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EVIL AGAINST EVIL (Part 1) I t is said that when the famous French scientist, Pascal, died, a small document was found on his body which contained the statement, “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars”. This man knew God to be more than some vague idea as “the undifferentiated unity” or, as one writer puts it, “all-cohesive source of reality.” Pascal, no doubt, had in mind, as the Holy Bible informs us, THE GOD of history, not some god who doesn’t care about His creation and creatures. He was concerned, as we should be, with THE GOD who sees, hears, and acts on the historical scene, e.g., “God sent,” “God spoke,” “ God called,” “God delivered,” “ God worked,” “God punished,” etc. History, my dear readers, in His workplace! IN THIS LESSON. . . . I have, over the years, written and taught on the subject of God’s sovereignty—the FACT that He has, and continues to, reveal Himself in the (historical) events of the world. . . .revealing Himself in the events of Jewish/Hebrew/Israelite history (as well as the pagans who were all about in the Old Testament era), and then He finally reveals Himself in the historical events of Jesus the Christ, “in the day of Herod the King.” (Matt. 2:1) GOD OF ALL NATIONS You see, my God is not just some local god, but THE GOD who sets up and removes nations. He is GOD over ALL nations (see Isaiah 34:1 where the Prophet Isaiah records, “Come near nations, to hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein: the world and all things that come forth of it.” Then Isaiah continues to record, (v. 2) “For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and His fury upon all armies. . .He hath delivered them to the slaughter.”) Jeremiah, the Prophet of God, also records God’s sovereignty in many places, as does Ezekiel, Daniel, and many other Prophets of God. What we find in Scripture is that when God’s own (covenant) people, Israel, fell away from their God, God raised up pagan nations to punish them, hence, “evil against evil.” In Ezekiel 23:24 we find recorded that the LORD raised up pagan armies (verse 23=Babylonians, Chaldeans, and the Assyrians) to punish Israel in Aholah and Aholibah (23:1-4; Ahola=Samaria, 10 northern tribes; Aholibah=Jerusalem, capital of the 2 southern tribes). Because they BOTH played the WHORE, God raised up and sent the pagan armies against them. Here in 23:22 Aholibah (Jerusalem) is targeted. In verse 24 it says, “And they (armies) shall come against you with weapons, chariots, wagons and wheels, and with a host of infantry, which shall array themselves against you with buckler and shield and helmet round about; and I will COMMIT THE JUDGMENT and PUNISHMENT to them (pagans), and they shall JUDGE and PUNISH you according to their (heathen) customs in such matters.” Evil against evil! (Read the whole chapter—not a nice thing to read.) Do you believe that God is the God of history? Do you believe He has the power to raise up and tear down at His command? Do you believe the principle of reaping and sowing? Verse 35 says, “Therefore this says the LORD GOD: Because you have forgotten me (your divine Husband) and cast me behind your back, therefore bear also (the consequences of) your harlotry.” In other words, reap what you’ve sown! Verse 49 states, “Thus your lewdness shall be recompensed upon you, and you shall suffer the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know—understand and realize—that I am the Lord God.” (See also 24:14, “I the Lord have spoken it; it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I relent; according to your ways and according to your doings shall they (pagans) judge and punish you, says the Lord God.” CHURCH AND STATE Do you think that the Church and State of America will get off scot-free? . . . with all the EVIL found therein?? Do you think they are guilty of adultery (spiritual and physical)? Since God is the God of history, we can expect both “Blow-Back” and “Pay-Back” for our unfaithfulness. Ezekiel 15:1-49 is a sad, but true, lesson recounting what happened to the unfaithful wives of Yahweh (God). Aholah (or Oholah) and Aholibah (or Oholibah), representing Samaria and Jerusalem respectively, are sisters who become wives of Yahweh God. Oholah, the older, bestowed her favors on the Assyrians, and for her unfaithfulness was delivered into their hands and SLAIN! Oholibah did not profit from this example, but consorted first with the Assyrians and then with the Babylonians, and was worse than her sister. . . now she too will be destroyed! MY POINT My point of pointing all this out to you is that we will reap what we sow if we do not REPENT! Verses 36-49 contain an INDICTMENT of both sisters, who have DEFILED God’s sanctuary, profaned His Sabbaths (which were then binding), and offered their children as sacrifices to idols, and now must face their fate. Let’s take this into our generation. Has not America been guilty of these very same sins. . . .committed by both the political and religious?? Ezekiel speaks of both pagan worship (ungodly/worldly music in church is an ABOMINATION, merely ONE form of paganism) and political alliances; both are condemned. Have you churchites ever considered your 501c3 alliance with the UNGODLY political side of America? Have you ever considered the ungodly politics that you submit to (e.g. abortion, numerous GLBTQ abominations etc...)?? I will dare say that adultery/idolatry (both separate and together) are today, sins in America (spiritually speaking). The raising of “Christian” children in most churches today=sacrificing them to detestable idols (and I might add, sending them to pubic [I mean public] schools/colleges is in reality sacrificing them to SATAN). We send our children off to some UNGODLY/PERVERTED school to be “educated” AGAINST the teachings of Holy Scripture. . . .which represents the WORSE features of our civilization; sodomy and abortion being some of them, not to speak of the horrid propaganda spewed out to anti-Christ teachers whose “god” is themselves! We cannot sit idly by while false gods and false values are being so ARDENTLY/AGGRESSIVELY propagated. . . .while our children are FORBIDDEN to speak of what they believe, FORBIDDEN to be a witness of the TRUE GOD of history. It is our duty, dear professors of Christianity, to oppose ever more strenuously the gross idolatries/adulteries which so corrupt the lives of our children (as well as our own). SORDID STORY The sordid story of those two sisters ought to be a repellant: two Israelite sisters succumbing to the ATTRACTIONS/ENTERTAINMENTS of the pagans round about. HELLO! Is anyone listening? Egypt, Assyria, Babylon=the WORLD! By looking upon those worldly powers Israel forsook their traditional moral/godly codes and their loyalties to their God. . . .surrendering to the vice and corruption of the pagan world. The sisters became the seducers and were seduced. . . .unprepared (or was it unwilling) to encounter such temptations. These sisters loved the style of pagan clothing, the pagan ornaments, their entertainments, and their religion (their gods). . . .hence, paganism becomes Israel’s religion, politically correct, unscrupulous. Have I described America to you? (Part 2) LOOK—PONDER! Instead of merely looking at this sordid story as “Old Testament,” ponder and consider that America is doing exactly what these two sisters did. Consider, as we go back to the Prophet Isaiah, who, like Ezekiel, dealt with Israel’s sins. Assyria has arisen as a menacing world power, ready to pounce upon Judah, where Isaiah lives. Isaiah recognizes that Assyria, the great pagan nation, is a WEAPON in God’s hands! God speaks: “Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff of my fury! Against a godless nation [that is, the Jews who had forsaken God] I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” But Assyria, a proud, boastful nation, is not aware that it is being used: “But he [the Assyrian nation] does not so intend, and his mind does not so think; but it is in his mind do destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; for he says. . . . ‘Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?’” Assyria will conquer Jerusalem as it has already conquered Samaria. But Assyria’s king will be proud and think that he has accomplished this by his own power: When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. For the king says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones. . . .” This attitude will be the undoing of Assyria, for this is an attempt to repudiate God’s Lordship over history. Isaiah goes on tauntingly: “Shall the ax vaunt itself over him who hews with it, or the rod magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!” The result will be disaster for the idolatrous Assyrians who worship only themselves: “Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his [the Assyrians’] stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.” (Isa. 10:5-8, 15-15, 15, 16) To get the full force of this remarkable passage read it again and make some changes: 1. For “Assyria,” substitute “an enemy nation.” 2. For the “godless nations” (Judah), substitute your own nation. 3. For “Jerusalem,” substitute the capital of your own nation. 4. For “Samaria,” substitute the latest country to come under the domination of the enemy nation you listed in No. 1. As you do this you will be able to see the sledgehammer impact this passage has. PRINCIPLE The principle is this: God has and will (when needed) use evil (nations/armies) against evil (nation or nations). He raised up the Assyrians years before to destroy His 10 northern tribes; here he sends the same pagans against His southern tribes (as a warning to repent). We know that God turned them back BUT sent the Babylonians years later to destroy them BECAUSE they did not fully change their evil ways. Jesus even predicted Israel’s destruction when He walked among that backslidden and lost nation (see Matt. 24 and Luke 19:12-27. Please read these passages). Am I suggesting that God raises up evil men and evil nations to punish evil men and evil nations? Certainly! The texts we’ve looked at (only a few of all that could be listed) affirms that history is in God’s hands. Some nations, like Assyria, think they are in charge, but not at all-it was under the authority of Almighty God!! When we think that God is either NOT in control (but evil men/nations are), we are merely seeing things carnally, not divinely. Some have a hard time with the history of Hitler, of Stalin, of many other psychos that we are aware of over the past 75 plus years. However, we must say that in a world of which God is in final control, a large-scale neglect of His laws can lead only to large-scale disaster. If God is righteous, then wrongdoing cannot go unnoticed. Let’s bring it right down to home: America, France, Britain, and others have been, by and large, “gody nations,” just as Judah had been. We have served God with our lips and denied Him with our lives NOTE: Watch our “Islamic Invasion Counter Attack,” along with several other videos exposing the danger of Islam at: http://www.righteousnessrevolution.net/Islam/Enhanced.htm, Also, listen to the Prophetic Word of the Lord given for July 27, 2016, where God speaks especially about Europe being INVADED by Muslim hordes which HE SENT, and is still SENDING as punishment because of their backsliding at: https://www.youtube.com/user/shimrana/videos . One historian (Christian) put it this way years ago: “A modern Isaiah or Jeremiah or Amos would have a good deal to say to us. To exploit the underprivileged, to be rich while others starve, to be idle while men break their backs at slave labor—these things bear heavy interest, which sooner or later has to be paid. Such statements are hard to say and hear, but they are true to prophetic insight. In such situations, when men in their freedom defy God, forces like Nazism and Communism develop. And what the Bible underlines is that even such forces are brought under God’s sovereignty. He is not defeated by a Hitler or a Stalin. On the contrary, God is able to make such use of them that in the long run His purposes rather than theirs are effected. He uses the wrath of man to praise Him.” I think our writer here is referring to Psalm 77. MORAL MEANING So, to say that history is not the hands of God is to say that history itself has a moral meaning, as well as immoral. If the 10 northern tribes and the 2 southern tribes of Israel became godless nations —and they did!— then they could expect punishment; so can America, or any other nation that ONCE knew God. We are seeing God’s wrath more and more here at home (USA). At the end of this article I have printed for you a Prophetic Word of the Lord given Sept. 15, 2016. Also, see and hear more Words on the “Fires of
Hell” following our “Islamic Invasion” Words at: https://www.youtube.com/user/shimrana/videos . Timing: God knows when He will punish (order our two magazines on The Wrath of God—free). When a crisis or disaster comes (as did Israel’s), this is not a blip in history, no, it has a moral significance. It can be a WARNING or a CRISIS/DISASTER itself. The Prophets of old told both Israel and pagans alike that SIN has consequences, GRIM, BLOODY historical consequences, in the face of which men and women must repent and change. God can use a nation/nations or the weather as a weapon. No matter, they are the instruments of His purpose. God does not create sin, He merely uses sinful men to be His weapons. God uses Assyria without Assyria being aware of it, and since Assyria does not acknowledge God, Assyria stands under judgment just as Judah does. To say, “By the strength of my hand I have done it,” as the Assyrian king does, is to court disaster by refusing to acknowledge God’s sovereignty. This is a grim warning to nations that imagine that they have enough power to do as they please. When a nation becomes popular or powerful, it is particularly easy for it to claim the credit, and say, “By the strength of my hand I have done it.” Assyria was guilty of this. The same point is made in Deuteronomy. There the Jewish people are warned not to forget God when power and prosperity come to them: “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God . . . .And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other god’s and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you this day that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.” (Deut. 8:17-20) BIBLICAL AND FUNDAMENTAL God is sovereign! There is no way around this. But men don’t always perceive this. I myself haven’t many times. I know that He is At WAR with the nations of the world right now. No amount of Scripture juggling can make this false. Go on and have your effeminate pastors (like Joel Osteen) tell you to have your best life now. God’s wrath/fire will still be poured out! We must not confuse Biblical belief in the sovereignty of God with fatalism. We must believe in Biblical principles—as I have presented here. This is not pagan fatalism but Biblical faith. The following gives us something to ponder (by Rev. R. M. Brown): TWO INESCAPABLE AFFIRMATIONS “Biblical faith proceeds in a different way, with two apparently dissimilar affirmations: 1) The first real fact about life is God, and the first fact about God is that He is God—sovereign, all-powerful. That conclusion cannot be avoided without distorting the Biblical message. This means that everything is seen, ultimately, as ‘under God.’ This is His world, not ours. We are placed here by Him, not by ourselves. We are to do His will, not our own. He is not a little tin god who is only one of many objects in a hostile universe; He is the first and the last, surrounding all that is. 2) But Biblical faith makes another claim. This is the claim that we are morally responsible agents, and that we cannot escape responsibility for what we do. We have been given the gift of freedom. Even when we abuse that freedom and make wrong choices, we cannot shove the blame off on God. We cannot say, ‘I’m not responsible, it’s God’s fault.’ On the contrary, the Bible everywhere affirms that we must shoulder the blame, and that we cannot slide out from under it. Now on the face of it, these two ideas don’t ‘jell.’ God is all-powerful. I am responsible. If the first is true, the second is false. If the second is true, the first is false. So it would seem. Logically, they certainly disagree. However, we must notice that life does not always conform to strict logic.” THEREFORE. . . . Isaiah can describe Assyria as a CLUB/SWORD wielded by the hand of Almighty God, and therefore, without any sense of contradiction, the Prophet of God can go on to say that the power which can make the wrath of man to praise Him can also turn to judge the very people whose ruthless brutality He employed for the scourging of a delinquent nation. We have no problem putting forth praises when God’s sovereignty blesses us: but we do have a real problem when punishment or crisis comes. But remember, through the absolute supremacy of the Lord in human affairs is the regnant idea of our Isaiah texts; catastrophe: invasion, famine, fire, and pestilence—all part of history. . .all part of God’s visitation to Israel and to the pagans. Not all judgments/punishments are violent, such as what is going on in the Middle East right now. Some may be silent, unseen, even unknown, and yet as inexorable as the “the sword that cuts and the fire that burns and the hammer that breaks in to pieces.” It may come as “the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem” (as did the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans—all were used by God and for God, yet were afterwards destroyed by God). The Prophet Zechariah continues, “Their flesh shall rot away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall corrode away in their sockets, and their tongue shall decay away in their mouth.” (Zech.14:12 Amp. Bible) A silent yet deadly judgment. Zech. 14:12 describes a silent savagery, even a kind of apocalyptic terror. This prophecy continues in verse 15 where even the animals will rot with the plague. This horrid plague will eventually cause great conversions (verse 16). So, God works all things for the good. HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD. . . Agonies of the Damned, Fires of Hell, Released Upon Humankind! Sept. 15, 2016 I speak unto thee and I say that it is my time, I say that it is my time. I say that it is the time that I the Living God will be releasing upon the sons of men, the agonies of the damned. I say that I will be releasing upon them, fire that they cannot see nor can they stop. But I say they will feel that fire. I say that fire will burn them as the fires of Hell shall burn them. I say that I am doing it because they have stubbornly and proudly refused to repent, they have scoffed and mocked the very call to repent, they have made light of my mercies, they have literally hated what it is that I have offered unto them which is forgiveness mercy. I say that it is my time and I the Living God will release upon them the agonies of the damned and the very fires of Hell itself. I say that it is me who shall do that and I say they shall live their days and their nights in the torment of the same, and I say there is none that can release them. I say they will seek for relief, they will seek for release, but they shall not be able to find the same. I say there is no doctor that can cut it off, there is no great surgeon that can extract if from within, there is none that can medicate them out of what it is that I shall do. I say that it is me the Living God who will bring it to pass and I say that you will even hear testimonies of the same. I say that it is the move of my Spirit, I say that it is divine outpouring, and I say that it shall come of me. Thank me and praise me, thank me and praise me for my wrath revealed. I say to a stubborn, a proud, a defiant, a hateful generation so do I pour forth in my wrath, and in my fury, and in my indignation. I say thank me and praise me. |