Israel Invaded!

Comment by Dennis Edwards:  

We see the situation in the Middle East changing with the advent of Russian Military help to Syria. How does this fit in with Bible prophecy? If Russia is in fact the present representative of "Gog and Magog" of Ezekiel 38 and 39 then it would seem to make sense for Russia to have a military presence in the Middle East for that future invasion of Israel to take place. In the chapters in Ezekiel we see Gog, from the chief cities Meshech and Tubal invade Israel. There is some controversy about who exactly Gog is and from which land area he will come. Derek Walker has written a scholarly article summarizing the point of view I take in this article titled Where is MESHECH and TUBAL? I have included his article below. 

Derek Walker writes,

Tubal and Meshech are mentioned together in Ezekiel 38:2. They were the 5th and 6th sons of Japheth, the son of Noah (Genesis 10:2). Some believe these people intermarried and became known as Magog, the dominant tribe. There are two main theories for their location: (1) RUSSIA and (2) TURKEY. Whichever it is does not change the overall picture as both are identified by the other names in Ezekiel.

(1) Regarding Meshech and Tubal, some assign a Russian identification, connecting these 2 nations with the modern Russian cities of Moscow and Tobolsk. Meshech - Moscow, and Tubal - Tobolsk. The first view became well known through the Scofield Study Bible: “That the primary reference is to the Northern powers headed by Russia, all agree. The reference to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identification.” Thus the name Moscow derives from the tribal name Meshech, and Tobolsk, the name of the principal state, from Tubal. This view is partly based on the similarity of sound in these names and their close proximity to Rosh (Russia). If this is so, the names Meshech and Tubal, point directly to Russia, being identified with Moscow, the capital of modern Russia, and Tobolsk in Asiatic Russia. Modern Tobolsk was founded in 1587 in western Siberia, and from there the Cossacks rode eastward to open up all of Siberia to Russian domination. Meshech and Tubal would then be names standing for Russia in Europe and Asia. L.Sale-Harrison corroborated this identification on linguistic grounds.

Ethnologists, historians who track the migrations of people, tell us after the Flood, the Japhethites migrated from Asia Minor to the north, beyond the Caspian and Black Seas. They settled in the area of Rosh that we know today as Russia.Wilhelm Gesenius, the world class Hebrew scholar, whose Hebrew Lexicon has never been surpassed, said Gog is undoubtedly the Russians. He also identified Meshech as Moscow, the capital of modern Russia. Tubal he identified as Tobolsk, the earliest province in Asiatic Russia to be colonised, and also the name of the city in which Peter the Great built the old fortress after the pattern of the Kremlin in Moscow. “Meshech was founder of the Moschi, a barbarous people, who dwelt in the Moschian mountains.” He went on to say that the Greek name “Moschi”, derived from the Hebrew ‘Meshech’, is the source of the name for the city of MOSCOW. In discussing Tubal he said, “Tubal is the son of Rapheth, founder of the Tibereni, a people dwelling on the Black Sea to the west of the Moschi.” His conclusion was these people make up the modern Russian people.

‘Meshech’ the 6th son of Japheth, settled in the NE portion of Asia Minor. His posterity extended from the shores of the Black Sea along to the south of the Caucasus. He was the father of the Rossi and Moschi, who dispersed their colonies over a vast portion of Russian territory. And their names are preserved in the names of Russians and Muscovites to this day. The Septuagint version of the Old Testament renders the term: “Meshech” by the words “Mosch” and “Rosch”; while “Moscovy” was a common name for Russia, and the city of Moscow is one of her principal cities. ‘Tubal’ or ‘Tobal’ settled beyond the Caspian and Black Seas in the eastern possessions of Russia, embracing a very large portion of these dominions. The name of this patriarch is still preserved in the river Tobal, which waters an immense tract of Russian territory; and the City of Tobalski in Russia is still a monument to him.

(2) Another line of study reveals that Meschech and Tubal are the ancient Moschi/Mushki and Tubalu/Tibareni peoples who dwelled in the area around, primarily south of, the Black and Caspian Seas in Ezekiel's day. Meshech and Tubal are mentioned together in Ezekiel 27:13 as trading partners with ancient Tyre (modern Lebanon). Today these regions are in Turkey, possibly including parts of southern Russia and northern Iran. Meshech was located near what was known as Phrygia, in central and western Asia Minor, while Tubal was located in eastern Asia Minor. So Meshech and Tubal form portions of modern Turkey. (However later migrations north into Russia mean that this view is also consistent with the first theory).

Herodotus, the 5th century BC Greek philosopher, mentioned Meshech and Tubal. He identified them with a people named the Sarmatians and Mushovites who lived at that time in the ancient province of Pontus in northern Asia Minor, SE of the Black Sea [Histories IV], again pointing to modern Turkey.

Josephus said that the people of his day known as the Moschevi and Thobelites were founded by Meshech and Tubal respectively [Antiquities I.6].

Expositors Bible Commentary: “Meshech and Tubal refer to areas in eastern Turkey, southwest of Russia and northwest of Iran.”

Assyrian texts & monuments locate Meshech (Mushku) and Tubal (Tabal) in Anatolia (W.Turkey), the areas that became known as Phrygia and Cappadocia.

Mark Hitchcock concludes: “Meshech and Tubal are identified in ancient history with the Mushki and Tabal of the Assyrians, and the Moschi and Tibareni of the Greeks (according to Herodotus), who inhabited territory in modern Turkey.”

Today this region is predominantly Islamic. While modern Turkey has been secular, pro-western with a good relationship with Israel (particularly in the military), recently Turkey has swung back towards a return to a stronger Islamic and anti-Israel identification (see Appendix 8), which means that Ezekiel’s prophecy could be ready to be fulfilled any time now!

Later migrations north from Turkey to Russia could mean that both identifications are valid, and indeed both Turkey and Russia are directly to the north of Israel (as required by Ezekiel 38:6, 15, 39:2). In any case, between them, Magog, Rosh, Mechesh and Tubal certainly represent RUSSIA leading the CIS Republics along with TURKEY. After RUSSIA it seems that TURKEY and IRAN (see their Appendix 9) must be the major players in this Invasion from the North. (End of Derek Walker's article]

Dennis continues,

So despite some modern day prophets and scholars saying otherwise, there is sound Biblical and scholarly research confirming Russia as Gog and Magog. If we read through the countries that will participate in the invasion of Israel we also find Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Turkey and some even believe Germany may be included. [1] The countries that dispute the invasion are none other than Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, USA and possibly Canada and Australia. [2] The Oxford Bible Church has written an article explaining this point of view which can be read here. I do not agree with everything they say, but just so you know I am not the only one presenting this interpretation. Their article about the invasion can be read here. They mention that God allows this invasion and America does not seem to be able to stop it. God will bring the Antichrist forces against Israel to punish Israel for her sins and then punish the Antichrist during the Battle of Armageddon some time afterwards for his sins.[3] 

All this to say, the current situation in Syria with the Russian presence seems to fit in line with Bible prophecy, with Russia maintaining military presence in Syria which would facilitate a future invasion of Israel by a combined force of Russia and its allies. Have you taken time to study Bible prophecy so you can be ready for the terrible days ahead? Jesus mentioned that unless he cut short the Great Tribulation period, no life on earth would be saved.[4]

In November 25, 1973 D. Brandt Berg published his famous controversial letter called Israel Invaded which was distributed widely throughout the world. I have included it here below. Some of the circumstances have changed, but he still makes some valid points for you to consider. Keep attentive to the situation in the Middle East. Bible prophecy clearly seems to indicate that that is where the war leading to WWIII and Armageddon will take place. Are you ready?

Israel Invaded by D. Brandt Berg

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, (a falling away from the true faith in Christ as the Messiah) and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (the Antichrist);" 2 Thessalonians 2:3

ISRAEL WILL SOON BE INVADED AND CONQUERED AND AMERICA DESTROYED by a combination of world powers led by Russia, according to the Bible and our own recent revelations. The Bible even names the countries that will participate and the route of their invasion!

THE BIBLE SAYS THIS IS THE ONLY WAY the Arab-Israeli war can be ended and a final agreement reached on the Arab lands and an international pact made concerning the city of Jerusalem.

BECAUSE ISRAEL WILL NEVER WILLINGLY WITHDRAW from the Israeli-occupied Arab territories and has said flatly she will never give up Jerusalem, and because the Arabs have said they will never be satisfied with anything short of an Israeli withdrawal from Arab territories, including and particularly Jerusalem, nothing less than forced intervention by one of the superpowers can solve the situation.

SINCE ISRAEL IS AN AMERICAN COLONY and America's only beachhead in the Middle East aimed at the Arab oil fields, and America cannot survive without the oil which the Arabs are determined not to give her unless she makes Israel give up Jerusalem and the Arab territories and let the Palestinians back in, which she will never do, America will fight for the possession of Israel and Arab oil.

NEITHER RUSSIA, ASIA, AFRICA NOR EVEN EUROPE COULD POSSIBLY TOLERATE SUCH HIGH-HANDED AGGRESSIVE BELLIGERENT AMERICAN ARMED INTERVENTION in the Middle East to achieve her own ends for the protection of Israel and conquest of the Arab oil fields, and thereby complete American domination of the entire Middle East and North Africa to the very borders of Russia.

RUSSIA AND THE MIDDLE EASTERN NATIONS WITH THE HELP OF OTHER ASIAN AND EUROPEAN POWERS WILL CONFRONT SUCH AN AMERICAN THREAT or attempt, by their own armed invasion of Israel to put a stop to it and end the Arab-American Israeli War, restore the Arab lands to their rightful owners, reinstate the rights of the Arab Palestinians with self-determination, and make Jerusalem an international religious capital of the world by a specific pact enforced on the participants by this combination of world powers and its coming world dictator.

SO THE BIBLE SAYS, AND I BELIEVE IT, AND YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE IT too, because it's going to happen and it has to happen soon! Because Arab patience has reached its limits with Israeli refusal to abide by the unenforced UN Resolution No.242 in which virtually the whole world, including America, agreed that Israel should withdraw from Arab lands.

UN Resolution No.242

(i) Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict; (the Six-Day War of 1967)

(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force."

BUT THE WORLD HAS ONLY PAID LIP SERVICE TO THIS AGREEMENT and, until now, no attempt has been made by the world powers to compel Israel to obey it, and she will never obey it unless forced to do so by the actual armed intervention of a super power.

SINCE THE ARABS ARE NOW AGREED, UNITED AND DETERMINED--BACKED BY RUSSIA, Asia, Africa and Europe--that America must persuade Israel to withdraw or America will get no more oil from the Arabs; and since America will never force Israel to do this, and her economy will collapse without the oil, America herself will feel forced to fight for Israel and Arab oil.

SO THE BIBLE TELLS US THE WHOLE CONFLICT WILL BE SETTLED BY THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA AND THE INVASION AND CONQUEST OF ISRAEL BY RUSSIA and other supporting world powers.

BECAUSE OF THESE TOTALLY IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SELFISH AMERICAN AND ISRAELI INTERESTS AND THOSE OF THE REST OF THE WORLD, A PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT IS UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE, and an armed invasion and conquest by Russia and supporting powers is inevitable, and this can only be accomplished by the destruction of America herself as a world power.

ONLY THEN WILL WE HAVE PEACE AND ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT and a proper apportionment of the world's resources "from each according to his ability unto each according to his need" of both fuel and food and other necessities, and an end to the waste of world supplies and environmental pollution!

THIS CAN ONLY BE DONE BY THE EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT OF A CAPABLE AND POWERFUL ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT which shall arise from the ashes of this war.--The Bible says so!

GOD HIMSELF DESCRIBES THIS INVASION OF ISRAEL AS HIS OWN VENGEANCE UPON HER for her sins, and says it will come from the North led by Russia with the help of Europe, Libya, Turkey, Persia andEthiopia!

LIBYA AND THE OTHER ARAB STATES WILL, OF COURSE, ASSIST, AND ETHIOPIA WILL HELP them to continue the Red Sea blockade at its narrow straits between Ethiopia and the Arabian Peninsula.

WHILE EGYPT RENEWS ITS DRIVE ACROSS SINAI, THE INVASION FORCES FROM THE NORTH AND EAST WILL SPLIT into a two-pronged attack from Bozrah, just inside the southern border of Syria, throughJordan and the Arab territories toward Haifa and Tel Aviv, and a major decisive battle will be fought atArmageddon a few miles south of Haifa near the juncture of the Haifa and Tel Aviv highways in the Esdraelon Valley.

MEANWHILE, ANOTHER MAJOR INVASION FORCE OF UP TO ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND MEN hidden in the bomb-proof caverns of the impregnable rock city of Petra in Edom, Jordan, just south of the Dead Sea will drive westward across the Negev to the Arab Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean coast, thus cutting off all help from whatever is left of Israeli forces in the Sinai and Negev and Israel's access to the port of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba.

ISRAEL'S NORTHERN ARMIES IN THE GOLAN WILL BE CUT OFF from both Haifa and Tel Aviv by the northern drive from Bozrah, and Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will therefore be completely isolated and encircled by the giant pincer's movement of these two major drives, from Bozrah on the Northeast and Edom on the Southeast.

CUT OFF FROM HER TWO MAIN ARMIES IN SINAI AND GOLAN AND SURPRISED BY THIS SUDDEN ATTACK on the soft underbelly of her longest and most indefensible Eastern border, and deprived of the help of her destroyed American partner, Israel will at last be compelled to surrender to these vastly superior forces, and be forced to return Palestine to the Arabs under international rule with Jerusalem as an international world capital.

THE BIBLE DESCRIBES ALL OF THIS IN DETAIL, and if you want to read it for yourself you can find some of the most outstanding passages on the subject in Isaiah 63, Ezekiel 38 and 39, Daniel 8, 9, and 11, Luke 21 and Revelation 11, 13, 17 and 18 as well as many, many others, all of which agree on these same major events and their outcome.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family International, article found here.

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Mountain Men

By D. Brandt Berg - December 1969

Matthew 5—Great difference in mountain and multitude. Mountain is opposite of multitude. Jesus left the multitude behind. The mountain peaks are never crowded. I climbed many mountains and I was almost always alone. Why?

1) It's hard work.

2) Not very many people desire to climb mountains.

3) It's lonesome.

4) You have to forsake all to do it.

5) It is apt to cost you your life.

6) Lots of scratches and bumps.

Long after the valley was in darkness I could still see the sun. There is more light on the mountain. The valley is almost always dark—full of people and things, but usually in darkness. The mountain is windy and cold but thrilling! You really have to have the feeling that it's really worth dying for!—Any mountain—the mountain of this life, the mountain of accomplishment, the mountain of obstacles, of difficulty—if you're going to climb them, they have to be worth dying for, to brave wind and cold and storm, symbolic of adversities. But on the mount alone you feel so close to the Lord! The voice of His Spirit there is so loud it's almost like it's thundering! The voice of the multitude is so loud in the valley, you can't hear the voice of God. The silence on the mountain peak is deafening! You get a real "high" on top of a mountain! It's a thrill! It's almost terrifying!

Of course, it's extremely dangerous. You're never so near the abyss as you are when you're on the brink! One little misstep will end you right down at the bottom again. You'll hit bottom so hard! Strange thing about mountain climbing—one reason that it's so dangerous is it's much easier to climb up than back down again. Once you're up you may never get back—one of the prices you pay for climbing mountains. Most mountain climbers who were lost were lost in the descent because when you are going up you can see where you're going but when you're going down you can't see. How many people who go back really see what they are getting into? They think they're going back to the easy way but they never realise what they're getting into by going back.—A terrible let-down! You have a peculiar feeling like you don't want to leave the mountain. No inspiration in it. There is a certain drive—almost a spiritual thing going up. You'll risk anything. But going down?—No inspiration, no goal, no accomplishment. You're just sliding back down into the morass of humanity and mire of the multitude.

Only pioneers climb mountains—people who want to do something that no one ever did before—people who want to get above the multitude—beyond what has already been done and accomplished. Pioneers must have vision—vision to see what no one else can see; faith—faith to believe things no one else believes; initiative—initiative to be the first one to try it; courage—the guts to see it through! On the mountain you are the first to see the sun rise and the last to see it set! You see the full circle of God's glorious creation! You see the world in its proper perspective with range after range to be conquered and a World beyond the horizon of normal men! A world beyond their vision and beyond their horizon! You see distant peaks yet to be climbed! You see distant valleys yet to be crossed. You see things that the men in the valleys can never see.—Can't even comprehend because they can't see it. And you can see the 360 degrees circumference of the total horizon-the entire scope! It's like seeing all of life from its beginning to its end and understanding. You feel like you're living in eternity; whereas down below they're living in time.

You get over here in this little multitude and this little make-believe of Mammon and you can't see anything but time and creatures of time and things of time, which are soon to pass away, but you thrust your head above that of those around you in that multitude and you yourself become a mountain in their midst and they resent you and they resist you and they fight you because they can't understand you and because they don't want you. They don't even want to knowthere are mountains! They don't want their children to hear there are mountains! But when you appear to be on a mountain while they are in the valley, they hate you because it's obvious you are above them and they don't want anyone to be above them. They want to keep you stuck in the mud like the rest of them. They don't want it to be known that there is any place else to go. They don't even want their children to know there is anything else or any other place to go or a way to get there! They want to keep them shut in down in the valley and in the mud and in the mire!

Do you realise that since time immemorial wars have been fought between the people who lived in the valleys and the people who lived on the mountains? There have always been wars between the mountain people and the valley people. The mountain people are always tougher, huskier, hardier, but fewer. But they always survived, because they always had their mountains to flee to and the valley people could never follow because the valley people weren't tough and husky enough to climb, so they would chase them up a little way and let them go. They just wanted to get rid of them. They didn't want to conquer mountains. They just wanted to get rid of the mountain people. The mountain people were just thorns in their flesh and pricks in their side. They proved someone could live somewhere other than in the valley, something they said was impossible.

History is full of examples of mountain people conquering valley people, but seldom of the valley people conquering the mountain people. But the danger has always been that when the mountain people had conquered the valley people, they themselves settled down in the valley.

The valley land is man's country—the high lands are God's country. Man dominates the valley—only God dominates the mountain, and the men living on the mountains know this. But men living in the valleys—they think they are God, because they dominate themselves. But those on the mountains live so close to the things which are so frightening and terrible and dangerous they have to live close to God. The men in the valleys have become so secure they don't need God because they have forgotten there is any God.

It’s a rough and rugged road, a hard and a heavy load, and the people you meet aren't always kind—on the way up. But they're even worse down in the valley and in the valley they will do everything they can to discourage you from climbing the mountain. There aren't many places to live on the mountain—little rugged shelters, lean-tos. Not much to eat, cold and windy, but it's a thrill even to die there. Better to die on the mountain than to live in the valley! Because whoever read in the newspaper about the man who slipped and fell on the city street, but the man who dies on the mountain even in far-off Switzerland, you'll read about in the newspapers here! Because at least he dared to try. Beaten paths are for beaten men, but mountain peaks are for the mighty pioneers!

You take the mountain and you'll leave the multitudes behind and then you'll know who the disciples are! Only Jesus'disciples came unto Him. When He went up into the mountain, the only ones who had the priceless privilege of hearing the world's most famous sermon—the only ones who really heard from Heaven that day were the ones who left the multitudes and took the mountain—the ones who followed Jesus all the way!

You never hear about the people who wait to see if it can be done. You only hear about the people who either made it or died trying. But when you make it, the mouth of God will be opened unto you. He'll speak to you face-to-face. He Himself will teach you and reveal to you the greatest of His secrets!

So what do you hear on the mountain? You hear things that are going to echo around the world! What do you hear in the stillness? Whispers that are going to change the course of history! Eight people came down from one mountain—Noah and his family from the Ark on Mt. Ararat—and they were never the same and the world was never the same! One man, Moses, came down from a mountain and a whole nation was never the same and they changed the World! And Jesus and his disciples came down from this mountain in Matthew 5 and changed the world!

What changed them that changed the world?—When they heard the voice of God teaching them things that were completely contrary to what was being said in the valley!

The poor in spirit are a mountain people. They that mourn dwell on the mountain. The meek are from the mountains. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."—Matt. 5:6. The people on the mountain hunger and thirst and only God can satisfy them.

Power and greatness were symbolised by mountains, never valleys in the Scriptures. "Mountain of the Lord's House." God's House is a mountain. You are a mountain. He speaks of the Kingdom of God as a mountain that becomes so great it fills the whole Earth! It speaks of Zion as a mountain. "Out of Zion shall go forth the Word of the Lord." The Word of the Lord shall go out from the mountain of the Lord's House—Zion.

Jerusalem is in the top of the MOUNTAINS, believe it or not. It was one of the rare mountain cities of the World and the Hebrews were a mountain people. Where are the Phoenicians today? They were rich and powerful but they lived in the valleys. All those who lived in the valleys are gone, but those who lived in the mountains live to this day!

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures."--Psa.23:1,2. Where have you pictured those pastures? I've always pictured them as mountain meadows with beautiful little crystal mountain pools. "Restoreth my soul...Leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake." What is His path like?—A narrow and rugged mountain path! "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death!"—There's death in the valley! Life is on the mountain! Get out of the valley!—"Flee as a bird to the mountain, ye who are weary of sin!"

http://www.davidberg.org/moletters/mountain-men

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“My Grace Is Sufficient!”

By D. Brandt Berg

Audio length: 5:29
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Yielding our lives to the Lord may not always seem like an easy thing to do, to be able to sincerely pray in each time of decision-making, “Not my will, but Thy will be done!” But remember, Jesus promised that He would make His will easy. He said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”1

He promises that His yoke will never be too hard, nor will His burden be too heavy. So if you take it from the Lord, and do His will, it’s not going to be too hard or too heavy. And if you can’t do anything else, just believe it by faith because Jesus said so—even when itseems as if it’s too hard and too heavy.

God has promised that He will never place a load on your shoulders that’s more than you’re able to carry. He says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: For God is faithful, who will not suffer (allow) you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”2

He’ll never allow you to face more than you’re able to bear. So if you find yourself facing a tough time of testing and a tough trial, ask Him to help you to take it, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.3

So if you ever think the tests, trials, and battles are more than you can bear, and you just can’t make it—they’re more difficult than you have strength for, they’re greater than you are—remember, the Lord is greater than they are! So take them to Him! Draw close to Jesus and get desperate with Him and lean on Him.

Give me a task too big,
Too hard for human hands;
Then shall I come at length
To lean on Thee;
And leaning, find my strength.4

When the burden and the load seem too heavy for you, remember the story of the little boy who was trying very hard to lift a heavy piece of furniture. His father came into the room, and noting his son’s struggle with it, asked him, “Are you using all your strength?” “Yes, of course I am,” the boy impatiently exclaimed. “Oh, no, you’re not,” the father answered. “You haven’t asked me to help you!”

When you’re weak, then you can be strong, because His strength can come in and be manifested in your weakness.—If you’ll lean on Him! He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”5 I’ve known many times that when I was weakest in the flesh, I was strongest in the spirit, because I just had to completely throw myself on the Lord. You don’t know how you’re going to make it, but He can make it for you. God knows you’ll never make it on your own. But if you’ll just yield and surrender to Him, then His power can work through you. “For it is God which worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”6

So, Lord, we just ask that Your will be done in each of our lives, to get out of each life what You want, and to put into each life what You want, that we may do Your will to bring many, many more lives into Your kingdom for Your glory. You told us that You can only use broken people, so that we’re only dust and we’re nothing, and then You can remold us and use us in the way that You best see fit.

Jesus, we want to be willing and yielded, because You can only fill empty vessels that hunger and thirst for the water of life and Your Spirit.7 So please help us to be as empty vessels, hungering and thirsting for Your righteousness, willing to receive whatever You have for us, to become whatever You want us to be, Lord, whatever it is. Help us all, Jesus!

Please keep us all close to You and in Your will, submitting to You in every area, in Jesus’ name, amen!

Are you letting the Lord lead your life? Are you ready for anything? Anything God wants to do? You are if you’re willing!—If you sincerely want to please and follow Jesus and be what He wants you to be. God bless you and help you to yield to Jesus and go God’s way. Amen.

Only to be what He wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.
Yielded completely to Jesus the Lord,
Every step of life’s pilgrim way.
Just to be clay in the Potter’s hands,
Just to obey what His will commands.
Only to be what He wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.8

Compiled from the writings of D. Brandt Berg, originally published in April 1987. Adapted and republished October 2014. Read by Jon Marc.



1 Matthew 11:28–30.
2 1 Corinthians 10:13.
3 2 Timothy 2:3.
4 W. H. Fowler.
5 2 Corinthians 12:9.
6 Philippians 2:13.
7 Matthew 5:6.
8 Adapted from “Every Moment of Every Day,” by Norman J. Clayton (1903–1992).

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A Segunda Vinda de Jesus Cristo

D. Brandt Berg

“Pois ainda em pouco tempo aquele que há de vir virá, e não tardará.” — Hebreus 10:37[1]

O domínio e regime do Anticristo vão parecer o triunfo final do homem sem Deus, o qual parecerá ter sido derrotado, e a igreja, aparentemente, aniquilada. Contudo, o Anticristo e suas forças não contam com o poder sobrenatural e absoluto de Deus e Ele vai conquistar Sua maior vitória daquilo que parece ser uma derrota.

Justamente quando o maligno Anticristo pensa ter tudo sob controle, quando por fim é adorado por todo o mundo e se senta “como Deus, no templo de Deus, querendo parecer Deus”[2], Jesus chega, de repente, como um raio do céu, e arrebata deste mundo todos os Seus filhos — os crentes que recusaram a Marca da Besta na testa ou na mão, que se recusaram a adorar o Anticristo, preferindo amar, viver para Jesus e até morrer por Ele.

Logo após a hora mais escura da história do mundo, virá a alvorada mais brilhante. Jesus voltará para resgatar os Seus, Sua igreja, Seu povo, todos que O amam, O conhecem, e acreditam que Ele é o Filho de Deus, o Messias. Ele vai dizer: “Parem o mundo! Quero que eles desçam!” “Os que ficarmos vivos, seremos arrebatados juntamente com eles nas nuvens, para o encontro do Senhor nos ares, e assim estaremos para sempre com o Senhor.”[3]

Para os cristãos, a Segunda Vinda de Jesus será o mais importante acontecimento profetizado, pois significará o fim deste mundo como o conhecemos, da presença de nossos corpos físicos nele. Após Sua vinda seremos transladados, arrebatados, levados juntos para encontrá-lo nos ares e então para lugares celestiais. Sua vinda é quando tudo muda, é o fim desta vida e do nosso trabalho na terra. A partir daí, para nós o tempo não mais existirá, como dizem algumas traduções, e entraremos no eterno agora.[4]


Os tempos e períodos da Segunda Vinda

Deus definiu um prazo e um cronograma para Seu filho, Jesus Cristo, regressar à Terra e resgatar Seu povo. Ele será pontual e chegará ao fim da contagem regressiva, sem nenhum atraso. Jesus cumprirá Sua Palavra. Pode ficar tranquilo que Ele não mudará de planos nem contradirá tudo que Ele mesmo ensinou ou que os profetas predisseram e os apóstolos escreveram. Jesus não vai negar fogo, mas voltará para cumprir as profecias específicas e detalhadas em Sua Palavra com relação aos acontecimentos do Tempo do Fim, que devem se cumprir antes de Sua volta.

A fase final da contagem regressiva para a Segunda Vinda de Cristo começará quando o Anticristo se revelar como o grande líder mundial que “fará com muitos povos um acordo que durará sete anos” com relação a Jerusalém e à adoração no templo judeu.[5]Exatos 1.260 dias após a celebração do acordo, o Anticristo o revogará e terá início o período da Grande Tribulação, em que ele erige sua imagem no lugar santo para que seja adorada e ordena que todos recebam sua marca na testa e na mão.

O próprio Jesus disse: “Quando virdes que a abominação da desolação, de que falou o profeta Daniel, está no lugar santo, haverá então grande aflição, como nunca houve desde o princípio do mundo até agora, nem haverá jamais.”[6] Quando o Anticristo instalar essa imagem no templo em Jerusalém, em meados do período da aliança de sete anos, começará o período denominado Grande Tribulação, expresso na Sua Palavra de várias maneiras, para que não haja mal-entendidos: três anos e meio,[7] 42 meses[8] e 1.260 dias.[9]

Jesus nos advertiu a não esperarmos que Sua volta aconteça antes do que foi predito. Disse que não haverá dúvidas quando Ele voltar: o céu permanecerá iluminado como um relâmpago que virá de um lado ao outro e haverá tantos sinais nos céus, que não haverá dúvidas de que Ele está chegando.

“Pois assim como o relâmpago sai do oriente e se mostra até o ocidente, assim será também a vinda do Filho do homem.”[10] Ele diz que uma luz virá brilhando do oriente para o ocidente, como um raio. Todo o céu vai permanecer iluminado quando Jesus vier. Enquanto isso, seremos reunidos para encontrá-lO nos ares e todo o mundo verá isso também.

“Onde estiver o cadáver, aí se ajuntarão os abutres.”[11] Aqui Ele fala de forma cifrada e difícil de entender que onde estiver Cristo, ali se encontrarão os que dEle se alimentam.— Pode parecer uma comparação de mau gosto, que nos coloca como abutres que se alimentam do corpo de Cristo. Porém, Ele disse: “Se não comerem Minha carne e não beberem Meu sangue, não têm parte em Mim.”[12] Aqui Ele está falando de quando nos encontraremos com Ele, quando formos arrebatados para Ele. De onde quer que estejam Seus seguidores, serão atraídos como um ímã, como abutres para um cadáver, aqueles que têm de se alimentar do Cristo para viverem espiritualmente. Onde estiver o cadáver, ali estaremos, juntos, os pequenos abutres.

“Logo depois da aflição daqueles dias, o sol escurecerá, a lua não dará a sua luz, as estrelas cairão do firmamento e os corpos celestes serão abalados. Então aparecerá no céu o sinal do Filho do homem, e todos os povos da terra se lamentarão e verão o Filho do homem, vindo sobre as nuvens do céu, com poder e grande glória. E ele enviará os seus anjos, com grande clangor de trombeta, os quais ajuntarão os seus escolhidos desde os quatro ventos, de uma à outra extremidade dos céus.”[13]

O que poderia ser mais cataclísmico, dramático, extraordinário e óbvio que a vinda do Senhor, conforme descreveu nessa passagem o próprio Jesus? O céu inteiro se iluminará como um relâmpago, os salvos de todas as eras literalmente se encontrarão no ar, o sol e a lua se escurecerão, meteoros cairão e Jesus aparecerá nos céus atmosféricos, pelo que os não salvos se lamentarão e chorarão, quando virem Sua chegada nas nuvens “com poder e grande glória”.

“Mas, irmãos, acerca dos tempos e das épocas, não necessitais de que se vos escreva, pois vós mesmos sabeis muito bem que o dia do Senhor virá como o ladrão de noite. Quando andarem dizendo: Há paz e segurança, então lhes sobrevirá repentina destruição, como as dores de parto àquela que está grávida, e de modo nenhum escaparão.”[14]

Será uma destruição sem aviso, repentina. Seus falsos profetas lhes dirão: “Está tudo em paz agora e vocês não têm de se preocupar com nada. Temos o governo mundial, temos nosso Anticristo, temos o nosso messias, temos o nosso super-homem que agora governa o mundo e tudo está bem. Paz e segurança.” É quando serão repentinamente destruídos! Jesus voltará, resgatará Sua noiva e Deus começará a derramar Sua ira e juízos sobre o império mundial do Anticristo.

“Mas vós, irmãos, já não estais em trevas, para que esse dia (o da segunda vinda de Cristo) vos surpreenda como um ladrão.”[15] Os cristãos que conhecem Sua palavra e “os sinais dos tempos”[16] não se surpreenderão. Não é possível precisar dia e hora em que voltará Jesus, mas podemos saber que, aproximadamente três anos e meio depois de ser erguida a abominação da desolação, faltará pouco para a vinda de Jesus.

“Todos vós sois filhos da luz, e filhos do dia. Nós não somos da noite, nem das trevas. Não durmamos, pois, como os demais, mas vigiemos, e sejamos sóbrios. Pois os que dormem, dormem de noite, e os que se embriagam, embriagam-se de noite. Nós, porém, que somos do dia, sejamos sóbrios, revestindo-nos da couraça da fé e do amor, e tendo por capacete a esperança da salvação.”[17]

A magnificente Segunda Vinda de Jesus não pegará Seus filhos de surpresa, como um ladrão à noite. Isso é o que acontecerá ao resto do mundo, quando virem “o Filho do homem, vindo sobre as nuvens do céu, com poder e grande glória”.[18] Nosso arrebatamento ou nossa ressurreição é parte do nosso triunfo, da vitória que Deus nos dará, nosso grande êxodo deste mundo.

Lemos no Apocalipse: “Ele vem com as nuvens e todo o olho o verá.”[19] Que testemunho maior poderia haver que a ressurreição e o arrebatamento? É o testemunho final, quando virem Jesus e nós ressurgirmos dos mortos, deixarmos a terra para encontrá-lo no ar.

Ninguém que ama Jesus será deixado para trás. Ninguém que tenha recebido Jesus como Salvador será deixado para trás. Ninguém que for salvo será deixado para trás. Nenhum cristão genuíno, que crê na Bíblia, confia em Cristo e ama Jesus será deixado para trás. “Seremos transformados”[20] e ressuscitaremos. Ele enviará Seus anjos para reunir Seus filhos de todos os lugares, de todo o mundo e não deixará ninguém para trás. Não esquecerá nenhum sequer. Não é maravilhoso?

Publicado pela primeira vez em maio de 1983. Adaptado e republicado em outubro de 2014. Revisão H.R.Flandoli.


[1] A menos que indicado ao contrário, todas as referências às Escrituras foram extraídas da “Bíblia Sagrada” — Tradução de João Ferreira de Almeida — Edição Contemporânea — Editora Vida.
[2] 2 Tessalonicenses 2:4.
[3] 1 Tessalonicenses 4:17.
[4] Apocalipse 10:6–7.
[5] Daniel 9:27 - NTLH.
[6] Mateus 24:15,21.
[7] Daniel 7:25; 9:27; 12:7; Apocalipse 12:14.
[8] Apocalipse 11:2; 13:5.
[9] Apocalipse 11:3; 12:6.
[10] Mateus 24:27.
[11] Mateus 24:28.
[12] Ver João 6:53–58.
[13] Mateus 24:29–31.
[14] 1 Tessalonicenses 5:1–3.
[15] 1 Tessalonicenses 5:4.
[16] Mateus 16:3.
[17] 1 Tessalonicenses 5:5–8.
[18] Mateus 24:30.
[19] Apocalipse 1:7.
[20] 1 Coríntios 15:51.

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Makings Through Breakings

By D. Brandt Berg

Audio length: 10:44
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God chooses and uses the weak things, the foolish things, the despised things, “that no flesh should glory in His presence!”—1 Corinthians 1:25–29

The list is almost endless of all the men in the Bible whom God had to humble before He could use them, of all the leaders God had to bring down to the depths before they could stand to be exalted—lest they would have taken credit to themselves and not given God the glory.

Look at Joseph. Of Jacob’s twelve sons, he was his father’s favorite. His elder brothers finally became so jealous of him that they nearly killed him, threw him into a pit, and then sold him into slavery. But the Lord used this to humble him. Joseph was made a slave and a prisoner and condemned as a criminal before God was able to exalt him to become the savior of His people.1

And look at Moses. For 40 years he was groomed in the very courts of pharaoh, and rose to become the second most powerful man in the mighty world empire of ancient Egypt. The Bible says he was “educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,”2 but God could not yet use him to lead His people to freedom, for he was full of the ways of the world and not the ways of God. Moses had to be broken first. So God allowed him to become a fugitive from pharaoh, and he had to spend 40 years in the wilderness doing nothing but tending sheep, until finally he was broken and humble enough for God to use him for the great task He had designed him for.3

And consider King David, the greatest king that Israel ever had. He fell in love with Bathsheba, purposely had her husband, Uriah, killed in battle, and then tried to lie and cover up the entire crime. God had to completely expose him, humble him, and severely judge him. And he was soon driven from the throne by his own traitorous son, Absalom.4

But was David’s fall a fall downward or a fall upward? God’s way up is sometimes down—usually, in fact! Just the opposite of what we think. David was humbled and the whole kingdom was humbled, and they were all reminded that it was only the Lord who made them great. And from that squeezing and twisting of David’s life came forth the sweet honey of the Psalms, and the fragrance of his praises to the Lord for His mercy—a lesson that’s been an encouragement to other sinners like me and you ever since.

The great, brave and mighty prophet, Elijah, was able to call down fire from heaven to confound the false prophets of Baal and to prove that he was right.5 But after slaying hundreds of false prophets, he panicked and ran away from one little woman, wicked Queen Jezebel. Hiding out in the wilderness, he became so discouraged that he wished that he might die. But there in his time of desperation, this prophet of fire and thunder became a meek little man who learned to listen to the still, small voice of God. And he became a much better, humbler instrument in the hands of the Lord—a prophet who fearlessly returned to face not only the queen, but the king and all of his soldiers.6

And look at the apostle Peter. He was so proud and self-confident that he swore to Jesus, “Though all others forsake You, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death.”7 But just a few hours later, when Jesus was seized by the temple guards and hauled before the Jews’ religious court, some people outside of the building recognized Peter and pointed him out as one of Jesus’ followers. Peter vehemently denied that he even knew Him, cursing and swearing that he had no idea what they were talking about!8

As he was denying the Lord a third time, Jesus, who was being led by His captors to another part of the building, turned and gazed upon Peter, and Peter suddenly remembered how he had sworn that he would never deny Him. The Bible tells us that Peter then “went out and wept bitterly.”9 Was this the end of Peter’s service for the Lord? No! It was shortly after this humiliating defeat, this great failure, this breaking of his pride, that the Lord anointed and raised up Peter to become the leader of the early church.

And consider the great apostle Paul. He had been a prominent Jewish leader, the Rabbi Saul, and had personally taken it upon himself to put an end to the fast-growing sect of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Journeying by horseback to Damascus, where he intended to capture, imprison, and execute as many Christians as he could find, God had to literally knock him off his horse and blind him with the brilliant light of His presence. Trembling, helpless, and blind, the once proud rabbi had to be led by the hand into the city, where he was so astonished that he was unable to eat or drink for three full days. A disciple of the Lord then came to give him God’s message and pray for his eyes, and Saul was converted and became the apostle Paul! But God had to humble him and break him first, and make him a new man before He was able to use him.10

In fact, this is the story of everyone who is of any real use to the Lord’s work. For us to become what He wants us to be usually requires many breakings, humblings and meltings, remolding, reshaping, and remaking into a better vessel, better than we were, better than we thought we were, and much more yielded and useful for His kingdom. Such tests, trials, and tribulations will either soften and melt you, or harden and embitter you. Suffering can either make you bitter or better. So watch out that you don’t get hardened, bitter, and resentful against God when you’re going through it. His Word says, “Look diligently, lest any man fail the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up and trouble you, and through it, many be defiled.”11

If you let trials humble you and melt you, you’ll be a whole lot happier, because you’ll be drawn a whole lot closer to the Lord. If you harden your heart against the Lord, if you resist the Holy Spirit and harden your heart against God’s love and truth, your heart becomes calloused, and soon it no longer even feels it so much anymore, and you risk becoming “past feeling.”12 Be careful, you wouldn’t want to wind up like the man in that horrible poem, “Invictus”: “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. My head is bloody, but unbowed.”13 Even though he was bruised, buffeted, and bloodied, he still insisted on being his own boss and would not yield or “bow” to the Lord.

Truth resisted will lose its power over your soul. Every time you resist the truth, you’re hardening your spirit against the Lord. It’s like when you have a little tender spot on your foot where your shoe has been rubbing. At first it’s very, very sensitive, really sore. It hurts. But if it keeps on rubbing, pretty soon you build a big callus; the skin gets thicker and tougher and hardened.—Which is what happens to your heart if you continually refuse to yield to the Lord.

Hardening your heart is not the solution. He says, “Harden not your hearts.”14 But rather, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite (broken, repentant) spirit.”15

Whatever God does, He always does it in love. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.”16

The Lord loves you and is even “touched with the feeling of your infirmities.”17 But He knows that He will never be able to use you as much as He would like to unless you are humbled. When you become a tool and a channel, a little diamond of dust, then He can mightily use you!

He makes us through the breakings we experience. Without experiencing suffering, loss, tragedy, and failure, you won’t know how to love the poor lost world and sympathize with and reach others with His love. But if you’ll allow Him to break and melt your heart, then He’ll woo and win it, warm and melt it, and make it bright and happy and burning with His love—so you can share that love with others.

Compiled from the writings of D. Brandt Berg, originally published in April 1987. Adapted and republished November 2014. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.



1 Genesis 37, 39–41.
2 Acts 7:22.
3 Exodus 2–3.
4 2 Samuel 11,12,15.
5 1 Kings 18.
6 1 Kings 19 and 21.
7 John 13:37; Luke 22:33.
8 Mark 14:66–71.
9 Luke 22:62.
10 Acts 9.
11 Hebrews 12:15.
12 Ephesians 4:19.
13 William Ernest Henley (1875).
14 Hebrews 3:15.
15 Psalm 55:22, 34:18; Isaiah 55:6.
16 Psalm 103:8–14.
17 Hebrews 4:15.

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The Lamp

http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/lamp/
By D. Brandt Berg

Audio length: 12:43
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Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.—Psalm 62:51

It’s a common error of Christian workers to give too much, beyond their capacity. They need to save some strength for themselves, for their Lord. When they are tired, they need to rest. When they are weary, sometimes they just need to retire from the fray and give the battle to others. They need to know when to fight and when to be still, when to give and when to save, when to work and when to rest, when to give to others and when to pray. When they save others, indeed themselves they cannot save, but there are times when they must save themselves if they are going to save others and still others and yet others.

Sometimes they need to choose between that which is good and that which is best for the kingdom. Most of all, they must save their best for the Lord, give their best to their Bridegroom and save the first place for Him. We need to give first place to Him, His fellowship, and His love. We all need to learn to rest in His arms and not to work so hard in our own strength. We all need to learn to save our best for our Lord.

“In quietness and confidence shall your strength be.”2 “Cast thy burden on the Lord and He shall sustain thee!”3 “Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”4 Sometimes we try to carry too much, to do too much. We need to leave more for the Lord. “Cast thy burden on the Lord, for He shall sustain thee. Trust in the Lord, and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed and thy days shall be long in the land,”5 for He shall sustain thee.

“For strength comes from the Lord, who giveth to all abundantly and upbraideth not.”6 “For if ye ask for bread, will He give you a stone? And if ye ask for fish, will He give you a serpent? Therefore if ye know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that love Him,”7 to sustain them.

We all need to learn to depend more on the Lord, to leave more to the Lord. We can’t do everything; it’s humanly, physically impossible to do it all! You just have to do what you can day by day, and leave the rest to the Lord. If you can’t do it, He has to. “He knows, He loves, He cares. Nothing His truth can dim. He gives the very best to those who save the best for Him.”
Help each of us to learn how to apportion our time so we can save the very best for You, Lord, and rest from our labors in Your arms, so that You can give us Your strength, the strength which can only be found in Your arms and Your love, as we give our very best to You.

“And ye shall find rest to your soul.” Not many people understand that the soul is a body with a spirit.8 If we don’t rest in the Spirit, we can wear out in body, and we need to learn to rest in the Spirit to save our bodies, so that we’ll have strength to minister to others. For strength comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth and our bodies, and He knows what we need most of all: peace, fellowship with Him, and feeding on His Word.

We must first be partakers of the fruits before we can feed others. We can’t feed others if we have not fed ourselves. We must first feed our own souls before we can break bread for others. We cannot give it all and have nothing left to give, lest we burn out and have no oil left for our Bridegroom.9 We must seek first the King and His kingdom, then shall all these other things be added unto us by His power, His strength, His kingdom, His might, in His time, if we give first place to Him.10

We can’t afford to burn ourselves out in service to others, until we have nothing left for ourselves or the King. We need to learn to save first place for Him and our times of communion with Him. We belong to Him first of all. The first place must belong to Him and peace, quietness, rest, feeding and fellowship with the Lord. For we cannot do the Master’s work without the Master’s power. We must save first place for Him and His Word, His love, and His power, and from this shall our strength come. We cannot do it alone in our own strength.

It must be the oil that burns and not the wick, for the wick burning without oil can destroy itself. We have to let Him burn to light the way, and not try to burn of ourselves, or we can eventually burn out and have no light left for our Master. The flame burns so beautifully and brightly and clearly, so strong with oil. But it gets so smoky and confused and stinky when it just burns the wick.

The wick must be deeply immersed in the oil. Most of the wick is in the oil; only a tiny little tip of it is exposed to the air and to the flame. It’s mostly oil that burns and very little of the wick, almost none, and the oil flows freely through a wick that is deeply soaked in the oil. Then it is the oil that burns and not the wick, and gives bright, pure, clear light to all the house in the beauty of His perfection, in the holiness of His light.

For the life that I now live, I live by the strength of the Lord that liveth in me. It is not I that live, but Christ that liveth in me.11 It is not I that burn, but Christ must burn within me, to give pure light, smokeless light, clear light, beautiful light.

When I was a boy, they had these beautiful kerosene lamps in every home on every table, and they had a lovely glass bowl full of oil so you could see the level of the oil in the lamp so you knew when to replenish it. You could tell when the oil was getting low and when too much of the wick was out of the oil, for the lamp would get smoky when there wasn’t enough oil to really soak the wick.

The lamp burned best when full of oil. In other words, it was the oil that burned and not the wick. Not I that burn, but Christ that burns in me!

Isaiah said “Come! Why spend ye your substance for that which is not meat and your strength for that which is not bread? Come and buy of me. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.”12

Sometimes we try too hard, we work too hard trying to do everything ourselves, when we need to let the Lord do the burning, to let Him flow through us. Let Him burn.

I’ve found a refuge from life’s care in Jesus,
I am hiding in His love divine;
He fully understands my soul’s deep longing,
And He whispers softly, “Thou art Mine.”

Jesus, only Jesus,
Only He can satisfy.
Every burden becomes a blessing
When I know my Lord is nigh.
—A. B. Christiansen

We can only find true satisfaction in the Lord.

I have found no satisfaction in the fleeting joys of earth;
I have hewed me broken cisterns that have mocked me by their dearth.
All the springs my soul has tested failed to meet my deepest need.
Christ alone has met my longing, He has satisfied indeed!

Christ is not a disappointment! Every longing in my breast
Finds, in Him, complete fulfillment, He has brought me into rest.
I have tested Him and proved Him more than all I’d dreamed He’d be
Christ is not a disappointment, He is all in all to me!
—C. W. Waggoner

Leave it there! Leave it there!
Cast thy burden on the Lord and leave it there.
If you’ll trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
—Charles Tindley

So just leave it with the Lord, knowing that only He can solve the problems and only He can do the work. So many take their burdens to the Lord and lay them on the altar, and then pick them right back up again and walk off with them. We cannot solve the problems. He has to do it. You need to let go and let God. All you have to do is just let the Lord shine through. Just let the oil flow. Let the Lord flow. Let Him do it. Let the Lord do it!

Particularly with people who have a lot of drive and dynamism in the natural, it’s hard for them not to just really boom boom boom, push things through in their own strength. But natural force has its limits. Men of force are men of faults, and often the biggest fault is to keep on going in their own force or strength instead of letting the Lord do it.

May the Lord bless and keep you and make you a great blessing to many—in His strength by His power!

Then we’ll give all the glory to Jesus
And tell of His love, His wonderful love.
We’ll give all the glory to Jesus,
And tell of His wonderful love.
—Author Unknown
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PWXcRVZWTb8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In Christ Alone
Originally published March 1983. Adapted and republished January 2014.
Read by Simon Peterson. copyright@tfi.org

Footnotes:
1 NIV.
2 Isaiah 30:15.
3 Psalm 55:22.
4 Matthew 11:28–30.
5 Psalm 37:3.
6 Psalm 121:2; James 1:5.
7 Matthew 7:9–11.
8 Genesis 2:7.
9 Matthew 25:1–13.
10 Matthew 6:33.
11 Galatians 2:20.
12 Isaiah 55:1–2.

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What Have You Done with Your Life?

http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/what-have-you-done-your-life/
By D. Brandt Berg

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Just before going to sleep last night we had been discussing the events of the day and its accomplishments, as well as perhaps some lacks, and I had said to Maria, “I hope I’m doing my best. I hope I’m doing what the Lord wants me to do and what’s best for His work, and I hope our publications are being a blessing. I want to be sure that they’re of the Lord and according to His will and what He wants.”

It’s good to take stock of things at the end of the day and to reflect momentarily on the day and its accomplishments, perhaps sometimes even on its failures, and to assess whether you have really made any progress that day in God’s work and His will and what He wants you to do.

Has it been a day that the Lord hath made? Has it been a day in which you have done His will and He’s had His way? Has it been a day that you’re thankful for because you’re sure the Lord is pleased with it, and therefore you’re pleased with what has occurred and what you have done that day?

As we go to sleep at night, it’s a good thing to reflect on these things and assess these values as to whether you are obeying the Lord and pleasing Him, that He might say of you for that day, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”—in peaceful, contented sleep, thankful and satisfied that you have done your best that day and you can rest in peace.

This is very much the same attitude which we older folks often have as we approach the end of life’s day and the night of our sleep in death and our temporary rest from our labors, before the dawning of that great new day when Jesus comes! We think back over our lives and we remember our deeds and our words, and we wonder if we have done our best for Jesus.

I used to sing that old song, “I wonder have I done my best for Jesus, when He has done so much for me,”<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rul6BFbLFfk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> a beautiful old song of assessing life’s values and accomplishments when we sometimes wonder if we have really done our best for Him and have accomplished what He wanted us to do.

Has it truly been a life lived for Him, by His power and His strength and His guidance in His will, having the fruits of His Spirit and the fruits of His Word: souls born into the kingdom of God forever; little ones instructed in His Word; older ones growing in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord and taught to serve Him and live for Him?

“What have you done with your life?” is the question, and it’s often the question that I have asked myself at the end of the day as I lie down to rest for the night. It’s the question we ask ourselves toward the end of our lifetime as we prepare to rest from this life’s labors: “What have I done with my life?”

Many who have had life-after-death experiences have testified that as they faced the angel of death and judgment at the bright light at the end of the long tunnel of the darkness of death, the question which nearly all of them say is asked as they face God’s angel of judgment is, “What have you done with your life?”<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uKTGHZtRXbQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It’s a good question to ask ourselves at the end of each day: “What have I done with my life this day? What did I do for Jesus?” As another old song goes:

What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be;
Someday your heart will be asking,
“What will He do with me?”

What have I done with Jesus and what will He do with me? What have I done with my life, and what will He do about the way I have lived? What will be my reward for faithful service to Him? Have I pleased Him? Have I satisfied Him? Have I done my best for Jesus? Or what will be my shame for failures, shortcomings, disobediences, and getting out of His will and not following Him closely enough, not accomplishing what He wanted me to accomplish?

Jesus says, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”1 The Lord intended for every Christian to bear fruit like himself, another Christian, more Christians. Just as you plant any kind of fruit, if you plant an apple, you get a whole tree full of apples. Or a pear, you get a tree full of pears. Or a mango, you get a tree full of mangoes. Or a coconut tree, you get a tree full of coconuts! Every Christian was intended to bury his life in the soil of God’s service and take up his cross and follow Jesus and to bear fruit, more Christians like himself, or even better!

For Jesus Himself said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Yet if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”2 And if we will go out and die daily for the Lord in His service, we shall bring forth much fruit, more Christians to preach the Gospel to more of the lost and lead them to the Lord!

That’s the least that He can expect of our lives and our salvation. He died to save us; why should we not give our lives to save others? In fact, the apostle says, “Herein is the love of God manifest in us, that as Jesus died for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”3

He asks every one of us now, “What have you done with your life?” And He will ask each of us someday when we have to stand face to face with that question at the judgment, “What have you done with your life?”

That’s the question that will be asked each of us and that we should ask ourselves every day, and that God’s going to ask when we come to the end of life’s day and face Him:

“Only one life; ’twill soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”4 “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”5 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
God bless and keep you and make you a blessing to many. You’ll never be sorry! For God is love, and He loves you and will take good care of you to the end. Then you’ll hear His “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”6 Forever—with all the souls you helped love into His kingdom eternally!

I wonder have I done my best for Jesus,
Who died upon the cruel tree?
To think of His great sacrifice at Calvary!
I know my Lord expects the best from me.

The hours that I have wasted are so many
The hours I’ve spent for Christ so few;
Because of all my lack of love for Jesus,
I wonder if His heart is breaking too.

I wonder have I cared enough for others,
Or have I let them die alone?
I might have helped a wand’rer to the Saviour,
The seed of precious Life I might have sown.

No longer will I stay within the valley,
I’ll climb to mountain heights above;
The world is dying now for want of someone.
To tell them of the Saviour’s matchless love.

How many are the lost that I have lifted?
How many are the chained I’ve helped to free?
I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus,
When He has done so much for me?7
Originally published October 1982. Adapted and republished July 2013.
Read by Bryan Clark. Copyright@thefamily.org

Footnotes:
1 John 15:8.
2 John 12:24.
3 1 John 3:16.
4 Matthew 16:24.
5 Matthew 19:29.
6 Matthew 25:23.
7 By Ensign Edwin Young and Harry E. Storrs (1923).

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The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/second-coming-jesus-christ/
By D. Brandt Berg


Audio length: 10:57
Download Audio (10MB)

“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”—Hebrews 10:371

The rule and reign of the Antichrist is going to look like the final triumph of man without God. God will look like He’s been defeated, and the church will look like it’s been destroyed. But what the Antichrist and his forces are not counting on is the supernatural, omnipotent power of God! God is going to get His greatest victory out of the seeming greatest of all defeats.

Just at the hour when the fiendish Antichrist thinks he has everything under control, at last he’s worshipped by the whole world and he “sitteth in the temple of God, as God, showing himself that he is God,”2 suddenly like a bolt from the blue, Jesus comes and snatches all of His children out of this world—all believers who refused the Mark of the Beast in either their forehead or their hand and refused to worship him, but preferred to love and live and even die for Jesus.

Just after that darkest hour in world history will be the brightest dawn. Jesus is going to come back and rescue His own, His church, His people, everyone who loves Him and knows Him, who believe He is the Son of God, the Messiah. He’s going to say, “Stop the world! I want them to get off!” And “they that are alive and remain are going to be caught up together with Him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”3

Jesus’ Second Coming is the major prophetic endtime event for Christians, as it will signify the end of this world as we now know it, as well as our place in it in these present physical bodies. Following His coming will be our complete translation and rapture as we’re caught up together with Him in the air and taken off into heavenly places. His coming is the pivotal point, the end of this present life and work on earth, when “time shall be no more” for us, and we will enter the great eternal now.4

The times and seasons of the Second Coming

God has a set time and schedule for the return of His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to rescue His people. He’s going to come right on the button, just like these space launches which have a preset countdown. Only there aren’t going to be any problems to delay His countdown. Jesus is going to fulfill His Word. You can rest assured that He is not going to change plans and come contrary to all the things that He Himself taught and the prophets and the apostles wrote. He is not going to misfire, but His return is going to fulfill the specific, detailed prophecies of His Word regarding end-time events which must come to pass before He returns.

The final countdown to Christ’s Second Coming will start after the Antichrist has been revealed as the great world leader who “confirms the covenant with many for seven years” regarding Jerusalem and Jewish temple worship.5 It’ll be exactly 1,260 days until he breaks it and abolishes it and begins the Great Tribulation period by setting himself and his image up in the holy place to be worshipped, and commanding that everybody receive his mark in their forehead or hand.

Jesus Himself said, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, then shall be Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”6 When that image of the Antichrist is set up in the temple at Jerusalem in the midst of that seven-year covenant period, then will begin the Great Tribulation period for which His Word gives us the exact three-and-a-half-year length over and over again in so many different ways that you cannot possibly misunderstand it.—Three and a half years,7 42 months,8 and 1,260 days.9

Jesus warned us not to expect His return any sooner than has been predicted. He tells us, “When I come, you’ll know it.” The sky will light up like permanent lightning from one end to the other, and there will be such a sign in the heavens that you could not possibly mistake the fact that Jesus is coming.

“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”10 He says there’s going to be light shining from the east to the west like lightning. The whole sky is going to light up and stay lit when Jesus comes, while we’re gathered to meet Him in the air, and the whole world is going to watch it.

“For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”11 He’s speaking in cryptic, very puzzling language, saying, “Wherever the body is, there will be gathered those that feed on Christ.”—A rather unsavory comparison that we, like vultures, feed upon the body of Christ. But He said, “Except you eat of My flesh and drink of My blood, you’re not going to have any part in Me.”12 So here He’s speaking of our gathering together or rapture to Him. Wherever His followers are, they’re going to be drawn like a magnet, like the eagles to the carcass, like vultures to the body, who have to eat and feed upon Christ to live spiritually. Wherever the carcass is, there will all of us little eagles be gathered together.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all of the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”13

What could be more cataclysmic, dramatic, terrific, and more obvious than the coming of the Lord as described here by Jesus himself? The whole sky will be lit up like lightning, the saved of all ages will be literally “gathered together” in the air, the sun and the moon will be darkened and meteors will be falling, and Jesus Himself will appear in the atmospheric heavens, causing the unsaved to mourn and weep as they see His coming in the clouds “with power and great glory.”“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”14

It will be like sudden destruction, suddenly, without warning. Because their false prophets have been telling them, “Everything’s peaceful now, and you don’t have to worry about anything. We have our world government, we have our Antichrist, we have our Messiah, we have our superman to run the world now, and everything’s going to be okay. Peace and safety.” And then sudden destruction hits them! Jesus returns, rescues His Bride, and God begins pouring out His final wrath and judgments on the Antichrist’s world empire.

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day (of Christ’s Second Coming) should overtake you as a thief.”15 Christians who know His Word and have “discerned the signs of the times”16 are not going to be surprised. You may not know the precise day or hour, but you’ll certainly know when approximately three and a half years from the placing of the abomination of desolation has passed, and will be looking for and anxiously awaiting Jesus’ return.

“Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”17

Jesus’ magnificent Second Coming won’t catch His children by surprise, like a thief in the night, as it will the rest of the world. “They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”18 Our rapture, our resurrection, is part of our triumph, our God-given victory, our great exodus from this world.

In Revelation it says, “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.”19 What greater witness could there be than the resurrection and the rapture? That’s the final witness, when they actually see Jesus and see us rise from the dead and from the earth to meet Him in the air.

Nobody’s going to be left behind that loves Jesus. Nobody’s going to be left behind that has received Jesus as his Savior. No one is going to be left behind who is saved. Not a single, genuine, Bible-believing, Christ-trusting, Jesus-loving Christian is going to be left behind, not one. For “we shall all be changed,”20 and we will all be raised. He will send His angels out to gather His children from everywhere, from all around the whole earth, and He won’t leave one behind. He won’t forget one, not one. Is not that wonderful?

Originally published May 1983. Adapted and republished October 2014.
Read by Jon Marc. copyright£thefamily.org

Footnotes:
1 Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible verses are from the King James Version.
2 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
3 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
4 Revelation 10:6–7.
5 Daniel 9:27.
6 Matthew 24:15,21.
7 Daniel 7:25; 9:27; 12:7; Revelation 12:14.
8 Revelation 11:2; 13:5.
9 Revelation 11:3; 12:6.
10 Matthew 24:27.
11 Matthew 24:28.
12 John 6:53–58.
13 Matthew 24:29–31.
14 1 Thessalonians 5:1–3.
15 1 Thessalonians 5:4.
16 Matthew 16:3.
17 1 Thessalonians 5:5–8.
18 Matthew 24:30.
19 Revelation 1:7.
20 1 Corinthians 15:51.

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