4. A Herald to Jesus of Nazareth's Bride

The Church in this country is at a time in which there will be no Isaiah 64:1-3 without Joel 2:13 first.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

This is episode uh four, which I'm doing uh my version of an audiobook for a herald, The Jesus of Nazareth Bride in the United States of America. As I've said before in previous episodes, uh it's not that I'm trying to sell you a book, but um and you don't necessarily need this, but I'm not reading the footnotes, which of course at times provide some clarification to some of what I'm saying in the main uh text. Um it is available on Amazon um paperback and uh ebook form. So uh this is uh this is episode uh four. One of the passages Jesus of Nazareth used to point me to his assignment for me as a forerunner is Isaiah chapter 62, 10, 11, and 12. In verse 10 of this passage, I'm instructed to open gates, that is, to call his bride to make critical changes in their lives and prepare them for the coming of her bridegroom king. And the critical changes that need to be made involve removing, quote, stones on the highway that Jesus' followers in this country are tripping over. In short, the reason for this road construction is to prepare Jesus' followers for him and his return to this planet. More on that later. All forerunner passages have something like this. Sometimes the forerunners to bring down the mountains and raise up the valleys to make things level. Sometimes the forerunners to make what's crooked straight. In other words, whatever metaphor is used, mountains and valleys, crooked ways or stones on the road, the ultimate purpose of a forerunner is to call people to repent, to fix the things that need fixing, and to remove the things that need removing, which prepares them to encounter Jesus of Nazareth, the bridegroom king himself. For if they do not repent, things will not go well for them. Matthew 22, 1 through 14. John the Baptist is the ideal model, Matthew 11, 11. For example, John is quote, violent or radical about the this bridegroom king in his kingdom, Matthew 11, 12. Not Muslim terrorist violent or radical, but utterly focused on getting the bride ready for her bridegroom. John is also utterly weird. He dresses weird. He's doing his ministry in a weird location, as in out in the middle of nowhere, making it difficult for people. His message of repentance is weird, in that he's calling people to a humiliating act, baptism. I won't mention this just for clarity because this is important. This is not a law of Moses ritual. This is in the footnote. The Jews adopted it from pagan religions, using exclusively on Gentiles who wanted to convert to Judaism. Therefore, John's call for people to be baptized was like saying that they weren't real Jews. So even though there were some, there was some interest in his message, few people responded by stepping into the Jordan River. He's weird in that he's not talking about complicated theological issues of the law or the teachings of the elders like the religious leaders of his day. He's talking about basic, simple, obvious issues. Forerunners are intense, and they intensely want to see everything cleaned up for the bridegroom king. No exceptions, everything. This is the purpose of a true forerunner's ministry and message. The true forerunner is not popular, and he's definitely not seeker sensitive. His message is just too intense and too demanding of real change. For example, a person I know about had a dream. At the beginning of the dream, the person saw a very large group of Christians all facing the same direction, crying out from Isaiah 64, 1 through 3. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down. Maybe you've been a part of prayer groups that are asking for that, revival, in other words, that the mountains would tremble before you. As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down and make your name known to your enemies, and cause the nations to quake before you. Then the scene widened, and the person saw a multitude of angels standing behind these Christians. And every time the Christians cried out for the Lord to, quote, rend the heavens and come down and do awesome things, the angels would, in unison, point at the Christians and say, Rend your hearts and not your garments. Christians would repeat, Rend the heavens and come down and do awesome things. And the angels would, in unison, point to the Christians and say, Rend your hearts and not your garments. Over and over this went. The message being crystal clear. Christians just praying words and not changing their lifestyles will have no response from the Jesus, the bridegroom king. For in this country, there will be no longer, there will no longer be anything of Isaiah 64, 1 through 3 without Joel 2.13. People can do lots and lots of praying for revival and such, but unless you leave the place of prayer and to go and make the changes the Jesus requires, they are wasting their breath. Also, according to Isaiah 62, 10, part of my assignment is to raise the banner. And this banner is Jesus of Nazareth, the bridegroom king himself, as in who he is and what he's about, as opposed to the many false versions of him. See Matthew 24, 5, and then 23 through 24. Therefore, this herald to the church in this country that you are listening to is calling only those who claim to belong to this Jesus to earnestly repent based on the fact that the one true living God is holy. And being holy cannot dial down his holiness, not for love, not for anything. Definitely not for Christians in this country who seem to think they're special, and thus can give themselves to whatever they want with no concern of any consequences, even worse, rationalizing all sorts of worldly evil with various Americanisms. Two men had the most incredible, or excuse me, almost the almost indescribable experience of being brought into the throne room of the Most High. And one of the main things they saw and heard there were these weird-looking creatures who never stopped saying day and night, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. These creatures were not saying loving, loving, loving, or even merciful, merciful, merciful, or understanding, understanding, understanding, etc., but rather holy, holy, holy. The foundational quality and characteristic of this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the one true living God, is that he is holy. Before everything else, he is, he is holy first of all, unchangeably, unashamedly, uncompromisingly holy. So while according to Song of Psalms 2, 4, his banner over those who are in fact part of his bride is love, the banner over him, he himself is holy, holy, holy. And as a result, his holiness has specific ramifications, not only for the lost, but also for those who belong to him. For he cannot compromise or minimize his holiness. Hebrews 12 14. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. So my assignment is twofold to remove the stones and to lift up the banner, Jesus of Nazareth, the Bridegroom King who is holy. And while I don't know all the stones the church in this country needs to repent from, I know some of them. And I don't know these stones because I'm just so smart and figured them out. I know them because Jesus of Nazareth showed them to me. Peter tells us that judgment begins with the house of the Lord. So Jesus of Nazareth is not dealing with the general population of the United States of America. He's not dealing with the lost, at least not yet. Therefore, if you're involved with any of the stones I'm about to address, you're not being disciplined, and you're not being disciplined for not repenting, then you need to seriously consider Hebrews 12, 5 through 13, and especially the possibility that verse 8 is true about you. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined, and everyone undergoes discipline, then you're not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live? They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. I have a much older half-brother who was a surgeon. When I was just a little kid, and I asked him one day exactly what kind of doctor he was, trying to help me as a little boy understand without being too technical about what the surgeon is, he said, I cut people to heal them. I've never forgotten this. The statement has more meaning to me today than it did then. For it is a perfect description of what forerunners are called to do. Cut people's consciences with conviction to heal them. He told them that when John came preaching, they all thought he was singing a dirge, a sad, heavy song no one likes to hear. Many also even thought John was demonized. Jesus then said that he came preaching the same message, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand, but that he did so with a seemingly happier song, which the people also didn't like, also saying he had a demon. Jesus's point? Doesn't matter what the tune of the message is, hard and heavy, cheerful and light, those who don't want to hear it are going to find fault with the message and the messenger. This is how it has always been. Some hear and most don't. And so, in all that follows, my purpose is to help the reader heed and respond to the warning Jesus gave to his followers at the end of his presentation of the constitution of the kingdom, which some people label the Sermon on the Mount. He ended the sermon saying, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. When the rains came down, the steams, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand when the rain came down. Streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Chapter three. Beginning now with the stones. So these are the things that need to be removed from the road. You can maybe try to imagine a freeway nearby where you live, and they're just these big boulders scattered throughout. You can't really travel very well. Those things have got to be removed. So stone number one, two trees. There's a day and night, black and white, godly and demonic difference between the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And these two two trees do not mix, no matter how hard so many people try to mix them together, which is called syncretism. It has been my experience that when I ask people what the names of the two trees in the garden are, some will know the name of the tree of life. And while some know there was a second tree, not very many are clear about what it was called. So they may say the name of the second tree either simply as the tree of knowledge, or they'll say the tree of knowledge of good and evil, as if the good part of this tree is okay, and that it's just the evil part that's evil. The truth is, as evil as the evil side of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is, although today things that once were considered evil are no longer evil or are considered to be good, the good side is even more so. Why? Because the good seems good. The problem is, this tree's good is not the living God's good, it's man's version of good. And the problems caused by not knowing the difference have existed since Adam partook of this tree. When Adam and Eve decided that being innocently naked was evil, and the good was to clothe themselves, when Adam and Eve decided that hiding from Yahweh was good and that being found by him was bad, they were operating out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, not the tree of life. Isaiah confronted Israel with their confusing of what the living God says is good and evil with man's version of good and evil by saying this. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. Here's how Paul put it. Colossians 2, 8. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world, in other words, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, rather than on Jesus. In this country, there are a host of issues man says are good and man says are evil. And yet, in the vast majority of these, the living God says the complete opposite. Literal, the complete opposite. This isn't happening just among the unregenerated. It is also happening inside the church by those who claim to be regenerated. For example, man says homosexuality is good. The living God says it's gross. Man says abortion is a woman's right. And the living God says it's selfish murder. Man says divorce is okay for any old reason. The living God says it is not. Man says democracy and personal rights are what's best for mankind. The living God says nothing about human rights, but has a lot to say about human responsibility. Man says natural disasters are terrible. The living God says he may be justifying justifiably dealing with those people to bring them to repentance. For example, Revelation 6, 12 through 13, and 9, 20 through 21. Man says always feeding the poor is the right thing to do. Jesus acknowledged that there are times not to feed the poor, as when they're missing his main point, John 6, and on and on the list goes. Further, all of the save this or that animal, or the walk, march, run, ride for the cure, the united way, habitat for humanity, red-nosed day, climate change or save the planet, etc., are all from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that is, man's version of good. For all of these are done in the name of man, thus man's goodness, man's compassion, and man's wisdom are flaunted and public publicized, glorified and adored, while Jesus of Nazareth is demeaned and ignored, as man seeks to make a better world without Jesus as their king. As for inside the church, in addition to many of the things I just listed, there are theatrics and entertainment, changing of the gospel, the mixing of psychology with the Bible, materialism galore, silly seeker sensitiveness, and on and on, all the while claiming such things are from and for the Jesus when the truth is exact opposite. Malachi 1, 10 through 11, Revelation 3, 1 through 3. Truly, the same man-centered crap occurs when people put on a good show without the actual presence and power and leadership of the Spirit of the Living God. The reality is that people, both non-Christians and Christians, were honest. They'd say that Jesus of Nazareth is inept impotent. While some Christians would say, out of their theology, that Jesus is wise and powerful, they have little to no actual evidence of this. For he seldom, if ever, does anything among them that can only be explained as the actions of the living God. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts boasts in the Lord. Greek word for anti in the New Testament most often means no, and not so much against. Therefore, the meaning of the name anti-Christ is no Christ. That is one of the root issues of the church's problems in this country. She has lots of theology about a Christ, but little to no real reality of the Christ himself. And as for the actual antichrist, most Americans, including American Christians, are gonna love this guy. Everything about him will be things Americans and American Christians value. But everything about him will be based on the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And with so much of what Most Christians in this country will recognize his good is not being believing God's good because they don't know the difference. I'll start there.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Okay, wishing I could reach and touch the sky, and the word of God was gently spoken. Suddenly my heart was free to fly. Holy Jesus makes my heart so like the girl. Since I cannot come back, nothing else could ever be love.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

So and I'm gonna do it.