|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

If you don't watch you won't see. If you don't see you won't pray. If you won't pray, I GUARANTEE you will not be ready. There is a war raging against knowing what to watch for. Many are asleep, or even worse, actively attempting to quiet down the watchmen. Not paying attention to the trouble that is coming is a Biblical recipe for offense...offense leads to betrayal and falling away. Matthew 24:9-13 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. We all need revelation to allow us to put on restraint. Restraining our lives will inform our expectations which will guard against falling away: Proverbs 29:18 KJV Where there is no vision, the people p

This is a good question I get from time to time. I am going to post it here, but I'll also make it a pdf document if you want to use it: Question: Tom will you explain the Matthew 24 passage a little more. When it talks of Jesus coming “like a thief in the night” and “no one knows the day or hour”… does that actually mean we won't know the exact moment when he is coming? My answer: The answer is that you have to take the whole counsel of scripture to understand what Jesus was saying. Matthew 24 starts with the disciples asking a very specific question: Matthew 24:3-4 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. Instead of saying "it'll all go down in 20 years, or 200 years, or 2,000 years" Jesus instead tells them the process it wil

Timing is very important to God. Solomon, in all his wisdom spoke of a season for every purpose under heaven. Those loyal to God are supposed to understand the seasons... they are supposed to know the purposes and the plans in each season. In fact, we are in a very important season...we are actually entering into the time that the Lord will be "harder" to be found by those not actively trying to get ready for the wedding that is about to take place. This doesn't get taught much, so it might sound new to you, but this is MANY places in the Bible. Listen to this very commonly used passage that is almost never used in context...it is actually an end time passage in its context: Isaiah 55:6-9 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord , And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, No

"The whole earth is “Israel-centric.” This is a very important thing to understand in our hour of history. If you haven’t turned on the news in the last six months, Israel is on fire and so are the middle eastern nations surrounding it. Unlike Las Vegas, what happens in Israel and the middle east does not stay in Israel or the middle east…it always spreads out over the earth. Earth was created this way." I wrote this back in July, explaining that the revival of the Ottoman Caliphate would not stay in the middle east. Just like pandemics won't stay in the middle east...no matter how many times the leaders of the earth tell you "we've got this" HISTORY and the Bible are clear they don't. Listen, I don't say this to cause fear, I say this because there IS a way to get ready, but you have to choose to get ready. It is almost like the news stories are written just to back me up lately. They aren't. This is simply plainly in the Bible and I was willing

The "end times" or the events leading up to the return of Jesus are really a test. They are a "harvest test." That means God is going to shake everything in order to find out who truly wants to be His. The shaking is another word for threshing, or separating the wheat from the chaff: Isaiah 13:12-13 I will make people scarcer than gold— more rare than the fine gold of Ophir. For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.” Amos 9:9 “For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. In the time these passages were written, the harvest process included threshing. You threw a whole clump of stuff into the air and the wind would separate the wheat from the junk left over...the chaff... this is called threshing, sifting, or shaking, depending on the passage or

This is how Jesus began His preaching: Matthew 4:17 NKJV From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” There is no salvation without repentance. You don't repent at a conference, a concert, or a Sunday morning service. Repentance is a lifetime choice to try to live like Jesus...under His leadership and in the power of Holy Spirit. You don't do this once. If you are honest about your heart, you die to the dark parts, the parts that want to avoid trouble or offending anyone with truth, and the parts that want to go their own way daily: I Corinthians 15:30-31 And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. We have come to the hour of human history where repentance will be the only safe mode of living anywhere. Repentance just means "agree with God." God is coming back to the garden. I guarantee you, He is not coming to occupy second place. H

Psalms 91:1-3 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord , “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. Psalm 91 is a great assurance of protection, but it is important to note that Psalm 91 is a qualified statement about abiding in God as your choice for safety in a time of trouble. It is an invitation to wholehearted love. In its fullest expression, Psalm 91 is an end time Psalm, because the fullest expression of the pestilence, plagues, and destruction it describes will happen the most in the time of the Great Tribulation: Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. The promis

Some very famous leaders in the church are false prophets. They believe they are serving the Lord, but they are actually serving themselves by increasing their importance and their bank account. They really want to be your savior by telling you what to do and the process enriches them. They will do you no good. The giveaway is in what they want to sell you. They tell you peace, but when you are done listening what you feel is afraid, and this drives you to buy whatever product they are selling... they are always selling something. They talk like the dragon... which means they communicate to God's people just like satan. they use a lot of Bible verses, but they take the glorious meaning and turn it, intentionally or unintentionally, into a reason to be loyal to the prophet and/or buy His products. The Bible is clear about how this operates. They may have true prophetic insight. Their ministry may even heal people, but their spiritual fruit is bad, and you can tell by what grows out

John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Greater consecration brings greater revelation. That is why obedience matters. Holiness really matters. The false grace message says that Jesus paid for your sins so you are totally clean right now and don't need to try to get closer to God. This iis currently popular thinking, but this is not the true gospel...the true good news that actually works to renew your life. God says "be Holy" I Peter 1:13-16 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” God doesn't call us to be somethi

This is a test...this is only a test... Right now, the world is taking part in a test. It is the final week before everything is about to change...permanently. Jesus is coming back. Lots of people believe that, but very few find out what that really means. He is coming for YOUR wedding. Do you really wanna be with Him forever? Can you imagine if your most favorite person ever had been gone for months, and they are finally coming home? They call you ahead of time and leave you a message with their planned itinerary for the trip home...they need your assistance... but you never listen to the message. You don't even know when to meet them at the airport. You love they are coming home! You LOVE them, but their plans...they seem so complicated. Your beloved is pretty smart...and you are so busy...it will all work out...right? It will work out. Jesus IS really smart. But how will it work out for you? Ignoring the coming of the one you claim to love the most...That isn't love. That is

A friend of mine who is a teacher asked me for some info regarding the blood moons (the next one happens tomorrow morning around 6 am). I have also had some others ask for this same type of info, so I thought I would post what I wrote. Explanation of the Blood Moons and how they relate to the Bible: A blood moon is a TOTAL lunar eclipse. It is called a blood moon, because the moon turns red in the shadow of the earth. That is because the atmosphere of the earth filters out certain hues of light leaving the reds, oranges, and pinks. Imagine a sunset at night or a sunrise in the morning. If you were on the moon during the blood moon and looked at the earth, it would look like fire all around the earth. That is because you would be seeing all the sunsets and sunrises at the same time, and the only light that can get to the moon is that sunset/sunrise light. The earth is blocking the rest of the light. Lunar eclipses occur approximately twice a year, but not all are TOTAL eclipses. Total e