Time for Repentance

Gen. Deborah Green

P RAISE GOD. Welcome to Battle Cry Sounding/Battle Cry Pounding. Yes, the Lord is on the move. Isn't it a wonderful thing to know that our God reigns? That no matter what we go through, if we keep on holding to Him, that we will come through in victory. Because why? Because He is the victory. It's already finished; it's already done—in the sense that Jesus has completed the course before us, and WE JUST HAVE TO FOLLOW HIM WHEREVER HE LEADS.

Now, today we're in Zephaniah chapter 2, and the name of this message is, "Time for Repentance." Now, God wants us to be aware of, and sensitive to His times. But you know, we can grow so religious, and so dull, that we don't care about God's time. Ah, did you hear me? I said we can get so religious, so dull, so dumb, we don't care about God's time; we just want to do what we want to do. And then, we want to tack God's name onto it, and we'll want to say, "Oh, it's the Lord." No it's not. It's deception of our own conception.

Now, God was always sending His messengers crying out to adulterous Israel, "Repent, turn unto Me. Repent, turn unto me. Turn from your idolatry. Turn from your abomination. Turn from your acceptance of the customs and traditions of the heathen. Come unto me. Walk fully in the way that I provide."

They wouldn't do it. And what happened to them? They are no more. What God had planned for that people, He had to sack the plan. A lot of people say, "Well, they're still the apple of God's eye!" Yeah, they might be the apple of His eye, but THE APPLE'S ROTTED. And it's poisoning His eye; and He says they make Him sick. And you know what? We, as Christian believers, can make God SICK if we do not pay heed and obey the timing of the Lord.

Now, God has told us on November 19^th that He was giving a call to REPENTANCE REVOLUTION. Every single day since that time, He's spoken to us through two prophetic words a day, at least, several other smaller ones, but two lengthy Words declaring unto us the call to Repentance Revolution.

Now, that means that this is the time RIGHT NOW! We're not some far out splinter cult group that has thought this up for excitement. It is the call of God for this Hell-bound, whorish nation to repent. Because America has turned into a land of perverts, it's turned into a land of idolatry, it's turned into a land of money-lust and greed on every hand, and it's turned into a land of sexual promiscuity—to the extent that even children, when they don't even know their ABC's, are taught how to put on condoms. I just wonder when they do all that, I wonder, do these children get free baby condoms, or toddler, or child condoms; are they that perverted?

I mean it is so vile in this place, half the stuff you don't even want to mention because it's so wicked and corrupt. It's just like filthiness is uncovered and displayed, and proudly exhibited every day as though it was something to be aimed for, and something to desire. It's abomination. It's an obamanation, and an abomination, and it's filth in the eyes of God. And God has said it's time to repent.

Say, "Well, I'm not a part of it." No, we're not a part of it either—we separated ourselves years ago from the covering of this vile place. But, because we are in the geographical condition of being here, and also for the fact that there are millions who are going to perish in their sins, God has said, "It's time to repent." And it's not only just for America; it's for the nations of the world. There are all national brands of sin, and there's national need for repentance throughout the world.

Ok, you can't just say, "Well, Americans are more wicked than any other people." All people are wicked left to themselves. Aside from God, men are inherently wicked. "Well, General Deborah, you don't believe in the inherent goodness of man?" NO, I DON'T. Because when Adam sinned, and fell from the place of right standing with God, there was only one thing that awaited him, and that was the evil of sin.

So, in Zephaniah, chapter 2, in this message entitled, "Time for Repentance," let us start here in verse 1, and I am reading out of the Amplified version. It says here, "COLLECT YOUR thoughts….collect your thoughts."

So, that means, basically, "Hey, get your mind back on me. Get your mind back on me because I'm your God, and I'm the One you're supposed to respect, and I'm the One you're supposed to serve, and I'm the One you're even alive for. So get your minds back on me."

How many of you know that the mind is a battlefield, and the devil can move in like a flood and overwhelm your mind? It's going this way, and that way, and every other way, and before you know it, you haven't thought about God at all. So He's saying, "COLLECT YOUR THOUGHTS."

And you know, we live in a time, and the devil knows the power of the tool of sensory bombardment—how he can just get your mind vibrating here, vibrating there, and going everywhere. And of course, you know, when I was young, they used the advent of psychedelic drugs to take your mind a thousand different directions that you would LOSE your mind.

In other words, that you would no longer be in control of your thoughts. The demons could come in and control you completely, possess you, RULE YOU. Where do you think all these rock musicians camefrom? They allowed their minds, and their bodies, to be possessed of devils.

Of course the drugs broke them down, the thought of fame and fortune enticed them, and they turned into gyrating, screaming, howling, filthy, perverts, displaying/exhibiting all kinds of sensuous and unclean vile behaviors on stage; mesmerizing crowds of other drug-crazed fools, to give themselves over to the same vice. DEMON POSSESSION. That's all it is—demon-possession. We call it "entertainment"; we call it "music." Now they want it in the church.

So, what does it mean: "Collect your thoughts?" It means "Get yourself back under me." You get on the internet for oh, a couple hours, you could come out of there swirling because so much stuff has rushed by you of every imaginable thing. And of course they always have input over on the side over there, of the filth, the dirty woman, or the homos, or the you know, the girly shows, or all that. Always on the side there.

So, your thoughts will go even from your subject, to that. It's sensory bombardment. So, the devil knows the power of our thoughts. And that's why here in this admonition in Zephaniah chapter 2 the Lord is saying, "Collect your thoughts. Come on scatter-brain."

That's what they used to call us when we were kids and they were trying to tell us something and we weren't focusing on what they were saying. They would say, "You stupid scatter-brains, get your mind here." In other words, "Apply your thoughts to the subject matter at hand."

And that's what God is telling His own people through His servant Zephaniah—He's saying, "Collect your thoughts. Come on, pull your minds into the harness." You know, we're supposed to harness our minds.

We're not supposed to let our minds be an open territory for demons to run through and wreck havoc, and literally try to destroy us. I've been through that mind-blowing stuff. And you know what? You don't gain anything from it—except demonization.

You think it's fun to let your mind go? Do you know where it will take you? Right to Hell. RIGHT TO HELL, AND TO YOUR OWN SUICIDE. That's where it will end you. Because why? Because that's the devil's vice. The devil's vice is to kill, steal, and destroy.

So, "Collect your thoughts, yes," it says, "unbend yourselves [in submission..." So, "Ok you stiff-necked rebels, come on down into submission. Unbend yourselves from your way into my way...Unbend yourselves [in submission and see if there is no sense of shame and no consciousness of sin left in you]…" So, in other words, "You are so far gone from me, and you are so hardened in your way, that you don't even have a consciousness of sin, that you don't even have a sense of shame."

Now, you think about it. We think this sounds far-fetched, but according to what I've been told they're doing in churches now, it is not far-fetched. But when Moses was up on the mountain with God and receiving from God the commandments that the people were meant to walk by—the truth, they were down there forming, shaping an idol, and then dancing around the same thing naked. "And the people rose up to play." What did they play? They had a’ be-in, they had a do-it, be-it. They had abomination before God.

So, in other words, they gave themselves over to, I would suggest, all manner of perversion that they had learned in Egypt—from observation, and I would dare to say, participation. You can't be in the world, and not become of the world—in the sense of if you look at the world, and are envious of the world, and want what the world has, you will become that—because it will get a hold of you. So, he came down, and there they were in all this riotous behavior.

Now, here's God all these centuries later wanting a holy people, wanting a spotless church, or Ekklesia, wanting a people that have not given themselves over to filth, and instead, He's got a filthy, whore-mongering, stained, nasty, sensuous, homoized, regurgitating, vile, abominable, pride-filled slut that calls itself “His.” And, He's got people who have given themselves to excess of riot on every hand. Roll in mud—roll in mud! Can I ask how that adds anything to the Kingdom of God?

And yet, one of the big so-called evangelists in America promotes that very kind of vile behavior. Why? You can figure it out. He likes to watch young bodies slipping and sliding and falling on each other, and shirts being lifted, and so wet and tight that they show everything, and have all kinds of evil imaginations in the process. WHAT HAPPENED TO HOLY CONDUCT? WHAT HAPPENED TO DRESSING MODESTLY? WHAT HAPPENED TO CONDUCTING OURSELVES IN A WAY THAT IS APPROVED OF GOD?

Hey, I didn't have no mudslide to get saved, I didn't have to slip and slide in the mud, I heard the plan of salvation, and I was a dirty hippie; filthy and reprobate, and I heard the plan, and I heard the truth that JESUS DIED FOR ME—that Jesus died for me. And if I believed upon Him, that He would take away the penalty of my sin. And I didn't need to play cootsie-coo in the mud, and I didn't need to act like, you know, "I'm really doing a spiritual thing when all I'm after is sex-drive."

I found the ONE that redeemed me from that prison-house, set me free, gave me the opportunity to live a holy consecrated life—when I was probably so filthy and vile in the eyes of God I deserved death, but He gave me mercy. Now, that's the Savior that people need. They don't need some guy that's just panting to see how sensuous people can be and say, "Praise the Lord."

How about HOW HOLY CAN WE BE AND SAY, "PRAISE THE LORD?" How about if we walk in righteousness, and true holiness and honor our God—rather than dishonor our God with every filthy, vile thing out of Sodom and Egypt? How about if we choose the One that chose to give His life for us?

"Shameless nation" it says, "SHAMELESS!" How do you get to the point that you're shameless? You lock God out. You lock God out: God speaks to you, and you harden your heart. God tells you bend down, bow down daughter, humble yourself, "Nothing wrong with me; I'm doing fine. Well, that might be for those people, but it's not for me." No honey, it's for you. It's for you.

But, if we refuse, then we become a part of that shameless nation. If we refuse God's call to repent, then we are as Hell-bound as the Israelites were when Zephaniah was giving forth this message to them. See, there's this false assurance that is in this world right now, and I smell it all the time.

People say, "I'm ok, I go to church. I'm ok, I go to church." But then when I pin them down on it, I say, "Have you ever repented of your sin? Have you ever asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior? Have you ever really changed your life to live it totally for Him?" "No, I didn't know we're supposed to." Well, I thought you were ok; I thought you went to church.

See, there's a smugness, RELIGIOUS SMUGNESS. And God's people now have the same religious smugness they had then, and what did He call them? He called them a "shameless nation." They were filthy, they were vile, they were corrupt in the eyes of God; and He said, "You're filthy."

Come on dirt-thoughts, filth-thoughts, proud-thoughts, He said, "Collect your thoughts. Collect your thoughts." Hey, I got news for you, if you let your mind wander for any length of time, and you collect your thoughts, you're going to find you've got a lot of things that need to be thrown away. Are you hearing me? I don't let my mind wander. I don't let it wander at all.

Something will hit me, from this side I say, "No." Hit me from this side, "No." Come snaking and snarling in, I say, "Nu-uh." And I'm not saying I always keep the perfect guard, but I'm saying as soon as I recognize it, OUT. Because you know why? Your mind is a battlefield. If you want to lose, open it up.

I remember that was the catch phrase they gave to all of us when we were young—"Expand your mind." You know what "Expand your mind" meant? It meant "Open your mind to demons." It meant, "Become a filth-ball." It meant, "Become a pervert." It meant "Become a homo, become a lesbian, become a drug-addict, and become anything you could be—by EXPANDING your mind." I tell you, when you've been there and done that, you're not going to be easily deceived by that rigamarole. I don't have to expand my mind.

They used to have a song they sang in old Pentecost called "A Narrow Minded People, in the Straight and Narrow Way." And you know what? I never saw anything wrong with that song. But that's one of the things they teach you in liberalism; because I went through that indoctrination as a young woman. "The most horrifying thing that could ever come in your life is to be narrow minded; because then you're not only narrow minded, but you're a religious bigot, and you're full of hate." YEAH, HATRED FOR SIN!

So, getting over all that, let's get to what the Lord is saying here in verse 2. And He says, "[The time for repentance is speeding by…" Ok, it's like if I was at the train station, and I was waiting for my aunt Matilda [who is supposed to be boarding a train], and looking at my watch, and that old train's going to be boarding here in about 5 minutes, then it's going to pull out in about 10 minutes after that, and that old Amtrak is going to rattle, and groan, and get the Hades out of here.

And I think, "Matilda, you'd better get here. You'd better hurry up. You'd better hurry up. You'd better hurry up." I'm calling her, you know, calling her on the phone, trying to send her messages, you know, "Get over here now!" Why? Because the time is speeding by, and Matilda's going to miss the train. And as crotchety as she is, she's not going to be able to run down the tracks and get them to stop. Once she's missed it, that's it; it's over.

Now, what does it say? It says, "[The time for repentance is speeding by like chaff whirled before the wind!] Therefore consider, before God's decree brings forth [the curse upon you], before the time [to repent] is gone like the drifting chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you—yes, before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you!"

So there's your warning, there's your call, and there's what God is doing. IT'S TIME FOR REPENTANCE NOW; IT'S TIME FOR REPENTANCE NOW! It is not time for repentance when we finish with our programs, when we finish with our speaking engagements, or when we finish with what it is that we are doing for God.

THE BEST THING THAT WE CAN DO FOR GOD IS REPENT. God's not impressed with our works, He's not impressed with our righteousness, and He's not impressed with our church name, and our denomination. God is impressed with our OBEDIENCE.

And when it's time to repent, it's time to repent; and if you make it any other thing, you're a rebel. Do you hear me? You're a rebel. You know, there are some people that are so involved in their little-bitty world, that you tell them, "God said it's time for Repentance Revolution, it's time to repent for the whole land, to repent for His people, to repent for the world, to repent because people are going to perish under His wrath."

"Oh, you know, we're going to have a pie-supper tonight, and then next week we're going to have the ladies committee and the..." They don't have TIME to call for repentance—because the pie-supper is more important than to repent. A pie-supper that will put fat on you, a pie-supper that will raise your blood pressure, a pie-supper that will feed your diabetes, a pie-supper that will rot your teeth out, and a pie-supper that all the hags will get in a fight—because of who made the best pie. Petty, fleshly, carnal, beastly; and God is saying, "It's time to repent."

"Well, that may be true with some of the smaller churches, but you know, the mega-churches, they have more flexibility and responsiveness." To what? To the world; to the vanity of the world. "Yeah, because we can't really have a repentance call right now—because we have, let's see, I heard that the rolling stones were coming, and then we're going to have mega-death, and then we're going to have Hell-bound train, and then we're going to have rap-crap, and I forgot the other one, but, we're going to have several concert nights. And you know, these really draw in the young people"—to partake of the world.

"Oh, but it's under the covering of the church! Did you know that the world is safer if you do it in the church?" Oh really? New one on me. Did you know that it's almost like drinking near-beer or something—if you just do it in a church. "Because, you know, at least we got the young people in the church." You know what? YOU GOT THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN HELL YOU DUMB FOOLS! You got them headed right down the road to Hell, damnation of soul, destruction forever, and you're proud of it. STUPID.

The Time for REPENTANCE is right NOW. It's not next week, it's not next year, and it's not when you can schedule some repentance concerts, or conferences; it's now. What does he say? "Unbend yourself." In other words "Come out of your mode, come out of your life, come out of your behavior, and come into me. Collect your thoughts, and pay attention to me." Because He says, "If not, what's going to happen to you?" "Before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you. The day of the WRATH OF THE LORD."

It says, "In that day nobody can stand." People say they want the "day of the Lord;" it says it's a HORRIFYING day. Ok, then verse 3, "Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him]." Now, people say, "Well, I don't know how to repent." It says right here HOW to do it. "Seek" mean this, it means, "To track down, to trace, to scent out…" in other words, to smell what God wants, "to perceive, to try to find, and to go to search for."

So, He's saying, "Seek." That's the first thing you start doing. Secondarily, "Inquire." "God, what are my sins? What are my sins?" "Well Lord, you know I'm better than the rest of these people, and you know I don't have any sins, and you know that I pay tithes of all that I make, and you know that I fast twice a week, and you know that I'm religiously really good. I'm in a good place with you." Huh-uh, INQUIRE, ASK HIM.

How many of you know that if you ask God: "Lord, do I have anything in my life I need to repent over? Lord, do I have any idols?" Come on, He'll show you. "Lord, do I have any attitudes that are displeasing you?" "Yeah, all of them." "Oh." Have you ever felt like your very existence is displeasing God? Thank God for His mercy, that's all I can say.

And then it says, "Require." Ok, Seek, inquire, and require. "Well, I…I think you drag this repentance thing out TOO FAR." No, I think you've got an avoidance complex with God! I've had people tell me—after I've borne witness of my own personal dealings with the Lord, and they'll say, "Well sister Deborah, the Lord never speaks to me like that." You know why? Because you've got a big red stop sign. "STOP! Don't come near me; stay there. That's your territory; this is mine."

But, if you seek, if you inquire, and if you require the Lord, then you will begin to repent—because you will see such things you cannot help but repent over. Because the truth of it is you're ugly, and so am I. We are all ugly in our carnality, and we are all displeasing God in some way or another. "Shameless nation, shameless nation, SHAMELESS NATION."

Hey, He's saying, "You guys are utterly shameless in your activity. So don't give it to me that you have no sin: you are sin!" So, going on, He gives us how we are meant to repent, "Seek the Lord, inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him," as what? "The foremost necessity."

Now, we didn't finish what "require" means. It means, "Ask or insist, be in need of" what? We need to know what we need to repent over. We need to pester God till He breaks down the STOP sign, and comes in on us, and tells us. "Show me wherein I have failed you. Show me wherein I have missed you. Show me where I'm displeasing you."

Come on, let's toughen up and enter into the presence of God. What are we living out here in some kind of LA-LA LAND ASSUMPTION THAT WE ARE FINE? Religious pride, that's all it is. It's religious pride. This country's covered in religious pride; it's a shameless nation still calling itself a "Christian nation."

Ok, "foremost necessity" means the very FIRST THING of importance in our lives. So it says, "Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land."

Do you want to know how to get humble? Start repenting. You want to know how to move into this time of repentance? Humble yourself and confess your faults, confess your sins, turn from the same, and turn fully unto God.

Then it says, "seek righteousness, seek humility." So, if we're going to be pleasing to God, it says, "For those that have walked right, seek humility, seek righteousness." And then it says, "[inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger." SO, WE'D BETTER REPENT, AND WE'D BETTER BOW DOWN, AND WE'D BETTER MAKE USE OF HIS TIME. Amen.

Ok, "foremost necessity" means the very FIRST THING of importance in our lives. So it says, "Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land."

Do you want to know how to get humble? Start repenting. You want to know how to move into this time of repentance? Humble yourself and confess your faults, confess your sins, turn from the same, and turn fully unto God.

Then it says, "seek righteousness, seek humility." So, if we're going to be pleasing to God, it says, "For those that have walked right, seek humility, seek righteousness." And then it says, "[inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger." SO, WE'D BETTER REPENT, AND WE'D BETTER BOW DOWN, AND WE'D BETTER MAKE USE OF HIS TIME. Amen.