PRODIGAL SUN
DECEMBER 2023
Let your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
A friend recently sent me a news broadcast
from a station that I had listened to several times before. (It is located
outside of the US for those wondering.) I’ve never had cause to question
what was aired until now, yet my ‘cause’ this time may very well be due to
the lies we are all being exposed to now everywhere about almost everything.
Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth has departed from not just
our land, but the whole world.
A week or two ago I glanced at a counter in
our kitchen where my ‘daily’ Bible was sitting and the thought was, “nothing
else in this world can be trusted.” The broadcast above just reminded me of
that.
The whole worlds system is set up to breed
distrust, hate, prejudice, and jealousy to name a few of it’s fruits. Like
it or not, accept it or not, we are all under the spiritual influence of the
wicked one’s agenda. The level of our resistance to those forces will be
directly proportionate to our obedience of what we find in God’s Word. If
you are not regularly in the Word you will succumb to the world’s system and
the enemies lies.
In 1 John 1:15-17 you will read, “Do not
love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father
but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but
he who does the will of God abides forever.”
In the next two verses we read, “Little
children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Anti-christ is
coming, even now many anti-christs have come, by which we know that it is
the last hour.”
We will never know the fullness of what all
was revealed to John, but he was directed to write that which was pertinent
to all of us in the years to come that we may be equipped to combat the
enemies attacks. The war was won, death defeated at Calvary, but the final
Tribunal has not met, nor the final sentences enacted. God’s Word clearly
describes the assigned sentences which, like all of His promises, cannot be
altered.
In Hebrews 3:7-14 we find a stern warning to
followers of Christ using Israel’s Exodus from Egypt as an example. It
reads, “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in
the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers
tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry
with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And
they have not known My ways,’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter
My rest.’” Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily,
while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the
beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
What is this confidence? Is it not simply
that He is enough? When we permit ourselves to become discontent because of
some outward circumstance(s) we start to look around for a fix rather than
the Fixer. Many, like the early disciples, found their awe in the temple
building(s). Others follow some man made hierarchy or personality even when
their doctrine or lives do not live up to Christlike living. Paul addressed
this when he said, “Follow me, as I follow Christ” in 1 Corinthians 11:1.
Paul fully understood the absolute necessity of the centrality of a Christ
centered walk. His peace in all circumstances is best voiced in Philippians
4:11-12 which reads “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned
in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased (live humbly)
and I know how to abound (live in prosperity). Everywhere and in all things
I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to
suffer need. Then in verse 13 shares the secret of his confidence – “I can
do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”
Where does MY confidence lie? That very same
question is one you also must determine the correct(true/honest) answer to.
We are living in a period of history like no other, one written about in the
Scriptures thousands of years ago, and now being consummated before our
eyes.
We have been experiencing an abundance of
God’s mercy and grace for hundreds of years here in America as we stood as a
beacon for Christianity- The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even the Supreme Court
on February 29, 1892 declared, “The historical record overwhelmingly
demonstrated that the United States is a Christian nation.” It is worth
noting that during this general time period (18-1900’s) that the US was
being infiltrated by various Eastern cults/religions such as Buddhism,
Hinduism, Islam, Satanism, and a number of false ‘Christian” movements. Just
as Satan brought his insidious lies into the Garden to rob, kill, and
destroy God’s handiwork, and purposes, he moved mightily against America.
Satan knew that by getting the true Church (followers) of Jesus Christ to
compromise and disobey God’s Word that he could continue his destructive
schemes with little resistance.
Read God’s Word then decide for yourselves
if your ‘church’ is in conflict with His written Word. If the church does
not judge herself, repenting of any lukewarmness, and rebellion, God will
write Ichabod (The glory has departed) above the doors. The mocking of God
by this nation, especially those called by His name, is in its closing
hours.
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is
a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
Read the parable of the Workers in Matthew
20:1-16 for encouragement.
Blessings….
kenhayesfleming9@gmail.com
Kenneth H. Fleming
www.wbcis.com
502 Market Street
(814) 687-3707
Fallentimber, Pa. 16639