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Sound the Alarm in the Churches 9

Sound the Alarm in the Churches 9

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; And to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; And to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten he has been cleansed from his past sins. (II Peter 1:5-9—NIV)

Let us look more closely at this New Testament passage in Second Peter. Can you see how closely this resembles the preceding passage from Isaiah, proving that God has not changed His demands on people?

We are to add to our faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.

We add these to our faith by prayer, reading the word, gathering with the saints, obeying the Spirit, confessing our sins, and doing all else associated with being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But suppose we do not work diligently to add each of these to our faith?

In this case we very well may be ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are nearsighted and blind. We shall not see Christ in His beauty or behold the Glory of Heaven.

We have forgotten we were cleansed from our past sins.

What else?

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (II Peter 1:10,11—NIV)

We stand in danger of falling in spite of our sovereign calling and election.

We shall not receive a rich welcome into the Kingdom of God.

Now, on the basis of this and similar passages in the New Testament, I state clearly and with no fear of scriptural rebuttal that current Christian teaching is unscriptural and is leaving the American believers unprepared for the great and terrible Day of the Lord.

We are not going to be caught up to Heaven. We either are going to be raised or transformed and caught up to meet the Commander in Chief in the air, and then charge downward with Him to confront the forces of Satan, or else we are going to be judged by those who were in fact caught up to meet Christ in the air.

Any other view of the return of the Lord cannot be supported by the Scriptures.

The point is, we Christians in America are not prepared for the Lord's return!

We are in a period of "well nourished cows," to borrow a figure from the story of Joseph. Heaven is open today to all who look to the Lord for deliverance, for holiness and righteousness, for a fruitful ministry.

One group of young people refer to themselves as "The Revival Generation." This is exactly what the youth of today are. But anyone of any age can look to the Lord and be a part of the current revival.

To be continued Sound the Alarm in the Churches 10