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Back to: RE: IS YOUR CHURCH A COUNTRY CLUB CHURCH
FROM DISCERNMENT TO DISCIPLINE TO DESOLATION
Bob Neumann
I awoke around 4 this morning, with the thought of desolation on my mind.
Computers are a wonderful thing, especially when they are equipped with a bible. A search of my “online” bible for the term desolat* yielded 187 uses of that term and its derivatives. I was quite surprised there were that many. Due to the prodding of someone named Ron on the private email side, I have been pondering Daniel’s abomination of desolation. All throughout scripture, God promised that if His people turned from Him and ignored His many calls to them, then HE would desolate them.
God has desolated His people many times in the past. Jesus warned us that “when you see the abomination of desolation”, then flee. It, the abomination, will be a sign. In the past, the abominations have been something done in the temple, as in the slaughtering of a pig on the altar, or something done in the city of Jerusalem, as in the hanging of the Roman ensigns over the gates of the city. The Roman ensigns were worshipped as Gods. The city was considered a “holy place”.
In terms of post New Testament abominations, when we saw the Pope declare himself infallible around the year 600, and when we saw teachings that exalted Mary to co-redemptress status with Jesus, then we knew that a desolation was at hand. This was an abomination of doctrine, in the temple of God, or where it ought not to be. A desolation must, and did follow. Only a few years after that, Mohammed began his rise, building mosques on the foundations of dead and ruined churches.
Now, for the past fifty years, another abomination has arisen in the part of the church that was still alive, but that is now dead. That abomination is the covetousness laden, prosperity false gospel. Prophets have been sent to warn of it. Discipline has been sent out from the throne and ignored. Now, the desolation has begun. God has sealed a remnant. The judgment has begun with the ancient ones of the house.
The glory has departed from the churches of America, and from the churches of other lands where Americans have carried this false gospel. Just as in the past, the people of God are going to be desolated by God, and the process has already begun and has now begun to spread to the nations in which the people of God live.
We have been warned to flee when we SEE. To see, you must discern. As the hour grows late, discipline has become a bit harsh sometimes. It has been very necessary. Desolation is very serious and terrible business, but there is more to come, even after the desolation. When I was young, I had one brother, and one sister who behaved like a brother.
We were a rather rough bunch. My mother would spank us when we misbehaved, and we would cry crocodile tears, but when she left the room, we would laugh, because she just wouldn’t spank us hard enough to really hurt us or scare us. BUT………she used those dreaded words sometimes…..”I’m going to turn you over to your Father”. That elicited a change in behavior from us, but, I am afraid that sometimes, we did not turn fast enough or far enough to avoid falling into His wrath. Now, in my house, it is the same with our ten year old son Johnny. He simply runs over his mother like a bulldozer, but then, she says those same words, and the same process begins, all over again. She really believes that when she spanks him, it hurts, but when she is not in the room, he laughs…..
WPA is a place moderated by FIVE MEN….FIVE FATHERS. Two of the five are soldiers: Randy McKee and Ron Williams. Ron is serving in Iraq right now, and emailed me yesterday to tell me he is ok. Bob Neumann can educate you on firearms and ammunition, if you choose to inquire. In a fight, Joe Cook is the man I want next to me…just a feeling I get about Joe…feelings I have learned to trust.
These guys are not “mamby pamby” guys, and I’ll bet my remaining dollars (not much) that they have not read Dr. Spock’s guide to parenting. If they read it, they quickly used it to cook beans. So, if you want to receive touchy feeling discipline in the Alan Alda style, this MIGHT not be the place for you. So, Bob got the big stick out, and I affirmed what he was doing in the Holy Spirit. Why? Because desolation is not all there is that is coming, and Bob can see that. First of all, this will be the MOTHER OF ALL DESOLATIONS. Some of the girls have related frightening visions.
Scripture says it will be the worst of the worst of times. A world of hurt is coming down on all of us FAST. Bob is just trying to get a few of you to MOVE by the Holy Spirit. Daniel 9 closes with that “something else”….”and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate”. What might the “that determined” thing be that “shall be poured”? For almost 1900 years, Jerusalemwas desolate, but there was something else…determined…that was poured upon the desolate, and it still remains…BLINDNESS.
Israel is back in the land, but the Jews are still blind. For 1260 years, from 606 to 1866, the Roman Catholic church held secular authority over nations, and the Popes regularly ordered executions and other killings and tortures. That has ended, but the BLINDNESS remains. Now, don’t you all get it? It is our turn. The desolation is not going to result from some rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. THIS DESOLATION IS CAMPING AT OUR DOORSTEP. Some reach the place of discipline…where the road forks, and choose to turn…to return to the Lord. Some take the other fork…they DIS.
Yes, they dishonor and disrespect: they DIS God’s appointed leaders because they have fallen into that habitually, and this is true in America like nowhere else. Habitually? Most people are very habit oriented. They are easy to form and hard to break. These folks disrespected the covetousness laden false gospel teachers, and so they came out. Their coming out was good, but they brought with them rebellion and disrespect for leadership.
You see, when you come out of something like that, you have to clean yourself off, and examine yourself to see just how it has affected you. How have you been defiled by it? How was it that you were initially blinded to have been involved in it in the first place? Then, many have disrespected those who rejected the prophets who prophesied of the coming desolation, and so they came out again. They were right in coming out, but not being careful, they still carried and nurtured rebellion and defiance. Now, they refuse to bow to ANY God ordained authority. They will not give any honor because they cannot see anyone to whom honor is due.
They developed a habit of dissing. They became experts at exiting. They have not examined themselves to see why they were involved in churches where prophecy was rejected. Where is the fault or deficiency in me? How could I have seen it earlier? And yet, now they are gathered together here at the WPA, and some of them cannot discern just who a God appointed leader is. And so they DIS, and are, even so, heading onward toward desolation and blindness. Their previous “comings out” have not profited them.
Are we, the FIVE MEN of WPA, called, appointed and anointed to lead a work that God has initiated? You will have to make that decision. We are convinced in the matter, and we will go about the doing of that work with a resoluteness and firmness…even a grimness at times. The joy of the Lord is our strength, but….”to everything, there is a season”.
Dangerous times ahead indeed.. a veritable minefield in the spirit…even if you are only riding in an REO Speedwagon.
Stephen L. Bening
Editor’s note