Wall Street had its worst day today since the 2008 financial crisis that put the United States into a financial calamity that we are still in today! We are in the days that the book of Revelation told us would come before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no way the Antichrist can take control without a time of crisis so bad that millions of people will sign up with him just to get food to eat. Continue reading
Category Archives: Last Days
Treasures in Heaven
Most of us want our lives to count for something. When you are a Child of God, your life on this earth takes on a greater cause than just accomplishing something in the natural. A Child of God is not satisfied with accomplishments – a Child of God wants to store up treasures in Heaven where moths and rust cannot corrupt them.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
We recently dedicated our Prayer Center here at Morningside to Evelyn Campbell, aka “God’s Girl” who passed from this life into the arms of Jesus in 2010. Evelyn was and is an inspiration to me and an example that all of us can follow. Evelyn’s legacy was that she loved Jesus and believed in people – and lavishly poured out encouragement on everyone with whom she came in contact. She was a pastor’s wife and she was my friend.
Evelyn was one of the first people to buy a condo here at Morningside. I remember how excited she was to pick out the exact location of her new home so that she could watch all the goings on here on Grace Street from her balcony over the Cinema. She wanted to be a vibrant part of the community. When Evelyn died, she left her entire estate to this ministry – at a time when we desperately needed it! She believed in us and she put the sum of her life’s work into keeping us alive.
As we embark on the vision of Lori’s House here at Morningside, we have a ‘knowing’ that we are on the threshold of something very sacred and near to the heart of God. There is a sense of purpose and unity in the grace it takes to give and sustain innocent life. This grace is uniting more and more of us in the business of keeping people alive in these last days. It’s bigger than buildings or ministries or television broadcasts. It’s about souls – the only eternally significant treasure we can invest our lives in and know that we are doing the Lord’s work.
In the dark night of my soul, when I was in prison, the enemy came after the last shred of my will to live when he said “it’s all gone – everything you’ve worked for – everything you’ve built – your life has counted for nothing – you’re no good.”
Then I began to get pictures of people, some teen-agers, some children, some adults. With the pictures came the encouragement that these were lives that were saved through the various ministries at Heritage USA – most importantly, the home for unwed mothers where babies were born and cared for and their mothers supported and trained in a vocation that could support them. It was a vibrant community that loved and supported each other and protected and loved innocent children. The devil is a liar!
We can see from the signs of the times that Jesus will come soon. He is coming for a Church that has his heart and is lead and motivated by love. They will be about their Father’s business – and no business is more perfect than caring for the orphans (James 1:27).
Cindy Jacobs recently prophesied these words from the Lord: “Where is my justice league? Where are my super heroes that will administer my justice? Morningside is meant to be a model. This is far greater than just Lori’s House. This is a prototype and a movement.”
Now do you see why we need more Evelyns in these last days? We need people who are willing to give all they are and all they have for the work of the Lord. These are the ones who go beyond their own search for significance and understand that the real treasure is in the life to come – eternal life with Jesus. These are the ones who resonate with the call of justice for the innocent. These are the ones who store up treasures that moth and rust cannot corrupt.
Will you be a part of this justice league? The call is going out – the gauntlet is being thrown down. It’s time to redeem the time. It’s time to be a part of something bigger than yourself. It’s time to get behind something that has eternal significance. We need you and God needs you.
Where Have You Gone America?
Last year, the Lord suddenly said “in ONE year, all the glory of America will be gone.” It’s beginning to sink in with newscasters, politicians, and even clergy who have been trying to ‘spin’ America’s clear evidence of decline, that we are going the way of every other nation or society in all of the history of the world that has turned its back on God.
Has America, the country conceived with the principles of Christianity governing its every decision and its direction, gone to the pigpen? You can be the judge of that. In a recent show taping, the prophetic unction of the Lord spoke:
Where have you gone, America?
Have you gone to the pigpen?
Are you eating the world’s slop?
Be not deceived – God is not mocked!
Have you listened to the piper?
Have you followed the wrong tune?
Though we would all like to, can any of us sincerely believe that America is going to turn around now and honor God? I’m convinced that America has passed the point of no return in its lusts for the things of the world, but the one thing that will seal America’s fate is how they are now treating Israel.
I will address very soon “10 reasons America is in trouble because of what they did to Israel.” Watch the show and I will tell you why America is about to collapse.
We still hear so many people saying “God Bless America” but America has turned their back on God – how could He bless it now? Is America experiencing God’s judgment because of its treatment of Israel?
“… there will I deal with and execute judgment upon them for their treatment of My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and because they have divided My land.”
[Joel 3:2]
Watch for my next blog: Does God send storms?
On Being a Bondservant of Christ (Pt. 6)
Part Six
“The Flesh is Weak”
In my last blog (#5) we talked about a good reputation being a requirement for a leader in the Church. Now we’re going to examine what a good reputation means, and how one can achieve it. Remembering again that the things of the Kingdom are usually just the opposite of how the world works.
Religion represents the appearance of things and the ‘form’. Remember when Jesus called the Sadducees and Pharisees white-washed tombs?… full of every unclean thing. He said they long to appear righteous and they make sure everybody sees them when they pray. Yet Jesus called them out in their folly. In today’s religion, we might know someone who loves to be seen and heard and thought of as super spiritual.
But Paul got real about his own flesh in this passage: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:14-25).
Religious people will often seek the squeaky clean looking, never sinned (or never got caught) and wouldn’t admit it if they did – crowd to represent them in a ‘church’. What matters most is if they look good and if they have an unsoiled public reputation.
There are precious few truly discerning Christians out there, and even fewer who are mature enough to restore a God-ordained leader if he does sin, yet this is what the Bible says to do (Gal 6:1).
Some religious circles believe that if a leader is caught in a sin, (s)he can be forgiven and perhaps remain in the Body, but can never return to a leadership position. If that were true, David would never have led the armies of Israel to victory, Peter would have never preached at Pentecost, and Paul wouldn’t need to talk about his ‘thorn’.
But a bondservant of Christ will never quit because he belongs to the One who chose him, called him, and ordained him. Proverbs 24:16 says “A righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again. However, in a disaster wicked people fall.”
Should we be concerned about what others think of us? Yes. But if we sin and fall short, we have an advocate with God our Father, who is Jesus and He is interceding for us right now. And guess what? Other truly spiritual people will do the same thing. They will pray for us, speak life to us and help to restore us to right standing with God.
Yet, more often, those who fall into sin are talked about, shunned, shamed, and shelved. Some are even given the left foot of fellowship by religion.
We have already established that a leader in the Church in the Last Days must be a bondservant of Christ, giving up all of him or herself and laying down their lives in service to Jesus. Can a leader and bondservant of Christ sin and still be a leader in the Church? Certainly not willfully and using the grace of God as license to sin. But leadership within God’s Church is not based on qualifications and a sinless track record. As I’ve said before, God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
What God has ordained, let no man put asunder. I love that line in the traditional marriage vows. And here’s how it applies in the Church: if you were conceived in the mind of God, birthed and brought forth in the Last Days for ministry in the Lord’s Church, and yet you have been buffeted by Satan and consequently failed in your flesh, even repeatedly, if you repent and receive God’s Amazing Grace – you are still who you are. Your identity in Christ cannot be taken from you – and your gifts and callings are without repentance. In other words, when God gave them to you, He was not and is not sorry He did so, and will not ‘take it back’, and neither can any man take it from you.
However, there were some things David could not do because of his sin. The Bible says that God would not let David build the temple because he had innocent blood on his hands. There are consequences to your sin that only God can administer. But God loved David and never took back David’s anointing to lead Israel.
In the Last Days, the true bondservants of Christ will be distinguished by one characteristic: THEY WILL NOT QUIT – THEY WILL NOT GIVE UP. If they fail, they will get back up again and again like David did and seek God’s forgiveness. That’s why David was described as a “man after God’s own heart”. He knew how to repent… and he never, never, never gave up.
They lead because that’s who they are – and they are not under bondage to what others may think of them. They play to an audience of One. They go forward because they can do nothing else! They are compelled by the Spirit of God within them to serve in the Kingdom – they are bondservants.
Let the reputation that we honor be the one of which we can say “They never gave up on God – and God never gave up on them.”
I promise we will get to Christ making Himself of no reputation.
(continued)
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 1
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 2
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 3
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 4
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 5
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 7
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 8
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 9
On Being a Bondservant of Christ – Part 10
There’s a Rustling in the Mulberry Trees
When I came out of prison in 1994, E.V. Hill gave me a prophetic word from the Lord that I would raise up a “David’s Army”. From the scriptures, we know that this is a fairly ragtag bunch, yet God used them in mighty ways to restore His beloved Israel.
In the Last Days, God is using whoever has a heart after Him. You may think “well yes, He always did” and that’s a true statement. But David’s Army came together in a time when the illegitimate authorities of the day were failing. Saul had tried to win Israel’s battles but he did it in his own strength and with his own wisdom and he failed – but there was a time that all of Israel was enamored with him.
If you will remember, Saul’s kingship was the result of the proud and rebellious demands of a disobedient Israel that was much more concerned with how the king looked than with whom God had chosen. The Bible says Saul stood a head taller than most men and was very handsome. David, on the other hand, was a ruddy kid that God chose when He sent Samuel the Prophet to anoint him as King. David was God’s choice – and Saul was the people’s choice.
Well, God gave Israel just what they asked for, but told them they would regret that choice in the years to come and they did. But only after many of their sons had lost their lives because Saul was proud and disobedient, and he went out to battle and made other decisions without consulting the God of Israel. Eventually this disobedience caused him to be so hardened that he even consulted a witch. Saul, in the end, committed suicide in a battle he could not win because God was not with him.
David, on the other hand, always consulted God before he went out to battle the enemies of Israel. One such incident is recorded in 2 Samuel 5:24 when God spoke to David and said, “And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” The principle is this: Always seek God’s wisdom before you do anything and wait for His answer. Ask God “what should I do?” When you do that, He will go before you and move in your behalf!
In the Last Days, the true leaders of the Lord’s Army will arise, and they will inquire of the Lord what they should do. Many of them will have been stripped of any self-importance in the valleys of life as David was, yet they go forward to do battle with the enemies of God because their heart belongs to Him alone – and God Himself has ordained them! Man did not do it, and man cannot undo it.
As the leaders of the Lord’s Army arise, there is a “rustling in the mulberry trees” and the Lord is going out before them to move in their behalf!
Who is on the Lord’s Side?
This was the question that Moses asked the people of Israel. In those days, Moses stood as a type of Christ. Exodus 32:26 says, “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side?” Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”
Moses issued that confrontation to the people of Israel, God’s people, who had turned to worshipping idols as they waited for Moses’ return. Only the sons of Levi came forward to separate themselves from the idol worship. Only a select few answered that call to repentance.
Today, the Lord is drawing the same line in the sand. He is calling out to His People “Who is on My side?” The seriousness of the days we live in demand a sobriety and attention to the things of God. They demand a concentration and a fixed gaze. These are Revelation Days that we’re living in. It’s no ordinary time in history – it’s an appointed time for which we have been chosen.
If there ever was a time to consider the things of God and understand that the enemy (the devil) is engaging us in a spiritual battle, it is NOW. Yet, people go on about their business as if this time is common. It’s not! The Word of God speaks of these Revelation Days in order to alert us to be ready and to be on guard, because your adversary (the devil) still roams about, seeking whom he may devour.
The fact that there is another side is something that most people miss in today’s church environment. Spiritual warfare is greatly ignored by those who teach and those who call themselves shepherds. These are the Revelation Days and that means these are days of intensified spiritual warfare against principalities, powers and spiritual wickedness – yet most Christians deny the battle and continue as if that reality wasn’t genuine. Spiritual warfare is a serious reality in the Revelation Days and the Lord is again issuing the call.
When we answer that call and step over the line in the sand to the Lord’s side, we identify ourselves as those who belong to the family of the living God, we arm ourselves with the armor of God, and we stand ready to do battle with the enemy. We are shaken out of our lethargy and we are able to focus on His priorities. We are no longer distracted or nonchalant. We are no longer concerned with silly things that try to capture our spiritual attention and strength. We never, never, never give up! We keep on going even when we’re tired.
We are on the Lord’s side!
Monster May – Update
Monster May is still on the march!
Today’s headlines are chilling. Tornadoes were reported across the Midwest, including Joplin, Missouri, Minneapolis, Minnesota and a small Kansas town. Continue reading
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 11)
Jesus Could Come For You
Conclusion
My former teaching that “Jesus could come today” I now regard as a half-truth. For you, Jesus could come today. You could meet with some accident or die of natural causes and be swept into His presence in a heartbeat. But as for Jesus coming back for the Church as a whole, certain events must yet take place before that can happen.
For instance, Paul wrote,
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thess. 2:3-4 NKJV)
Notice, Jesus will not return until after there has been a great falling away from the truth and the Antichrist has risen to power by promising to bring normalcy to a world whose stability and security is convulsing. Paul continued,
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thess. 2:7-10 NKJV)
Paul is implying that the Holy Spirit now retrains the Antichrist from catapulting to power, but one day soon that hold hindrance will be removed, and the Antichrist will be revealed to the world. At that time the world will be clamoring for peace, but this false messiah will bring just the opposite. “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1Thess. 5:3 NKJV).
If your hope is in this world, get ready for the ride of your life. The material systems of this world, the harlot of Revelation, are about to be destroyed!
The End of the “Will We Go Through the Tribulation” Series
Though the words above were written more than 12 years ago, they were never more true than they are today.
Love,
Jim
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
For further study, please get the book:
Published in 1998
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 10)
The Rapture Chapter
Revelation 11 is what I like to call the real Rapture Chapter. In 11:15 we see the end of life as we have known it and the beginning of a truly new world order: “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (NKJV).
When the last trumpet sounds, a number of things will happen almost simultaneously. The apostle Paul wrote about it: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52 NKJV).
Paul was implying that there will be a group of Christians who are alive at the time of the Lord’s return; we won’t all “sleep,” which means we will not all have died. But whether we are alive at Christ’s coming, or whether we have already died, we will all be instantaneously changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, our earthly bodies will be transformed into bodies suitable for an eternity in heaven. I don’t know how fast a twinkling of an eye is, but I’m sure that when the seventh angel of Revelation sounds the last trumpet, it will be too fast for anyone to repent and get right with God. There will be no time for that. The trumpet sounds, and instantly, the next thing Christians will know, we will be caught up to meet Jesus.
Paul described that event for the Thessalonians, who were concerned about some of their number who had died. What good would a Second Coming be for them? The apostle answered their question (and many of ours too) with what has become a favorite passage concerning Christ’s return. Again, speaking of those who have died as having “fallen asleep,” Paul informed us:
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess. 4:13-18 NKJV)
Those who believe in a pretribulational rapture do not consider the last trumpet mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and the trumpet in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 to be the same as that mentioned in Revelation 11:15. But why not? Scripture certainly does not delineate between the trumpets described as the last. Had God wanted to show a clear difference between the trumpets – as He did with the seven trumpets of Revelation – He could have done so. It seems rather presumptuous to read something into the account where there is little room for conjecture. I believe that the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52, and the trumpet sound of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 are the same as the seventh trumpet sounded in Revelation 11:15 – the last trumpet mentioned in Revelation. Furthermore, I believe it is the trumpet to which Jesus refers in Matthew. Notice the order of events one more time.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (24:29-31 NKJV)
For a number of years I taught that Christians should be ready to meet Jesus at any moment – which I still teach today – but I also taught that the Rapture could occur at any moment. That I no longer teach, because I believe the world is on a crash course with the worst trouble ever known. And we Christians, along with nonbelievers, are going to experience some extremely perilous times, possibly as much as three and a half years’ worth, maybe more, before Jesus Christ returns.
After that time of tribulation, the wrath of God will be poured out. I do not believe God will subject His faithful children, who have remained steadfast and true through the Tribulation, to remain on earth for that awful time of His wrath. The Tribulation will be a time of testing; the pouring out of God’s wrath will be a time of condemnation and judgment. No, I do not believe that Christians will go through God’s wrath. Nevertheless, I do believe the Christian church should be preparing people now to go through some portion of the Tribulation, weaning believers away from the things of this world, and teaching Christians how they can endure the difficult times ahead.
(To Be Continued)
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11
Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse
Published in 1998
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 9)
It’s All Over But the Shouting
Have you ever wondered, Just how long God is going to put up with this sinful world? The answer is: this long, and no longer. John wrote:
The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. (Rev. 10:5-7 NKJV)
In other words, the messenger stands on the sea and on the land and announces, “Time is over!” Notice, the angel says, “There should be delay no longer” (v. 6). The seventh angel is about to sound the seventh trumpet, and when it sounds, the mystery of the ages will be solved and the Lord’s return is at hand.
Ask ten Bible teachers what this mystery is and you may get ten (or more!) different answers. I believe the mystery to which john refers is the same one the apostle Paul spoke of frequently, the mystery of the gospel. Paul wrote, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began…” (Rom. 16:25 NKJV). He uses the term in a similar way when writing to the Ephesians: “And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel…” (6:19 NKJV).
To the Colossians, Paul was more specific, writing, “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:26-27 NKJV). It is the preaching of the cross and the opportunity to accept the rich, full salvation Jesus offers that is finished. The only thing left for this world to experience is the wrath of God, but before that wrath is poured out, Jesus says, “That’s it. Game over.”
With this in mind, Jesus’ statement concerning the Great Tribulation is easier for us to understand.
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 thouse days will be shortened. (Matt. 24:21-22 NKJV)
Time is no more, the gospel is completed; it is time for the Lord to return!
(To Be Continued)
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11
Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse
Published in 1998
