The Ingathering Of The Sheep

One of the most beautiful animal things in nature I have ever seen happened years ago when we were living in the center of Oregon. It's sheep country and almost everyone who lives in that area has sheep. I used to do a lot of carpentry for a huge sheep ranch (30,000 acres) and one day the manager who was a friend of mine told me to come with him to see something.

Mitchell is known for it's hills and highlands with a few canyon-like lowlands.

My friend pointed my attention to a hillside which is actually the edge of a highland. As a watched for a while the most amazing thing I have ever seen animal-wise in my life happened. The side of that very long hill suddenly was becoming covered with sheep coming over the top and down into the lowland. Over 3000 of them. All at once together decending the steep side of the canyon. It was like a wave of sheep decending until the whole side of the hill was alive and moving. I can't even begin to describe the suddeness or the beauty of it or how massive it was.

Photo from www.raisingsheep.net/

Sheep are wonderful creatures. Unless they are restrained by man-made fences, they naturally do certain things well. They know how to search out food and as a general rule will eat together. They also do not have to be encouraged to reproduce. A small flock over some years can become quite large and yet remain together. Some may wander off and get into all sorts of trouble but by nature especially when they begin to spread the alarm amongst each other over a danger they will flock together. They are natural flockers.

But I would be cheating you out of a part of the picture of those sheep I saw coming over that huge hill if I didn't tell you about the shepherds that guided and cared for them. Unlike the other sheep owners in the area, these men came from generations of sheepherders. Many of them were Basque's who were brought in. They ate together and lived together and worked amazingly well together. They knew that there was only one flock and that flock belonged to their master. I never once in over 5 months saw them quarreling over whose sheep were whose. They were men who would spare no lengths to go out and reflock those who had wandered off.

But if I might take the liberty to express. There was one sad thing about that day. Unlike the sheep over thousands of acres who gathered together, the sheep who were fenced in by their shepherd's claims were unable to attend. All they could do was stand longingly at the fences that held them from gathering with the rest of the sheep. Because men had fenced them in they were unable to join the others...

...in that Great Ingathering of the Sheep.

* In case you didn't notice, all the sheep in the picture above are looking in the same direction. The same thing is happening with the flock of God's sheep. They are all starting to long to gather together as one flock and their attention is being drawn longingly in the direction of their coming Master. If you get in the way of that or start building new fences (or refusing to tear down old ones) you may end up on the side of a hill somewhere tending goats... And that my friends is a warning of things to come... Claiming God's sheep as your own in the day that is coming is to risk the wrath of God...

The Trumpet Blast

A sound rising up out of dead silence,
Like no other, the trumpet blast is heard.

The sound of all the trumpets in the universe,
blowing at the same time...

From the highest pitch beyond reason,
To the most uncomfortable deep bass.

From the softest, almost inaudible sound,
To the loudest sound imaginable,
They all blow their trumpets together as one.

The earth trembles and shakes at the sound,
Men fall on their knees in fear and trembling -
And every thought is laid captive,
      to what is coming.

The mountains are leveled, the valleys filled,
And there is no place to hide from the sound.
It is the sound of the Body of Christ together with
The hosts of Heaven all crying out with one voice,

"The day of the LORD is at hand..." 

The earth is being prepared for that day,
The day of the return of it's Messiah (Saviour).

Those awaiting His return are crying out with one voice,
From the softest whisper to the loudest scream,
At the same time, with the same mind and heart,
with their voices beginning to sound out,

"Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!"

Blow, trumpets! Blow!

Sing Along Murder Song by Bob Riley

THE LAST WORD TO AMERICA

Left unheeded, this is the final word to the nation called "America."



I listened to this in tears yet a certain joy of expectancy. This is the FINAL word to this nation. If it goes unheeded the judgement is set. 

But I was very clearly reminded of a vision I had when we were praying in a fire damaged house one day. I was shocked for a minute when a ditch with fire appeared right in the living room we were praying in. The fire was so hot that no one could ever cross over it to the other side. As the Church in America, we have underestimated the day we are living in and the ONE whom we say we are serving. 

The other thing that came to me was a fearful sense that the day is coming soon that the "spear that the church is leaning on is about to pierce it's hand." Our reliance and confidence, even our own church identities is leaning on the strength of our relationship to the government but that is about to pierce our hand instead. 

We have invested in politics, our worldly strengths and our non-profit status with the government but all that is about to fall into the pit. We will be faced with doing without it and our politics, worldly strengths and organizational strengths and retaining our relationship with God or falling into the pit with those things we are holding onto. Oh the image of the "Church" may still remain but it will not be God's Church - it will be another's. 

The remnant Church is about to be stripped naked of it's unclean garments and given another - one that is holy and acceptable to God - but it will be substantially smaller than the one we perceive as God's today. It is that fear that will drive many "leaders" to lead many astray to save their outward form instead of preparing those they have influence over to face the day that is fast approaching.

What Jesus is counseling us to do is to "buy gold refined in the fire." Those who have suffered for the Lord's name sake, overcome and prosper, by nature will have greater wisdom of God...

Natural Laws Planted In Creation

The natural laws of the creation cannot be broken. It is only a momentary deception when we find ourselves able for a time to circumvent them as natural beings. They are there for our own benefit and protection but violating them can lead to death.

The law of gravity keeps us from simply drifting out into outer space and suffocating to death. It keeps your toddler from taking a few leaps and bounds and ending up miles away in minutes from your protective arms. Most people think that when they get into an airplane, (which circumvents the law of gravity for a short time), that they are "flying" somewhere. That is deception because you are actually sitting stationary in your seat grounded by the law of gravity. The airplane is flying... You are NOT - nor can you. Not single law of government or religion can change that - it is a natural law.

It seems like almost an entire generation is seeking to circumvent a natural law designed to propagate the species of mankind. Like any other natural law of the creation, it is only a deception when for a while you seem to have circumvented it without "falling to the ground" and getting hurt. If you try to fly without artificial means of support, the ground and the natural law rule over all and will have the last say in any argument to the contrary.

This generation has gotten in a Jetliner, are all comfortable secure in their seats and rejoicing in the fact that they and all their friends are on board and the airplane is taking off. They are having a grande party like usual, but...They don't realize that the pilot of the plane they are trusting in and thrilled about is a terrorist...

MUSIC: SECULAR OR SACRED?

A brother posted a really nicely done worship song recently and I found myself posting this in the comments:

"Whatsoever things you do, do them with all your heart 

as unto the Lord and not as unto men."

Such a guideline for us who listen to and perform music that in all things we do them to glorify God and not for the admiration of men!

When the Lord touched me and saved me decades ago, I was a musician playing in clubs in the hotels in Hawaii. That was my life but it was also my emptiness because performing in the secular world (and unfortunately in the "modern christian pop world" is a barren life craving for the attention and admiration of men.

When I first started going to a gathering sometimes they would sing a song out of the old "hymn book" and I couldn't appreciate the words because I just couldn't stand the music. Three months later, I had no desire at all to play or to listen to secular songs (and never did again after almost 40 years.) BUT I started loving to play and sing those old hymns and worship choruses and it didn't matter if people cheered the music or admired my person, whether there was a whole crowd or just me before the Lord.

I discovered that the whole reason God placed that desire in us to sing and appreciate music was solely to express worship and to glorify God.

There was one song from my secular musical past that I used to sing with all my heart in my early years. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Find The Cost of Freedom." but I had changed the words to glorify God.

"Find the cost of freedom... 

Nailed upon the cross.. 

Jesus Christ has won it all. 

Laid my burden (of sin) down."

That is the only secular song I ever performed (besides "happy birthday to you".) in almost 40 years. Nobody influenced me or taught a "rule". It is just what God did from the beginning of my walk and I love Him for it.

It's funny because I have never shared that part of my testimony in words before today. I just found myself blessed with the living of it. Nobody ever taught on the subject. It was just pure grace and still is. It wasn't a "Thou shalt not." it was a "thou shalt." The work of God in us in that way can be expressed so beautifully in the scripture:

"Old things are passing away.Behold, all things are new!" 

- (2nd Co. 5:17)

USA: We Are Blinded By Deception

Genocide

53,000,000 children (Who would now be American citizens) have been butchered over the last four and a half decades by the USA. That's approximately 1/6th of the current population of the United States. If God was going to overlook that, He would have to have Adolf Hitler canonized as a saint. If we could hear those children crying out, "How many more have to die. How long Lord before you avenge us of our blood..." we would be rightfully terrified. Those cries have been mounting for 45 years and of late have become deafening in Heaven. If this nation ignores this warning any further, that will be a fatal mistake. This country is slowly heading towards eliminating not just the unborn "undesirables" but ALL "undesirables."

Wars

Since WWII, the greatest military power in the world has not won a single war (call it what you like) and ultimately has retreated leaving a horrible mess in the aftermath:

• Korea
• Vietnam
• Iraq
• Afghanistan (soon)
• By our foreign policies and questionable "covert" activities initiating a never ending "war on terror" that has spread out potentially all over the world causing untold millions to live in fear of the next explosion in their midst

Arab Springs

Covertly or openly supporting and encouraging "Arab Spring" revolts resulting in nothing less than chaos and misery for those whose countries and economies now lay in shambles in the hope of "spreading democracy":

• Libya
• Egypt
• Syria

The Statistics

1. 50-60% of marriages during that time have ended in divorce
2. 47% of present children were born out of "wedlock"
3. Reproductive Sex without the permanent commitment of marriage (as it has been known as up until now) is the norm.
4. 5% of third graders have had sex. 50% of all high school students have engaged in sex - a large majority with multiple partners
5. Has become the world's largest producer and exporter of pornography
6. The "Entertainment Industry" who has lost any sense of moral compass
7. A population who is rapidly discarding any sense of true moral values and replacing them with psuedo values who have been left with:

• An economy virtually crashed and artificially restored that is now nothing more than a helium filled balloon waiting to burst

• An endlessly rising national debt being "resolved" by printing money of virtually counterfeit value

• A government that has been for several years virtually dysfunctional who has lost all sense of direction or obligation to represent it's people.

Distraction

And yet with all this and much more hanging over this countries head and its citizens most of us seem strangely disconnected from the reality of it all. Probably like no time in the history of man, we are being bombarded by by the great god, "Entertainment." Whether it is news, or video/graphic fiction, that "god" like an electronic drug is designed to keep us from any rational thinking about these things for any meaningful length of time. It is designed (deliberately) to distract us from what is really going on around us and especially to distract us from seeing the truth and being driven into prayer to the one and only true God and Father of Jesus who alone is able to save us and this nation.

Deception

• If you take a frog and drop him into a boiling pot of water, he will instantly and instinctively try to jump out.
• If you take a frog and drop him into a pot of cool water, he will probably stay right there. If you very slowly heat the pot of water up one degree a minute at a time, the frog will never notice the difference. He will just sit there until the water boils him to death... 

That is what is happening in this country to it's citizens. Even though in many ways the heat is being turned up we will just sit there because we are being made comfortable even with the things we would normally be very uncomfortable about. It's happening in the general population and it's happening in the "churches" and it's happening to each one of us in some way or another.

So now that you've taken the time to read this I guess you can go back to your facebook or TV or latest political discussion...

OR... You can spend some time and consider the fact that if we don't jump out of this pot of water into the waiting hands of the very loving, powerful God and Father of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and savior of the world that we are all going to boil to death - very slowly and painfully.

"We do not fight against flesh and blood but against powers 

and principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places."

The problem is a spiritual one. We need a Spiritual answer...
Fighting in the flesh or with political power is only adding to the distraction...