“Then drew (came) near unto him all the publicans (tax collectors) and sinners to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth (welcomes) sinners and eateth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me: for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just (upright) persons which need no repentance.
Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it?
And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which was lost.
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:1-10
There is no comfort even close to the comfort in knowing that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he will leave his flock and search the world over for that one little lamb.
And it does not matter to him, where that lamb has been, what that lamb has done, he doesn’t question the little lamb, harshly berating it and asking, “What is wrong with you!? as we sometimes fear because of human reactions we have endured.
No, He just puts the little lamb on his shoulders, not even willing to further weary it through having to walk back over treacherous terrain, and carries on his own shoulders back to safety among his flock.
Rejoicing with his friends, in our case, truly with the angels of Heaven, themselves who are rejoicing because they know the truth, they know all about the devil and they see all the evil of this earth, they see the little lambs run away, often not because of something they themselves did, but more often what had been done to them, running always because they have been deceived into falsely believing that God does not love them and God will not forgive them or that if God were real these things would not happen, not understanding that God does not cause these things and only God can undo the damage, giving beauty for ashes healing every hurt, making all things new.
If you are that little lamb today or if you are a little lamb that is struggling with doubts or troubles that are keeping you dangling on a spiritual ledge, please, talk to him, and just whisper his name, he knows where you are and he wants nothing more than to rescue you and I promise, he will never leave you and you will never be the same.
You are never so lost that you can’t be found by the one who created you!
Blessings & Love to you today!
Φλογιζω NBJ 2022/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson *Revisited 04/17/2023
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Judges 2:8-13: “And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side the hill Gaash.
And also allthat generation were gathered unto their fathers (had died) and there AROSE ANOTHER GENERATION after them, which KNEW NOT THE LORD, NOR YET THE WORK WHICH HE HAD DONE FOR ISRAEL.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and FOLLOWED other gods, of the gods OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE ROUND ABOUT THEM, and bowed themselves unto them, and PROVOKED THE LORD TO ANGER.
AND THEY FORSOOK THE LORD, AND SERVED Baal and Ashtaroth (pagan Canaanite “deities”demons).”
About my title… I actually like wolves, the furry animal ones and believe in supporting conservation of their habitats and their protection, so this is going to be about those OTHER wolves.
The spiritual ones and we all know that they are among us and they do try to fit in and fake you out as to their true identity but those are just one type of wolf, I want to talk to you about another.
Just plain old run of the mill wolves, ones who are just naturally exactly what they are. Never been saved, never even thought about it, just spend their lives doing whatever they want, whenever they want and usually not much of it is good.
Wolves run in packs, but they always have a leader,or leader ‘couple”, not always by being the strongest, but by taking care of the needs of the pack, knowing what the pack needs and making it happen and sometimes they will take in young pups to raise as their own and make them a member of the pack.
I am quite afraid this is the major problem so many Christians have in staying the course for Christ. If you had been “raised” up in the world by parents or a parent that did NOT serve God or teach you anything about God or exposed you to false religions, and you had grown up in a home with drinking, partying, and all the things that come with that, while maybe socially acceptable, maybe even holding to some value system, still in no way has prepared you to live a life with behavior fitted according to the standard of God.
Kinda like, the old phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” more less, do as your parents, your friends, do as you have been taught. What about those little pups that are adopted into the pack?
Same deal, we respond as we have been taught. I do know that some things God just places in us at birth, that deep intuition knowing right from wrong and that little tugging that sets off the alarm that even when a wolf says something that is happening is okay, you know, by that feeling in your stomach that it really isn’t.
The Lord instills that in us that no matter where life takes us that we will long for more, we will know there is more than just this life, and we will one day break away from the pack and seek that which we have never known and have never been taught because one day we realize that just because the pack takes us in and raised us as their own, still DOES NOT MAKE US A WOLF.
Often when you announce your salvation people will seem genuinely happy for you and they will even congratulate you, encourage you, and wolves especially will sometimes confess they “probably need to get saved too” and this all seems good.
BUT if you have been “raised by wolves” I promise you all they are doing is marking off your new territory as their new hunting ground and they will soon want you to get you back running with the pack.
And I have seen this far to many times, someone will get saved and soon the old friends show up along with the old habits, and the old ways after God has delivered them from that bondage because you can’t be a lamb and run with wolves!
People end up back on drugs, back out in sin because they refuse to “lose their life” in order to find it and listen to the wrong people.
Matthew 16:24-26: ” Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
I understand this somewhat referred to the deaths of his followers BUT I also believe He was also referring to the loss of our lifestyles, friends, and anything we have surrendered at the cross in order to serve Him. Denying ourselves is denying the will of the flesh and the desire to return to the behaviors and sin we were freed from.
2 Corinthians 5:17: ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATURE (creation) : OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW.”
ALL NEW! Doesn’t get any better than that, every sin, every failure, every mistake covered by the blood and washed away FOREVER! And we’ve got to keep it that way!
You know the best defense against a wolf? STAND YOUR GROUND they want you running when they attack, so you have to stand your ground and they will back down and back off and you can’t let them keep hanging around.
Here’s the WORD on it, to go back to our starter verse, Judges chapter one deals with how the tribes were told todestroy the inhabitants out of the lands God had given them and the fact that many did not destroy them but rather kept company with themand they were soon visited by an angel of the Lord to be reminded of WHAT they had been told.
Judges 2:1-4: “And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said , I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I SAID I WILL NEVER BREAK MY COVENANT WITH YOU,
AND YE SHALL MAKE NO LEAGUE(treaty) WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THIS LAND; YE SHALL THROW DOWN THEIR ALTARS: BUT YE HAVE NOT OBEYED MY VOICE: WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS?
WHEREFORE I ALSO SAID, I WILL NOT DRIVE THEM OUT FROM BEFORE YOU: BUT THEY SHALL BE AS THORNS IN YOUR SIDES, AND THEIR GODS SHALL BE A SNARE UNTO YOU.”
Never heard it? Well, we have now, if we do not throw down those spiritual altars, you know all the things that have been more important than God, all the spiritual altars where God-given virtues have been sacrificed for the pleasures of this world. And have no relations with the “inhabitants” of the land of your past, because the will be allowed to become a thorn in your flesh and their “gods” of drugs, sex, and money will become a trap to you. So watch out for those wolves, they are real, and they are devious, never trust them, don’t listen when they start to howl and don’t back down when they growl, stand your ground and they will quit coming around!
Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017
*Repost, 01/28/2023* This was just on my heart to share, hope it blesses, and encourages someone today!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, THAT THEY MAY REST FROM THEIR LABOURS; AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.” Revelation 14: 13
Ahh, tomorrow, here in America, we celebrate “Labor Day”.
A day of course, set aside to honor the hard-working men and women who make our country strong and whose diligence in countless areas of service keep the economic ball rolling for our nation.
And also there are so many, such as nurses, doctors, firemen, emergency workers, repair people, and food service employees, many whom are actually required to work on Labor Day.
I do admit that while pondering the best “spin” to propel the thought of the post, that I felt the need to tell all of you, I am NOT a Ballerina, nor do I dance, but this is for me, in relaying this message, that I am performing a grandiose version of “Swan Lake” WHILE wearing steel-toed work boots.
So if it seems a bit “ungraceful” and if the heavy boots donned during the dance step on toes, including my own, please pardon. I would also like to point out that this is notfor new converts to Christ, this is for “seasoned” workers of the Kingdom, who once knew these things and now just need a “note attached to their time cards” to remind them that they can lose benefits due to poor job performance.
Better to hear it now, than to hear, something much like what Jesus told the Disciples, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour IS at hand…. Here, my friends is the first of the very awkward “dance moves”, I must make, We can not work our way to salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-10: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man boast. For we are his workmanship (creation) created in Christ Jesus unto (for) good works, which God hath before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them.”
Notice in our first verse the voice said that they may rest, and Jesus told them to take their rest.
There is a very clear difference between trying to do our own work that we think is good enough for salvation, which again is an impossibility and doing the work that God preordained us to do.
And then to decide that we will take our own rest rather than to have him grant us that rest.
But we still are required to work in the Kingdom. And I believe in grace! I thank God for grace! I could lay at His feet for a thousand years just thanking Him for the grace He gave me, saving me, a miserable creature who in no way deserved that grace!
And that is what Paul was referring to. I have heard some on television completely blow off the judgements and really come against the teachings of those judgments.
I can’t figure this out because God has a Bible full of people WITH that job, without the forced warning from Jonah, Nineveh would have never repented, it was the warning God sent that made them aware that they were doing wrong and the Bible is full of warnings.
My Goodness, People! To reiterate this for anyone who has not read prior ancient posts, there ARETWO Babylon’s, the first ancient Babylon, the Prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the destruction and judgments against it.
BUT Jeremiah also proclaimed the judgment and destruction of future, spiritual Babylon.
The fulfillment of this is what is spoken in Song of Solomon 7:9: ” And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, (smoothly) causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.”
Jeremiah wrote the judgments that the Lord had commanded, Jeremiah 50:62-64: ” Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be a desolate for ever. And it shall be when thou hast made and end (finished) reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast (throw) it into the midst of Euphrates ; And thou shalt say, thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her…”
There is so much Bible prophecy linked up with the Euphrates, it has angels ‘bound in it that will be released and it dries up to prepare the way for the mighty war… Has this already happened? No! Neither has many of the absolutely horrifying events foretold, but we have hope in the sealed words of the seven thunders and that is why we need to be so diligent now.
The fulfillment of the words of Jeremiah are Revelation 18:21: ” And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more.”
No matter what country a person chooses to believe that “Mystery Babylon” IS, one fact remains.. This is Bible and this will happen and those who live in that country will be going about everyday life, many unsaved and completely unaware of these prophecies yet to be fulfilled, and many morewho have been force-fed “grace” to the point that they think they do no wrong in the eyes of a Holy God and have been taught that repentance and work are not a even a requirement in our modern day and suddenly“Babylon” is attacked, from all sides and without warning, other than the Biblical truths of teaching of Jesus in how we know these things shortly come and to be living lives accounted worthy to escape these things, Babylon will be destroyed in one hour, one day from off the face of the earth.
How can anyone be perfectly comfortable not sharing the Gospel, not leading others to Christ, not using the gifts and talents he has given them?
How about all those who sit in bound in chains of demonic bondage of drug addictions, pornography, alcoholism, and so many other bondage, when God has given someone the prayer of faith, given someone the gift of healing and miracles, and others sit in dread and terror, while God has already given someone a word of knowledge, and a word of prophecy, a word to be “fitly spoken in due season” that would free that person’s mind and bring the peace they need.
Gift after gift, talent upon talent, wasted and unused, because we are too busy, too lazy, too comfortable to be the light that he left us here to be while the world suffers in almost pitch black darkness, no wonder Jesus warned us, Revelation 2:4,5: ” Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick (lampstand) out of his place, except (unless) thou repent.”
Anyone want to argue that He does not expect us to work for the Kingdom?
So, if you are saved, sure, you are saved but when our work is tried by fire to ensure purity and purpose, motive, and measure, and the Lord gives crowns and rewards and treasures in heaven, you will come up lacking and the saddest part is the difference made in the difference that should have and could have been made in someone else’s life will have been left undone on your shift.
The work he asks is quite simple, Love Him, spread His love, go to His house, worship Him, Keep His commandments, and Honor Him in your life and in advice you give others, do as He asks when He prompts you in heart, help someone else to carry their burdens, show mercy and be kind. And he is not asking much!
And one thing you do not want to do is ever let Him catch you sleeping on the job, you may just sleep your way right through a God-given opportunity to impact this world while we still barely have enough light left to work by.
If you doubt any of these things pray, read your Bible, and try something so simple as watching the news. It is here people, nothing is changing it and maybe those who preach against preaching warnings really believe that they can just get everyone saved and bypass the judgments.. well, could be true, those saved and raptured WILL be spared many things, but what if those who did just simply omit these thoughts, these verses, find themselves on that day, not accounted worthy and NOT escaping these things and left here to do a job that should have been done right the first time!
Love and peace, don’t kill the messenger. My ministry started with this thought, my very first post PLEASE WAKE UP !!! on a church site that God had blessed me to write for, it was November 2013 and I was so scared that everyone would hate me, but now it is not fear of hate, it is anger, every time I see those who are hurt, wounded, and know that things could change, if we would change.
God said if we “would humble ourselves” but see that is still the problem, it is all about us, when it should be about Him, the Kingdom, and the work that needs done.
It is so sad that so many are still sleeping on the job, but I have come to believe that maybe, as we know great revival comes during great persecution, that maybe it is going to take quite a wake up call… please don’t wait too late.
And if you are working for Christ, volunteer with Him for more work! Offer to do the jobs others won’t and He will bless you for going that second mile when your brother has only asked you to go one!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, TOSSED with waves: for the WIND was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night (the blackest, darkest hour) JESUS WENT UNTO THEM, WALKING ON THE SEA.” And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they CRIED OUT FOR (because of) FEAR. But STRAIGHTWAY (Immediately) JESUS SPAKE unto them, saying,BE OF GOOD CHEER(have courage) IT IS I ( I AM ); BE NOT AFRAID.” Matthew 14:25-27 Through the journey of this life many times we find that we are that ship, the waves crashing and tossing us about, unable to catch balance tossed with that horrible great wind that is blowing down on us in the worst possible hour. The fourth watch, when we have been tossed by the raging waves of trails of life and circumstances that we have no control over. Trails and troubles that comes just as a part of this life for us and for all others. But when you add that horrid wind, that cold, fierce blowing of the fury of the enemy, because he loves to kick you when your down and it is always during last stretch of the night. He thinks of it as this, you are already weak, tired, and completely exhausted, just worn out from the hours you have already battled through the dark and he knows if he can get you to lose focus that this night is never going to end, he will destroy your faith in God. Notice Jesus came in that hour, Jesus knew where they were, he knew what they were battling and he knew at what point they would break IF he did not step in. Being in an exhaustive state it is hard to see whose hand is whose and this was Jesus coming to their rescue but they were so mentally drained that they were afraid that he too was more trouble headed their way. When they cried out (as we cry out to Him) it was then that he said IT IS I, and encouraged their faith. Peter was so distraught, he needed reassurance, just as we too sometimes need to know that He is aware of what we are going through, that He really is there, and that He really is going to take us through the night. “And Peter answered and him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come to thee on the water. And he said, Come, And when Peter was down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. BUT when he SAW THE WIND boisterous (violent) HE WAS AFRAID, he cried, saying Lord, SAVE ME.” Matthew 14:28-30 Jesus had given him that reassurance that he was aware and was completely on the scene, and at the comforting voice of his Lord he began to walk on those horrible waves that had held him as their terrorized prisoner only moments earlier. In life, we sometimes feel like we can’t catch a break. We think we see the shimmer of the morning starting to break through and then the darkness only returns with even more blackness and wind howling. We feel like as soon as things are finally looking up something happens and it all crashes in on us. “And IMMEDIATELY JESUS STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND, AND CAUGHT HIM, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, Wherefore didst thou ( why did you) doubt? And when they were come into the ship, THE WIND CEASED.” Matthew 14:28-30 So many troubled waters, waves of sickness, waves of financial woes, waves of worry about our children and their futures, waves of family issues, the winds of past hurts and unresolved heartaches and the stone cold blow of lack of closure to doors of the past. It all rocks, it tosses, and that wind will blow. But Jesus came through in that darkest most tempestuous hour, even though they thought they couldn’t make it, HE KNEW when they couldn’t and by allowing Peter to walk on those waves, he was really showing him something. People are so mean about Peter, they are always pointing out the fact that he temporarily slipped, but how many of them have ever been in Peter’s sandals? We can look at others and think well, this or that, but until we have truly, truly been in their shoes we don’t know how we would react, but Jesus does and he knows what we can handle has nothing to do with what we FEEL like we can handle. Storms to weather, giants to fight, crosses to bear, and no one likes it. I have yet to meet a Christian who jumps up in Church and shouts “Woo, hoo bring on the storm!” I have fought some hellacious giants, there are battles that I am not sure that I will win in this earth but I know if I hold on and keep the faith, that even if it is at the feet of the Lord in New Jerusalem that the battle will have been won. There have been times when warnings to church has come that storms were brewing and I’d be like, please, please no, no more storms. We all go through it and some are worse than others and there is always someone else whose storm makes ours look like a sunny morn. I never will forget the testimony of a certain preacher, I love to hear him, he straight shoots, preaches hell, fire, brimstone, mingled with love and compassion and all with a comedic edge that can make you dig where he is coming from without making you want to hide under the pew. He often made remarks about his childhood that confused me, because his Mom is an awesome woman and I couldn’t figure out how all this happened to him. One night he told us what God had brought him from, he had been born to stoned parents who had a house full of kids, and kept having kids, he told us about watching his baby sibling die, believing the baby may have frozen to death because there was a hole in the ceiling with snow actually falling in, and he kept a crew cut all the time and had a very visible scar on his head, he went on to tell us that he received that after opening a can of food without permission and being hit with the still attached to the can, jagged top. When he and his siblings rescue came, he was eleven and his Mom later told me that he was barely dressed and wearing a ladies top. And to know him now and to know that God stepped in and changed this child’s life and fulfilled HIS PURPOSE for him, placing him with a good family that would teach him of a God that loved him despite what that horrible storm he had lived in for eleven years had tried to convince him of. Don’t try to wait out the storm to pursue the things of God for your life. The young man who asked Jesus if he could “bury his father” before following him was answered by “Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” It will not always easy, but sometimes we have to stop fighting with things that are dead, and trying to change things that will never be changed, and accept them as such, and go on in our walk with the Lord. Sometimes we have to take what we have and work with it, even if we think we are lacking what we “need” to get the job done. In the story of Elisha, we are introduced to him as he is plowing a field having only eleven oxen, now we know that can’t be done and that is why we are told that HE HIMSELF IS THE TWELFTH OXEN! Field needed plowed, he needed an ox, so he did what had to be done. He could have said well, whenever we get another ox, I’ll take care of that field, but he didn’t. So the giant you face is monstrous, the cross is growing might heavy, and that wind is threatening to smash your ship to smithereens, BUTJESUS IS RIGHT THERE. He will slay that giant, He will give you His strength to make that cross lighter to bear, and He will lead you BACK TO SAFETY AND THAT STORM WILL CEASE. Morning will come breaking through and at the end of it all, that little ship will be stronger, having weathered that dreaded storm, it will now be a proven sea worthy vessel, those giants won’t look quite so tall when you know the hand that is stretching out to catch you is the hand that controls it all. Just so someone out there will know, this is NOT what I had planned for today, and He showed me things in this I had never noticed and I feel his presence with it, I will never pretend to know your pain or tell you life will be great, but one day the storm will pass and maybe sooner than you know! I want to leave you with this, quote it, memorize and keep it to your heart: Psalm 56:3 : “WHAT TIME I AM AFRAID, I WILL TRUST IN THEE.” May God bless you and keep you, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Φλογιζω/ all rights reserved. NBJ/2015 **REVISTED 08/24/20222**
Awesome song, hope it will encourage you Shared from YouTube
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that HAVE NOT SEEN, AND YET HAVE BELIEVED.” JOHN 20:29
Faith. Faith is a funny thing and sometimes we can have faith to move a mountain and then sometimes our faith errs more on the side of the mountain moving us. But we do have it, whether we always use it or not it is very much there. God told us that to all believers we are given the measure of faith and to some, even the gift of faith.
Even in our lost pre Christ days, we still have faith in things working at certain way, and cause and effect of all situations , things that are without question as, just being and working as they should and no one has to tell us otherwise. But when it comes to the Kingdom and believing for the afterlife, it gets tangled, many have no problem with the reality that as magnificent as it is, they were formed inside the womb, they grew, and bodies and minds faced amazing changes, and all taken for granted as a bald, toothless, helpless person soon started to walk, talk and explore the world and they believe this happens because it has been proven over and over as each child is born.
They could easily believe in Jesus because they had seen Him, they walked with Him, ate with Him, learned from Him and now were witness to absolute living proof that He had indeed raised from the dead. I truly believe that we are born with a knowledge deep inside of us that there is so much more than this life and even those who don’t want to seek the Lord still end up spending their lives seeking something, anything to fill that void. they seek false religions, seek paganism, humanism, and the never-ending search for alien life forms:
2TIMOTHY 3:7 “ EVER LEARNING, and NEVER able to come to the knowledge of the TRUTH.”
As those who profess to be wise, boy, we could list some doozies right there, reputable for their “brilliant” minds and lead countless people straight to hell because they detest God and want everyone else too also and have done a great job convincing the secular world that not only does he not exist, but that those who believe are of a Neanderthal intelligence.
And yet, Jesus said that we are BLESSED. Starting with those who are crushed, afflicted, and wounded in their souls:
BLESSED are the poor in spirit; for their’s IS the kingdom of heaven.
BLESSED are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
BLESSED are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
BLESSED are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
BLESSED are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
BLESSED are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
BLESSED are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
BLESSED are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.
BLESSED are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. REJOICE, and be exceedingly glad: for GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” MATTHEW 5:3-12
Notice our rewards ARE in heaven, in the afterlife in which we must believe and as my last post, I know that there are those who do believe and yet refuse to accept Christ. Whatever reason, if it is just peer pressure from friends or spouses, that the world will just not think your cool anymore, you’ll be laughed at or mocked.
Well , He said when you “lose your life” for His sake, you WILL find it. When you are ready to give up the fake friends and false bravado and humble yourself into the hand of a mighty God, then, and only THEN you WILL begin to live as you were created to, and that life WILL be eternal and all the Blessing of God WILL come upon you and your life.
What most people fail to realize is this, we ALL influence someone, there is always someone who watches how you live your life and the decisions you make WILL affect them. If you choose Life eternal, how many more could you bring unto that life? If they saw the change in you and your acknowledgment of God, how can that affect THEIR eternity?
And if you refuse eternal life, you are exchanging that blessed state for an eternal cursing and again all who follow you and your ways will be more inclined to that path of destruction also.
And being a “Closet Believer” is the equivalent to being an unbeliever, Jesus said you are not condemned because you do believe but yet in not acknowledging Him to those in your life, then it like being married to a person and hiding them from your family and friends as if you are ashamed of your association with them. Being ashamed of a person means that you acknowledge them as that person you just don’t want anyone else to know that you know them.
Which is what makes it clear that in this verse, Jesus was SPEAKING to those who DO BELIEVE in HIM:
LUKE 9:25,26: ” For what is a man advantaged (benefitted) if he gain the whole world, and lose himself (be destroyed), or be cast away (lost)? For WHOSOEVER SHALL BE ASHAMED OF ME AND OF MY WORDS, OF HIM SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE ASHAMED OF, WHEN HE SHALL COME INTO HIS OWN GLORY, AND IN HIS FATHER’S, AND OF THE HOLY ANGELS.”
So if we deny Him here on this earth, if we are too proud, too stubborn to admit we need Him, even though we believe in him, it will be counted as nothing.
Because we have chosen to deny Him in front of our peers, He will then deny us in the presence of the host of heaven itself and as He said, what will it profit then? What will anyone give in exchange for their own soul? At that time there will be no more opportunities to make it right.
So you see, BELIEVING is not quite enough, even the “devils” believe in one God and tremble”. They BELEIVE because they know He exists but they are still going to hell because they knew the judgment of God and chose to rebel against Him. It is like “having a form of godliness and DENYING the power thereof.”
Like all who are saved from the least to the greatest among disciples and all the saints, NO ONE is of a higher standing than another in the eyes of God, and just as Nicodemus came to Him by night, so many in our world today want to do the same, come to Him under the cover of the night, come to Him in secret with the plea, “I believe, but I can’t let others know” a sad cop-out.
Well, there is only one way: ROMANS 10:9-11:
” That if THOU SHALT CONFESS WITH THY MOUTH THE LORD JESUS, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED. FOR WITH THE HEART MAN(HUMANS) BELIEVETH UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS; AND WITH THE MOUTH CONFESSION IS MADE UNTO SALVATION. For the scripture saith, WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH ON HIM SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED.”
Pretty point on there, we must first believe in our hearts through faith that HE IS and we must then confess that belief openly and willingly, and then at His coming we will not be ashamed.
So we all have a choice, surrender while there is time, call on Him while He is nigh, answer the door as He knocks on our hearts, and for the record, if you are straddling this fence and putting off until tomorrow the decision for Christ, when you are not guaranteed a tomorrow to make that decision, I want you to know, if He has allowed this to come to you, you have consented by reading it, you are bound by it, you will never be able to stand before the Lord and plead blissful ignorance to these things, “to know to do good, and do it not, is a sin unto you”, heed this carefully.
You have been presented with YOUR choices, accept Him, and His Word, His Blessing, or reject Him and His blessings and keep the world, shun the Son, but know that one day, it will be you that He will shun.
Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016 Original post 10/15/2015 REVISTED 01/27/2021, & 08/12/2022
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“Then drew (came) near unto him all the publicans (tax collectors) and sinners to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth (welcomes) sinners and eateth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me: for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just (upright) persons which need no repentance.
Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it?
And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which was lost.
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:1-10
There is no comfort even close to the comfort in knowing that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he will leave his flock and search the world over for that one little lamb.
And it does not matter to him, where that lamb has been, what that lamb has done, he doesn’t question the little, harshly berating it and asking, “What is wrong with you!? as we sometimes fear because of human reactions we have endured.
No, He just puts the little lamb on his shoulders, not even willing to further weary it through having to walk back over treacherous terrain, and carries on his own shoulders back to safety among his flock.
Rejoicing with his friends, in our case, truly with the angels of Heaven, themselves who are rejoicing because they know the truth, they know all about the devil and they see all the evil of this earth, they see the little lambs run away, often not because of something they themselves did, but more often what had been done to them, running always because they have been deceived into falsely believing that God does not love them and God will not forgive them or that if God were real these things would not happen, not understanding that God does not cause these things and only God can undo the damage, giving beauty for ashes healing every hurt, making all things new.
If you are that little lamb today or if you are a little lamb that is struggling with doubts or troubles that are keeping you dangling on a spiritual ledge, please, talk to him, and just whisper his name, he knows where you are and he wants nothing more than to rescue you and I promise, he will never leave you and you will never be the same.
You are never so lost that you can’t be found by the one who created you!
Blessings & Love to you today!
Φλογιζω NBJ 2022/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
We all have a Bible, one we often take for granted. Humor me for a moment, if you will, close your eyes and picture a man tied to a stake surrounded by fodder and as a crowd looks on, now imagine him being strangled and set on fire, his last words spoken on this earth having been a prayer, that God would open the eyes of the King of England. That is the price William Tyndale paid. He was fluent in eight languages and it was his soul desire to bring the true word of God to the smallest of the world. Despite constant adversity and the destruction of his work, he carried on. The last seventeen months of his life spent in prison diligently translating the Old Testament into English, a work which was completed by a friend after his death.
So much of the true roots of the church and sacrifices made by others to give us the freedom we have today have been all but forgotten. Replaced by agendas of man-made doctrines, and denominational bickering over who is going to hell, because they hold a slightly different view. I’m still pretty, pretty sure that only God has the authority to make that judgment.
Picture again, if you will, a man driven to near madness after the murder of his wife, and with his people enslaved to England he decided to lead a revolt against their oppressors. Being quoted as once having said “Fight and you may die, run away and you will live at least for a while, and dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies, that they make take our lives but they will never take our freedom” Picture this man tortured, disemboweled, and emasculated while still alive, his tormentors repeatedly offering him a quick death if he would renounce his acts. Sir William Wallace would not. He died for his beliefs and because of his thirst for freedom and his love for his people he endured. Just as Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:22 “Ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” It is time for us to follow that burning in our souls. What is your hearts desire today? What group of people whose suffering brings tears to your eyes and breaks your heart? What is the still small voice of the Lord prompting you to do? The world will always smash your dreams, that is why you don’t look at the world. Some of the wisest words ever spoken were “Anything that is worth having is worth fighting for.” What if Tyndale had just given up, and said “Oh, well, sorry” and never translated another word or destroyed his own work. What if Wallace had pledged allegiance to England and surrender a breath of God save the King? We would be at the mercy of someone else concerning our salvation, we would be told only what they wanted us to believe. Scotland would now be a distant memory, a land only visited in history books. The sad reality is the “church” as it was created to be is also in danger of becoming a memory, a place to be visited in history books, well actually secular schools would never want to acknowledge churches existed, so maybe passed down through folklore. It is time to stand up against false doctrines and blatant sin that has opened up shop under the guise of a “church”. If we never breathe a word against injustice, whether it be human rights, animal rights, or the false doctrines hiding behind the misuse of the word Christian, we all become guilty by omission. Not to speak against it is as the same as condoning it. Jeremiah could not stop that fire in him, you shouldn’t either, let it out, “If God be for you, who can be against you?” And if they refuse to listen, take it as a compliment! ” For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears (ones who tell them what they want to hear) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables (believe lies) But WATCH thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 God had us warned throughout the New testament that these days would come, the false teachers would come and the false prophets and at the time of Paul’s writings, he said they were already here! Imagine now. Stand for the truth, let it be known, Let the lord lead you and guide you and stay in his word. Share the truth and if it falls on deaf ears, don’t worry, you have done your job and while they are still here praying to their God of gumdrops and lollipops we will be at the biggest Jewish wedding the universe will ever know!
Original Date: 12/29/2013.FOWC/Avenue Rev. Nina Brown Johnson 2015 REVISITED 02/05/2022 Φλογιζω also listen as podcast at: https://anchor.fm/phlogizo
Post note: I realize the Wallace quote was used in the movie, but it is nevertheless listed with quotes accredited to him.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, THAT THEY MAY REST FROM THEIR LABOURS; AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.” Revelation 14: 13
Ahh, tomorrow, here in America, we celebrate “Labor Day”.
A day of course, set aside to honor the hard-working men and women who make our country strong and whose diligence in countless areas of service keep the economic ball rolling for our nation.
And also there are so many, such as nurses, doctors, firemen, emergency workers, repair people, and food service employees, many whom are actually required to work on Labor Day.
I do admit that while pondering the best “spin” to propel the thought of the post, that I felt the need to tell all of you, I am NOT a Ballerina, nor do I dance, but this is for me, in relaying this message, that I am performing a grandiose version of “Swan Lake” WHILE wearing steel-toed work boots.
So if it seems a bit “ungraceful” and if the heavy boots donned during the dance step on toes, including my own, please pardon. I would also like to point out that this is notfor new converts to Christ, this is for “seasoned” workers of the Kingdom, who once knew these things and now just need a “note attached to their time cards” to remind them that they can lose benefits due to poor job performance.
Better to hear it now, than to hear, something much like what Jesus told the Disciples, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour IS at hand…. Here, my friends is the first of the very awkward “dance moves”, I must make, We can not work our way to salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-10: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man boast. For we are his workmanship (creation) created in Christ Jesus unto (for) good works, which God hath before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them.”
Notice in our first verse the voice said that they may rest, and Jesus told them to take their rest.
There is a very clear difference between trying to do our own work that we think is good enough for salvation, which again is an impossibility and doing the work that God preordained us to do.
And then to decide that we will take our own rest rather than to have him grant us that rest.
But we still are required to work in the Kingdom. And I believe in grace! I thank God for grace! I could lay at His feet for a thousand years just thanking Him for the grace He gave me, saving me, a miserable creature who in no way deserved that grace!
And that is what Paul was referring to. I have heard some on television completely blow off the judgements and really come against the teachings of those judgments.
I can’t figure this out because God has a Bible full of people WITH that job, without the forced warning from Jonah, Nineveh would have never repented, it was the warning God sent that made them aware that they were doing wrong and the Bible is full of warnings.
My Goodness, People! To reiterate this for anyone who has not read prior ancient posts, there ARETWO Babylon’s, the first ancient Babylon, the Prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the destruction and judgments against it.
BUT Jeremiah also proclaimed the judgment and destruction of future, spiritual Babylon.
The fulfillment of this is what is spoken in Song of Solomon 7:9: ” And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, (smoothly) causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.”
Jeremiah wrote the judgments that the Lord had commanded, Jeremiah 50:62-64: ” Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be a desolate for ever. And it shall be when thou hast made and end (finished) reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast (throw) it into the midst of Euphrates ; And thou shalt say, thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her…”
There is so much Bible prophecy linked up with the Euphrates, it has angels ‘bound in it that will be released and it dries up to prepare the way for the mighty war… Has this already happened? No! Neither has many of the absolutely horrifying events foretold, but we have hope in the sealed words of the seven thunders and that is why we need to be so diligent now.
The fulfillment of the words of Jeremiah are Revelation 18:21: ” And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more.”
No matter what country a person chooses to believe that “Mystery Babylon” IS, one fact remains.. This is Bible and this will happen and those who live in that country will be going about everyday life, many unsaved and completely unaware of these prophecies yet to be fulfilled, and many morewho have been force-fed “grace” to the point that they think they do no wrong in the eyes of a Holy God and have been taught that repentance and work are not a even a requirement in our modern day and suddenly“Babylon” is attacked, from all sides and without warning, other than the Biblical truths of teaching of Jesus in how we know these things shortly come and to be living lives accounted worthy to escape these things, Babylon will be destroyed in one hour, one day from off the face of the earth.
How can anyone be perfectly comfortable not sharing the Gospel, not leading others to Christ, not using the gifts and talents he has given them?
How about all those who sit in bound in chains of demonic bondage of drug addictions, pornography, alcoholism, and so many other bondage, when God has given someone the prayer of faith, given someone the gift of healing and miracles, and others sit in dread and terror, while God has already given someone a word of knowledge, and a word of prophecy, a word to be “fitly spoken in due season” that would free that person’s mind and bring the peace they need.
Gift after gift, talent upon talent, wasted and unused, because we are too busy, too lazy, too comfortable to be the light that he left us here to be while the world suffers in almost pitch black darkness, no wonder Jesus warned us, Revelation 2:4,5: ” Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick (lampstand) out of his place, except (unless) thou repent.”
Anyone want to argue that He does not expect us to work for the Kingdom?
So, if you are saved, sure, you are saved but when our work is tried by fire to ensure purity and purpose, motive, and measure, and the Lord gives crowns and rewards and treasures in heaven, you will come up lacking and the saddest part is the difference made in the difference that should have and could have been made in someone else’s life will have been left undone on your shift.
The work he asks is quite simple, Love Him, spread His love, go to His house, worship Him, Keep His commandments, and Honor Him in your life and in advice you give others, do as He asks when He prompts you in heart, help someone else to carry their burdens, show mercy and be kind. And he is not asking much!
And one thing you do not want to do is ever let Him catch you sleeping on the job, you may just sleep your way right through a God-given opportunity to impact this world while we still barely have enough light left to work by.
If you doubt any of these things pray, read your Bible, and try something so simple as watching the news. It is here people, nothing is changing it and maybe those who preach against preaching warnings really believe that they can just get everyone saved and bypass the judgments.. well, could be true, those saved and raptured WILL be spared many things, but what if those who did just simply omit these thoughts, these verses, find themselves on that day, not accounted worthy and NOT escaping these things and left here to do a job that should have been done right the first time!
Love and peace, don’t kill the messenger. My ministry started with this thought, my very first post PLEASE WAKE UP !!! on a church site that God had blessed me to write for, it was November 2013 and I was so scared that everyone would hate me, but now it is not fear of hate, it is anger, every time I see those who are hurt, wounded, and know that things could change, if we would change.
God said if we “would humble ourselves” but see that is still the problem, it is all about us, when it should be about Him, the Kingdom, and the work that needs done.
It is so sad that so many are still sleeping on the job, but I have come to believe that maybe, as we know great revival comes during great persecution, that maybe it is going to take quite a wake up call… please don’t wait too late.
And if you are working for Christ, volunteer with Him for more work! Offer to do the jobs others won’t and He will bless you for going that second mile when your brother has only asked you to go one! BTW, HAPPY LABOR DAY!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Revelation 6:9-11: “And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying How long, O long, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be (will be) killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”
So much for not remembering being on earth, not only do they remember, they know they were murdered and they want justice. I think the preppers have the right ideal they just need a little guidance.
They know something is coming and are attempting to prepare for it, they know they will not be able to buy what they need and will need to protect themselves.
They just don’t know exactly why, yet, the answer to that question can be answered with nine words, the anti Christ and the mark of the beast.
It is imperative that we really start getting THIS Gospel out.
The chapters of the book no one wants to preach, because it usually scares people, which can run them away and for money churches that is not a viable option, because money and prestige are far more important than saving souls. For others they just do not want to have to deal with it.
But who does? It is scary and anyone who thinks I enjoy this part of my job, you better pray and think again.
I have spent years studying these scriptures and crying countless tears because I KNOW what is coming and people can blow me off or laugh, but as with the prophets of old, the day came that they found out that it wasn’t so funny anymore.
But I am sure you do your job, and this is mine.
I often use this analogy that I feel is very accurate, If you saw someone who you knew to be completely deaf standing on a railroad track, facing backward to a speeding freight train, that they could not hear or see coming, would you try to pull them out-of-the-way or would you just stand and watch them die?
I see a world full of people on that track! I see the freight train speeding toward them and I am very, very afraid that there is not much time left to pull them from that track.
Then those who laugh because they find this so funny so outrageous, because their deafened ears can’t hear the sound of that train, in their pride and arrogance they choose to believe that it is not coming, and this is when the laughter will stop.
The laughter will stop when millions of people disappear without a trace from the face of the earth. The laughter will stop when world events others had tried to warn them of begins to unfold all around them. The laughter will stop when what everyone thought was a prosperous peace for all deal goes south after three and a half years. The laughter will stop when the anti-Christ reveals his true plans demanding that everyone in the world must worship him. The laughter will stop when all must pledge allegiance to him by taking his mark. (Satan’s counterfeit to the sealing of the servants of God) The laughter will stop when those who wish to resist will suddenly find that no amount of money, no credit cards, not even pure gold bars will purchase food, medicine anything they may need because without his mark you will not be able to sell or buy.
How long can you live without food, water, shelter, heat. What if a loved one is sick, what about medicine, or baby diapers or milk? Now would be a good time to ask the church you found so amusing for help, but wait the church is no longer there.
It has been taken, those who trusted God are now protected against the fulfillment of these days.
Maybe you can hold out for a while with the goods you have on hand, but the days will follow shortly after most have been marked and it will be a little harder to hide, then they will give you one final choice, you take this mark or you die.
Think this is bad, well it can get worse, because if you happen to live in “Mystery Babylon the Great” you will not even have the option of beheading.
It will be destroyed from the face of the earth in a separate judgment and once all this begins those living there, will just simply be dead, and never have the chance to repent again. By this point all laughter will have ceased.
But I still want to give hope, I do believe the mark will get a lot of them, because lets face it people are so sold out to Satan now and they’ll bust your head over a good deal at Christmas, so why would half of them even resist?
I know there are those who worry about being tricked or chipped into taking it.
But I promise you this can not happen. Jesus loves us all too much to let us be tricked into losing our souls and he has angels proclaim this. Everyone will be conscious of their decision.
Revelation 14: 6-11: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto the earth, and every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory: for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture (meaning full force) into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Jesus said in Luke 21:17-19: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair on your head perish. in your patience possess ye your souls .“
Revelation 2:10,11:“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: Behold, the devil shalt cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” He tells us to keep our patience, don’t give up your soul, because you will arise just as he did, death will have no power over you and no matter what they do, not one hair will be lost upon resurrection.
Revelation 14:12,13: “Here in is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice out of heaven saying unto me, Write. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord henceforth ( from this point forward): Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them in them.” This is their blessing:
Revelation 20:4-6: “And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word ofGod, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads or hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection. Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him one thousand years. As these things take place, and the signs are all around, with many already being martyred as those who have been martyred through the ages, God will then begin to rain judgment on this earth, upon all who did not heed the call of the angels, but that is a subject for another day.
Original Post Date: 09/19/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015
Edited and new links added 2019 REVISITED 08/22/2021 now more than ever we need to keep faith that this world is only temporary but one day we will reign with the eternal King!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then those that are alive and remain (are saved) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore COMFORT one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
The rapture of the church, the return of the Lamb to retrieve his Bride, having paid her bride price with his own blood. Giving his life that she may live, the ancient Jewish customs proving faithful as the souls of believers confess “You are my Savior” echoing “I am my beloveds and he is mine.” Having gone away to prepare a place for her, being reminiscent of the protective, seclusion of the wedding canopy. He will now return with the army of his companions to take her away to the “secret dwelling place of the Most High” until all things can be fulfilled on earth. And he does this because we could not bear to witness the carnage and bloodshed that will overflow this earth. As in Ezekiel, when those who were supposed to be his servants filled his temple with filth and abominations, at the cries of his people who could not stand seeing his temple defiled, he then determined that the end for them had come, he called forth his angel
Ezekiel 9:4-6 “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men ( humans) that sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing (so I could hear), Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary.” Just as judgment must begin at the house of the Lord. He always deals with his people first and we shall see one day just as with this story, what will become of those who hold doctrines not quite true to the word of God.
Lets do a little mirror image on this and see the reflection. Revelation 7:2,3 “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”
As all things foreshadow those which are to come, only it will come on a much grander scale.
Revelation 9:4 “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”
We who are alive and have remained faithful to our bridegroom and kept our faith, will be removed from this earth just as he protected Noah and his family from the flood. Lot and his daughters were spared from the destruction of Sodom, on behalf of the intercession by Abram.
This is what the Lord speaks over us: Isaiah 26:19,20 “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead. Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut the doors about thee: hide thyself as it were, but for a moment, until the indignation be overpast.” We must be ready when that call comes, because only those who have accepted Christ will be in this gathering. Those who remain on this earth after the rapture of the church will only be saved by refusing to worship the anti-Christ and refusing the mark of the beast, and being beheaded for that refusal.
Maybe people who may not yet be ready to commit will soon see, all we need to do is watch the news. Israel is almost completely surrounded by enemies as the Lord said would happen and the heart breaking beheading of the first two journalists revealing an eerie clue, the first a Christian, the second a Jew. Facts probably unknown at the time to their captors, all things are prophetic when you look at what is really there. So to all who are not saved, please do not wait, if you feel the tug of God, please accept him before it is to late. You do not want to be left on this earth.
His promise to us: Revelation 19:7-9 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
And he said unto me. Write. Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. and he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
Please accept his invitation, because this is one dinner you do not want to miss.
Original Post Date: 09/19/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina Brown Johnson 2015 REVISTED 08/21/2021 This is one of the subjects people always wonder about when dealing with scripture, and now more than ever when you look at this world you can see just how close this day is dawning.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Ah, Jaded. What a lovely word, normally a beautiful stone used to adorn beautiful things. but in the right context, not quite so lovely on us. We are to press toward the mark, to earn the crown of righteousness to one day lay at the Master’s feet, beautiful I am sure, pure gold just like His word and His truth that refines our souls purer than the purest of all gold. But if that crown happens to be embellished with a little jade, what’s it going to hurt? Well what was to be made of precious metal will now consist of hardened stone. What should have shone with heavenly brilliance and reflected the Fathers light will now dull and now have an odd color and an indifferent feel. That crown will be inferior and will tarnish and once that happens it will never be presentable before a King. All that work, all that heartache, tears,and sacrifices, whatever had been involved in winning that crown will now be useless and disallowed and burned with the stubble in the fire in which all things must be burned away in that purification process of the soul. So what causes us to go from that ecstatically exuberant joy that we are bathed in the day of our salvation to the “j” word over the course of that salvation? I have pondered it, in myself and in others and I have come up with a couple of reasons. In my circle our favorite subject is “Christendom of Yore” I know that they had problems, I know they had battles, and that females were to sit quietly and express no thoughts or opinions, to which I am thankful to be in the present day or otherwise my heart would explode!
Jaded: Deadened, injured, weary, tired, apathetic, blunted, blasé (indifferent or unimpressed) dispassionate, half hearted. Remember apathetic. So how does our beautiful golden crowns become inlaid with flat, dulled jade?
#1 Fatigued, battle weary We are in or nearing, in my belief, “the wearing out of the Saints” it seems no matter who they are, rich, poor, married or single that Christians are being constantly bombarded with a steady stream of attacks from the enemy unlike ever before. Usually people would face one battle at a time but now it seems many fight multi battles on different levels and I am reminded of Nehemiah 4:17: “They which builded on the wall, and they which bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work (working) AND WITH THE OTHER HAND HELD A WEAPON.” Trying to “work” on our building for the Lord, and whatever he has called us to do being carefully on guard against attacks at all time, never a moment to rest, never a moment of ease by not having to look over our shoulders because this work must be done and many want it to cease.
#2 Blasé and unimpressed “Heard it, believed it, didn’t happen, not buying it again” I want to be very, very careful how I say this, but one huge problem running amok over the last few years is “Believe it, receive it, Doubt it and do without it” I am ALL for faith, and I know what scripture teaches on believing for what we do not see, but miracles and healings are in a special, special league all their own. Miracles are instantaneous and the moment that you are healed you know and there has been such a free for all of proclaiming healings over people and “feeling” like the “Lord is saying” that some teach that all you have to do is proclaim it and “believe” (which is actually different from faith, belief is in your heart and faith is knowing come what may He is God and He is sovereign) and when people are hurting, love ones are dying and they are told this and someone actually proclaims that they are healed then they die and the bewildered family are told they just did not have the faith or that they received the ultimate healing. And no one admits to maybe having misspoke or trying to pray “in faith”, often people want to reach out to others but in this area it is best to pray the Lord’s prayer, “deliver them”. ( I do understand that Paul perceived that the man had faith to be healed BUT Paul was filled with the HOLY GHOST, he KNEW when the anointing came that GOD would grant his request FOR THE GLORY TO THE LORD, not so he could win preacher of the year!) BUT NO,NO,NO, NO! When they have believed based one what they were told by Christians that they trusted and if it DOES NOT happen, this leads to apathy and causing them to lose more faith than what would have been lost if they had known the truth, this has caused many to leave church completely. But IF GOD truly says it, it will come to pass. #3 Apathetic and Blunted: “They don’t care, why should I?” The beginning of the journey all fired up, feeding off on another’s anointing, iron sharpening iron, the spirit bearing witness. Now that is good, but when things start to change and the one you once loved to listen starts coming against you for whatever reason, what was once a beautiful flow will become a dangerous hindrance in the spirit world. Two swordsmen fighting each other with equally dangerous weapons and that unspoken carnage will spill over onto the entire congregation. And the swordsmen are prime to have the Lord to take both their swords. And that once sharp iron will become dull and blunt rendering it absolutely ineffective against the enemy. That apathetic “blah, blah, blah” attitude will breed into so much more than a covering of jade. When this hit me, I knew the meaning of jaded, I wanted a clearer list and broader understanding and as I kept defining meanings, two fascinating words appeared, stemming FROM the jaded definition of apathetic, LUKEWARM and LAODICEAN. Yeah, and we all know what that means, so all these things left unchecked will lead to being lukewarm and we also know that is the condition in which Jesus said he will spue us out. So how do we clean that jade off before it takes hold of the gold? Renewing, renewing and renewing our minds, “let this mind which is in Christ Jesus be in you also” renewing our minds through scripture back into the word of God. Reminding ourselves repeatedly of every single promise that we have been given. As Nehemiah prayed that God would “strengthen the work” of his hands so must we. He will never allow us to break, when we are weary, it is His right hand that holds us up, when our heads are bowed in discouragement it is His left hand that lifts our face. When we desperately, desperately need a word to hang onto or a glimmer of hope, remember “What time that I am afraid I will trust in thee” and that He will be with us “even unto the end of the world” and sometimes that can be when we feel that our world is ending, but He will never leave us. Remember our first love and “remember thy love more than wine” and know that even though we don’t always feel it, the only approval we need is His. No one can zap us into heaven and no one can deny us heaven if we don’t let them, no matter who has hurt us it is still up to us to “work out” our “own salvation” if that means finding another church, then do it because God is not the author of confusion. Forgive those that have hurt you, just let it go and go on and don’t even try to understand it, God doesn’t want us to waste time over analyzing and ever analyzing what went wrong yesterday, because He already knows what tomorrow will bring. I have found in my own life that every painful path that I have had to walk down led me to a more beautiful place and at the end of that road I may not have liked the circumstances that lead me there but I have always been thankful for the journey because of the blessings in that valley that He has given me and I know that I would never received that on a mountain top. Sharpen that sword and get that crown polished because no matter how tired, how weary, lethargic or depressed you may feel, you’ve been furnace fired to be pure gold and that jade is just never gonna look good on you! Φλογίζω / NBJ/ All rights reserved 2015 REVISTED 07/29/2021
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for the good of them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose.
For whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay any thing to the charge (against) of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, FOR THY SAKES, WE ARE KILLED ALL THE DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors throughthat loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, ,nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.“Romans 8:24-39
That is probably very familiar scripture, but sometimes we need to be reminded of the basic Gospel. Sermons we hear and then are replaced by thoughts and words of other sermons over time.
My daughter, like most kids, when she was little, loved Pooh Bear,of course she is all grown up now, but being a parent I still have a pretty good memory of lines from her favorite repeatedly watched cartoons, I actually still remember lines from shows that my niece was fascinated with, it just kinda gets stuck in our heads, but anyway of the cutest from Pooh was when they were on a great adventure and Tigger in rambunctious Tigger fashion pipes up and says, “You have to remind your remember-er” and cartoon or not, that is actually quite true.
The distance between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm can sometimes seem so vast that we can “forget” what we once knew so well.
When we are saved and everything is new and beautiful, freshly washed from sin and the newness of Christ shining brightly in our hearts, souls, and minds can over a period of time be overshadowed by the cares and troubles of this world, just as Jesus said in the parable of the seeds.
We can find ourselves questioning everything and I even imagine that when Paul wrote that, he had been through that battle himself, probably more than once, as he was imprisoned more often than he was free, as we know because of his refusal to stop preaching Christ and preach he did.
His life was a testimony of God changing the heart of he who once was the greatest persecutor of the first church to becoming one of the church’s greatest leaders that had ever been or would ever be.
And the fact that everyday, probably innumerable times a day, some of us quote or study, or share the words Paul wrote while in those dark places of his life is such a testament to not only the sovereignty of God over the plans he had for the life of Paul, but the sovereignty over the plans he has for all the lives he has created.
Maybe you feel today, like “Well, that was Paul.”, No, that was Paul, but that was also all Christ’s disciples, that was you, that was me, that is every human being God sends to this earth.
We ALL have a purpose, we all have a divine appointment, an appointment to accept Jesus and to know him in his resurrected glory and power working in us and in our lives, whether or not we keep that appointment is completely up to us.
And if we have not accepted Christ we can’t lay claim to the promises of the Bible because without repentance there is no forgiveness of sins, doesn’t mean that God does not have a beautiful plan for your life, just means that you choose follow your own plan and forgo the blessings and fellowship of your Creator, but you still exist because he created you whether you choose to acknowledge that or not.
And if you have chosen God and life is getting the way of your happiness with sorrow, sadness, or uncertainty, please don’t think for a second that it changes in any way, God sovereignty over your life or his plans for you.
That is why he had us given the beautiful words above, saying, surely these things come, but they will never separate you from him or from the love he has for you.
You were fearfully and wonderfully created, as all things are and were created for him and by him and for his pleasure, scripture tells us this quite clearly and your life is precious to him and your life. even though you may not feel it now, is very important to others and as the called of God, you may feel that the best of life has passed by or there is nothing left to be had, but our thoughts are not God’s thoughts and his ways are not our ways. you may not have even yet began the journey he sent you here for.
You are here at this time, in this season, by divine will and following him, and surrendering to him, you will be strategically placed exactly where you were created to be for whatever purpose you were created for.
So don’t give up, keep pressing on, remembering that he will work it all for your good and don’t settle for anything less than God’s best for your life.
And if you have been believing for something and it has not come to pass yet or if you have a special promise in your heart from God that you are waiting on and your beginning to feel like if it hasn’t happened by now, it’s never gonna happen, read the stories of Abraham and Noah, and remember how long that the Hebrews waited for deliverance ,time is a condition only us humans have, God forever keeps his promises as long as we keep ourselves in him.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil (calamity), to give you an expected end (a future and a hope).” Jeremiah 29:11
That is his promise to his children and that promise is to you!
Have a blessed week! Praying God’s encouragement and peace will be yours!
Φλογιζω NBJ 2021/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that HAVE NOT SEEN, AND YET HAVE BELIEVED.” JOHN 20:29
Faith, Faith is a funny thing and sometimes we can have faith to move a mountain and then sometimes our faith errs more on the side of the mountain moving us. But we do have it, whether we always use it or not it is very much there. God told us that to all believers we are given the measure of faith and to some, even the gift of faith.
Even in our lost pre Christ days, we still have faith in things working at certain way, and cause and effect of all situations , things that are without question as, just being and working as they should and no one has to tell us otherwise. But when it comes to the Kingdom and believing for the afterlife, it gets tangled, many have no problem with the reality that as magnificent as it is, they were formed inside the womb, they grew, and bodies and minds faced amazing changes, and all taken for granted as a bald, toothless, helpless person soon started to walk, talk and explore the world and they believe this happens because it has been proven over and over as each child is born.
They could easily believe in Jesus because they had seen Him, they walked with Him, ate with Him, learned from Him and now were witness to absolute living proof that He had indeed raised from the dead. I truly believe that we are born with a knowledge deep inside of us that there is so much more than this life and even those who don’t want to seek the Lord still end up spending their lives seeking something, anything to fill that void. they seek false religions, seek paganism, humanism, and the never-ending search for alien life forms:
2TIMOTHY 3:7 “ EVER LEARNING, and NEVER able to come to the knowledge of the TRUTH.”
As those who profess to be wise, boy, we could list some doozies right there, reputable for their “brilliant” minds and lead countless people straight to hell because they detest God and want everyone else too also and have done a great job convincing the secular world that not only does he not exist, but that those who believe are of a Neanderthal intelligence.
And yet, Jesus said that we are BLESSED. Starting with those who are crushed, afflicted, and wounded in their souls:
BLESSED are the poor in spirit; for their’s IS the kingdom of heaven.
BLESSED are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
BLESSED are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
BLESSED are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
BLESSED are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
BLESSED are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
BLESSED are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
BLESSED are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.
BLESSED are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. REJOICE, and be exceedingly glad: for GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” MATTHEW 5:3-12
Notice our rewards ARE in heaven, in the afterlife in which we must believe and as my last post, I know that there are those who do believe and yet refuse to accept Christ. Whatever reason, if it is just peer pressure from friends or spouses, that the world will just not think your cool anymore, you’ll be laughed at or mocked.
Well , He said when you “lose your life” for His sake, you WILL find it. When you are ready to give up the fake friends and false bravado and humble yourself into the hand of a mighty God, then, and only THEN you WILL begin to live as you were created to, and that life WILL be eternal and all the Blessing of God WILL come upon you and your life.
What most people fail to realize is this, we ALL influence someone, there is always someone who watches how you live your life and the decisions you make WILL affect them. If you choose Life eternal, how many more could you bring unto that life? If they saw the change in you and your acknowledgment of God, how can that affect THEIR eternity?
And if you refuse eternal life, you are exchanging that blessed state for an eternal cursing and again all who follow you and your ways will be more inclined to that path of destruction also.
And being a “Closet Believer” is the equivalent to being an unbeliever, Jesus said you are not condemned because you do believe but yet in not acknowledging Him to those in your life, then it like being married to a person and hiding them from your family and friends as if you are ashamed of your association with them. Being ashamed of a person means that you acknowledge them as that person you just don’t want anyone else to know that you know them.
Which is what makes it clear that in this verse, Jesus was SPEAKING to those who DO BELIEVE in HIM:
LUKE 9:25,26: ” For what is a man advantaged (benefitted) if he gain the whole world, and lose himself (be destroyed), or be cast away (lost)? For WHOSOEVER SHALL BE ASHAMED OF ME AND OF MY WORDS, OF HIM SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE ASHAMED OF, WHEN HE SHALL COME INTO HIS OWN GLORY, AND IN HIS FATHER’S, AND OF THE HOLY ANGELS.”
So if we deny Him here on this earth, if we are too proud, too stubborn to admit we need Him, even though we believe in him, it will be counted as nothing.
Because we have chosen to deny Him in front of our peers, He will then deny us in the presence of the host of heaven itself and as He said, what will it profit then? What will anyone give in exchange for their own soul? At that time there will be no more opportunities to make it right.
So you see, BELIEVING is not quite enough, even the “devils” believe in one God and tremble”. They BELEIVE because they know He exists but they are still going to hell because they knew the judgment of God and chose to rebel against Him. It is like “having a form of godliness and DENYING the power thereof.”
Like all who are saved from the least to the greatest among disciples and all the saints, NO ONE is of a higher standing than another in the eyes of God, and just as Nicodemus came to Him by night, so many in our world today want to do the same, come to Him under the cover of the night, come to Him in secret with the plea, “I believe, but I can’t let others know” a sad cop-out.
Well, there is only one way: ROMANS 10:9-11:
” That if THOU SHALT CONFESS WITH THY MOUTH THE LORD JESUS, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED. FOR WITH THE HEART MAN(HUMANS) BELIEVETH UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS; AND WITH THE MOUTH CONFESSION IS MADE UNTO SALVATION. For the scripture saith, WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH ON HIM SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED.”
Pretty point on there, we must first believe in our hearts through faith that HE IS and we must then confess that belief openly and willingly, and then at His coming we will not be ashamed.
So we all have a choice, surrender while there is time, call on Him while He is nigh, answer the door as He knocks on our hearts,
(and for the record, if you are straddling this fence and putting off until tomorrow the decision for Christ, when you are not guaranteed a tomorrow to make that decision, I want you to know, if He has allowed this to come to you, you have consented by reading it, you are bound by it, you will never be able to stand before the Lord and plead blissful ignorance to these things, “to know to do good, and do it not, is a sin unto you”, heed this carefully)
You have been presented with YOUR choices, accept Him, and His Word, His Blessing, or reject Him and His blessings and keep the world, shun the Son, but know that one day, it will be you that He will shun.
Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016 Original post 10/15/2015 REVISTED 01/27/2021
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get the up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid: say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God!
Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand (strength), and his arm shall rule for him: behold his reward is with him, and his work (wage) before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”Isaiah 40:9-11
I love Dumas, I love the Musketeers, I love the sword fights , I love the Chivalry, justice, honor, and especially mercy in mercy out policies that were a must for his heroes and use them a lot in my writing.
But my all time favorite is “The Man in the Iron Mask”, and the intrigue behind the actual person behind that legend. But my thought with it comes from a line from the movie version, my total favorite version of the movie is the one from the seventies starring Richard Chamberlain, I was ten and thought he was the most handsome man on earth, whom I was totally going to marry one day when I grew up 🙂
But anyway in the newer version after the foiled coup the good guy is captured again and as he makes his pleas to his sadistic psychotic brother to just kill him instead of putting him back in that mask and to which his evil twin rants and screams with no mercy.
And as strange a comparison that this may be it just reminds me of how the enemy and even ourselves can try to put us back into the iron mask that that God has delivered us from.
The mask that we either were fitted when we were bound by the shackles of that are sometimes just part of being born into this world, just as Jesus always taught us, and this world is full of evil and only through accepting his salvation , and his peace, can we allow his grace to guide our lives and above resting in the assurance that through him we can overcome and live for him so that we will with him.
The mask that we sometimes find ourselves in when we are faced with difficulties so far beyond our control and pain that we just can’t deal with so we try our best to hide the hurt, the grief and function through life, at work at home or sometimes even at church. When we try our best to smile and “go on” when secretly inside, behind that mask we really just want to lay down and cry.
But God and life has a way of bringing us out of that because we tend to see “hiding” our emotions, “working past the pain” somehow as “protecting” ourselves, our hearts, when it truth it is the opposite of that, it is not about being “courageous” it is actually about fear and not so much as being brave but rather our human fear of being broken.
Jesus specializes in broken, in fact we have to be broken, broken from our thinking and our false sense of self reliance so that we can accept him and him he desires for us, which is to live a life authored and finished by him.
Trusting him in everything and trusting him in our pain and trials and being who he has created us to be and that can require moments and times of revealing our vulnerabilities to others around us and most of us are not ever entirely comfortable with that. And that uncomfortableness leads to fear and fear makes us want to hide.
2nd Timothy 1:7,8: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be thou not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel with me according to the power of God.”
God gave us liberty through his salvation, because as Jesus told us, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
And that truth is knowing in his word and knowing in him that this world and the suffering, pain, and sorrows is just a little while as Paul had described a “thorn in his flesh”, that the messenger of Satan had come to buffet (beat) him, as Paul went on to explain what translates to this, if he never went through troubles or faced difficulties or things he could not handle he would have became cold and exalted, and he would have never been effective as a representative of Christ.
But because Paul did not hid from us (his future readers) or from those around him, his troubles and his pain, and most of all his vulnerabilities, he effectively allowed the power of God to manifest in his life and that power to effect others.
I want to remind us all again with 2 Corinthians 12:8-10: “For this thing I besought (PLEADED with) the Lord thrice (on three separate occasions) that it might depart form me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength (power) is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly thereforewill glory in my infirmities (weaknesses)that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distress for Christ’s sake: for When I am weak, then I am strong.”
Of course was by no means saying he loved trouble or going through all the turmoil that he did, but he is saying, to us, that by embracing the things he had no control over and seeing them in a different light and doing as we were commanded and “counting it all joy” that he discovered the true meaning of Christ with him and he and all around him saw the evidence of God’s power on his life.
And he wrote these words, and Jesus had him record these words to give hope and encouragement to those of the time, those who came before us and us now.
When God stripped away the “mask” of Saul, as Saul persecuted Christians and sought to destroy the church through violence, hatred, and self righteous, he became Paul and the power of God gave him the ability to show the vulnerability of his true face, the man God had created him to be and God removing that hard, unyielding, “iron” covering allowed him to effectively minister to others through the revealing of his own struggles.
This was the “pleasure” he took in that, he knew God would prove strong and he knew that this would encourage others to embrace who they were and embrace the Gospel for the truth that it is.
Jesus brought us out of darkness into his glorious light so that we could be light and once that light has broken those “iron masks” that use we hid behind, we must be very careful to not allow the devil, the world, and most of all, our own flesh to cover us again with that unyielding iron.
Embrace who you are, embrace all the struggles of life that have made you who you are, don’t ever feel like you have to be “strong” and don’t ever let anyone make you feel “weak” for being vulnerable, because we you are at your breaking point or if you have already broke that it when you are shielded, covered, and surrounded by the absolute glory and absolute power of the only, living, Holy God and this is why scripture refers to God making our face to shine, in doing so you will shine his light to others giving them hope and courage to embrace the freedom to take off their own masks.
John 8:36: “IF the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” And your freedom will inspire others.
2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, with open face (uncovered, bare face) beholding as in a glass (as looking in a mirror) the glory of the Lord, are changed (being transformed) into the same image from glory to glory, even, as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
You can see from these verses that God is telling us that as we are saved we are changed through his Spirit giving us freedom as we are being processed, changed, through the process of life, and all the difficulties that come with that are actually being used for our good to transforms us as God desires.
We have to consciously remember his word and keep that word on our mind and apply that word to our hearts, for example when Jesus said that He would never forsake us, that means he will never forsake us.
When the Bible promises that no weapon formed against will prosper, that means that no scheme or plot has power to destroy you, it may feel like you are going to be, but you will not be, because God sees with the eyes of eternity. And we must apply his promises to our lives every single day.
If we fail to do that, we can easily get off course and forget what we once knew.
We go to James 1:23-25: “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass (looking in a mirror).
For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was (glances in the mirror, leaves and forgets what kind of man he even is).
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty (freedom), and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man is blessed in his deed.”
God gave us two views of the same issue, we can look honestly or we can give it a quick glance a note that we are after all, “just human” and go our way and completely forgetting who God called us to be and forgetting his promises and just give up and be quickly lead into the temptation of not particularly liking “what” we see staring back at us and putting ourselves back into a mask that God had already removed. And that is not his desire or his purpose for any of us.
So today I want to encourage you to BE who God says you are. And LIVE how he told you to live, and this one is a hard one, when everyone around you is fitting in and hiding their faces behind the masks they feel comfortable in, let Jesus shine through you and let the pain, the scars, be visible because someone else NEEDS to see them.
Let them see his gentleness lead you in his paths!
Rev. Nina Brown Johnson 2019 / Φλογιζω NBJ 2019
If you have never heard this please do, I believe it will bless you, probably make you cry but those tears are precious to God!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.
And also allthat generation were gathered unto their fathers (had died) and there AROSE ANOTHER GENERATION after them, which KNEW NOT THE LORD, NOR YET THE WORK WHICH HE HAD DONE FOR ISRAEL.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and FOLLOWED other gods, of the gods OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE ROUND ABOUT THEM, and bowed themselves unto them, and PROVOKED THE LORD TO ANGER.
AND THEY FORSOOK THE LORD, AND SERVED Baal and Ashtaroth (pagan Canaanite “deities”demons).” Judges 2:8-13
About my title… I actually like wolves, the furry animal ones and believe in supporting conservation of their habitats and their protection, so this is going to be about those OTHER wolves.
The spiritual ones and we all know that they are among us and they do try to fit in and fake you out as to their true identity but those are just one type of wolf, I want to talk to you about another.
Just plain old run of the mill wolves, ones who are just naturally exactly what they are. Never been saved, never even thought about it, just spend their lives doing whatever they want, whenever they want and usually not much of it is good.
Wolves run in packs, but they always have a leader,or leader ‘couple”, not always by being the strongest, but by taking care of the needs of the pack, knowing what the pack needs and making it happen and sometimes they will take in young pups to raise as their own and make them a member of the pack.
I am quite afraid this is the major problem so many Christians have in staying the course for Christ. If you had been “raised” up in the world by parents or a parent that did NOT serve God or teach you anything about God or exposed you to false religions, and you had grown up in a home with drinking, partying, and all the things that come with that, while maybe socially acceptable, maybe even holding to some value system, still in no way has prepared you to live a life with behavior fitted according to the standard of God.
Kinda like, the old phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” more less, do as your parents, your friends, do as you have been taught. What about those little pups that are adopted into the pack?
Same deal, we respond as we have been taught. I do know that some things God just places in us at birth, that deep intuition knowing right from wrong and that little tugging that sets off the alarm that even when a wolf says something that is happening is okay, you know, by that feeling in your stomach that it really isn’t.
The Lord instills that in us that no matter where life takes us that we will long for more, we will know there is more than just this life, and we will one day break away from the pack and seek that which we have never known and have never been taught because one day we realize that just because the pack takes us in and raised us as their own, still DOES NOT MAKE US A WOLF.
Often when you announce your salvation people will seem genuinely happy for you and they will even congratulate you, encourage you, and wolves especially will sometimes confess they “probably need to get saved too” and this all seems good.
BUT if you have been “raised by wolves” I promise you all they are doing is marking off your new territory as their new hunting ground and they will soon want you to get you back running with the pack.
And I have seen this far to many times, someone will get saved and soon the old friends show up along with the old habits, and the old ways after God has delivered them from that bondage because you can’t be a lamb and run with wolves!
People end up back on drugs, back out in sin because they refuse to “lose their life” in order to find it and listen to the wrong people.
Matthew 16:24-26: ” Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
I understand this somewhat referred to the deaths of his followers BUT I also believe He was also referring to the loss of our lifestyles, friends, and anything we have surrendered at the cross in order to serve Him. Denying ourselves is denying the will of the flesh and the desire to return to the behaviors and sin we were freed from.
2 Corinthians 5:17: ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATURE (creation) : OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW.”
ALL NEW! Doesn’t get any better than that, every sin, every failure, every mistake covered by the blood and washed away FOREVER! And we’ve got to keep it that way!
You know the best defense against a wolf? STAND YOUR GROUND they want you running when they attack, so you have to stand your ground and they will back down and back off and you can’t let them keep hanging around.
Here’s the WORD on it, to go back to our starter verse, Judges chapter one deals with how the tribes were told todestroy the inhabitants out of the lands God had given them and the fact that many did not destroy them but rather kept company with themand they were soon visited by an angel of the Lord to be reminded of WHAT they had been told.
Judges 2:1-4: “And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said , I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I SAID I WILL NEVER BREAK MY COVENANT WITH YOU,
AND YE SHALL MAKE NO LEAGUE(treaty) WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THIS LAND; YE SHALL THROW DOWN THEIR ALTARS: BUT YE HAVE NOT OBEYED MY VOICE: WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS?
WHEREFORE I ALSO SAID, I WILL NOT DRIVE THEM OUT FROM BEFORE YOU: BUT THEY SHALL BE AS THORNS IN YOUR SIDES, AND THEIR GODS SHALL BE A SNARE UNTO YOU.”
Never heard it? Well, we have now, if we do not throw down those spiritual altars, you know all the things that have been more important than God, all the spiritual altars where God-given virtues have been sacrificed for the pleasures of this world. And have no relations with the “inhabitants” of the land of your past, because the will be allowed to become a thorn in your flesh and their “gods” of drugs, sex, and money will become a trap to you. So watch out for those wolves, they are real, and they are devious, never trust them, don’t listen when they start to howl and don’t back down when they growl, stand your ground and they will quit coming around!
Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017
**I apologize for the repost but I am experiencing BSOD on desktop so bear with me and God bless your week!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“Yea, BEFORE the day was I AM HE ; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work and who shall let(reverse) it?” Isaiah 43:13
One of my favorite statement by the Lord.
This is one of those double-edged sword statements because to be on the wrong side of that statement is a horrible fearful fate… but ahh, we are not talking about that in this post.
We are talking about how beautiful and truly overwhelming it truly is when we think about being on the right side of that statement.
BEFORE.
BEFORE everything.
BEFORE anything.
BEFORE all that was created.
BEFORE the angels, the demons, or any other beings.
BEFORE the great void of darkness and the waters of earth were divided.
BEFORE day and night were called forth.
BEFORE the heavens were divided from the earth.
BEFORE the grass, trees, and every known and unknown vegetation this day. BEFORE the birds, animals, fish and man.
BEFORE it all the God of creation forever stands.
BEFORE the very creation of DAY, in HIS OWN WORDS, WAS I AM HE.
And there is no power in heaven, in earth, under earth, no invention man kind can fathom or enough forces of hell that can stop, prevent, or deliver out of his hand.
And as he also said, he will do as he wishes and WHO could ever stop him or reverse, change, or destroy ANY work he has ordained or brought forth?!!!
INCLUDING his work of creating US! Completely, intentionally, ON PURPOSE with rhyme and reason, creating each one of us simply because he IS God and he WANTED us to exist!
Complete with our Spirit, soul, heart, mind, and personality and all the unique traits that make us truly one of a kind!
Even when we are a little quirky, different, or such as myself, kinda flaky 🙂 no one will ever understand us like God, we have that uniqueness because our Father wanted us to be unique.
God IS the master Creator… actually having created creation… ponder that…he created the very conception and act of creation itself, which is why all of us have a talent or special God-given skill, being created in HIS image, we also have that NEED to be creative.
Think about it the next time that you are in your “zone, whether it is art, music, wood-working, beauty, cooking, the activity that brings you immense joy in expressing your creativity, REMEMBER that the joy and satisfaction that you feel during that “labor of love” can not even be compared to the joy and love the absolute Creator of the universe took in creating YOU!
Revelation 4:11 b: “…for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Am I the only person that finds that terribly exciting?
Well, if you are not excited, I hope that by the end of this post you will be!
If everyone person on this earth could get past the lies of this world, the ridiculous demands of society that command us to be cookie cutter cutouts of the latest fashion trend or the brain washed servants to sin that think and say exactly as those who pervert the truth of creation and the Gospel so wish us to.
Oh what a refreshment that would be!
You know we can not control what others think of us or say about us, but when we fail to accept how and why we are created just as we are actually INSULTING God!
Now, I think people really need to be careful with the Bible and be certain they read before and after scriptures and study the ENTIRE teaching because failure to do so often leads to teachings that are completely out of context, SO bearing that, the scriptures are pertaining to repentance and restoration, but the verses I want to highlight is the danger of “questioning” that we as humans often do, when we “question” our this, that, or the other thing we do not like about ourselves when held to the current “standard” and we can understand through these verses his ABSOLUTE power, authority, and love for us, IF we accept that and submit into his will, forgetting our own.
Isaiah 45:1-18: “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden (held), to subdue nation before him; and I will loose the loins (armour) of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates (double doors); and the gates shall not be shut;
I WILL GO BEFORE THEE, and make the crooked places straight : I will break into pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder (half) the bars of iron:
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, THE LORD, WHICH CALLETH THEE BY THY NAME am God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect (chosen).
I have even called thee by name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I, am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no god beside me: I girded (clothed and armoured), though thou hast not known me:
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west (till sunset), that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil (calamity): I the lord do ALL these things.
Drop down, (rain down) ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open , and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I THE LORD HAVE CREATED IT.
Woe unto him that striveth (argues) WITH his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Shall the clay SAY to him that fashioned (molded) it, WHAT makes thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? ( for something you actually made to say to you that you no longer have any power over that creation)
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, WHAT begettest thou? or to the woman (mother) WHAT hast thou brought forth (given birth to)?
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his MAKER, Ask of me thing concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
I have MADE the earth, and CREATED man upon it: I, even MY HANDS, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded, I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward (not money nor gain), saith the Lord of hosts.
Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God (meaning no god OTHER than the ONE true God, Jehovah).
Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. They shall be ashamed, and also confounded (disgraced), all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
For thus saith the Lord that CREATED the heavens; God himself that FORMED the earth and MADE it; he hath established it, he hath CREATED it NOT IN VAIN, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.”
I love that God is clearly pointing out the fact that even THOUGH they have not known him, he still very much knows them!
And isn’t that just like us sometimes, especially those who refuse to acknowledge God as they are in truth the work that declares the craftsman no longer has hands to alter the work he has created.
There is such beauty and such peace, and blessed assurance beyond human comprehension in the realization and acceptance of our place in his master plan. And that place is simply this, accepting ourselves as his creation, accepting his will, and resting in that he ALWAYS goes before because before “the day”, before the foundations of the earth were even created, THERE WAS AND THERE IS AND THERE WILL FOREVER BE, I AM.
Rest in this, have hope in this, know who you are in this:
Deuteronomy 31:8: ” Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, HE IT IS THAT DOTH GO WITH THEE; HE WILL NOT FAIL THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE.”
As the redeemed of the Lord, we sometimes need reminded of WHO goes BEFORE us every single day of our lives.
Φλογίζω Σαλπίζω NB 2018
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.
And also allthat generation were gathered unto their fathers (had died) and there AROSE ANOTHER GENERATION after them, which KNEW NOT THE LORD, NOR YET THE WORK WHICH HE HAD DONE FOR ISRAEL.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and FOLLOWED other gods, of the gods OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE ROUND ABOUT THEM, and bowed themselves unto them, and PROVOKED THE LORD TO ANGER.
AND THEY FORSOOK THE LORD, AND SERVED Baal and Ashtaroth (pagan Canaanite “deities”demons).” Judges 2:8-13
About my title… I actually like wolves, the furry animal ones and believe in supporting conservation of their habitats and their protection, so this is going to be about those OTHER wolves.
The spiritual ones and we all know that they are among us and they do try to fit in and fake you out as to their true identity but those are just one type of wolf, I want to talk to you about another.
Just plain old run of the mill wolves, ones who are just naturally exactly what they are. Never been saved, never even thought about it, just spend their lives doing whatever they want, whenever they want and usually not much of it is good.
Wolves run in packs, but they always have a leader,or leader ‘couple”, not always by being the strongest, but by taking care of the needs of the pack, knowing what the pack needs and making it happen and sometimes they will take in young pups to raise as their own and make them a member of the pack.
I am quite afraid this is the major problem so many Christians have in staying the course for Christ. If you had been “raised” up in the world by parents or a parent that did NOT serve God or teach you anything about God or exposed you to false religions, and you had grown up in a home with drinking, partying, and all the things that come with that, while maybe socially acceptable, maybe even holding to some value system, still in no way has prepared you to live a life with behavior fitted according to the standard of God.
Kinda like, the old phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” more less, do as your parents, your friends, do as you have been taught. What about those little pups that are adopted into the pack?
Same deal, we respond as we have been taught. I do know that some things God just places in us at birth, that deep intuition knowing right from wrong and that little tugging that sets off the alarm that even when a wolf says something that is happening is okay, you know, by that feeling in your stomach that it really isn’t.
The Lord instills that in us that no matter where life takes us that we will long for more, we will know there is more than just this life, and we will one day break away from the pack and seek that which we have never known and have never been taught because one day we realize that just because the pack takes us in and raised us as their own, still DOES NOT MAKE US A WOLF.
Often when you announce your salvation people will seem genuinely happy for you and they will even congratulate you, encourage you, and wolves especially will sometimes confess they “probably need to get saved too” and this all seems good.
BUT if you have been “raised by wolves” I promise you all they are doing is marking off your new territory as their new hunting ground and they will soon want you to get you back running with the pack.
And I have seen this far to many times, someone will get saved and soon the old friends show up along with the old habits, and the old ways after God has delivered them from that bondage because you can’t be a lamb and run with wolves!
People end up back on drugs, back out in sin because they refuse to “lose their life” in order to find it and listen to the wrong people.
Matthew 16:24-26: ” Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
I understand this somewhat referred to the deaths of his followers BUT I also believe He was also referring to the loss of our lifestyles, friends, and anything we have surrendered at the cross in order to serve Him. Denying ourselves is denying the will of the flesh and the desire to return to the behaviors and sin we were freed from.
2 Corinthians 5:17: ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATURE (creation) : OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW.”
ALL NEW! Doesn’t get any better than that, every sin, every failure, every mistake covered by the blood and washed away FOREVER! And we’ve got to keep it that way!
You know the best defense against a wolf? STAND YOUR GROUND they want you running when they attack, so you have to stand your ground and they will back down and back off and you can’t let them keep hanging around.
Here’s the WORD on it, to go back to our starter verse, Judges chapter one deals with how the tribes were told todestroy the inhabitants out of the lands God had given them and the fact that many did not destroy them but rather kept company with themand they were soon visited by an angel of the Lord to be reminded of WHAT they had been told.
Judges 2:1-4: “And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said , I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I SAID I WILL NEVER BREAK MY COVENANT WITH YOU,
AND YE SHALL MAKE NO LEAGUE(treaty) WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THIS LAND; YE SHALL THROW DOWN THEIR ALTARS: BUT YE HAVE NOT OBEYED MY VOICE: WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS?
WHEREFORE I ALSO SAID, I WILL NOT DRIVE THEM OUT FROM BEFORE YOU: BUT THEY SHALL BE AS THORNS IN YOUR SIDES, AND THEIR GODS SHALL BE A SNARE UNTO YOU.”
Never heard it? Well, we have now, if we do not throw down those spiritual altars, you know all the things that have been more important than God, all the spiritual altars where God-given virtues have been sacrificed for the pleasures of this world. And have no relations with the “inhabitants” of the land of your past, because the will be allowed to become a thorn in your flesh and their “gods” of drugs, sex, and money will become a trap to you. So watch out for those wolves, they are real, and they are devious, never trust them, don’t listen when they start to howl and don’t back down when they growl, stand your ground and they will quit coming around!
Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017
**I apologize for the repost but I am experiencing BSOD on desktop so bear with me and God bless your week!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
” And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, THAT THEY MAY REST FROM THEIR LABOURS; AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.” Revelation 14: 13
Ahh, tomorrow, here in America, we celebrate “Labor Day”, a day of course, set aside to honor the hard-working men and women who make our country strong and whose diligence in countless areas of service keep the economic ball rolling for our nation.
And also there are so many, such as nurses, doctors, firemen, emergency workers, repair people, and food service employees, many whom are actually REQUIRED to WORK on Labor Day.
I do admit that while pondering the best “spin” to propel the thought of the post, that I felt the need to tell all of you, I am NOT a Ballerina, nor do I dance, but this is for me, in relaying this message, that I am performing a grandiose version of “Swan Lake” WHILE wearing steel-toed work boots.
So if it seems a bit “ungraceful” and if the heavy boots donned during the dance step on toes, including my own, please pardon. I would also like to point out that this is NOT for new converts to Christ, this is for “seasoned” workers of the Kingdom, who once knew these things and now just need a “note attached to their time cards” to remind them that they can lose benefits due to poor job performance.
Better to hear it now, than to hear, something much like what Jesus told the Disciples, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour IS at hand…. Here, my friends is the first of the very awkward “dance moves”, I must make, WE CAN NOT WORK OUR WAY TO SALVATION.
Ephesians 2:8-10: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that NOT of yourselves: it is the gift of God; NOT OF WORKS, lest any man boast. For WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP(creation) CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS UNTO (for) GOOD WORKS, which GOD HATH BEFORE ORDAINED (prepared) THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.”
Notice in our first verse the voice said that they may REST, and Jesus told them to take their rest. There is a very clear difference between trying to do our own work that we think is good enough for salvation, which again is an impossibility and doing the work that GOD preordained us to do. And to decide that we will rest as to have him grant us that rest.
But we still are REQUIRED to work in the Kingdom. And I BELIEVE in grace! I thank God for grace! I could lay at His feet for a thousand years just thanking Him for the grace He gave me, saving me, a miserable creature who in no way DESERVED that grace!
And that is what Paul was referring to. I have heard some on television completely blow off the judgements and really come against the teachings of those judgments.
I can’t figure this out because God has a Bible full of people WITH that job, without the forced warning from Jonah, Nineveh would have never repented, it WAS the warning God sent that made them AWARE that they were doing wrong and the Bible is full of warnings.
My Goodness, People! To reiterate this for anyone who has not read prior ancient posts, there ARETWO Babylon’s, the first ancient Babylon, the Prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the destruction and judgments against it.
BUT Jeremiah also proclaimed the judgment and destruction of FUTURE, SPIRITUAL BABYLON. The FULFILMENT of this IS what is spoken in Song of Solomon 7:9: ” And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, (smoothly) causing the lips of those that ARE asleep TO SPEAK.”
Jeremiah wrote the judgments that the Lord had commanded, Jeremiah 50:62-64: ” Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be a desolate for ever. And it shall be WHEN thou hast made and end (finished) reading this book, THAT thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast (THROW) it into the midst of EUPHRATES; And THOU SHALT SAY, THUS SHALL BABYLON SINK, AND SHALL NOT RISE FROM THE EVIL THAT I WILL BRING UPON HER;..”
There is so much Bible prophecy linked up with the Euphrates, it has angels ‘bound”in it that will be released and it dries up to prepare the way for the mighty war… HAS THIS ALREADY HAPPENED????? NO! Neither has many of the ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING events foretold, but we have hope in the sealed words of the seven thunders and that is why we NEED to be so diligent NOW.
The fulfillment of the words of Jeremiah are Revelation 18:21: ” And a mighty ANGEL took up a STONE like a great millstone and CAST it into the sea, saying, THUS with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and SHALL BE FOUND NO MORE.”
NO MATTER what country a person chooses to believe that”MYSTERY BABYLON” IS, one fact REMAINS.. THIS IS BIBLE, IT WILL HAPPEN and those who live in that country WILL be going about everyday life, MANY unsaved and completely UNAWARE of these prophecies yet to be fulfilled, and MANY MORE who have been force-fed “grace” to the point that they think they do no wrong in the eyes of a Holy God and have been taught that repentance and work are not a requirement, and SUDDENLY “Babylon” is attacked, from all sides and without warning, other than the Biblical truths of teaching of Jesus in how we KNOW these things shortly come and to be living lives accounted WORTHY TO ESCAPE these things, Babylon will be destroyed in one hour, one day FROM off the face of the earth.
HOW can anyone be perfectly comfortable NOT sharing the Gospel, NOT leading others to Christ, NOT using the gifts and talents HE has given them? How about all those who sit in bound in chains of demonic bondage of drug addictions, pornography, alcoholism, and so many other bondage, when GOD HAS GIVEN SOMEONE the PRAYER OF FAITH, given SOMEONE THE GIFT OF HEALING AND MIRACLES, when human beings sit in dread and terror, when GOD HAS GIVEN SOMEONE A WORD OF KNOWLEDGE, AND WORD OF PROPHECY, A WORD TO BE “FITLY SPOKEN IN DUE SEASON” that would free that person’s mind and bring peace.
Gift after gift, talent upon talent, wasted and unused, because we are too busy, too lazy, too comfortable to be the LIGHT that HE LEFT US HERE TO BE while the world suffers in almost pitch black darkness, no wonder Jesus warned us, Revelation 2:4,5: ” Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick (lampstand) out of his place, except (unless) thou repent.”
Anyone want to argue that He does not expect us to work for the Kingdom?
So, if you are saved, sure, you ARE saved BUT when our WORK is tried by fire to ensure purity and purpose, motive, and measure, and the Lord gives crowns and rewards and treasures in heaven, you will come up lacking and the saddest part is the difference made in the difference that SHOULD have and COULD have been made in someone else’s life will have been left undone on your shift.
The WORK he asks is quite simple, Love Him, spread His love, go to His house, worship Him, Keep His commandments, and Honor Him in your life and in advice you give others, do as He asks when He prompts you in heart, help someone else to carry their burdens, show mercy and be kind. And HE IS NOT ASKING MUCH!
And one thing you DO not want to do is EVER let Him catch you sleeping on the job, you may just sleep your way right through a God-given opportunity to impact this world while we still barely have enough light left to work by.
If you doubt any of these things pray, read your Bible, and try something so simple as watching the news. It is here people, nothing is changing it and maybe those who preach against preaching warnings really believe that they can just get everyone saved and bypass the judgments.. well, could be true, those saved and raptured WILL be spared many things, BUT what if those who did just simply omit these thoughts, these verses, find themselves on that day, NOT accounted worthy and NOT escaping these things and left here to do a job that should have been done right the first time!
Love and peace, don’t kill the messenger. My ministry started with this thought, my very first post PLEASE WAKE UP !!! on a church site that God had blessed me to write for, it was November 2013 and I was so scared that everyone would hate me, but now it is not fear of hate, it is anger, every time I see those who are hurt, wounded, and know that things could change, IF we would change.
God said if we “would humble ourselves” but see that is still the problem, it is all about us, when it should be about HIM, the Kingdom, and the work that needs done.
It is so sad that so many are still sleeping on the job, but I have come to believe that maybe, as we know great revival comes during great persecution, that maybe it is going to take quite a wake up call… please don’t wait too late.
And if you are working, VOLUNTEER with Him for more work! Offer to do the jobs others won’t and He will bless you for going that second mile when your brother has only asked you to go one! BTW, HAPPY LABOR DAY!
Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017
Added “new” music for this year. Love this song!
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Very familiar children’s prayer there, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, and If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen”
Classic, many versions of it but still the same meaning. Even as children we are often painfully aware of the frailty of this life. And we seek that assurance from God, really more like NEED that assurance that even, heaven forbid death should come to call unbeknownst to us that even then we are covered by Jesus love and care.
As I always say, I was not raised in church, but God made sure I knew that prayer and knowing Jesus as I do now, I can never think back to those nights of laying there reciting that prayer, without a warmness in my heart and an awe of how sweet Jesus is toward us. We go through the same thing every night, I’d say it and then I’d start to list all my family, in order, and my pets, and then I’d get all hung up naming everyone else, and finally reach the conclusion of “could He please just Bless everybody, ALL the people and ALL the animals all over the WHOLE world.
This memory, along with many others, which unknown to me at the time of occurrences had actually been “divine appointments” along my path, came flooding back to mind after I was saved and I thought what an awesome God, to listen.. and listen.. and listen… as I was on and on, ever adding to my list of “and Bless.”
If anyone ever needs a character reveal concerning God and His willingness to listen and care about what we care about, just backtrack through the conversation between Him and Abraham, GENESIS 18:20-32 When God came and spoke to Abraham about the judgment coming upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham picked a number that if God could find such and such number would he spare them. Abraham kept lowering the numbers in hopes hat God would not destroy Sodom, his nephew Lot lived there and Abraham knew how bad it was but he still had to plead for Lot’s life, so God KNOWING the real question Abraham had, still patiently let Lot ask Him until he had the assurance he needed.
As with our prayer and the pleas of Abraham, we ALL need that assurance that somehow, no matter what our eyes see, or our ears hear, no matter the terror of the report and even if we are slain in the night, our reassurance rests in the eternal hands of a sovereign King, who still reigns and has victory over all we face or all we will ever face.
And it is funny for me, not in the funny ha ha way, but funny in the oh how ironic way, that I could still have that same prayer and yet have the call to forewarn to repentance or face the unquestionably horrific judgment from that SAME God, that will one day cover the earth. How do you shine light in pitch darkness, how do you speak judgment tempered with unmerited, unwavering mercy? How do you proclaim that this way is rough but it will lead you home, because there is ONLY one way, out of the shadow of death in this life. There it is, our fear, our cause to stumble, the one thing, we as humans, get so hung up on, death. It is assured, as you are born, certainly you shall die, unless of course you are in the number who will be raptured, but to be effective and to be in those places of peace God wants us to walk in we must be willing to just embrace the walk on that path and know it really will be well in the end.
So I wanted to do this to maybe get you thinking about some of these things, as the “divine appointments” times I believe God steps in peoples lives, into their paths when they are lost, circumstances that once you are saved you will look back and KNOW that He was always there, always waiting and watching over your soul until the day that realization comes and you give your life to Him.
Tearing down the fear of death, breaking down the strongholds of the what-ifs, and the terror of the unknown is needed now more than ever because we live in a scary, scary world and I am so sorry to say, it is only going to get scarier and the only, ONLY peace we truly have is the peace of the Lord and it is imperative for this generation to find that peace, to embrace that peace.
We are praying and waiting for that last great harvest, but the reality is this, with much wisdom comes great sorrow, out of severe persecution comes signs, wonders, miracles and that great revival.
As we seek the last great harvest spoken of by the Prophet Joel, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh, we may need to also consider under what circumstances this will come and I’ll leave it at that for a moment.
Jesus said we must come to Him as a “little child”, I believe this means in the FAITH and ASSURANCE we have as childlike in Him, KNOWING as that little bedtime prayer states “if” we die before we “awake”, so our peace is knowing that either through the grave or through the rapture, we are covered.
The world is scary but Jesus said that we are His, we are not of the world, He has kept us. So here is some food for thought. God has kept us; LAMENTATIONS 3:21-23: “THIS I recall to my mind, therefore have I HOPE, it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Facing real or perceived dangers, sickness, or persecutions, take comfort from the words of our “go to” guys Peter and Paul, who are examples of Christians sufferings and faith that moved mountains and the thoughts they left us with as their times approached, thoughts to persuade to fight for our calling in the Lord and run after those things God set before us in the knowledge that this life is temporal, just a vapor, to fight for our life eternal but to not fear and to have confidence in God through all things, even when that requires the laying down of this life.
2 PETER 10-16: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail (stumble):
For so an entrance shall be ministered (supplied) unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you in remembrance of THESE THINGS, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet (fitting) as long as I am in this tabernacle (his body) to stir you up by putting you in remembrance:
Knowing that shortly I put off this my tabernacle ( that he would soon be executed) even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shewed me. Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able AFTER my decease to have these things ALWAYS in remembrance.
For we have NOT followed cunningly devised fables, when we made know unto you the POWER and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses to his majesty.”
His last desire was that we all remain in remembrance and go forth for the kingdom, even in his writing, that us, AFTER his death, centuries later, WOULD be stirred by his words. We ARE stirred by his words.
Apostle Paul when his time drew near left us with astounding words for OUR day, 2 TIMOTHY 4:1-8 :
” I CHARGE thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,who shall judge the quick (living) and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
PREACH THE WORD, BE INSTANT (ready) IN SEASON, OUT OF SEASON; REPROVE, REBUKE, EXHORT WTH ALL LONGSUFFERING AND DOCTRINE.
For the TIME WILL COME WHEN THE WILL NO LONGER ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE (Gospel truth): but after their own lusts will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears ( chase after those who will tell them whatever they want to hear); And shall TURN THEIR EARS AWAY FROM THE TRUTH, and shall be turned unto fables (follow after lies and false doctrine).
But WATCH thou in all things, ENDURE AFFLICTIONS, do the work of an evangelist, MAKE FULL PROOF OF THY MINISTRY. For I AM NOW READY TO BE OFFERED, (his execution drew nigh) and THE TIME OF MY DEPARTURE (death) IS AT HAND.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH. Henceforth there IS laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: AND NOT TO ME ONLY, BUT UNTO ALL THEM THAT LOVE HIS APPEARING.”
As they took courage and boldness in laying themselves down, it is time for us to lay ourselves down, lay down the fear, lay down the rejections, and take that courage and childlike faith and lay down everything that hinders us in these last days.
ISAIAH 33:15-20: ” UNTIL the spirit be poured upon us from on high,and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment (justice) shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
And the WORK of righteousness SHALL BE PEACE; and THE EFFECT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS QUIETNESS AND ASSURANCE FOR EVER. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure (safe) dwellings, and in quite resting places; When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; nd the city shall be low (brought low in humiliation) in a low place.
BLESSED ARE YE THAT SOW BESIDE ALL WATERS, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass”
That is our hope, even though the world will fall by judgment God gives us reassurance that all will be well, and our commission to sow His seed and sow every opportunity we have, in all areas, beside all waters and send those feet forward.
So today, rest in that reassurance, lay down in His peace, knowing the ultimate promise of His reassurance, come what may, death, grave, or caught away, that trumpet will surely sound and these words throughout eternity WILL resound:
REVELATION 11:15: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ARE BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD, AND OF HIS CHRIST; AND HE SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER.” AMEN
Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that HAVE NOT SEEN, AND YET HAVE BELIEVED.” JOHN 20:29
Faith, Faith is a funny thing and sometimes we can have faith to move a mountain and then sometimes our faith errs more on the side of the mountain moving us. But we do have it, whether we always use it or not it is very much there. God told us that to all believers we are given the measure of faith and to some, even the gift of faith.
Even in our lost pre Christ days, we still have faith in things working at certain way, and cause and effect of all situations , things that are without question as, just being and working as they should and no one has to tell us otherwise. But when it comes to the Kingdom and believing for the afterlife, it gets tangled, many have no problem with the reality that as magnificent as it is, they were formed inside the womb, they grew, and bodies and minds faced amazing changes, and all taken for granted as a bald, toothless, helpless person soon started to walk, talk and explore the world and they believe this happens because it has been proven over and over as each child is born.
They could easily believe in Jesus because they had seen Him, they walked with Him, ate with Him, learned from Him and now were witness to absolute living proof that He had indeed raised from the dead. I truly believe that we are born with a knowledge deep inside of us that there is so much more than this life and even those who don’t want to seek the Lord still end up spending their lives seeking something, anything to fill that void. they seek false religions, seek paganism, humanism, and the never-ending search for alien life forms:
2TIMOTHY 3:7 “ EVER LEARNING, and NEVER able to come to the knowledge of the TRUTH.”
As those who profess to be wise, boy, we could list some doozies right there, reputable for their “brilliant” minds and lead countless people straight to hell because they detest God and want everyone else too also and have done a great job convincing the secular world that not only does he not exist, but that those who believe are of a Neanderthal intelligence.
And yet, Jesus said that we are BLESSED. Starting with those who are crushed, afflicted, and wounded in their souls:
BLESSED are the poor in spirit; for their’s IS the kingdom of heaven.
BLESSED are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
BLESSED are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
BLESSED are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
BLESSED are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
BLESSED are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
BLESSED are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
BLESSED are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.
BLESSED are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. REJOICE, and be exceedingly glad: for GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” MATTHEW 5:3-12
Notice our rewards ARE in heaven, in the afterlife in which we must believe and as my last post, I know that there are those who do believe and yet refuse to accept Christ. Whatever reason, if it is just peer pressure from friends or spouses, that the world will just not think your cool anymore, you’ll be laughed at or mocked.
Well , He said when you “lose your life” for His sake, you WILL find it. When you are ready to give up the fake friends and false bravado and humble yourself into the hand of a mighty God, then, and only THEN you WILL begin to live as you were created to, and that life WILL be eternal and all the Blessing of God WILL come upon you and your life.
What most people fail to realize is this, we ALL influence someone, there is always someone who watches how you live your life and the decisions you make WILL affect them. If you choose Life eternal, how many more could you bring unto that life? If they saw the change in you and your acknowledgment of God, how can that affect THEIR eternity?
And if you refuse eternal life, you are exchanging that blessed state for an eternal cursing and again all who follow you and your ways will be more inclined to that path of destruction also.
And being a “Closet Believer” is the equivalent to being an unbeliever, Jesus said you are not condemned because you do believe but yet in not acknowledging Him to those in your life, then it like being married to a person and hiding them from your family and friends as if you are ashamed of your association with them. Being ashamed of a person means that you acknowledge them as that person you just don’t want anyone else to know that you know them.
Which is what makes it clear that in this verse, Jesus was SPEAKING to those who DO BELIEVE in HIM:
LUKE 9:25,26: ” For what is a man advantaged (benefitted) if he gain the whole world, and lose himself (be destroyed), or be cast away (lost)? For WHOSOEVER SHALL BE ASHAMED OF ME AND OF MY WORDS, OF HIM SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE ASHAMED OF, WHEN HE SHALL COME INTO HIS OWN GLORY, AND IN HIS FATHER’S, AND OF THE HOLY ANGELS.”
So if we deny Him here on this earth, if we are too proud, too stubborn to admit we need Him, even though we believe in him, it will be counted as nothing.
Because we have chosen to deny Him in front of our peers, He will then deny us in the presence of the host of heaven itself and as He said, what will it profit then? What will anyone give in exchange for their own soul? At that time there will be no more opportunities to make it right.
So you see, BELIEVING is not quite enough, even the “devils” believe in one God and tremble”. They BELEIVE because they know He exists but they are still going to hell because they knew the judgment of God and chose to rebel against Him. It is like “having a form of godliness and DENYING the power thereof.”
Like all who are saved from the least to the greatest among disciples and all the saints, NO ONE is of a higher standing than another in the eyes of God, and just as Nicodemus came to Him by night, so many in our world today want to do the same, come to Him under the cover of the night, come to Him in secret with the plea, “I believe, but I can’t let others know” a sad cop-out.
Well, there is only one way: ROMANS 10:9-11:
” That if THOU SHALT CONFESS WITH THY MOUTH THE LORD JESUS, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED. FOR WITH THE HEART MAN(HUMANS) BELIEVETH UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS; AND WITH THE MOUTH CONFESSION IS MADE UNTO SALVATION. For the scripture saith, WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH ON HIM SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED.”
Pretty point on there, we must first believe in our hearts through faith that HE IS and we must then confess that belief openly and willingly, and then at His coming we will not be ashamed.
So we all have a choice, surrender while there is time, call on Him while He is nigh, answer the door as He knocks on our hearts,
(and for the record, if you are straddling this fence and putting off until tomorrow the decision for Christ, when you are not guaranteed a tomorrow to make that decision, I want you to know, if He has allowed this to come to you, you have consented by reading it, you are bound by it, you will never be able to stand before the Lord and plead blissful ignorance to these things, “to know to do good, and do it not, is a sin unto you”, heed this carefully)
You have been presented with YOUR choices, accept Him, and His Word, His Blessing, or reject Him and His blessings and keep the world, shun the Son, but know that one day, it will be you that He will shun.
Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016 Original post 10/15/2015 REVISTED 01/27/2021
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Imagine you are awakened by screaming and sirens and the air around you is thick, smoky and almost pitch black, as you struggle to find your way around the room in the darkness you can barely make out a small shining at the window, as you make your way toward it, you hear a voice call out “Jump!”
It is too dark to know exactly who is making this command to you, unable to see a few feet passed through the lights flashing in the darkness, you again hear the voice cry “Trust me, it’s okay, Jump!”
Two choices here, one would have to be made split second, do you stay and face that raging fire that threatens to close in on you or do you trust that voice crying out to you and pray you will be safely caught before hitting the ground?
That is a fair description of our present world, continuing violence, threats, and terror running amok and hate spewed, people offended and ready to kill at the drop of a hat. Everyone has a cause, a right, a protest, and we are all paying the price.
Over the last several days more horror and carnage in France and now Turkey is in chaos and the innocent are always caught in the crossfire. We are in such a time as all the things the prophets warned us of thousands of years ago are now playing out before our eyes.
And we, as the preordained, predestined, generation have taken our place in this world. We are being taught the lessons of trust.
We often go through struggles that seem endless, and drag on and on and we just want it over. For God to just deliver us from our problems, and often He does, but have you ever noticed that it seems the hardest, toughest, battles are the ones long waged but yet hold the greatest reward?
So why doesn’t God just come and fix everything, right then and there? It comes down to trust, He is teaching us trust, we all “trust” God, we trust Him that we are saved, we trust Him that we will be spared from hell, we trust that His word will never fail.
But what about for the very next breath, what about every single aspect of our needs, what about trusting Him with what sometimes can be the scariest of all.. our tomorrow in this world.
We will need that trust, blind faith, no questions asked that He has us and we will trust in Him and His will shall be done. The reason that many things we go through,things we don’t understand at the time and we ask ourselves “Why? why does it have to be this way?” or “Why did that not go as planned?” We often look at ourselves and the enemy as reasons God may not have granted that petition, but MAYBE He is granting something better.
We aren’t just born with end time trust, we have to learn it. I do believe this is the reason that we have been so attacked, of course, it is partially due to the desire of the enemy to conquer and divide the churches but we know if we are allowed to undergo the massive struggles that God has allowed us to, and this is where real trust, the trust Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had.
The trust Daniel had in the lion’s den. The trust Abraham had, the trust Moses had, the trust that Noah had in building the ark while everyone laughed, the trust Lot had running at the command of angels from the soon to be destroyed Sodom. The trust of all the prophets and all the martyrs. Most of all, the TRUST JESUS HAD TO GIVE UP HIS LIFE ON THAT CROSS.
What made their view of trust in God different from our modern-day trust in the Lord?
Well, they HELD the patience of the saints. Remember, Jesus telling us of the end time persecutions? LUKE 21:19:“In your PATIENCE possess ye your souls.”
Complete trust that live or die, delivered at the present moment or resurrected in the last day that God is in control, and come what may or may not, He IS still God.
This is the patience, the trust we MUST have in order to make it through the days. Here is a little scary news, that HAS NOT YET come to pass BUT IT CERTAINLY WILL:
DANIEL 11:31-35: “And arms (forces) shall stand on his part and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
And such as do wickedly AGAINST the covenant shall he corrupt with flatteries: but the people that DO KNOW their God SHALL be strong, and do exploits (take action)
And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: YET they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by spoil, MANY DAYS.
Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen (helped) with a little help; but many shall cleave to them (join them) with flatteries (by intrigue).
And some of them of understanding SHALL FALL, TO TRY (REFINE) THEM, AND TO PURGE, AND TO MAKE THEM WHITE,even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.”
Reading those passages, one could clearly understand why patient trust would be a needed attribute and as we see that they are refined and purged to make them new, we see it is not a futuristic trust for salvation, it is a requirement to fulfill our place on this earth.
The reward of this trust and the reward of trying our best to live peaceful and share His love and mercy with others:
REVELATION 3:10: “BECAUSE thou hast kept the word of patience ( my command to persevere) I also WILL KEEP THEE FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION (TRAIL) WHICH SHALL COME UPON ALL THE WORLD TO TRY (TEST) THEM THAT DWELL UPON THE EARTH.”
Trust Him, trust Him today, trust Him for tomorrow and live every day in prayer and praise to His name and He will never let you fall.
PSALM 46 ” God IS our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah
There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
God IS in the midst of her: she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his VOICE and the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts IS with us; the God of Jacob IS our refuge. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth: he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD; I WILL BE EXALTED AMONG THE HEATHEN, I WILL BE EXALTED IN THE EARTH.
The Lord of hosts IS with us; the God of Jacob IS our refuge. Selah”
So as that great dragon sends his flood stronger and stronger after the persecuted children, as is hate rages and shakes this world, do not be moved. Hear the voice of our Lord, hear his command to stay strong and to persevere. Our God will come and He will save us and He IS our refuge from the flood.
Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, TOSSED with waves: for the WIND was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night (the blackest, darkest hour) JESUS WENT UNTO THEM, WALKING ON THE SEA.” And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they CRIED OUT FOR (because of) FEAR. But STRAIGHTWAY (Immediately) JESUS SPAKE unto them, saying,BE OF GOOD CHEER(have courage) IT IS I ( I AM ); BE NOT AFRAID.” Matthew 14:25-27 Through the journey of this life many times we find that we are that ship, the waves crashing and tossing us about, unable to catch balance tossed with that horrible great wind that is blowing down on us in the worst possible hour. The fourth watch, when we have been tossed by the raging waves of trails of life and circumstances that we have no control over. Trails and troubles that comes just as a part of this life for us and for all others. But when you add that horrid wind, that cold, fierce blowing of the fury of the enemy, because he loves to kick you when your down and it is always during last stretch of the night. He thinks of it as this, you are already weak, tired, and completely exhausted, just worn out from the hours you have already battled through the dark and he knows if he can get you to lose focus that this night is never going to end, he will destroy your faith in God. Notice Jesus came in that hour, Jesus knew where they were, he knew what they were battling and he knew at what point they would break IF he did not step in. Being in an exhaustive state it is hard to see whose hand is whose and this was Jesus coming to their rescue but they were so mentally drained that they were afraid that he too was more trouble headed their way. When they cried out (as we cry out to Him) it was then that he said IT IS I, and encouraged their faith. Peter was so distraught, he needed reassurance, just as we too sometimes need to know that He is aware of what we are going through, that He really is there, and that He really is going to take us through the night. “And Peter answered and him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come to thee on the water. And he said, Come, And when Peter was down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. BUT when he SAW THE WIND boisterous (violent) HE WAS AFRAID, he cried, saying Lord, SAVE ME.” Matthew 14:28-30 Jesus had given him that reassurance that he was aware and was completely on the scene, and at the comforting voice of his Lord he began to walk on those horrible waves that had held him as their terrorized prisoner only moments earlier. In life, we sometimes feel like we can’t catch a break. We think we see the shimmer of the morning starting to break through and then the darkness only returns with even more blackness and wind howling. We feel like as soon as things are finally looking up something happens and it all crashes in on us. “And IMMEDIATELY JESUS STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND, AND CAUGHT HIM, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, Wherefore didst thou ( why did you) doubt? And when they were come into the ship, THE WIND CEASED.” Matthew 14:28-30 So many troubled waters, waves of sickness, waves of financial woes, waves of worry about our children and their futures, waves of family issues, the winds of past hurts and unresolved heartaches and the stone cold blow of lack of closure to doors of the past. It all rocks, it tosses, and that wind will blow. But Jesus came through in that darkest most tempestuous hour, even though they thought they couldn’t make it, HE KNEW when they couldn’t and by allowing Peter to walk on those waves, he was really showing him something. People are so mean about Peter, they are always pointing out the fact that he temporarily slipped, but how many of them have ever been in Peter’s sandals? We can look at others and think well, this or that, but until we have truly, truly been in their shoes we don’t know how we would react, but Jesus does and he knows what we can handle has nothing to do with what we FEEL like we can handle. Storms to weather, giants to fight, crosses to bear, and no one likes it. I have yet to meet a Christian who jumps up in Church and shouts “Woo, hoo bring on the storm!” I have fought some hellacious giants, there are battles that I am not sure that I will win in this earth but I know if I hold on and keep the faith, that even if it is at the feet of the Lord in New Jerusalem that the battle will have been won. There have been times when warnings to church has come that storms were brewing and I’d be like, please, please no, no more storms. We all go through it and some are worse than others and there is always someone else whose storm makes ours look like a sunny morn. I never will forget the testimony of a certain preacher, I love to hear him, he straight shoots, preaches hell, fire, brimstone, mingled with love and compassion and all with a comedic edge that can make you dig where he is coming from without making you want to hide under the pew. He often made remarks about his childhood that confused me, because his Mom is an awesome woman and I couldn’t figure out how all this happened to him. One night he told us what God had brought him from, he had been born to stoned parents who had a house full of kids, and kept having kids, he told us about watching his baby sibling die, believing the baby may have frozen to death because there was a hole in the ceiling with snow actually falling in, and he kept a crew cut all the time and had a very visible scar on his head, he went on to tell us that he received that after opening a can of food without permission and being hit with the still attached to the can, jagged top. When he and his siblings rescue came, he was eleven and his Mom later told me that he was barely dressed and wearing a ladies top. And to know him now and to know that God stepped in and changed this child’s life and fulfilled HIS PURPOSE for him, placing him with a good family that would teach him of a God that loved him despite what that horrible storm he had lived in for eleven years had tried to convince him of. Don’t try to wait out the storm to pursue the things of God for your life. The young man who asked Jesus if he could “bury his father” before following him was answered by “Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” It will not always easy, but sometimes we have to stop fighting with things that are dead, and trying to change things that will never be changed, and accept them as such, and go on in our walk with the Lord. Sometimes we have to take what we have and work with it, even if we think we are lacking what we “need” to get the job done. In the story of Elisha, we are introduced to him as he is plowing a field having only eleven oxen, now we know that can’t be done and that is why we are told that HE HIMSELF IS THE TWELFTH OXEN! Field needed plowed, he needed an ox, so he did what had to be done. He could have said well, whenever we get another ox, I’ll take care of that field, but he didn’t. So the giant you face is monstrous, the cross is growing might heavy, and that wind is threatening to smash your ship to smithereens, BUTJESUS IS RIGHT THERE. He will slay that giant, He will give you His strength to make that cross lighter to bear, and He will lead you BACK TO SAFETY AND THAT STORM WILL CEASE. Morning will come breaking through and at the end of it all, that little ship will be stronger, having weathered that dreaded storm, it will now be a proven sea worthy vessel, those giants won’t look quite so tall when you know the hand that is stretching out to catch you is the hand that controls it all. Just so someone out there will know, this is NOT what I had planned for today, and He showed me things in this I had never noticed and I feel his presence with it, I will never pretend to know your pain or tell you life will be great, but one day the storm will pass and maybe sooner than you know! I want to leave you with this, quote it, memorize and keep it to your heart: Psalm 56:3 : “WHAT TIME I AM AFRAID, I WILL TRUST IN THEE.” May God bless you and keep you, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Φλογιζω/ all rights reserved. NBJ/2015
Awesome song, hope it will encourage you Shared from YouTube
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Ah, Jaded. What a lovely word, normally a beautiful stone used to adorn beautiful things. but in the right context, not quite so lovely on us. We are to press toward the mark, to earn the crown of righteousness to one day lay at the Master’s feet, beautiful I am sure, pure gold just like His word and His truth that refines our souls purer than the purest of all gold. But if that crown happens to be embellished with a little jade, what’s it going to hurt? Well what was to be made of precious metal will now consist of hardened stone. What should have shone with heavenly brilliance and reflected the Fathers light will now dull and now have an odd color and an indifferent feel. That crown will be inferior and will tarnish and once that happens it will never be presentable before a King. All that work, all that heartache, tears,and sacrifices, whatever had been involved in winning that crown will now be useless and disallowed and burned with the stubble in the fire in which all things must be burned away in that purification process of the soul. So what causes us to go from that ecstatically exuberant joy that we are bathed in the day of our salvation to the “j” word over the course of that salvation? I have pondered it, in myself and in others and I have come up with a couple of reasons. In my circle our favorite subject is “Christendom of Yore” I know that they had problems, I know they had battles, and that females were to sit quietly and express no thoughts or opinions, to which I am thankful to be in the present day or otherwise my heart would explode!
Jaded: Deadened, injured, weary, tired, apathetic, blunted, blasé (indifferent or unimpressed) dispassionate, half hearted. Remember apathetic. So how does our beautiful golden crowns become inlaid with flat, dulled jade?
#1 Fatigued, battle weary We are in or nearing, in my belief, “the wearing out of the Saints” it seems no matter who they are, rich, poor, married or single that Christians are being constantly bombarded with a steady stream of attacks from the enemy unlike ever before. Usually people would face one battle at a time but now it seems many fight multi battles on different levels and I am reminded of Nehemiah 4:17: “They which builded on the wall, and they which bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work (working) AND WITH THE OTHER HAND HELD A WEAPON.” Trying to “work” on our building for the Lord, and whatever he has called us to do being carefully on guard against attacks at all time, never a moment to rest, never a moment of ease by not having to look over our shoulders because this work must be done and many want it to cease.
#2 Blasé and unimpressed “Heard it, believed it, didn’t happen, not buying it again” I want to be very, very careful how I say this, but one huge problem running amok over the last few years is “Believe it, receive it, Doubt it and do without it” I am ALL for faith, and I know what scripture teaches on believing for what we do not see, but miracles and healings are in a special, special league all their own. Miracles are instantaneous and the moment that you are healed you know and there has been such a free for all of proclaiming healings over people and “feeling” like the “Lord is saying” that some teach that all you have to do is proclaim it and “believe” (which is actually different from faith, belief is in your heart and faith is knowing come what may He is God and He is sovereign) and when people are hurting, love ones are dying and they are told this and someone actually proclaims that they are healed then they die and the bewildered family are told they just did not have the faith or that they received the ultimate healing. And no one admits to maybe having misspoke or trying to pray “in faith”, often people want to reach out to others but in this area it is best to pray the Lord’s prayer, “deliver them”. ( I do understand that Paul perceived that the man had faith to be healed BUT Paul was filled with the HOLY GHOST, he KNEW when the anointing came that GOD would grant his request FOR THE GLORY TO THE LORD, not so he could win preacher of the year!) BUT NO,NO,NO, NO! When they have believed based one what they were told by Christians that they trusted and if it DOES NOT happen, this leads to apathy and causing them to lose more faith than what would have been lost if they had known the truth, this has caused many to leave church completely. But IF GOD truly says it, it will come to pass. #3 Apathetic and Blunted: “They don’t care, why should I?” The beginning of the journey all fired up, feeding off on another’s anointing, iron sharpening iron, the spirit bearing witness. Now that is good, but when things start to change and the one you once loved to listen starts coming against you for whatever reason, what was once a beautiful flow will become a dangerous hindrance in the spirit world. Two swordsmen fighting each other with equally dangerous weapons and that unspoken carnage will spill over onto the entire congregation. And the swordsmen are prime to have the Lord to take both their swords. And that once sharp iron will become dull and blunt rendering it absolutely ineffective against the enemy. That apathetic “blah, blah, blah” attitude will breed into so much more than a covering of jade. When this hit me, I knew the meaning of jaded, I wanted a clearer list and broader understanding and as I kept defining meanings, two fascinating words appeared, stemming FROM the jaded definition of apathetic, LUKEWARM and LAODICEAN. Yeah, and we all know what that means, so all these things left unchecked will lead to being lukewarm and we also know that is the condition in which Jesus said he will spue us out. So how do we clean that jade off before it takes hold of the gold? Renewing, renewing and renewing our minds, “let this mind which is in Christ Jesus be in you also” renewing our minds through scripture back into the word of God. Reminding ourselves repeatedly of every single promise that we have been given. As Nehemiah prayed that God would “strengthen the work” of his hands so must we. He will never allow us to break, when we are weary, it is His right hand that holds us up, when our heads are bowed in discouragement it is His left hand that lifts our face. When we desperately, desperately need a word to hang onto or a glimmer of hope, remember “What time that I am afraid I will trust in thee” and that He will be with us “even unto the end of the world” and sometimes that can be when we feel that our world is ending, but He will never leave us. Remember our first love and “remember thy love more than wine” and know that even though we don’t always feel it, the only approval we need is His. No one can zap us into heaven and no one can deny us heaven if we don’t let them, no matter who has hurt us it is still up to us to “work out” our “own salvation” if that means finding another church, then do it because God is not the author of confusion. Forgive those that have hurt you, just let it go and go on and don’t even try to understand it, God doesn’t want us to waste time over analyzing and ever analyzing what went wrong yesterday, because He already knows what tomorrow will bring. I have found in my own life that every painful path that I have had to walk down led me to a more beautiful place and at the end of that road I may not have liked the circumstances that lead me there but I have always been thankful for the journey because of the blessings in that valley that He has given me and I know that I would never received that on a mountain top. Sharpen that sword and get that crown polished because no matter how tired, how weary, lethargic or depressed you may feel, you’ve been furnace fired to be pure gold and that jade is just never gonna look good on you! Φλογίζω / NBJ/ All rights reserved 2015 REVISTED 07/29/2021
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Ah, Jaded. What a lovely word, normally a beautiful stone used to adorn beautiful things. but in the right context, not quite so lovely on us. We are to press toward the mark, to earn the crown of righteousness to one day lay at the Master’s feet, beautiful I am sure, pure gold just like His word and His truth that refines our souls purer than the purest of all gold. But if that crown happens to be embellished with a little jade, what’s it going to hurt? Well what was to be made of precious metal will now consist of hardened stone. What should have shone with heavenly brilliance and reflected the Fathers light will now dull and now have an odd color and an indifferent feel. That crown will be inferior and will tarnish and once that happens it will never be presentable before a King. All that work, all that heartache, tears,and sacrifices, whatever had been involved in winning that crown will now be useless and disallowed and burned with the stubble in the fire in which all things must be burned away in that purification process of the soul. So what causes us to go from that ecstatically exuberant joy that we are bathed in the day of our salvation to the “j” word over the course of that salvation? I have pondered it, in myself and in others and I have come up with a couple of reasons. In my circle our favorite subject is “Christendom of Yore” I know that they had problems, I know they had battles, and that females were to sit quietly and express no thoughts or opinions, to which I am thankful to be in the present day or otherwise my heart would explode!
Jaded: Deadened, injured, weary, tired, apathetic, blunted, blasé (indifferent or unimpressed) dispassionate, half hearted. Remember apathetic. So how does our beautiful golden crowns become inlaid with flat, dulled jade?
#1 Fatigued, battle weary We are in or nearing, in my belief, “the wearing out of the Saints” it seems no matter who they are, rich, poor, married or single that Christians are being constantly bombarded with a steady stream of attacks from the enemy unlike ever before. Usually people would face one battle at a time but now it seems many fight multi battles on different levels and I am reminded of Nehemiah 4:17: “They which builded on the wall, and they which bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work (working) AND WITH THE OTHER HAND HELD A WEAPON.” Trying to “work” on our building for the Lord, and whatever he has called us to do being carefully on guard against attacks at all time, never a moment to rest, never a moment of ease by not having to look over our shoulders because this work must be done and many want it to cease.
#2 Blasé and unimpressed “Heard it, believed it, didn’t happen, not buying it again” I want to be very, very careful how I say this, but one huge problem running amok over the last few years is “Believe it, receive it, Doubt it and do without it” I am ALL for faith, and I know what scripture teaches on believing for what we do not see, but miracles and healings are in a special, special league all their own. Miracles are instantaneous and the moment that you are healed you know and there has been such a free for all of proclaiming healings over people and “feeling” like the “Lord is saying” that some teach that all you have to do is proclaim it and “believe” (which is actually different from faith, belief is in your heart and faith is knowing come what may He is God and He is sovereign) and when people are hurting, love ones are dying and they are told this and someone actually proclaims that they are healed then they die and the bewildered family are told they just did not have the faith or that they received the ultimate healing. And no one admits to maybe having misspoke or trying to pray “in faith”, often people want to reach out to others but in this area it is best to pray the Lord’s prayer, “deliver them”. ( I do understand that Paul perceived that the man had faith to be healed BUT Paul was filled with the HOLY GHOST, he KNEW when the anointing came that GOD would grant his request FOR THE GLORY TO THE LORD, not so he could win preacher of the year!) BUT NO,NO,NO, NO! When they have believed based one what they were told by Christians that they trusted and if it DOES NOT happen, this leads to apathy and causing them to lose more faith than what would have been lost if they had known the truth, this has caused many to leave church completely. But IF GOD truly says it, it will come to pass. #3 Apathetic and Blunted: “They don’t care, why should I?” The beginning of the journey all fired up, feeding off on another’s anointing, iron sharpening iron, the spirit bearing witness. Now that is good, but when things start to change and the one you once loved to listen starts coming against you for whatever reason, what was once a beautiful flow will become a dangerous hindrance in the spirit world. Two swordsmen fighting each other with equally dangerous weapons and that unspoken carnage will spill over onto the entire congregation. And the swordsmen are prime to have the Lord to take both their swords. And that once sharp iron will become dull and blunt rendering it absolutely ineffective against the enemy. That apathetic “blah, blah, blah” attitude will breed into so much more than a covering of jade. When this hit me, I knew the meaning of jaded, I wanted a clearer list and broader understanding and as I kept defining meanings, two fascinating words appeared, stemming FROM the jaded definition of apathetic, LUKEWARM and LAODICEAN. Yeah, and we all know what that means, so all these things left unchecked will lead to being lukewarm and we also know that is the condition in which Jesus said he will spue us out. So how do we clean that jade off before it takes hold of the gold? Renewing, renewing and renewing our minds, “let this mind which is in Christ Jesus be in you also” renewing our minds through scripture back into the word of God. Reminding ourselves repeatedly of every single promise that we have been given. As Nehemiah prayed that God would “strengthen the work” of his hands so must we. He will never allow us to break, when we are weary, it is His right hand that holds us up, when our heads are bowed in discouragement it is His left hand that lifts our face. When we desperately, desperately need a word to hang onto or a glimmer of hope, remember “What time that I am afraid I will trust in thee” and that He will be with us “even unto the end of the world” and sometimes that can be when we feel that our world is ending, but He will never leave us. Remember our first love and “remember thy love more than wine” and know that even though we don’t always feel it, the only approval we need is His. No one can zap us into heaven and no one can deny us heaven if we don’t let them, no matter who has hurt us it is still up to us to “work out” our “own salvation” if that means finding another church, then do it because God is not the author of confusion. Forgive those that have hurt you, just let it go and go on and don’t even try to understand it, God doesn’t want us to waste time over analyzing and ever analyzing what went wrong yesterday, because He already knows what tomorrow will bring. I have found in my own life that every painful path that I have had to walk down led me to a more beautiful place and at the end of that road I may not have liked the circumstances that lead me there but I have always been thankful for the journey because of the blessings in that valley that He has given me and I know that I would never received that on a mountain top. Sharpen that sword and get that crown polished because no matter how tired, how weary, lethargic or depressed you may feel, you’ve been furnace fired to be pure gold and that jade is just never gonna look good on you! Φλογίζω / NBJ/ All rights reserved 2015
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
What has been and what shall be and the mirror image between the two.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11:“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.(all) for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit: To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit: To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy;to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”
I believe the reason for multi gifts is due to others refusal to use them, like the parable of talents and God wants vessels that he can do whatever he wants through.
Ephesians 4:11,12: “And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting (equipping)of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Exactly that, the equipping of the church to do the work that is before us. The prayer of faith to ask for the impossible, the tongues and miracles to show proof to those who don’t believe, words of wisdom and knowledge and true prophecies that will reveal never uttered mysteries.
As He is the Bridegroom who saves his best wine for last and the wine symbolic of the holy spirit cannot be put into old vessels, I believe this wine will be so strong and so pure that just as it is written if these vessels were not made new it would completely destroy them. Consider it training on all your farm equipment before harvest, because otherwise we will not know what’s in the shed or how to even use it and lose all the crops.
It would be nice to have time to preach against sin and injustice and evils of the world. But to be honest I don’t think we have that kind of time, the world has grown so dark, that the sin of it is very close to reaching into heaven (Revelation 18:5)
This happened with Sodom when He came down to see if it was as he had heard, and Ezekiel chapters 8&9 when the very ones who were supposed to be his priests were having a pagan free for all in the temple, he wiped them out, just as he did Sodom, I have often wondered what would compel God to send down the end time judgment that goes so far beyond just killing them, but to the point that people will be begging rocks to fall on them, and the seek death and it flees from them.
I have spent many hours and countless tears studying this. It is the blood of the innocent that the earth has became so full of that it can no longer contain it. It is the children, those who have suffered unmercifully and their numbers growing higher each day, It is the abominations.
Nina BrownJohnson/Φλογίζω-Αλληλουια
FOWC/ 02/15/2014
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
We all have a Bible, one we often take for granted. Humor me for a moment, if you will, close your eyes and picture a man tied to a stake surrounded by fodder and as a crowd looks on, now imagine him being strangled and set on fire, his last words spoken on this earth having been a prayer, that God would open the eyes of the King of England. That is the price William Tyndale paid. He was fluent in eight languages and it was his soul desire to bring the true word of God to the smallest of the world. Despite constant adversity and the destruction of his work, he carried on. The last seventeen months of his life spent in prison diligently translating the Old Testament into English, a work which was completed by a friend after his death.
So much of the true roots of the church and sacrifices made by others to give us the freedom we have today have been all but forgotten. Replaced by agendas of man-made doctrines, and denominational bickering over who is going to hell, because they hold a slightly different view. I’m still pretty, pretty sure that only God has the authority to make that judgment.
Picture again, if you will, a man driven to near madness after the murder of his wife, and with his people enslaved to England he decided to lead a revolt against their oppressors. Being quoted as once having said “Fight and you may die, run away and you will live at least for a while, and dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies, that they make take our lives but they will never take our freedom” Picture this man tortured, disemboweled, and emasculated while still alive, his tormentors repeatedly offering him a quick death if he would renounce his acts. Sir William Wallace would not. He died for his beliefs and because of his thirst for freedom and his love for his people he endured. Just as Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:22 “Ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” It is time for us to follow that burning in our souls. What is your hearts desire today? What group of people whose suffering brings tears to your eyes and breaks your heart? What is the still small voice of the Lord prompting you to do? The world will always smash your dreams, that is why you don’t look at the world. Some of the wisest words ever spoken were “Anything that is worth having is worth fighting for.” What if Tyndale had just given up, and said “Oh, well, sorry” and never translated another word or destroyed his own work. What if Wallace had pledged allegiance to England and surrender a breath of God save the King? We would be at the mercy of someone else concerning our salvation, we would be told only what they wanted us to believe. Scotland would now be a distant memory, a land only visited in history books. The sad reality is the “church” as it was created to be is also in danger of becoming a memory, a place to be visited in history books, well actually secular schools would never want to acknowledge churches existed, so maybe passed down through folklore. It is time to stand up against false doctrines and blatant sin that has opened up shop under the guise of a “church”. If we never breathe a word against injustice, whether it be human rights, animal rights, or the false doctrines hiding behind the misuse of the word Christian, we all become guilty by omission. Not to speak against it is as the same as condoning it. Jeremiah could not stop that fire in him, you shouldn’t either, let it out, “If God be for you, who can be against you?” And if they refuse to listen, take it as a compliment! ” For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears (ones who tell them what they want to hear) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables (believe lies) But WATCH thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 God had us warned throughout the New testament that these days would come, the false teachers would come and the false prophets and at the time of Paul’s writings, he said they were already here! Imagine now. Stand for the truth, let it be known, Let the lord lead you and guide you and stay in his word. Share the truth and if it falls on deaf ears, don’t worry, you have done your job and while they are still here praying to their God of gumdrops and lollipops we will be at the biggest Jewish wedding the universe will ever know!
Original Date:12/29/2013. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015 Post note: I realize the Wallace quote was used in the movie, but it is nevertheless listed with quotes accredited to him.
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
I can’t seem to get the image of James Foley out of my head, and it’s not just him… it is all of them. Abducted, unmercifully tortured, and paraded off to be savagely executed by demonic, twisted sadistic butchers to gain media attention for their truly hopeless cause. Hiding their faces behind their masks of death black reminiscent of the dunce hat wearing, cross burnin’ boys of the south, But you know at least the Nazi’s would show their faces. What does it all mean? John the Baptists head severed and served on a platter as an appreciative token for the undoubtedly sleazy dance of a pagan princess. Apostle Paul practically writing his last will and testament to all believers as his beheading approached. Peter carried out the brunt of his ministry under complete awareness that not only would he die, he would die by crucifixion, Jesus himself telling Peter that this would happen and Peter deciding that it was a price he would be willing to pay to see the Kingdom of God come. It is as if they believe by taking the heads of God’s servants the are in some way, taking the head from the body of Christ, which will never happen. The Prophet Isaiah was sawn in half. Steven’s face became as an angel as the anointed words straight from the heart of God proceeded from his mouth hammering the hearts of his enemies with unwanted conviction, and even as they stoned him, Steven did not stop, even praying that they not be held accountable for his death. Polycarp, the eighty-six year old martyr, whose boldness and courage given from the Lord allowed him to meet his fate with the same acceptance, God had shown him in a dream what was to come and he met it head on, because he knew that they could only kill him once and after that he would be resurrected by the Lord eternally.
Hebrews 11:36,39: “They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented, (OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.” The most outstanding words in that passage point to the fact, that this world was not good enough for their presence! And they were successful in doing the work of the Lord and yet they died before seeing the final result of the what would now be their accomplished life’s work. The world was not worthy, nor is it now. How do we survive these last days, when all we hear is terror upon terror in every given report? As Jesus forewarned us that the days would come that those who killed his followers would think that they were doing the service of God. But in all these things we are to keep our souls focused on him and in his rest, and as scary as this is, NOT FEAR THEM.
Matthew 10:26,28: “Fear them NOT therefore; for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that ye speak in the light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach upon the housetops. And FEAR NOT them which are able to kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather FEAR HIM which is ABLE TO DESTROY BOTH SOUL AND BODY IN HELL.” In our patient wait for him, we are to rest in the blessed reassurance that our “redemption draweth nigh” he will make his enemies his footstool and in his blessed reckoning. He will not hide his face they will know exactly who He is!
Psalm 45:3-5: “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty ride prosperously because of thy truth and thy meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the hearts of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.”
Revelation 19: 11-16: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. AND HE WAS CLOTHED WITH A VESTURE DIPPED IN BLOOD: AND HIS NAME IS CALLED THE WORD OF GOD. AND THE ARMIES WHICH WERE IN HEAVEN FOLLOWED HIM UPON WHITE HORSES, CLOTHED IN FINE LINEN, WHITE AND CLEAN. AND OUT OF HIS MOUTH GOETH A SHARP SWORD, THAT WITH IT HE SHOULD SMITE THE NATIONS: HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON: AND HE TREADHETH THE WINEPRESS (BLOODBATH) OF THE FIERCENESS AND WRATH OF ALMIGHTY GOD. AND HE HAD ON HIS VESTURE (ROBE) AND ON HIS THIGH (SWORD SHEATH) A NAME WRITTEN, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” So amidst all the Hades breaking loose on earth, keep your eyes focused on the heavens, let your soul rest in the arms of a beautiful, merciful, gentle creator and pray for deliverance for all from evil and when reckoning comes, all bets will be off and they will find there is no fighting him. Regardless of news broadcasts, or constant worldwide threats, I will tell you how this story shall end:
Romans 14:11: “For it is written: AS I LIVE SAITH THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS TO GOD.” Maybe hiding behind and pleading the names of the pagans gods they worship will help them, ah, no I don’t think so…
Philippians 2:9-11: “WHEREFORE GOD HATH ALSO EXALTED HIM AND GIVEN HIM A NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME: THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW OF THINGS IN HEAVEN, AND THINGS IN EARTH, AND THINGS UNDER THE EARTH. AND THAT EVERY TONGUE SHOULD (WILL) CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.”
All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015 Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω
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Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Revelation 6:9-11: “And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying How long, O long, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on earth? And white robes were given unto every one of; and it was said unto them, THAT THEY SHOULD YET REST A LITTLE SEASON, UNTIL THEIR FELLOW SERVANTS ALSO AND THEIR BRETHREN THAT SHOULD BE (WILL BE) KILLED AS THEY WERE, SHOULD BE FULFILLED.”
So much for not remembering being on earth, not only do they remember, they know they were murdered and they want justice. I think the preppers have the right ideal they just need a little guidance.
They know something is coming and are attempting to prepare for it, they know they will not be able to buy what they need and will need to protect themselves.
They just don’t know exactly why, yet, the answer to that question can be answered with nine words, the anti Christ and the mark of the beast. It is imperative that we really start getting THIS Gospel out. The chapters of the book no one wants to preach, because it usually scares people, which can run them away and for money churches that is not a viable option, because money and prestige are far more important than saving souls. For others they just do not want to have to deal with it.
But who does? It is scary and anyone who thinks I enjoy this part of my job, you better pray and think again.
I have spent years studying these scriptures and crying countless tears because I KNOW what is coming and people can blow me off or laugh, but as with the prophets of old, the day came that they found out that it wasn’t so funny anymore.
But I am sure you do your job, and this is mine.
I often use this analogy that I feel is very accurate, If you saw someone who you knew to be completely deaf standing on a railroad track, facing backward to a speeding freight train, that they could not hear or see coming, would you try to pull them out-of-the-way or would you just stand and watch them die?
I SEE A WORLD FULL OF PEOPLE ON THAT TRACK.I SEE THE FREIGHT TRAIN SPEEDING TOWARD THEM AND I AM VERY, VERY AFRAID THAT THERE IS NOT MUCH TIME TO GET THEM OFF THAT TRACK.
Then those who laugh because they find this so funny so outrageous, because their deafened ears can’t hear the sound of that train, in their pride and arrogance they choose to believe that it is not coming, and this is when the laughter will stop.
The laughter will stop when millions of people disappear without a trace from the face of the earth. The laughter will stop when world events others had tried to warn them of begins to unfold all around them. The laughter will stop when what everyone thought was a prosperous peace for all deal goes south after three and a half years. The laughter will stop when the anti-Christ reveals his true plans demanding that everyone in the world must worship him. The laughter will stop when all must pledge allegiance to him by taking his mark. (Satan’s counterfeit to the sealing of the servants of God) The laughter will stop when those who wish to resist will suddenly find that no amount of money, no credit cards, not even pure gold bars will purchase food, medicine anything they may need because without his mark you will not be able to sell or buy.
How long can you live without food, water, shelter, heat. What if a loved one is sick, what about medicine, or baby diapers or milk? Now would be a good time to ask the church you found so amusing for help, but wait the church is no longer there.
It has been TAKEN , those who trusted God are now protected against the fulfillment of these days.
Maybe you can hold out for a while with the goods you have on hand, but the days will follow shortly after most have been marked and it will be a little harder to hide, then they will give you one final choice, you take this mark or you die.
Think this is bad, well it can get worse, because if you happen to live in “Mystery Babylon the Great” you will not even have the option of beheading.
It will be destroyed from the face of the earth in a separate judgment and once all this begins those living there, will just simply be dead, and never have the chance to repent again. By this point all laughter will have ceased.
But I still want to give hope, I do believe the mark will get a lot of them, because lets face it people are so sold out to Satan now and they’ll bust your head over a good deal at Christmas, so why would half of them even resist?
I know there are those who worry about being tricked or chipped into taking it.
But I promise you this can not happen. Jesus loves us all too much to let us be tricked into losing our souls and he has ANGELS PROCLAIM THIS everyone will be conscious of their decision.
Revelation 14: 6-11: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven HAVING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL TO PREACH UNTO THE EARTH, AND EVERY NATION, AND KINDRED,AND TONGUE, AND PEOPLE, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory: for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,
IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE, AND RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND. THE SAME SHALL DRINK OF THE WINE OF THE WRATH OF GOD, WHICH IS POURED OUT WITHOUT MIXTURE (FULL FORCE) into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and WHOSOEVER RECEIVETH THE MARK OF HIS NAME.” Jesus said in Luke 21:17-19: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair on your head perish. IN YOUR PATIENCE POSSESS YE YOUR SOULS.“
Revelation 2:10,11:“FEAR NONE OF THOSE THINGS WHICH THOU SHALT SUFFER: Behold, the devil shalt cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, AND I WILL GIVE THEE A CROWN OF LIFE. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit sayeth unto the churches; HE THAT OVERCOMETH SHALL NOT BE HURT OF THE SECOND DEATH.” He tells us to keep our patience, don’t give up your soul, because you will arise just as he did, death will have no power over you and no matter what they do, not one hair will be lost upon resurrection.
Revelation 14:12,13: “Here in is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice out of heaven saying unto me, WRITE. BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD FROM HENCEFORTH (THIS POINT ON): YEA, SAITH THE SPIRIT, THAT THEY MAY REST FROM THEIR LABOURS; AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.” THIS IS THEIR BLESSING:
Revelation 20:4-6: “And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: AND I SAW THE SOULS OF THEM THAT WERE BEHEADED FOR THE WITNESS OF JESUS, AND FOR THE WORD OF GOD, AND WHICH HAD NOT WORSHIPED THE BEAST, NEITHER HIS IMAGE, NEITHER HAD RECEIVED HIS MARK IN THEIR FOREHEADS OR HANDS; AND THEY LIVED AND REIGNED WITH CHRIST A THOUSAND YEARS. but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. BLESSED AND HOLY IS HE WHO HATH PART IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION ON SUCH THE SECOND DEATH HATH NO POWER, BUT THEY SHALL BE PRIESTS OF GOD AND OF CHRIST, AND SHALL REIGN WITH HIM ONE THOUSAND YEARS.” Once the beheadings happen, God will then begin to rain judgment on this earth, upon all who did not heed the call of the angels, but that is a subject for another day.
Original Post Date: 09/19/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015
Edited and new links added 2019
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then those that are alive and remain (are saved) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore COMFORT one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 The rapture of the church, the return of the Lamb to retrieve his Bride, having paid her bride price with his own blood. Giving his life that she may live, the ancient Jewish customs proving faithful as the souls of believers confess “You are my Savior” echoing “I am my beloveds and he is mine.” Having gone away to prepare a place for her, being reminiscent of the protective, seclusion of the wedding canopy. He will now return with the army of his companions to take her away to the “secret dwelling place of the Most High” until all things can be fulfilled on earth. And he does this because we could not bear to witness the carnage and bloodshed that will overflow this earth. As in Ezekiel, when those who were supposed to be his servants filled his temple with filth and abominations, at the cries of his people who could not stand seeing his temple defiled, he then determined that the end for them had come, he called forth his angels, Ezekiel 9:4-6 “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and SET A MARK upon the foreheads of the men ( humans) that sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing (so I could hear), Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women: but COME NOT NEAR ANY MAN UPON WHOM IS THE MARK; and BEGIN AT MY SANCTUARY.” Just as judgment must begin at the house of the Lord. He always deals with his people first and we shall see one day just as with this story, what will become of those who hold doctrines not quite true to the word of God. Lets do a little mirror image on this and see the reflection. “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, HAVING THE SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, TILL WE HAVE SEALED THE SERVANTS OF OUR GOD IN THEIR FOREHEADS.” Revelation 7:2,3 As all things foreshadow those which are to come, only it will come on a much grander scale. Revelation 9:4 “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any tree; but only those men which HAVE NOT THE SEAL OF GOD IN THEIR FOREHEADS.” We who are alive and have remained faithful to our bridegroom and kept our faith, will be removed from this earth just as he protected Noah and his family from the flood. Lot and his daughters were spared from the destruction of Sodom, on behalf of the intercession by Abram. This is what the Lord speaks over us: Isaiah 26:19,20 “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. AWAKE and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, AND THE EARTH SHALL CAST OUT HER DEAD. COME MY PEOPLE, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut the doors about thee: HIDE thyself as it were, but for a moment, UNTIL THE INDIGNATION BE OVERPAST.” We must be ready when that call comes, because only those who have accepted Christ will be in this gathering. THOSE WHO REMAIN ON THIS EARTH AFTER THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH WILL ONLY BE SAVED BY REFUSING TO WORSHIP THE ANTI CHRIST AND REFUSING TO TAKE THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND BEING BEHEADED. Maybe people who may not yet be ready to commit will soon see, all we need to do is watch the news. Israel is almost completely surrounded by enemies as the Lord said would happen and the heart breaking beheading of the first two journalists revealing an eerie clue, the first a Christian, the second a Jew. Facts probably unknown at the time to their captors, all things are prophetic when you look at what is really there. So to all who are not saved, please do not wait, if you feel the tug of God, please accept him before it is to late. You do not want to be left on this earth. His promise to us: Revelation 19:7-9 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he said unto me. WRITE. BLESSED ARE THEY WHICH ARE CALLED UNTO THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB. and he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” Please accept his invitation, because this is one dinner you do not want to miss. Original Post Date: 09/19/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015
Thanks for reading Φλογιζω! For posts dealing with a multitude of subjects please check out the side menu on desktop or on a mobile device, please click any post title and once it opens scroll to bottom of screen for links to other options. If you have been encouraged please considering sharing post via any option below. God Bless you! Rev. Nina Brown Johnson
Φλογιζω SOUL FOCUS 