THE PURPOSE OF PARENTHOOD

By James Wilson

            Famed pitcher and San Francisco Giants manager Roger Craig tells how his father did authentic parenting.  The dad left for work one summer’s day after instructing 12-year-old Roger to clean the garage before fishing or swimming.  Roger procrastinated until his father’s return was imminent, realized he had neither done his assigned task nor had any fun, and leapt to give that garage a lick and a promise before disaster struck.  He knew his dad always headed straight for the house on arrival, and he hoped for luck.  But Dad made straight for the garage, took a good look, and emerged into the driveway coatless and in the process of rolling up his sleeves.  He said, “Son, I am going to teach you how to clean a garage.”  Roger saw a trip to the woodshed in his immediate future.

            That’s not what happened.  Instead, the elder Craig spent two hours cleaning the garage while Roger watched.  As he headed for the house and a very late dinner he said, “Don’t ever betray my trust again.”  The son never did.

            Craig was perceptive enough to have seen the gift of leadership in his son and to mentor leadership by example.  But leadership’s other side is rebellion.  Dad was wise enough to understand that the best way – the Godly way – to discipline is by playing to our kids’ strengths instead of trying to break them of the dark side of those strengths.  I don’t say the rod has no place, but I do say discipline – as opposed to punishment – is a gift we can give our children.

            The Fifth Commandment – honoring fathers and mothers – is the first to include a promise – long life and prosperity.  (Some say the Third Commandment has a promise – the one about honoring Father God by not misusing His Name.)  But the fifth is about respecting the primary responsibility of parents to teach and impart relationship to God, including drawing forth the special gifting God places in each of His kids.  The injunction to respect parents is inseparable from the parents’ calling to teach and impart – it actually transcends obedience to the persons themselves when they fail or resist their role.  Our job is always to become the particular persons God created.  We are given parents to help us, but children are called to become people of God in spite of – even in opposition to –  their particular parents if that becomes necessary in order to walk with God.  In other words, the onus is on us more than on our children.

            God ends the Old Testament declaring He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children’s hearts to the fathers.  Yet in Luke 1 He prophesies the coming Messianic age of deliverance and resurrection to full humanity in the midst of unprecedented signs and wonders. In that context He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children regardless of the response.  That is how seriously God takes parenting.

            So what is the purpose of authentic parenting?

            The ancient covenant accepted by Christian parents baptizing their children expects them to raise children so they strive for justice and peace, and serve all persons in a love that transcends love of self.  They commit to raising children who speak openly of the source of their humanity in God, who see their humanity as a work in progress requiring periodic re-focus – and occasional course corrections – toward God in Christ, and continual submission to God through His Holy Spirit in terms of what He has revealed through Word, Tradition, and Encounter.  They are expected to understand that keeping these commitments is their purpose as parents. 

            There is plenty of room for debate as to how best to implement these principles, and plenty of hot air expelled between the denominations on the subject.  There are those who object to naming God as essential to the process, and they too are entitled to their perspective.  (I would love to hear how it works out to divorce the Creator of humanity from the process of becoming human.)  Others would wonder how food, shelter, and a loving family in which to grow into their full and unique potential got left out – but these things are pre-supposed in the covenant unless anyone thinks children reach their full humanity without them.

            The bottom line is that we are called as parents to raise our children for their benefit, not ours, and that old covenant provides an awfully good blueprint.  It provides an amazingly good blueprint for us parents to live out our humanity into the bargain.

            Maybe Somebody planned it that way.

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

WHEN TWO LAWS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT 2

By James Wilson

            In the classic Peter Weir film, Witness, Harrison Ford’s John Book, a straight arrow Philadelphia cop, fights drug dealing officers in his own police department.  The corrupt cops need to kill a young Amish boy who witnessed their execution of a colleague.  Book intervenes, becoming a target forced to flee with the boy and hide among the Amish.  Book and the Amish are seemingly from different planets.  They see him as living by “whacking” bad guys and he finds their non-violent ways incomprehensible.  When the bad cops find him he takes out two of them by his own skill and violent daring; the third gets the drop on him with a loaded shotgun before the Amish swing in to their own peculiar style of action.

            The old patriarch sounds a primitive fire alarm, bringing a hundred farmers running across their fertile fields.  Before the villain can silence Book forever there are a hundred witnesses confronting him – silently.  Book shouts that there are too many witnesses; they cannot all be killed and the authority of their witness is overwhelming.  The shotgun wielding criminal with a badge crumples to the ground, a beaten and exhausted foe.  While I am not an opponent of violence in all circumstances, I am convicted that this is the way Christians can re-claim our God-given culture and society in this season of rampant government lawlessness.  This is the way of assertive and unrelenting witness that is fired by the unlimited love of God and neighbor.  It is the way of a Christ Who cleared the temple of corruption with a whip but fought His greatest battle on the Cross.

            When we repent our complicity with the escalating corruption of a government determined to make itself a god – behaving and choosing what it claims God would do if He were actually present in human affairs – we bear witness.  When we band together and refuse to cooperate with a government that seeks to re-define and re-organize our families, our health care, and even our faith – we bear witness.  And especially as we decline to play the hate game and the blame game, but rather seek alternatives both positive and creative – such as volunteering in the schools to protect our children’s right to safety in their bathrooms without attacking those children who might compromise it – we bear witness to a God Who is not just all powerful and just but all merciful and loving.  We facilitate the overall education of our children by our presence, instead of merely addressing an issue that energizes us.  And – while this is a long way, and a way that lacks the satisfaction of “whacking” those we judge evil – it is the way of blessing, forgiveness, and communion.

            This approach is nonsense to those who do not serve the Christian God, and to many who do.  Our God says our weapons of spiritual warfare – the most important kind of warfare – are first blessing.  He says – in Romans 12:14 – that we are to bless and curse not, and what He blesses – Romans 8:28 – He ultimately transforms.  He gives forgiveness for the second weapon.  He says – in John 20:19-23 – that we are to go as He goes and forgive as He forgives – not those who deserve forgiveness, but those who do not.  Reality is the enemy of all life cannot stand on forgiven sin, but only on the unforgiven.  And finally He gives His very own sacred supper – offered in whatever way we might so long as it is in humility and dignity.  He says – from Psalms 23 to Luke 24:13-35 – that in that supper He is recognized by friends and foes alike, the former in thoroughgoing joy and the latter in panic driven flight.  The supper is to be celebrated boldly, publicly, and faithfully.  As we do these things we bear witness and He bears us.

  

            In 1999 the Williams Brothers were on a NorCal rampage.  After shooting a Redding gay couple to death in their bed they bombed an abortion clinic and torched three regional synagogues.  Police who had yet to identify the duo warned Jewish leaders     to increase security by building fences and installing alarm systems.  Redding area churches offered to come together – in a very public way – to plant a peace garden at our local synagogue.  We stood with the temple leaders in prayer and blessing.  Neither threat nor damage was ever done to the synagogue.  When leaders invited the pastors who stood with them to return and celebrate it was my privilege to preach the Gospel in the synagogue.  There really is something to this Word-of-God stuff.  There’s a lot to it.

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

Mission Accomplished

Do you remember the “Mission Impossible” TV show?   The opening images showed a tape about to destruct and a voice said “Your assignment should you choose to accept it………..”
 

Well I was reminded of that the other night when I awoke and the still small voice of the Holy Spirit gave me the phrase “Joy Fountain.”  I stayed with that phrase asking what it was about, and by the end of my prayer time I concluded that  “Joy Fountain” ---as silly as that may sound-----was an assignment the Lord God Almighty had for me and for you during these end times-----if we choose to accept it.

 

The more I pondered the phrase the more I saw how powerful it was.  In an increasingly dark world the Godly fruit of joy operates as a Light wherever it appears. When circumstances look impossible, real personal joy through Christ dispels the darkness and gives hope. The Lord wants us to be clean vessels, filled with His love and His joy, to attract many into His Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.  Like moths to a light, great numbers of unbelievers will come into His Kingdom if they see His joy shining through us.   In the dungeon in Rome, even in the worst of circumstances, the joy of the Lord shining through Paul had to have brought many believers into the Kingdom.  

 

And here’s the connection to days of repentance:  joy follows repentance!    Contrary to public opinion--- or belief in the overall body of Christ---- repentance is a good thing, a liberating spiritual exercise that increases intimacy with the Lord as He forgives our sins.    As we sincerely confess to Him what He already knows He forgives us.   The dead ways of the flesh and the traps of the world lose their grip. We can then further clean up our vessel by sincerely repenting:  in His Holy Name  we renounce the old sin patterns, humbly declaring to Him our intention now to turn from the flesh and the world to follow His  higher path of Purity.

 

Intimacy with Him builds.  Pure Joy then follows!

 

Three thousand five hundred or so years ago the Lord gave Moses a schedule for His key feasts of the Lord.   In so doing the Lord shows us how joy follows repentance. Five days after the most solemn day of the year, the Day of Atonement, comes the most joyful of all the feasts, a week-long feast of tabernacles where the Lord says: “... you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.” [Leviticus 23:40]

 

We’re connected on this website at the grassroots level now in 29 nations, with over 700 intercessors/ ministries, because the Holy Spirit nudged each of us to explore or re-discover the power of repentance.   We’ve participated in various days of repentance to humble ourselves and seek His face, to turn from our wicked ways so that He will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our lands.

 

Additionally, many have begun their own personal, every day discipline of repentance, expanding their prayer time each day to invite the Lord in to dine with them [Revelation 3:20], becoming more zealous to repent [Revelation 3:19], to become  an overcomer to sit with Him as He overcame and now sits with His Father [Revelation 3:21].

 

Do you remember the powerful statement the Lord Yeshua/Jesus makes in Luke 18: 6-8 as part of the Parable of the Woman and the Judge?  Here is how the Lord concludes that Parable:

 

 “Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said.  And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’”

 

For those of us with His Joy in us the answer will be Yes!  Regardless of circumstances, as dark as the days may become, you and I can be “Joy Fountains” all over the world.  The Joy of the Lord will be our strength, as Nehemiah knew. God willing thanks to His Joy we will be among those the Lord will find faithful when He soon returns.  Through repentance you and I can build up our joy.  Joy in turn will build up our faith.

 

Yeshua/Jesus points the way to Godly joy, a part of one’s character that only can be given by the Living God through the Holy Spirit.  For the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross.  And He says to us today:

 

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

~ John 15:11.

 

He wants you and me to be a “Joy Fountain” in our various communities.  Now, as in Mission Impossible, we have a choice.  If we embrace this assignment:  “joy through repentance”…watch our misery self destruct in five seconds!

 

Prayer:

“Abba Father, in Yeshua/Jesus’ Holy Name, we love You.  We worship You. We want to be Your Ambassadors of Joy even as we see darkness spread. Please open the floodgates of Your Joy into our vessels as we humbly submit to Your Sovereignty in our lives.  Let us reflect Your Light and Your Love and Your Joy in all circumstances.   May Your Joy be our strength.  Amen and Amen.”
 

 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,

and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

~Psalm 32:1-2 &-11

~By Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly

 

Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration

 

–Both are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website: www.dayofrepentance.org

 

or by emailing him at

 

jdalylaw@aol.com

 

Seal of Disapproval

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) was created in 1906 to help keep impurities out of foods.  Foods are inspected by this organization and then deemed acceptable for public consumption.  In America, I think we need to have the spiritual equivalent of an FDA.  For the rest of this blog, just consider me to be your friendly FDA (Fruit and Death Advisor) or “apple inspector.”

In order to be on guard for spiritual impurities, you need to “Know Thy Enemy.” Satan doesn’t come to you with a vial of smelly poison and say “drink up”.  Like the evil villains in a Disney movie, he proffers a delicious looking apple, or a promise of some desired benefit. 

By the time you’ve partaken, it’s too late…you’re DEAD (literally or spiritually).

This week I mentioned to people that Obama”care” has all the earmarks of a “Mark of the Beast” scenario.  I was scoffed at.  This is NOTHING like that! ...or so I was told.  According to all these people (who must’ve been big fans of the “Left Behind” series)…the Mark will come from someone with an enormous ANTICHRIST name badge who brands the numbers 666 on your forehead.  Maybe it should even have a little “seal” on it that says:  FDA approved by Satan—so that all of those who have been sinning, apostate and just plain asleep can now know it’s time to get serious.

THEN and only then…we’ll know that it’s the Mark of the Beast for sure. Right? 

I laughed at this ill-advised thinking until I realized how frighteningly sad it was.  Do you think the devil is going to be that obvious?  Lucifer is sneaky, devious, subtle…He comes as an “Angel of Light.”  Another person raised this objection:  No, no, no…Remember, when the Mark of the Beast arrives, you won’t be able to “buy or sell.” 

so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark

~Revelation 13:17

Well, let me explain something to you in case you haven’t been following Obama”care” closely.  You WON’T be able to BUY OR SELL insurance UNLESS you go along with (dare I say bow down?) to the HHS abortion mandate first.  You must willingly accept this marker as an indication of your consent.

 Let’s look at the scriptures:

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads

~Revelation 13:16

 If you take the time to study the scriptures, a mark on the “hand” or “forehead” signifies ALLEGIANCE.  It does not necessarily mean an ACTUAL written marking on your body:

Deuteronomy 6:8~Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Deuteronomy 11:18~Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Revelation 22:4~And they shall see His face and his Name shall be upon their foreheads. (Symbolic)

 In Greek, ‘Right-Hand’ is dexios which is derived from dechomai - to receive, accept, take willingly  - an exercise of individual power to receive/accept something or not.

The Greek word for "Forehead" is metophon.  It is derived from the word meta, which means accompany, participation, proximity, transfer or sequence and ops which means "face."

 

So the “right hand” or the “forehead” is SYMBOLIC…It means willing ACQUIESCENCE to an authority. 

When you sign up for Obama”care” your premiums and tax dollars will go to support Planned Parenthood—despite all of the previous false assurances to the contrary.  Employers will also be FORCED to provide abortifacients and birth control to their employees, regardless of their religious objections.  Abortifacients are abortion-inducing drugs that cause the demise of another human being.  In essence, you will become a

de facto murder accomplice.  

If you don’t sign up for Obama”care” coverage…you MUST purchase an insurance policy that has the SAME or SIMILAR type coverage in order to AVOID THE PENALTIES.  I don’t know about you…but I’ll take the monetary penalties and avoid this horrific penalty:

They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.

~Revelation 14: 9-11

So, when we add 1 + 1 + 1 together we get this:

If you sign up for Obama”care”:

1)  You are supporting the slaughter of innocents in order to obtain some personal “benefit.”
+
2)  You are doing this WILLINGLY--giving your mind (forehead/consent) and hand (hard earned money and/or signature) for this abomination.  
+
3)   IF you WILLINGLY accept this coverage, then you are REQUIRED (Rev 13:16) to do this or you may not “buy and sell” insurance (Rev 13:17) unless you are in accordance with this law.

Still not concerned?  Then review this scripture once more…the creepiest clue of all:

There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

~Revelation 14: 11b

Hmmm…what’s this program called again?  Is it NAMED after anyone?   Uh-oh.

I don’t know about you, but this is just all too close for comfort…

Pretty DAMN-ation close…if you ask me.

Just sayin’…

__________________

They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.

~2 Thessalonians 2: 10b-11

"A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven."

~James Madison (4^th President of the United States)

REPENTANCE PRAYER:

Lord Most High, we are in dire need of your assistance.  There are forces afoot that would attempt to destroy your Creation--Forces that seek to steal, kill and destroy your Church.  The Enemy is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  You said that we would have Life and have it more abundantly.  You said the gates of Hell would not prevail against your Church.  For your sake, O God, and based on the unfailing promises of your Holy Word, do not let the forces of Evil and Darkness prevail.  We ask the Righteousness, Peace and Joy would abound so that your name would be honored and glorified.  We believe that both Israel and America were formed for Your Glory—both nations Providentially placed under your Covenantal Contract to be a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people and nations globally. 

We acknowledge our failure to live up to our side of the Covenant.  We have NOT lived as we should.  We have NOT obeyed all of your commands.  We have NOT placed you first in our lives.  We confess that our nation is currently on a dangerous pathway towards the idolatry of Human Secularism which seeks to remove you from every aspect of our daily public lives.  And in doing so we have not only failed to follow in Christ’s footsteps to help “set the captives free”, but have become captives ourselves to a un-Godly philosophy that will ultimately destroy the very foundations of our country. 

O God, we sincerely repent of our personal and national sins.  We repent of the sins of omission as well as commission.  These sins include idolatry, murder, anger, stubbornness, dishonesty, corruption, greed, sloth, lust, envy and the ultimate sin of Pride.  We take no solace in the fact that some of us may not have personally embraced sins such as abortion or marriage redefinition BUT by apathy or indifference have allowed evil to flourish.  We have not followed your Biblical mandate to resist the Devil and have a passionate zeal for your commandments.

Master, please have mercy on us.  We beg for your grace and mercy.  We are undeserving of your mercy but your Holy Word says you are patient, kind, loving, merciful and longsuffering.  Please, because of who YOU are and not because of what WE are—hear our prayer and grant our petition this day. 

Then may all the kingdoms of the world truly know that YOU are our God and that we have no other gods but You.

May you get all the glory, honor and praise.  May your Kingdom come quickly and may your will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven. 

Amen.   

~Posted by Permission of Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly

Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration

–Both are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website:  www.dayofrepentance.org

or by emailing him at

jdalylaw@aol.com

WHEN TWO LAWS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT (Part 1)

            The Christian Scriptures instruct Christians to obey laws and respect those who adopt and enforce them.  Jesus orders His followers to “render unto Caesar” what is rightfully his. Paul states government is constituted as an instrument of God’s will for ordering human life.  But there are provisions for Christian behavior when government fails or perverts its mission.  In Acts 4 and 5 Peter and John are ordered by the Jewish high council to stop speaking in the Name of Jesus.  They reply that the council must do what it will, but they will obey God rather than men in cases of conflicting interests.

 

             Even then the default position is to operate within and through civil law.  Paul secures his chance to share his faith with the Roman emperor by appealing his case, not by storming the gates.  The greatest danger – when contemplating resistance to the state –  is that we will become self-righteous, step over the line, and excuse our own bad conduct with a “they made us do it” attitude.

 

            That said, I believe the Church has reached the uncomfortable position of Peter and John.  California laws SB 1172, AB 777, and SB 48 forbid psychotherapists to help gender confused youth on the one hand and compel teachers to declare homosexuality is good on the other – regardless of professional judgment or religious conviction.  Authorities in several states punish businesses for declining same-sex marriages albeit referring people to houses that will service them.  The Obama Administration penalizes refusals on faith to purchase abortions for employees.  I am not even mentioning cases of citizens forbidden to name or discuss God in public settings from shopping malls to city councils.  These violate First Amendment rights and the numbers keep rising.  Many are too intimidated to seek legal assistance, although it is readily available.

 

            Some law abiding citizens have had their guns confiscated and many laws are being adopted or proposed that clearly trash Second Amendment rights.

 

            It is not all about constitutionality.  AB 1266 – the Bathroom Bill – expects school children to tolerate opposite sex members using their bathrooms if they feel like the gender they are not.  This is potentially traumatizing to more than 99% of children and risks access for sexual predators – they come in all ages.  This law may not violate the constitution, but it certainly begs the right of children to be safe at school and should be intolerable to any parent.  It is not unconstitutional to charge landowners a tax labeled a fire fee and refuse to refund fees already collected when a court orders the state to do so – it is just plain illegal – and another example of government operating outside its own parameters.  But it is not acceptable, and should not be accepted.

 

            We won’t even start with murder in Benghazi, mobilizing the IRS to harass political enemies, or spying on law abiding citizens because government has the means to do it.  We’ll just ask what a law-abiding citizen who serves God should be doing about the situation.  There are at least two things that pass Biblical muster and promise positive results.

 

            First, enter a process of identificational and personal repentance.  We are not talking about wearing a hair shirt or beating ourselves up.  Of course repentance includes – usually begins – with a no-holds-barred self examination.  Repenting on behalf of lawless government officials means asking what issues of pride, self centrality, and the arrogance of playing God might motivate outrageous abuse of power.  But we had better turn that same unblinking eye on ourselves because none of us is any better than the people we choose to lead us.  Jesus says as much in Luke 13:1-5.  But repentance is useless if we do not use the opportunity re-focus on God, to seek a clearer vision of Who He is and the persons He would create us to be.  That’s the good and the lifegiving part. 

 

            Second, we enter a process of providing positive alternatives to the status quo we deplore.  To use the Bathroom bill as just one example, what would happen if churches trained a large number of parents and grandparents to volunteer on campuses to patrol restrooms and – gently and lovingly – tell the boy who wants to use the girls’ room he will have to wait until the girl inside comes out.  Would the schools benefit across the board with a host of new volunteers seeking only to bless as they protect?  Reality is that it is time for Christians to stand together to say, “No.”  But remember the One to Whom we say, “Yes,” is far more important than the ones to whom we say no.

 

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

 

Truly Free Coverage

Rock of Ages, cleft for me.  Let me hide myself in Thee.

~Hymn written in 1763

 ______

Recently, an archeological dig in Israel uncovered what is believed to be the “Harbinger Bricks” from this verse in Isaiah 9:

The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones

This find has special significance in light of Jonathan Cahn’s best-selling book “The Harbinger” which claims America is due for a major catastrophe similar to the one that occurred in the ancient nation of Israel.  The Israelites were dragged away into Babylonian Captivity in 586 B.C. after refusing to repent from their wickedness despite repeated warnings from God.  Needless to say, they never got around to their grandiose rebuilding project. 

According to Cahn, all nine “harbingers” or warnings of pending doom have already manifested in the United States.  Unfortunately, we have not heeded any of these calls with national repentance yet so…it’s “crunch time.”

Revelation mentions judgment coming in three “waves” of seven for a total of 21 judgments.  The first seven are called “seals”--God literally pulls the “seal of approval” from his covenantal, bridal nation. Like a cheating, treacherous bride, our deceptive veil will suddenly be ripped off and we will be UNCOVERED. 

Interestingly, Obama”care” seeks to provide new “coverage” for our nation--  coverage for a multitude of sins.  It covers free birth control to encourage a continued profligate sexual culture (can you say Sandra Fluke?).  It covers abortions funded by American health policy participants who will now also have innocent blood dripping from their hands.  It covers abortifacients, now forcibly requiring employers to provide these death-producing drugs as part of their prescription plan.      

I believe we have seen some Revelation type judgments already:  the Newtown shootings, Navy Yard massacre, Boston Bombings, Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey Boardwalk Fire, Oklahoma epic Tornado, California Wildfires, and “Biblical” floods in Colorado.  Maybe you are thinking in comparison to the sound of the Revelation judgment descriptions:  “That wasn’t so unusual.”  Maybe your little section of American paradise hasn’t even been affected yet.

But like hurricane and tornado ratings, these judgments ramp up EXPONENTIALLY.  Let me explain:  The difference between a Hurricane Level 1 and a Hurricane Level 2 is not incremental.  That is, a Hurricane Level 2 is not just slightly or moderately worse than a Hurricane Level 1—it is DOUBLE the force and DOUBLE the damaging power.  The same rule applies to tornadoes.    

So it is with the Revelation judgments.  After the seal judgments comes the trumpet judgments.  Trumpet judgments will be exponentially worse than the horrors listed above and, like the reveille trumpet used to wake military personnel at sunrise, these are designed to give us a mega-WAKE UP CALL!  I can’t even imagine a storm double the devastation of Hurricane Sandy or a tornado double the size of the one in Oklahoma which had the highest winds ever recorded and the widest swath of damage on record.   

God help us…if this isn’t enough to send us straight to our knees in repentance, the third level of judgments in Revelation is BOWL judgments.  As in:  God will DUMP AN ENTIRE BOWL of judgment on our heads to get our attention.  Bowl judgments are so horrific, that the scripture says:

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 those days will be shortened.

~Matthew 24: 21-22

  

God’s grace period is almost over…Sign up today.  You will particularly want to make sure it includes a….

Life Insurance Benefit

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

~Psalm 103:2

 

A dreadful battle must ensue. Almighty God, cover the heads of our countrymen, and be a shield to our dear friends..."

~Abigail Adams

REPENTANCE PRAYER: 

Lord Jesus/ Yeshua, we hear You. You are knocking at the door of our hearts. Help us to discern Your voice clearly. Teach us to open the door of our hearts to You. Help us to repent of our old sins, Almighty God. Purify us Lord and give us a heart of wisdom. We want to be arrayed in fine linen. We want to be part of Your Bride. Help us to turn from our old ways that are wicked and become more like You.  We personally add our individual acts of repentance today to similar acts of repentance in Your Church body and our communities. We pray that You will hear from heaven, forgive our individual sins, and the sins of our nation. Please heal our land. We pray in Your Holy Name above all names, AMEN."

~Posted by permission of Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly (Founder of National Day of Repentance)

Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration

–Both are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website: www.dayofrepentance.org

or by emailing him at

jdalylaw@aol.com