The END Has Come

Gen. Deborah Green

P RAISE GOD. Welcome to Battle Cry Pounding/Battle Cry Sounding. And yes, the Lord is still sounding the battle cry, and yes, the Lord is still pounding the battle cry. Why? Because God's people are lazy, dumb, dull, stupid idol-worshipers who won't turn from their wicked ways.

YOU KNOW, WHEN WE GET STUBBORN AGAINST GOD, GOD GETS STUBBORN AGAINST US; when we get into willful disobedience, God doesn't hear us when we cry. And when we think that WE don't need to repent, that we are all right, we're deceiving ourselves.

And you know, because God is patient, and long-suffering, and merciful, He gives men time to, you might say, to hang themselves. That was an old colloquialism when I was young. You'd say, "Oh, they're just going to hang their own selves." What that means is that if you won’t repent, and turn from your wicked ways, then you will get your just retributive reward.

And today's message is entitled: "The End Has Come." Now, this is still a part of the REPENTANCE REVOLUTION SERIES in the sense that God is still giving forth the call, the call, the call to REPENT. But, in Amos chapter 8, we find that the time had come—in that particular aspect of the history of God's people, that God said, "The end has come."

In other words, "Ok, I'm weary of you; I'm sick and tired of you; I'm disgusted with you; I've called you; I've pled with you; I've favored you; I've given you love; I've given you kindness; I've given you victory, when you didn't deserve it; I've protected you; I've done all these things for you, and you have tramped me, you have trashed me, you have worshiped idols, you have done all kinds of evil things, and you've not repented." See, this factor of REPENTANCE is extremely important to God.

Now, repentance is one of the things that the devil has worked overtime to eradicate from the religion of Christianity—to make people think, "Oh, that was something they did in the old days, but now we have more knowledge than that. It is passed away, and as long as we carry on some kind of a routine, as long as we show up at the big mega-monster, as long as we go to the functions, we're fine." Nothing could be farther from the truth. Nothing could be farther from what God's Word teaches.

John the Baptist came declaring, "Declare, and walk in, and prepare the way of the Lord." What was the way of the Lord? REPENT. He harped it, he yelled it, he screamed it, he chanted it, "Repent; and prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord." Jesus came demonstrating and declaring because He was the Lord, and is the Lord, repentance. That was the first message He ever taught, was repent. Repent.

 And so God holds as vital, and as essential, repentance because repentance IS the way of the Lord. Without repentance, you do not enter into the Lord; without repentance, you're like that guy that shows up for the wedding and is in the wrong garment; and it says he's going to be cast out, and there's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth that he's put into outer darkness.

So what's that saying? It's saying he did come clothed in repentance; clothing meaning covering. So, if we refuse repentance, we're not saved, we're not redeemed, and we're a fake. I would say that about 90% of the so-called church is in the category of FAKERY. They're religious, but they're not redeemed. And why aren't they redeemed? Because they won't repent. And they won't continue to repent.

Now, if we are so proud that we take one bath in our entire life, and we say, "That's enough, don't bother me. I am fine." Our friends, our loved ones, our acquaintances can say, "Excuse me, how do you feel about bathing?" And all we do is grouch and grump at them, we continue to stink, we continue to stink more, and more, and more, we continue to be foul, we continue to be repulsive. And yet, in our own eyes we're fine.

And pretty soon, we find that our circle of close ones gets a little bit farther from us, and pretty soon we don't have anybody; because why? Because of the stench of our own filth. Now, come on, it's true. And yet, we have the audacity to say to God, "I'm all right. I don't need to repent. I'm ok." And all the time there are caked layers of filth, and smells that are very, very gross. And in our own minds, and in our own perceptions, we're fine.

Now, isn't it true? "I'm all right. I don't need to repent. Ok, I agree, sinners need to repent, but I repented. I took a bath one time, I'm the great one." No, we need to look at repentance as the very necessary practice of cleansing—that we need. And we should not shun repentance, we should not hate repentance, we should not turn from repentance, but we should rejoice in repentance. That's what the Lord told us today. He said, "Rejoice that you are given the opportunity, the privilege to repent."

Ok, so if you go to Amos 8, we're going to start there. Now, read the rest of Amos, you're going to find out over, and over, and over again the same story: God reiterates the sins, God calls them to repent, and they harden the heart, stiffen the neck, too proud to do it God's way. What happened in the garden of Eden? They were too proud to do it God's way.

Oh, pride is deceptive. Pride will make you think you know it all. Pride will make you think you know a better way. Pride will make you think “you don't need to get down low, you don't need to humble yourself, you don't need to confess your sins, and your faults, and your failures.” Pride will make you think you're all right. Well, I guess Adam and Eve found out they weren't all right. They were cast out. They were cast out.

Ok, going on in Amos 8, "THUS THE Lord God showed to me, and behold, a basket of [ripe and therefore soon to perish] summer fruit." Now, how many of you know that when fruit is ripe, if you don't eat that fruit, or use that fruit right away, that fruit will rot. Ok, that's what it's talking about "soon to perish." "And He said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord to me, The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by and spare them any more."

 So, what is He saying? "Ok, I've given them so much mercy, I've given them so much time, I've given them so much goodness, now the end has come.” And that was the symbolism of that summer fruit—that ok, its season is over. It's right here, it's ripe, and that's done. And that's how fruit goes. But when it's done, it's done. You go out and try to find you an apple in the middle of winter, it's not out there.

Then it says, going on, "The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by and spare them any more." So, what is God saying? "Hey, they're not great, they're not special, the only reason they were spared is ME." You know, the only reason that any of God's people are spared, is God. It's not because God's people are some wondrous, super race; it says He's chosen the foolish things to confound the wise.

So, if we start getting spiritual pride, which the Christians are desperately covered in, desperately in the sense that it should make them desperate for repentance, but it doesn't—because they're blinded by their pride; but, spiritual pride will make you think it's you that gets you all this favor, it's you that gets you all this wealth, it's you that gets you all this safety—when other nations know famine, and pestilence, and blah, blah, blah, and "We are the Merican, we have none of these things."

No, it's only because God has had mercy. Like He said, "I spared you. I spared you." But He said, "Now the end has come." "And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day." Did you know now that in Jerusalem that one of the major tourist attractions is the wailing wall—where they are wailing?

So, it's become a permanent thing—this wailing, as a reminiscence of other times, as a reminiscence of their calling for their Savior that has never come to them. No, they rejected Him. He came and He went, and they rejected Him and were instrumental in having Him put to death. But they're still there moaning and groaning, and crying out.

And He says that, "And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day, says the Lord God. The dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast forth in silence. Hear this, O you who would swallow up and trample down the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail and come to an end, Saying, When will the New Moon festival be past that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath that we may offer wheat for sale, making the ephah [measure] small and the shekel [measure] great and falsifying the scales by deceit…"

"Oh, when will God be finished with this stupid call to repent—that we can get back to our works, that we can get back to our conferences, and our concerts, and our explosions, and our festivals?” In other words, "We don't want the real works of God, we don't want the things that God wants, we don't want to do it God's way, we want to be busy about our own thing."

Did you know we can get that attitude? "Oh, when will this get over, I've got things to do! What I want to do is obviously more important than what God wants. Who needs instruction? You know, I know the way. I've heard it all." Oh, have you? Interesting.

So see, we have to watch that because that was one of the things that had God so peeved, was that attitude of disrespect for God's desire. The whole church has gone a whoring from God's desire. GOD DESIRED A BROKEN, A HUMBLE, A REPENTANT PEOPLE.

What has He got for His offering now? Proud, arrogant, sensuous, filthy, vile, abominable, idol-worshiping, traditions, and customs of the heathen—with Jesus put on top; idolization of homosexualization; that's the latest idol—homos. "Oh, we've got 10 of them in our church!" Oh, that's great, that's enough to start the infection that will kill you all off.

God wanted a repentant people. God didn't care about all this building that men do out of their pride. GOD WANTED A PEOPLE THAT WERE NEEDY OF HIM. And what did men do? They choose to chose the god of money, the god of prosperity. They don't need God; they've got their money. They don't need to seek God, they seek their money, they seek investments, they seek business deals, they seek real estate deals.

"Oh, God's blessing us." Yeah, He's blessing you for your own damnation, because you've loved another God. You serve money, it will serve you; but you'll be damned in it. "So, are you preaching poverty?" Yeah. What are you going to do about it? String me up? Did you know that the poor are rich in faith—the poor who serve God are rich in faith.

Why? Because they don't have their plastic to assure them that they've got it made. They have God. Look at all these other gods we've pushed God out of the way for. Do you think those are going to stand with us in the day of His wrath? Do you think those are going to stand with us in the day of His judgment?

What has the American church done? PUSHED GOD OUT, PULLED IN ALL THESE CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS, AND IDOLS of the heathen and said, "They're God." Said everything's more important than God's way. Sorry folks, our own works don't mean anything to God. The effort of my hands, nothing—it means nothing. What I can build, what I can mold, what I can shape, it means nothing to God.

What means something to God is, "Do we keep the first estate and do what God wants?" And why was He angry at this people? Because they said, "Oh, phooey on God, and all of His stupid days, and His laws, and you know, doesn't He see we have business to do? We’ve got our own way, and that's more important." Why? Because they had grown contemptuous towards God.

You know, if you get a thought that passes through your mind that holds God in contempt, put that thing to death right away. Put it to death, don't bow to it, don't yield to it, don't obey it, slam it down—because it is destruction. And it'll bring your end with God.

"So, are you preaching doomsday, General Deborah?" Yeah, what are you going to do about that? Because you know what? Every one of us is going to face our own personal doomsday, and if we're not right with God, honey, it's going to be doom, and it's going to be damnation forever.

"Ok, so are you saying the end of the world's coming?" I'm warning you if you don't repent, the end of your world's coming. And if I don't repent, the end of my world is nigh at hand. So, when God says, "The end has come," He could eradicate a whole generation, and yeah, their end has come. Then it says, and of course they want to make more money off the poor.

You know, how many people boast in their riches who have made their fortune off the poor? Who have used the needy to increase their own wealth and then gotten rid of them once they've used them?

And then it says in verse 7, "The Lord has sworn by [Himself Who is] the Glory and Pride of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their [rebellious] deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it shall rise like the river [Nile], all of it, and it shall be tossed about and sink back again to normal level, as does the Nile of Egypt. And in that day, says the Lord God, I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the broad daylight. And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will cause sackcloth to be put upon all loins and baldness [for mourning] shall come on every head; and I will make that time as the mourning for an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day."

So, that's the prediction. "This is what you've got coming to you." And He said, "I will never forget any of their rebellious deeds." WHY DO YOU THINK THAT GOD WAS WROTH TO SUCH A DEGREE? IT IS BECAUSE OF THEIR CONTINUAL REBELLION AGAINST REPENTANCE. Did you hear me? I said it is because each time God sent for the prophet crying out "Repent," they stubbornly, proudly, obstinately, and willfully refused to repent.

You know, you can hear the truth and just block it out. You can hear the truth and say, "Hey, it's not for me." You can hear the truth and say, "Hey, don't bother me now, I don't have time. I've got to get about my business." And God says, "I'm not going to forget any of their rebellious deeds."

In other words, the visitation of the evil that they were guilty of, of the crimes that they had committed, of the transgressions, was going to be revisited upon them. And He said "everything that was your joy, is going to be your sorrow."

Can't you see, isn't it going to be great when you see one of these mega-churches who have had a crushing death-metal conference, I mean concert (conference of demons out of Hell), and then all of a sudden, God turns the wheel, and people are dropping dead, and they can play their death-metal over and over and over again, and be damned in the very rebellious deed they chose above God. Be damned FOREVER with the death-metal radiating through your head—because you wanted the world's way, you wanted the traditions, and the customs, of the heathen round about.

You didn't want to be a separated people, holy unto God, but you wanted the filthiness, the abomination, the degradation of the world, and you scoffed God, and you mocked God, and you refused God to get it, and you pushed God out of the way—so you could have your stuff and do your thing. Fornicator, filthy fornicator with idols, with demons, and bring forth your demon bastard seed and all of you could have your concerts of contempt for God.

And you think you get by. Nobody gets by on God. Call yourself "God's beloved," call yourself "the apple of His eye," call yourself, "God's chosen;" if you're a rebel, you're going to Hell; if you hate God's way, God hates you; if you refuse to repent, you're damned. I don't care what churchy-church you belong to, or don't belong to, inner-outer, you'd better be right with God: hard-nosed rebels, stiff-necked hypocrites, fakers, pretenders. IF WE HATE REPENTANCE, WE HATE GOD.

Now, why had the end come? Because of refusal to repent. You think you could put it off till your time, you think you can do it someday out in the future, you think you don't have to do it at all? Your end will come. And it won't be beautiful, it won't be glorious, it will be the visitation of your own rebellion upon your own damned soul, and your Hell-bound life.

"And I will turn your feast into mourning." God says, "I'm going to do it to you." "And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will cause sackcloth to be put upon all loins and baldness [for mourning] shall come on every head; and I will make that time as the mourning for an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but [a famine] for hearing the words of the Lord…[a famine] for hearing the words of the Lord…[A FAMINE] FOR HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD."

That time is almost here. There is nothing but lies, delusions, falsehoods, part truths mixed with lies, conjurings, incantations, and it's all called "the lord, the lord…the lord told me that I would transcend like a butterfly. Ok everybody, hands up, let's butterfly." That's how stupid and goofy people are. What happened to the Word of the Lord, what happened to the Word of the Lord that once reigned triumphant? What happened to the Word of the Lord that we were promised would be sharper than any two-edged sword and would divide asunder, and separate between the precious and the vile?

"Well, you know, I just love those people, they're good people! And you know, we have them in our church, and really there's nothing wrong with them." No, there's everything wrong with them, and there's everything wrong with you, and you don't even know the Word of God, "pastor."

Hey, you know, when they say Joel Osteen's America's pastor, know one thing, he's not my pastor, and I'm not an American. I'm born of the heavenly kingdom, and I'm not taking that nit-wit, numbskull, dum-dum, idol-worshiping, man-pleasing hypocrite for my pastor.

He doesn't even know the Word of the Lord; all he knows is his own conjuring. "And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord [inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food], but shall not find it."

If you won't accept God, God will withdraw from you. What did He do to them? He withdrew. He withdrew the knowledge of His Word, He withdrew the input of His Word, He withdrew the very presence of the life of His Word. And they were running everywhere seeking for it, but they could not find it. THE END HAD COME. Did you know if we do not have God, if we do not have the presence of God, the power of God, the Word of God in our lives, THE END HAS COME? Amen.