NOTES ON THE REBELLION OF THE AMERICAN PASTORATE – PART II: TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
SCRIPTURE. “WOE to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” – ISAIAH 30:1-3, NKJ
PART I: Roots of the Rebellion
PART II: CONSEQUENCES OF THE REBELLION
PART III: The Fall of Babylon the Great
WOE! From the Hebrew term, ‘Hoy’ [הוֹי], translated variously as: “Ah! Alas! Ha! A powerful interjection expressing usually dissatisfaction and pain; a prolonged form of ‘Owy!’ Probably from ‘Avah’ (in the sense of crying out after); lamentation; an impassioned expression of grief and despair; from a root word meaning ‘to crave deeply for relief or mercy; expressed great sorrow or distress; in relation to ruinous trouble, calamity, misfortune, grief or impending affliction, agony or anguish.”
QUOTATIONS
“The Bow of God’s Wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and Justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere Pleasure of God, and that of an Angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.” – JONATHAN EDWARDS, ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,’ July 8, 1741, Enfield, Connecticut; edited
“Initially, the God of the Old Testament might seem overwhelming and domineering to you, or tyrannical, or perhaps even evil, which is good. It is the first telling that God is indeed God, by sheer definition, and not some ear-tickling fairy by which one in his depravity is guaranteed to find another form of stale romanticism or love at first sight. For such a first impression as the latter would be problematic to the essence of Christianity. Therefore the Christians are right in saying that the nature of imperfect men cannot ultimately co-exist with the Nature of a Perfect God; and that the Hope of each man is now desperately found in God’s sending of Christ.”
― CRISS JAMI, ‘Healology,’ 2016; edited
Selah, beloved. Selah.
- FIRST THOUGHTS
I have written much and long these past three years of An Approaching Storm. In fact, let me relate a personal anecdote about ‘Storms’ that helps explain how vital they are become to me in these tumultuous times.
Excerpted from my book to guarantee consistency of accounts: ‘The Sixth Seal: A Pre-Wrath Commentary of the End of History As We Know It’ (2017).
THE PROPHECY. “Now leap forward to July of 1985, where I am a relatively newly minted Christian professor of communication at what was then called CBN University, now much more elegantly named, Regent University. My wife and I were having dinner with then 700 Club co-host, DANUTA SODERMAN, and her husband a the time, KAI. Seems as the evening ended, Kai Soderman asked me to come back to his office in their lovely cottage in Chesapeake, Virginia, as he said in a pronounced Swedish accent: ‘Cliff, I have a Word for you from the Lord.’ Now I didn’t know Kai well and was kind of new at this Christianity stuff, but of course I said okay, and this is what he told me just over 30 years ago:
‘The Lord tells me you will write only one book. I don’t know its title or what it will be about, but the cover will have storm clouds on it.’
After which Kai and Danuta bade us good night and we left with me frankly having forgotten this Prophetic Declaration. Until MAY 17, 2015, almost to the exact month, 30 years later. As I was sitting in my small study where my wife and I live here in Colorado Springs, Colorado, contemplating the increasingly difficult times I saw the nation and world confronting, I sensed God’s Voice say, rather emphatically:
‘Finish the book now!’…
After I heard that command, notably, the first draft was completed precisely 90 days later, on AUGUST 17, 2015.” – pp. 3-4; edited, emphasis my own
THE REST OF THE STORY. From the publication of the book two years later, in 2017, until now in 2021, the Lord was clearly putting the Finish Work on His preparation of me for this present Mission as Digital Circuit Rider. The Focus of which is now and shall continue to be:
To Confront the Storms ahead with the Love, Truth and Power of the soon coming Messiah, Yeshua ben David, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who has begun to open the First Six Seals of His in His prophetic Book, releasing the First Judgments upon America and the world, detailed in Chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation.
Note this, beloved. This is a big deal, setting the Divine Stage for all that follows in these Last Days.
- THE AMERICAN JESUS
Perhaps now you can more easily understand why I write the way I write. I see it as a direct Command from our Commander in Chief. He told me in somewhat cloaked conversation in 1985, ‘Dark Speech’ some would call it, that my Final Assignment would be to do this, what we are all doing together now:
Till ‘The End of History As We Know It.’
THE AMERICAN GOSPEL. “American Gospel is a Christian documentary series designed to define the Gospel Biblically and promote Biblical Faith in Christ. Both of the full-length documentaries in the series are written and directed by BRANDON KIMBER and released by Transition Studios. A distinctive feature is that both documentaries are presented without the aid of narration, relying instead on snippets of engaging interviews, cut with clips of Teachers and Preachers in action. The views of a diverse group of pastors, teachers, churchgoers, authors, celebrities, and presidents are juxtaposed to present a Defense of Biblical Faith in contrast with distorted versions of Christianity …
‘American Gospel: Christ Alone’ (2018) warns of the danger of ‘a Christless Church’—a church people attend in order to feel good about themselves. It rightly concludes that an emphasis on ‘Moralism’—as opposed to the Grace of God—leads people to either pride or despair. The film also emphasizes God’s Sovereignty and counters the hermeneutic that sees the Bible as being all about ‘us,’ rather than about Christ and His work on our behalf. Along the way, ‘American Gospel: Christ Alone’ gives some practical tips on how to spot False Teaching.
The second documentary in the series, ‘American Gospel: Christ Crucified,’ was released in 2019. The film ‘explores how the paths of Postmodernism and Progressive Christianity lead to ‘a different gospel,’ and a god created in our own image’ (from the official website). A Predominant Question in the film is: ‘Did God kill Jesus?’ That is, ‘Was the Cross God’s idea? If so, isn’t that cosmic child abuse?’ Those questions and others are answered in various ways by Evangelicals, Progressives, Emergent Church advocates, and Secular Humanists …
‘American Gospel: Christ Crucified’ tackles some weighty subjects, such as Universalism, Perennialism, Postmodernism, homosexuality, Hell, and the various views of the Atonement. The filmmakers spend some time on vocabulary because certain words—’Holy, Atonement, and Faith, for example—are defined differently in different theological camps. God’s Attributes are another main focus of the film: God’s sovereignty, love, goodness, justice, wrath, jealousy, omnipresence, immutability, and more are considered in relation to our ability to truly know who God is.” – EDITORS, ‘Got Questions,’ May 10, 2021; edited
THE AMERICAN JESUS. From this, as I have hammered relentlessly away for at least a year now, I propose one more time: The American Church, by these various departures and redefinitions of God “in our own image,” have desecrated, diminished, and effectually shattered the Majesty of the Godhead.
The Result: “Jesus Christ, ‘The American Empath’ – “Empathy is the ability to read and understand people and be in-tune with or resonate with others. Sometimes it is voluntary and at other times it can be involuntary, especially for someone who is a natural empath. Empaths are hypersensitive people who experience a high level of compassion, consideration, and understanding towards others.” – CHRISTEL BROEDERLOW, ‘Learn Religions,’ June 25, 2019; edited
Now certainly some of this refers to a Compassionate Jesus, but the American Church has largely redefined Him as ‘just this,’ and little more. I argue that we have shamelessly and irreverently dared to ‘reduce Him’ to our Divine Babysitter, rather than a King who is to be feared, honored, loved and obeyed.
THE CORE ERROR. What the American Church has also done over the last generation (about 30 years) as a result of this Redefined Jesus, is, again, to ‘Refocus on the Here and Now,’ in order to meet our present needs. This is an horrendous Sacrilege, that disposes of the very Command of Christ to us all for the Last Days:
“Now when these things begin to occur, LOOK UP and lift up your heads, because your redemption (deliverance) is drawing near.” – MATTHEW 21:28, AMP; emphasis my own
A superb analysis of this issue by JIM WEST, writing for The Chalcedon Foundation in 1997, helps set our theological foundations in Christian Concrete for what follows. And as explanation of what was so drastically wrong with New Life Church’s perverted rendering of the Book of Revelation.
Here’s how the Apostle Paul wrote of it.
“But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have missed the mark and swerved from the truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some.” – 2 TIMOTHY 2:16-18, AMPC
To this very specific identification of the American Church Heresy of the present hour.
HYMANAEN PRETERISM. “What is a ‘Preterist’? And who was ‘Hymenæus’? The word ‘Preterist’ is a grammatical term describing what is ‘past.’ Thus, if our interpretation of the Book of Revelation is that most, if not all, the book is Fulfilled, we would be Preterists. Or, if our interpretation of the first 34 verses of Matthew 24 saw their Fulfillment in the A. D. 70 Coming of Christ, we would subscribe to the Preterist interpretation.
However, in recent years a new expression of Preterism has emerged that assigns the Second Coming or Parousia of Christ, the General Resurrection, and the Great White Throne Judgment to the ‘past.’ In other words, there are ‘no future prophetic events.’ According to this Scenario, Time will continue on this terrestrial ball forever. Both sin and the earth are everlasting. At death the soul of the believer passes into the Presence of God and the soul of the unbeliever (presumably) to Judgment–both to be disembodied spirits forever. The advocates of these ideas call themselves ‘Consistent Preterists’ over against the ‘Inconsistent Preterists,’ who, it is claims, fail to face the implications of their position. The so-called Consistent Preterist holds that the Second Coming of Christ occurred in A. D. 70, and that the resurrection occurred when Israel was spiritually quickened.
Some Consistent Preterists will even claim to be Calvinistic in their soteriology. Consequently, Christians who truly love the Doctrines of Grace may be taken unawares. There will be the temptation to treat bygones as bygones, to minimize the colossal differences. This ‘amalgamation-temptation’ threatens to compromise the Historic Creeds of the Church, especially such vital Christian teachings as the Resurrection …
The Consistent Preterists (as they charitably define themselves) deal with the Resurrection in a manner that parallels two apostolic personalities. We refer to HYMANAEUS and PHILETUS, whom Paul names in 2 Timothy 2:17. These men were apparently Church members (they ‘named the name of Christ’– verse 17. ). They were Resurrection Preterists and probably Preterists in regard to the Second Coming of Christ, too. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:18 about their belief that ‘the Resurrection is already past.’ How could they have been afforded some prestige in the Church?
For starters, they no doubt arrived at this conclusion sometime ‘after’ their profession of faith in Christ. Thus, they were members in good standing in the church. In addition, they may have been leaders in the Church, perhaps even elders or pastors. What is more, they did affirm and confess the Resurrection!” – JIM WEST, “The Allurement of Hymanaen Preterism: The Rise of ‘Dispensable Eschatology,’” ‘Reformed.Org,’ ret. June 1, 2021; edited
DK’S TAKE. Do you see it, beloved? This massive ‘Transfer’ from the traditional ‘Futurist’ Hermeneutic to an ‘Historicist-Preterist’ Model has disembowled the Church’s love for Christ’s Second Advent.
With the interstitial presupposition that Christians can even commit Heresy with impunity. Because, you know: It’s covered by the Blood, brother. Once in, always in no matter what.
Finally then, once you have eliminated or annihilated The Blessed Hope, all you have left to live for is ‘The World,’ right now, and all it contains. Heaven becomes at best a distant rumor, and vastly, heretically and blasphemously worse, Jesus the Christ becomes a Myth, a Fable, a Lion with no teeth.
And all Fear of God dissolves deep inside the belly of Christianity’s Collapse.
- THE JESUS OF JONATHAN EDWARDS
Now we consider in breathtaking comparison of The American Jesus with the very real, the very holy, yea, ‘The Angry Jesus’ that Edwards thundered to his congregation that time so long ago, some 280 years ago in New England. This same Jesus who is about to bring Divine Blood and Fire and Smoke at His Second Coming at the End of Time.
In this regard, I found and fell in love with a superb article by REV. CHARLES R. BIGGS that reviewed and brought up to date the language of Jonathan Edward’s magnificent Sermon on, “The Excellency of Christ,” delivered in 1736.
Now compare ‘The Preterist Jesus’ with this vibrant, rich and deeply reverent depiction of ‘The Canonical Jesus’ by the eminent JONATHAN EDWARDS.
THE EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. “Edwards begins [with reference to Revelation 5:5] by stating: ‘There is an admirable conjunction or meeting of diverse and paradoxical elements in the Person of Jesus Christ’
Jesus is called a ‘Lion’. ‘Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah’. Jesus is also called ‘Lamb’. ‘…I saw a Lamb’. John saw a Lamb who had prevailed to open The Book. The Book was John’s Vision, or visual portrait of God’s Decrees where the events in time and space were foreordained from the foundation of the world. The Lamb was ‘as if it had been slain’.
A lion is a devourer, one that is able and desires to make a terrible slaughters of others. No creature falls more easily prey to a lion than a lamb …The lion excels in strength, and in the majesty of his appearance and voice. The lamb excels in meekness and patience, besides the excellent nature of the creature as good for food, and yielding that which is fit for our clothing, and being suitable to be offered in sacrifice to God. But in Jesus Christ, we see both:
Because the diverse Excellencies of both the Lion and Lamb wonderfully meet in Him!
Such are the various Divine Perfections and Excellencies that Christ is possessed of. Christ is a Divine Person and therefore has all the attributes of God. There do meet in Jesus Christ infinite highness and infinite condescension. Christ, as he is God, is infinitely great and high above all. He is higher than the kings of the earth for He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is higher than the heavens, and higher than all the highest angels of heaven.
So great is Christ, that all men, kings and princes, are as worms of the dust before Him…He is so high, that He is infinitely above any need of us. He is above our reach, that we cannot profitable to Him, and above our conceptions that we cannot fully comprehend Him. Christ is the Creator and great Possessor (owner) of heaven and earth. He is Sovereign Lord of all. His knowledge and wisdom is without bounds. His power is infinite, and none can resist Him. His riches are immense and inexhaustible. His majesty is infinitely terrible (awesome or awful).” – ‘Monergism.Com,’ March 16, 2016; edited
THIS JESUS! Beloved, I wept at those last lines from Edwards’ depiction of The Real Christ. The very One the American Church has all but abandoned wholesale, rejected as seditiously as those who called out, “Give us Barabbas!” some 2,000 years ago in that sweaty Roman square.
“So Pilate said to Him, ‘Then You are a King?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say [correctly] that I am a King. This is why I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth [who is a friend of the truth and belongs to the truth] hears and listens carefully to My voice.’
Pilate said to Him [scornfully], ‘What is truth?’
And when he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, ‘I find no guilt in Him [no crime, no cause for an accusation]. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. So shall I release for you the King of the Jews?’ Then they all shouted back again, ‘Not this Man, but Barabbas!’ Now Barabbas was a robber.” – JOHN 18:37-40, AMP
This Jesus, with tears, beloved, this Jesus who the American Church has Betrayed. Indeed, in grotesque fulfillment of the prophesied ‘Great Falling Away’ of the Last Days. And so, their Punishment shall be grave, even that of a consignment to The Grave.
Selah, all you Pastors and Teachers of the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is most expressly for you.
- GOD’S PENALTY: LEVEL I
As I poured over the Scriptures and Commentaries for this Teaching, I came to propose that there will be at least TWO PHASES OF JUDGMENT for this historic Betrayal of The Christ, this Last Days Apostasy of the Church.
I will review this First Phase in this Lesson; the Second Phase will be reviewed in Part III of this series.
THE TEACHING. “WOE to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.” – ISAIAH 30:1-3, NKJ
- REBELLIOUS CHILDREN. From the Hebrew, ‘Sarar’ [סָרַר]: “To be stubborn; turn away (morally); implies the nature of a loose woman; to withdraw [from the truth]; become like an untamed animal shaking the yoke from its shoulders in order to go its own way; to slide backward; to turn a deaf ear to God; to persist with a rebellious heart; implicates a certain restlessness, lack of stability, as with a woman of the streets [i.e., spiritual harlotry].”
- OUR SHAME. From ‘Bosheth’ [בּשֶׁת], meaning: “Confusion, nakedness; an idol; related to mean and degrading acts; humiliation; a painful sensation excited by a consciousness of guilt, or of having done something which injures reputation; that which brings reproach, and degrades a person in the estimation of others. Thus an idol is called a shame.”
- OUR HUMILIATION. Taken from the root word, ‘Kelimmah’ [כּלִמָּה]: “Insult, reproach, ignominy; disgrace, dishonor; reproach; brought low; confusion; wounded, hurt; blush, be confounded; descent from an elevated state or rank to one that is low or humble; the act of abasing pride; or the state of being reduced to lowliness of mind, meekness, penitence and submission; mortification.”
COMMENTARY. In a chillingly prophetic analysis from WILLIAM MACDONALD, we get a glimpse of the sheer gravity and darkness of the Center of Betrayal housed in Isaiah’s Prophecy.
Listen discerningly for the inescapable Parallels here.
“The Rebellious Children are ‘the politicians of Judah’ who make a league with Egypt against Assyria. Since there is no record of such an alliance, we are justified in thinking of this as ‘still future.’ Judah will learn that Egypt is not worthy of trust. Caravans are seen carrying tribute from from Judah to Egypt, through dangerous areas in the Negeb (the South), but though the Jewish envoys get as far as Zuan and Hanes, the whole project is doomed to failure. God calls Egypt ‘Rahab-Hem-Shebeth’ (Rahab who sits still).” – ‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995, p. 960; edited
To this stunning Warning about forming Reckless Alliances with wickedness, MATTHEW HENRY adds this:
It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succour from others, instead of looking up to God … They took much pains to gain the Egyptians. The riches so spent turned to a bad account. See what dangers men run into who forsake God to follow their carnal confidences.” – ‘Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited
Finally, this from JOHN GILL, who delivers the crushing blow to this Indictment from Jehovah upon a recklessly rebellious people. This shall set up the theological beachhead that I will close with today, and then elaborate in painful detail in Part III.
“‘That they may add sin to sin.’ – The sins of consulting others, and of putting confidence in a creature, to their other sins of Rebellion and Apostasy: so wicked men, who are enemies in their minds, by wicked works, to God, and commit acts of hostility against him, and ‘are in danger thereby of Eternal Ruin,’ do not consult the Word and ministers of the Gospel, but flesh and blood, carnal sense and reason, and seek to cover themselves with the rags of their own righteousness, and not with the robe of Christ’s Righteousness, and garments of Salvation, which the Spirit of God reveals and brings near; and so to their other sins they add that of trusting to their own righteousness, and not submitting to Christ’s.”
Selah, beloved. Consider again the measure of the depth and weight of this Historic Treachery against Christ by those who call themselves ‘Christian,’ but who follow the Spirit of the Beast. Their End shall be nearly incomprehensible.
- LAST THOUGHTS
As I began to wrap up this Series, Two Things occurred that are both unique in my experience as a Bible scholar and Teacher. One: The Lord literally rattled off a string of Fiery Passages over a period of four weeks that I was to relate to you in this Conclusion section. Two: All of which led to a newly commissioned “Part III,” whose Title is a dead giveaway to where all this is leading:
The Fall of Babylon the Great.
THE WARNINGS. So here are the Scriptures, in staccato-like fashion, that I was to post in this Last Thoughts section. Hold on: They are lucid, to the point, and require no commentary from the likes of me.
Delivered in chronological fashion, with Dates of Receipt this year, 2021; rendered in the Amplified Bible, Classical Edition (AMPC) for richness of linguistic detail.
- MAY 17. “Come now, you rich [people], weep aloud and lament over the miseries (the woes) that are surely coming upon you.” – JAMES 5:1
- MAY 18. “For there are many disorderly and unruly men who are idle (vain, empty) and misleading talkers and self-deceivers and deceivers of others. [This is true] especially of those of the circumcision party [who have come over from Judaism] … And this account of them is [really] true. Because it is [true], rebuke them sharply [deal sternly, even severely with them], so that they may be sound in the faith and free from error.” – TITUS 1:10,13
- MAY 21. “Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way, for that day will not come except the apostasy comes first [unless the predicted great falling away of those who have professed to be Christians has come], and the man of lawlessness (sin) is revealed, who is the son of doom (of perdition).” – 2 THESSALONIANS 2:3
- MAY 22. “For you were going astray like [so many] sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Guardian (the Bishop) of your souls.” – 1 PETER 2:25
- MAY 25. “Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” – PSALM 33:18-19
- MAY 27. “You answered them, O Lord our God; You were a forgiving God to them, although avenging their evildoing and wicked practices.” – PSALM 99:8
- MAY 28. “My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; for they are put to shame, for they are confounded, who seek and demand my hurt.” – PSALM 71:24
- MAY 29. “Say to them, ‘As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?’” – EZEKIEL 33:11
- MAY 30. “But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has talked rebellion and turning away from the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage; that man has tried to draw you aside from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So shall you put the evil away from your midst.” – DEUTERONOMY 13:5
- MAY 31. “For behold, Your adversaries, O Lord, for behold, Your enemies shall perish; all the evildoers shall be scattered.” – PSALM 92:9
- JUNE 1. “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up the roaring of their waves. The Lord on high is mightier and more glorious than the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty breakers and waves of the sea.” – PSALM 93:3-4
CODA. Now let me close by hedging just a bit on my statement that these needed no commentary. True enough, but for what I discovered the morning of June 1, 2021, from the pen of ALBERT BARNES regarding that last citation of the 93rd Psalm.
This provides The Bridge to Part III, in a most compelling manner.
“‘The floods lift up their waves’ – As if they would sweep everything away. The allusion here is to some calamity or danger which might, in its strength and violence, be compared with the wild and raging waves of the ocean … A similar description is given of the fall of Babylon in Jeremiah 50:32; Jeremiah 51:8; and John has copied this description in the account of the overthrow of the mystical Babylon Revelation 18:1-2. Babylon was distinguished for its pride, arrogance, and haughtiness … ‘And all the graven images’ – Babylon was celebrated for its idolatry, and perhaps was the place where the worship of idols commenced. The principal god worshipped there was Belus, or Bel (see the note at Isaiah 46:1). ‘Are broken’ – That is, shall be destroyed; or, in spite of its idols, the whole city would be ruined.” – ‘Notes on the Whole Bible,’ 1875; edited
CODICIL. “That is, shall be destroyed; or, in spite of its idols, the whole city would be ruined.”
For our final installment, therefore, we shall confront the Last Road that America may well tread, should she continue in her Rank Apostasy.
Ever your servant, DK
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