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ARE
WE LIVING IN THE
END TIMES?
 What
does the Bible say?
by:
Pastor Max Solbrekken
"And
I saw a great white throne,
and Him that sat on it, from
Whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away; and there
was found no place for
them. And I saw the
dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the
books were opened; and another
book was opened, which is the
book of life; and the dead
were judged out of those
things which were written in
the books according to their
works and death and hell were
cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second
death. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of
fire." (Revelation
20:11-15)
ARE
YOU PREPARED TO MEET GOD ?
Prepare
to meet thy God! This
was the admonition that
Prophet Amos thundered out in
his day. God's people
had backslidden, corrupted
themselves and forsaken the
true and living way.
They
had gone after the strange
gods of the heathen, and were
worshipping at the altars of
pagan idols. They had
forgotten how gracious the
Lord is and turned their backs
on Him!
But,
God has a man He could
use! Amos was a prophet
who had not corrupted himself
as others had done. He
had not sold out the the
devil's crowd of compromisers
parading as genuine
prophets! God had a
vessel He could use - a
mouthpiece with which to warn
and admonish His people of
coming judgment for sin and
forgiveness for those who
would repent!
God's
message to the people then is
the same as now. "Prepare
to Meet Thy God".
One day every living soul will
stand before God and give an
account of his or her life.
THE
BOOK OF LIFE WILL BE OPENED
& THE
DEAD WILL BE JUDGED
"And
I saw a great white throne,
and Him that sat on it, from
Whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away; and there
was found no place for
them. And I saw the
dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the
books were opened; and another
book was opened, which is the
book of life; and the dead
were judged out of those
things which were written in
the books according to their
works and death and hell were
cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second
death. And whosoever was not
found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of
fire." (Revelation
20:11-15)
The
Bible says, "And as it is
appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the
judgment." (Hebrews
9:27) THE MESSAGE OF
THE PROPHETS was always the
same - they were two-fold
- People must repent to
receive mercy and forgiveness
or reject God's Way and be
judged. It was a message
of mercy and judgment.
It
is the same today. God
has not changed, but many of
'today's preachers' have
compromised and are not
preaching ALL THE TRUTH
because of fear. They
lack the boldness, courage and
faith to stand up and tell the
Truth.
JOHN
WESLEY - founder of
the Methodist Church - whose
Ministry is accredited with
turning England back to God
and saving it from the same
fate as that which befell
France in the ungodly, brutal
and bloody French Revolution,
stated: "I must preach
law before I preach
grace."
What
did he mean? Simply this, that
in order for people to realize
that they need God's
FORGIVENESS, they must be
convicted of their sins! And
how does that take place? In
several ways: God can
arbitrarily speak to people by
His Holy Spirit in answer to
the fervent prayers of
relatives or other concerned
spiritual prayer warriors!
Usually,
however, sinners are convicted
through the anointed preaching
of God's Word. Millions of
believers are saved today
because of the powerful
preaching of anointed
Spirit-filled men and women of
God, who have refused to
compromise their message!
THE
SIGNS SAID "GET RIGHT WITH
GOD"
In
1970, Edmonton Transit bus
driver, Eric Dykstra and his
entire family, were converted
to Christ in our Church
because of the dozens of Bus
Seat benches which carried our
advertising with the clear-cut
message: "Get Right With
God!"
In
a letter to me, dated May 8,
2002, about five weeks before
his death, Eric wrote: "It has been 32 years
almost to the day that I
accepted the Lord's saving
message as preached by you
that Wednesday evening at the
Edmonton Revival Centre. That
was May 6, 1970."
"After
you laid your hands on me and
my family, the roof of the old
theatre didn't split open for
angels to descend, but I
received a depth of peace in
my inner being I had never
before experienced. Without
realizing it, we stood at the
jump-off point of an exciting
brand new phase of our lives."
"Our
kids all believe in their
Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. (One is even an M.
Div and pastored for five
years). Our grandchildren
are taught the Word and the
ways of the Lord Creator, at
home and at their respective
churches. Your faithfulness to
God and perseverance in your
Ministry has brought wonderful
blessings to countless
families around the globe!"
"I
have at times speculated what
would have happened if in the
late 60s all these messages,
'Get Right With God!' hadn't
been scattered throughout the
city by way of bus stop
benches. Driving my routes and
spotting those ads gave me
repeatedly opportunity to
meditate on their
meaning!"
DR.
OSWALD SMITH SPEAKS OUT!
In
his book 'The Fire Of God'
(1948), the man that Billy
Graham called, "one of
the world's greatest
Missionary Statesmen"
wrote: "In my study
of revival and evangelism I
have discovered that those
most mightily used of God
always majored on five
subjects. These five subjects
inevitably produced
conviction. First, sin and
salvation, then heaven and
hell, finally judgment. You
see, a great many messages
must necessarily be given on
SIN for sin to be exposed if
there is to be genuine
conviction!"
Oswald
Smith states: "When I was
converted in the year 1906 in
the great Torrey-Alexander
campaigns which was held in
Massey Hall, Toronto, I
noticed, as I walked along the
streets or through the stores,
or rode in the street cars,
thousands of little white
cards, one inch wide and six
inches long. On both sides
these four words were printed
in bright red type, "Get
Right With God."
"It
made no difference which way
the card fell, the message was
always there. As a result,
thousands were convicted. So
many tens of thousands of
these little white cards had
been distributed that it was
impossible to get away from
them. Everybody saw them. They
were lying about on every side
and those four little words
preached a sermon that could
never be forgotten."
I
remember hearing Oral Roberts
- while in his prime - speaking on the sin of
compromising the truth.
In his anointed message, the
man who won ten million souls
to God and brought the healing
power of God to our
generation, thundered out
these words: "I hate
compromisers!"
What
Oral Roberts meant was that he
hated COMPROMISE! He did not
hate compromisers, but what
they were doing in exactly the
way Jesus said: "So hast
thou also the them that hold
the doctrine of the
Nic-o-laitanes, WHICH THING I
HATE." (Revelation 2: 15)
THE
END TIME IS NOW - PREPARE TO
MEET THY GOD
It
was the same during the time
of MICAH THE PROPHET. Micah
prophesied against the
backsliding preachers, who had
been bought off and corrupted
by worldly minded and sinful
people around them, which
caused them to prophesy only
what the people wanted to
hear. He declared, "But
truly I am full of power by
the Spirit of the Lord and of
judgment and might, to declare
unto Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin."
(Micah 3:8)
God
is very merciful and will
forgive all who come to Him in
humility, desiring
forgiveness and salvation
(John 6:37; 3:16), but He also
is a God of judgment and
justice!
The
Bible says, "I the Lord thy
God am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation of
them that hate Me; and showing
mercy unto thousands of them
that love Me, and keep My
commandments". (Exodus
20:5-6)
SIN
MUST BE PAID FOR IF IT ISN'T
REPENTED OF
Remember
my friend, you reap what
you sow (Galatians 6:7-8),
and be sure your sin will
find you out (Jonah 1:7).
And don't forget "It is a
fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God"
(Hebrews 10:31). SIN MUST BE
PAID FOR IF IT ISN’T
REPENTED OF, and "The
wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our
Lord". (Romans 6:23)
We
are living in a day when
preachers have given in to
'political correctness' with their
'seeker sensitive'
philosophy, so that there is
no longer conviction of sin!
It's easy to get swayed by
great crowds who applaud a
"God loves you",
with no strings attached
preaching, but the Bible says:
"Therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are
passed away; behold all things
become new."
In
my crusades around the world,
I have noticed how everyone
wants to say the sinner's
prayer and be healed
physically, but many in
reality do not desire to make
Jesus their Lord and forsake
their idols and leave their
pagan beliefs. If a preacher,
therefore, isn't clear
on God's hatred for sin and
idolatry, he leaves them in a
very precarious position!
JESUS
WARNED PREACHERS TO PREACH THE
TRUTH
Our
Lord Jesus Christ emphasized:
"Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
ye compass sea and land to
make one proselyte, and when
he is made, ye make him
twofold more the child of hell
than yourselves."
(Matthew 23:15) He said:
"All that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me:
and him that cometh to Me I
will in wise cast out."
(John 6: 37). He also
stated: "...but except
ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish." (Luke
3: 13)
St.
Paul warned: "And that,
knowing the time, that now it
is high time to awake out of
sleep: for now is our
salvation nearer than when we
believed. The night is far
spent, the day is at hand: let
us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and let us
put on the armour of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in
the day; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness, not in strife
and envying. But put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh,
to fulfill the lusts
thereof." (Romans 13:
11-14)
"For
we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ; that
everyone may receive the
things done in his body,
according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or
bad. Knowing therefore the
terror (wrath) of God,
we persuade men..." (2
Corinthians 5:10-11)
The
great Apostle admonished:
"I charge thee therefore
before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, Who shall judge the
quick (living) and dead at His
appearing and His kingdom.
Preach the WORD; be instant in
season , out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and
doctrine." (2
Timothy 4: 1-2)
You
may be able to fool your
husband, wife, friends or even
the preacher, but you
cannot fool God. He knows
all about you, and if you
reject Him as your Saviour, He
will be your Judge on that
day.
"When
the Son of man shall come in
His glory, and all the Holy
Angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of His
glory, and before Him shall be
gathered all nations and He
shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the
goats - and these shall go
away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous
into life eternal."
(Matthew 25:31-46)
Listen
to the words of invitation
given by our blessed Lord and
Redeemer, Jesus Christ:
"Come unto Me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you
rest."
(Matthew 11:28)
DO
NOT TURN A DEAF EAR TO THIS
GREAT OFFER OF
SALVATION AND BLESSING, BUT
BELIEVE ON THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST TODAY!
Receive
Him into your heart by faith,
repent and turn away from your
sins, and you will receive the
gift of Eternal Life.
DON'T
DELAY, BUT CALL OUT
TO THE
LORD FOR MERCY TODAY!
"For
God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in
Him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life." (John
3:16) Amen!
A
Message From Ingvar Solbrekken
(Max's Father) Written
in 1959.
Jesus
said, "But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto
you." (Matthew 6:33)
Attending
Church s not enough! One
should make every effort to
find a church where there are
signs, wonders and miracles - where
God's power is
recognized.
How
else can you prove it is 'the
Church'? St. Paul
stated that God "has placed
miracles" in the 'Church. (1
Corinthians 12:28) He commanded that
we turn away from those who
have "a form of godliness
and deny the power of
God".
(1 Timothy 3:5-7)
Surely,
Jesus Christ will return for
the same glorious Church
(Ephesians 5:27) which He had
in New Testament times! Will
you, my friend, be a part of
His glorious Church or a cold,
lukewarm or dead church? The
Bible says, "Be ye holy, for
I am holy, saith the
Lord."
(1 Peter 1:16) Amen.
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