don't say all of this to point to myself, or try to garner sympathy, or get people to understand my point of view...I simply say it as a testimony that I REALLY believe this stuff with certainty. I have this hope...this surety... that Jesus is coming back very soon...I believe in years not decades. I may be crazy, or I may be right on, but I actually believe it enough to change everything about the way I have lived for the last 40 years.
This belief that Jesus' plan is knowable, watchable, and requires praying into is the only reason I write anything...the only reason I am involved with something as admittedly odd as trying to organize a group of people to pray night and day to music, and the only reason I am willing to trade an otherwise "ideal" lifestyle as America defines it, for one of looking and sounding like the local loon. The whole truth is I haven't actually lost anything of value, and have gained much more than I had... But it was a risk!...it just happened to be a good one to take...
The reason John said that everyone who shares the hope that Jesus is about to return "purifies himself" is because that is what is required...the purification that comes from living the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle. Jesus is returning to a pure Bride...it is the only kind of Bride that will be standing in the hour of His appearing.
Purifying yourself is defined as being perfect...complete...in attempting to actually give away your money, your time, your "earthly" life, and making completely relying on God your actual strength and goal. Jesus' coming is not for the faint of heart and requires all to "be ready, watching, and praying"...just like a big storm coming. A big storm requires preparation and focus on the task at hand. I firmly believe that no one is going to be sucked up into the sky before Jesus returns, because He's coming HERE to stay. No one is going "away" to heaven unless they happen to die before it is over...because heaven is coming here. Jesus himself spoke often of endurance being a necessary component of His return, and, according to the Bible, the world aint' seen nothin' yet.
There is MUCH to do to be ready. The Bible is actually MOSTLY about this generation...from Genesis to Revelation, you will have a hard time finding even one book that doesn't mention the last seven years of the earth leading up to the return of Jesus.
This is what I truly believe. My honest opinion is that I think anyone and everyone would be very wise to find out what the Bible says about Jesus' return and decide for themselves what to do...get ready themselves...in whatever way God tells them to. There is a storm coming of once-in-creation proportions...and it requires being ready:
This is an end-time promise:
Matthew 7:22-27 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
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