A Remnant to Escape

Gen. Deborah Green

P RAISE GOD. Welcome to Battle Cry Pounding/Battle Cry Sounding. Thank God that He’s on the move. And if we keep following the Lord, we will find that He moves in ways of righteousness, true holiness, mercy, and forgiveness to those who will repent. But, He also moves by His wrath, His fury, His indignation against the stubborn, the proud, the willful who refuse to repent and turn from their wicked ways.

Now, we know that we are meant to not only repent unto the Lord, but we are meant to return to the Lord, and we are meant to recover from the aspects, or the harm, done by sin. Today we’re in another part of the REPENTANCE REVOLUTION long-term series, and today’s message is entitled: “A Remnant to Escape.”

Now, if you’ve come from the escapist or the rapture school of thought, then you probably have an old whoredom kindled in your heart at that title. You think, “Oh, it’s true. At last the Generals have seen the light, and we’re going to get out of here; we’re going to get to escape tribulation; we’re going to get to go pick the chicken bones, and throw the cherry pits, and just have a miraculous marriage supper of the lamb—because we’ve flown away, oh glory!”

But, it’s not true. The remnant to escape means that you escape the wrath of God, in the sense that because you have repented and came into right standing with God, and you’ve taken revolution in that repentance: revolution against the sin, against the darkness, against the iniquity that had you bound, against the transgression, the idolatry, the abomination—that when you take revolutionary action against that—to show that your repentance is real, then yes, you will escape the wrath of God.

Now, I’m reading today, and whenever I teach the second part in this series out of the book of Ezra, and we’re going to begin in Ezra 9 and we will go over to Ezra 10. But, before I read that, I want to read you a little excerpt here that is in this Amplified version of the Bible, and it’s a little historical synopsis that lets us know what we’re dealing with in the context of these chapters. So bear with me, and I’ll read that out to you.

But listen carefully, and it says: “The apparently great severity which characterized Ezra’s divorce policy as shown in chapters 9 and 10 becomes thoroughly justified when Israel’s tragic experiences because of marriage with heathen women are considered. The consequent idolatry, first of king Solomon, for example, then of the whole nation was fatal. God’s wrath had been so great that He not only took the kingship from Solomon, but eventually turned the Israelites over to their enemies, and left the promised land desolate—while the people bewailed their fate as captives in a heathen land. Ezra, to whom the keeping of God’s law was a constant concern, had been born in captivity among exiles who hung their harps on the willow trees and grieved for the country, for the peace and prosperity which their now justly offended God had once given them. Nothing could have been more abhorrent to Ezra than that the Jews should again fall into the snare of idolatry. His action in leading the exiles to give up their foreign wives, and their children, was the only way out if God’s consuming wrath was not again to be incurred.”

So, we see that it was definitely a very drastic, desperate time, and that the SIN HAD TAKEN THEM COMPLETELY OUT OF THE LAND OF PROMISE, AND INTO CAPTIVITY, and you know captivity is bondage, and it is oftentimes slavery, and it is total darkness, and it is without the joy of the presence of the Lord, without their own land, without their own homes, without their own form of worship, and they were in that degraded state of existence when this ministry of Ezra came about.

So, we have to realize that Ezra was definitely in the counsel of God in taking and requiring the drastic action that it took to stop this plague, so to speak, because rebellion is a plague. And when we choose to rebel against God, we cause contamination not only to ourselves, but to others likewise. And this plague was spreading, it was increasing, and of course, as the authors here in that little synopsis have evaluated: it was king Solomon who was such a proud fool that he took to himself multiplied foreign wives and concubines from amongst the heathen, and even in his latter years, built temples of worship to their gods, grieving God to the extent that God got rid of him, and then this sin carried on.

And so, people were thinking, “Well, if he did it, I can do it. If he did it, then I can do it.” And so this plague increased, and the consequence was that they ended up in captivity, they ended up out of the promised land, and away from the land that God had intended for them to dwell in, and that God had literally given unto them, in the second generation out of Egypt.

So we see that God is slow to anger, and oftentimes people take God’s patience to mean He’s approving their sin. Now it’s true; they do that. If God gives me a season to repent, and I do not repent, and I try God’s patience, and then I incur His wrath, then I want to get angry at God and I’ll say, “Well, why didn’t He do anything; why didn’t He warn me; why didn’t He say anything?” He has given me a season to repent, and if I neglect that season, God is not to blame.

Now God, as I said, He does not want to see everybody utterly destroyed, but PEOPLE GRAVITATE GOD’S WRATH TO THEMSELVES WHEN THEY LIVE IN WILLFUL REBELLION AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD. Now, we’re living in a time when people have been in willful rebellion against God for obviously, and probably much longer than that, but we don’t know about it, but where it’s been made obvious for at least the last 50-60 years—where they’ve been striving to please the world rather than God, where they’ve been giving themselves over to a marriage with heathen spirits, heathen women, you might say—in the sense that they’ve taken on the world’s values, rather than the values of the Kingdom of God.

When we take on humanism as our covering, and WE ARE MORE SYMPATHETIC TO THE PLIGHT OF HUMANITY THAN WE ARE TO THE WILL OF GOD, WE ARE MARRIED TO A HEATHEN WIFE, because that is a heathen value that we are allowing to usurp the authority of God, and it’s like making a marriage with worldliness and resenting the authority of God. It’s definitely spiritual whoredom, it’s definitely transgression and violation, and it’s definitely choosing the heathen way of the world above the way of the Lord.

Now, easily, the last 60 years are that. Beyond that, I would have to study and read some REAL narratives of what was going on in order to really know. But, just in the time that I have known anything about godliness, and that’s been over the last 42 years, I have seen the whole standard of God denigrated to the extent that: you cannot differentiate any longer between the precious and the vile, that God’s people have so given themselves to heathen activity, to heathen thought, to heathen sin, to heathen idolatry, that you cannot differentiate who is a person or a people of God and who are of the world.

In fact, God’s people overcompensate in their ungodliness in order to be acceptable to the world. God never said we were supposed to be accepted by the world. He said: “The world’s going to hate you.” And He said also, or it said through one of the apostles: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him” (1 Jn. 2:15). Why? Because they are seeking for the world’s approval, the world’s fame, the world’s gain, the world’s recognition, which is nothing except heathenism, and the way of demons, and the way of destruction, and the way of damnation; and they are despising the acceptance by Almighty God.

Now, the only way that we are accepted of God, is through repentance, because that is the beginning, and that is the end. Amen. And if we’re going to start out right with God, we need to ENTER IN THROUGH REPENTANCE! Not by church membership, it’s not by watching a televangelist, it’s not by singing a few gospel songs that are rockin’ and rollin’, or stompin’ and hompin’, but it is by being submitted through repentance unto the will, and the way, and the mastery of God. Amen.

Now, in Ezra, chapter 9, we’re going to begin there, and find out what it is that is going on in this time, in this frame, in this portion that made it so imperative that they take revolution—REVOLUTIONARY ACTION against the sin that they were guilty of.

Now, it says here: “AFTERWARD, THE officials came to me and said, The Israelites and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, but have committed the abominations of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.”

Now, if there was to be the same kind of evaluation over today’s so-called ‘Christian’ sector, the list of the ‘ites’ would go on for at least 100 pages; it’s true. All of the abominable practices, all of the filthy, vile, corrupted perversions, all of the twisting of the Word of God to cover sin, all of that is violation of God, and they have taken up the characteristics of, the behaviors of, the mannerisms of, the beliefs of the ‘ites’.

Well, just as we were studying in here a few weeks ago, the whole concept that Christians relate to called ‘CHRISTMAS’ IS HEATHEN. And they want to say, “Well no, it was Jesus’ birthday!” I had someone tell me yesterday, and this is the truth—now this shows you the evil origins of this so-called ‘holy day.’ This person had attempted to stop drinking, they had done well for 3 months, and then he said, “Well you know, I fell because I was just going to celebrate Jesus’ birthday,” at which I yelled loudly at him and said: “How could you even dare to equate Jesus’ birthday with your booze?” Of course, as we know, it’s not Jesus’ birthday. He said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was just joking. But you know, I just had to have a little holiday cheer, and a little bit there,” and he said, “Now I’ve fallen off the wagon,” that means stopped being sober.

Ok, so I was telling my husband after we prayed for this individual, and he swore that he’s going to try and walk it right and: “stay off it at least a year,” I thought, “Honey, you’d better decide to stay off it for the rest of your life because you’re headed down the drunkard’s road.”

BUT, WE WERE DISCUSSING HOW THIS SO-CALLED ‘HOLY DAY’ [CALLED CHRISTMAS] LEADS TO NOTHING BUT:

* OVEREATING

* OVER-DRINKING

* AUTO-INTOXICATION OF ALL KINDS

* FORNICATION

* STRIFE

* JEALOUSY

* ENVY

* HATRED

* RESENTMENT

* DEBT

* WORLDLINESS

* OVERINDULGENCE OF EVERY KIND

* MOODINESS

* DEPRESSION

* DESPAIR

* WORSHIPING A TREE WITH A BUNCH OF BALLS HANGING ON IT

-AND-

* WAITING FOR A MYTHOLOGICAL FAT MAN TO GET THROUGH WITH HIS ANOREXIC DIET SO HE CAN COME DOWN A CHIMNEY AND ‘DELIVER’ THESE GIFTS TO THESE SPOILED AMERICAN BRATS THAT DON’T NEED ANYTHING FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS.

And all of this is supposed to represent the birth of Jesus? I’m sorry folks, it must put Jesus to death to look at it. But, oh, Christians are so married to their christmas, and they’re running around and bemoaning, you know, “Now the enemies, the evil ones, or you know, the ones we elected and got in office who said they were Christian, but obviously are about as Christian as we are. Anyway, now they want to take away christmas!”

Well, you know what? It might be a good thing; if you really look at the roots of it, if you look at the reason for it, it’s heathen practice…HEATHEN PRACTICE. And if you’re going to continue to practice that heathenism, then you’re basically rebelling against God. Say, “Well sister Deborah, you always take away all our fun!” Who said you’re supposed to have fun? We’re supposed to be sober-minded. We’re supposed to be sober-minded, walking the straight and narrow way that God provides.

And when we want to say, “Well, you know, I need some me-time, and I need to do what I want, and if I want to celebrate a little christmas, and have a little christmas cheer, and you know, just do a few things, that doesn’t mean it’s evil in the eyes of God.” No, you want to marry a heathen wife, you want to have bastards by her, and you want to proclaim you’re serving God. You’re a liar. You’re supposed to walk in the counsel, and the standard, and the dictate of God. But, we’ll close that chapter for now.

But, what I’m saying, is that Christians in this land are guilty, and more guilty, and more guilty, and more guilty, of accepting heathen practices, marrying themselves to those practices, and getting mad and angry at anybody who dares to tell them the truth about the same. So why? Because THEY’VE BEEN INFECTED WITH THE HEATHENISM.

Now, if you have any commonsense—which people used to have, and I think they carried it to the great extent like in Nevada where they had legalized prostitution that the prostitutes had to report to the health clinics and get their certificates that they had a clean bill of health, so they couldn’t infect you when you went to the houses of ill-repute which are established and accepted businesses in that state. Ok, so they had to have a certificate of health, in other words, that you’re not going to get communicable STDs from them when you enter into them.

Now, if you’re going to enter into heathenism, how are you going to keep from the diseases that accompany the same? And when you enter into heathenism, you’re entering into a harlot, you’re entering in to that which will kill you, destroy your soul, and cause you to be the enemy of God, rather than the friend of God.

Ok, so we think, “Oh, I would never do anything like that! Hey honey, did you get the christmas tree?” Or, “Oh honey, make sure you get me a big pumpkin because the kids want a jack-o-lantern, trick or treat, dear!” And he says, “Mildred take off your mask!” This is a Christian home mind you. “Well, we want our kids to have their own halloween.”

Why? Why do Christian children need their own halloween when it is a demonically-inspired unholy day? Because of whoredom, because of wine, because of a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands, and a little cootsie-coo marriage to the world. Ungodly wretches.

Now, a lot of big mega-churches, they no longer bug themselves, and irritate themselves, with those old stupid Christian songs. Instead, they’ve just got the whole gamut of the world. And then you have a world renown fatty-cake-patty-cake ‘pastor’ in ecstasy because he finally got to play ‘Purple Haze’ in his church.

Old Rick Warren, you know, chubby, that has to involve his whole church and a bunch of new-age psycho healers in his diet plan; now, he’s gained it all back, fatter than ever, bigger and better than ever, more reprobate. I mean that man needs deliverance, and he needs SALVATION, and he needs REPENTANCE; he doesn’t need Purple Haze.

Purple Haze, my dear ones who may not be educated in the rhetoric of that era: Purple Haze was a very strong LSD acid, and when you took it, you saw purple. Well, the one who sang about it ended up dead of drug overdose, so big deal! What a thing to look forward to! Not eternal life, not making Heaven your home, but that you can finally let your demons out of the bag and have your purple haze.

Now, Ricki did that several years ago, and he’s multiplied transgression in his affairs with the heathen. And I could go on, and on, and on. And then we have Joey baby who’s courted by the homos, who’s courted by the world’s talk show hosts, and who gets farther, and farther, and farther away from Biblical truth. Because of his interaction with the heathen: he’s growing increasingly more contaminated, and boy-wonder is turning into boy-blunder, and he’s being led right down the yellow-brick-road to his own damnation, smiling and blinking the whole time.

Hey, you know what? You don’t mingle with the heathen without getting contaminated. You think you can hold your own? You’re not going to hold anything—except the hand of the very devils that are leading you to Hell. God wants a separated people; God wants a holy people; God wants a consecrated people; God wants a consecrated people; God doesn’t want a bunch of harlots that are playing the field, that are playing around, that are playing touchy-feely with the world! COME ON! Where are we living? In sin, in darkness, in heathenism, in lack of repentance, in hatred for repentance, in hatred for God, in hatred for his holiness. Why? IT IS BECAUSE OF MARRIAGE WITH THAT WHICH GOD HAS FORBIDDEN. GOD FORBAD IT, THEY DID IT, AND IT BROUGHT THEM UNDER THE WRATH OF GOD. God forbad it to the Christians, they did it, and where do you think they’re headed? They are in—and it is increasing—the wrath of God.

Now, there’s only one way out of it all, and that way is pure, true, complete repentance before God, and not only saying, “I am sorry,” but PROVING you are sorry by the ACTION that you take against that which you’ve done that was violation of God.

Ok, back to our Scripture reading here. It says: “For they have taken as wives some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Indeed, the officials and chief men have been foremost in this wicked act and direct violation [of God’s will]. When I heard this, I…called for a praise festival and invited all the people of the Avant-Garde Modern, upbeat, cutting-edge butter knife churches that I could get a hold of—that we could all have a jam, and kick out the walls, and roll in the mud which we were having imported from the Mississippi, and just prove that we were a bunch of wild asses headed to our own damnation.”

Now someone had an issue last week, or 2 weeks ago. I forgot when. Anyway, when one of our team members said, “We need to repent for the sins of others.” “Oh! You show me that in the Bible; that’s not true; we don’t repent for anybody.” Hold on, we’re going to go through Ezra, and what you are going to find out is that Ezra did not have a praise-fest; Ezra did not have a party; Ezra did not invite all the other backslidden churches like his own; Ezra did not say, “Let’s knock out the walls, let’s bring down Hell…I mean Heaven on earth....” He didn’t say: “Let’s have a number of Purple Haze by old fatty man.” He didn’t do any of that.

What did he do? It says: “When I heard this, I rent my undergarment and my mantle, I pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat down appalled.” In other words, he manifested great grief and sorrow. He manifested how anguished the heart of God was over this sin, over this darkness, over this plague, over this increasing devastation and complete disrespect for the law of God.

So, he demonstrated God’s heart, God’s agony, God’s sorrow by the way that he reacted over hearing the truth about these sins and about the misbehavior of God’s own people, even about the officials.

And then it says: “Then all those who trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the offensive violation of His will by the returned exiles gathered around me as I sat astounded until the evening sacrifice. At the evening sacrifice I arose from my depression, and, having rent my undergarment and my mantle, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, Saying, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted to the heavens.”

So, what is he doing? He’s confessing to God how horrendous their guilt/their sin, actually is. In other words, he is coming to the fact of facing, facing, FACING THE SINS. Did you know what a lot of leaders and a lot of pastors do when they hear there’s sin in the camp? They just lift up the carpet. In fact, they have carpets with snaps now on the ends. They lift up the carpet, they unsnap it, they lift it up, they sweep all the filth, all the dirt, all the sin, all the abomination under the carpet, and they lay it back down, and there she lays: still in the midst, still going on, still not dealt with, still not repented over, still infecting, still spreading—until the whole thing is contaminated, and what’s under the carpet comes out and says “Get out of here pastor. We’re taking over.”

You think it doesn’t work that way? It works that way. You want to try it on? Don’t do it in here in God’s community. Go out somewhere in the world: invite some demons to live in your home, and see how long it lasts, see how long you even have a home, see how long they put up with you, see how long they want to hear you play your Bible recordings, and watch your Christian movies, and sing your Gospel songs, and most of all, see how long they put up with you READING the Bible. IF YOU MAKE FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD, IF YOU MAKE FRIENDSHIP WITH DEMONS, YOU’LL BE DESTROYED BY THAT. Ok, next time we will do #2 of what? “A remnant to escape.” Amen.