Hi all,
I love our conferences because we meet people we’ve known only by email, and once again see friends we’ve known for years. But it is the sweet presence of the Lord and the Father that I cherish the most, which binds it all together. It’s October 15-18 in Tulsa so at this point you’ll need to email us at cwowi@aol.com if you’d like to come.
The next big conference is England, May 27-30 and the registration link will be up in about a month or two on our Weekly Thoughts and e-Newsletters.
Next month I have a Weekly Thoughts series entitled ‘The Power of Choice’.
A few months ago I had been thinking about how Israel rejected their priesthood, telling Moses they didn’t want to talk to God directly. In Exodus 20: 21, it says Moses ‘entered into the thick darkness where God was’. I asked the Father why He presented darkness when they rejected their call to be a nation of priests, and His reply was simple: “Because of their unbelief. I protected them with that darkness from their own unbelief.”
Psalm 97:2 says this: “Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.”
It means that light is righteousness, and judgment is represented by darkness. Israel judged themselves, choosing not to enter into their call as a ‘kingdom of priests’ (Ex 19: 6).
To we who believe He is light. We have judged ourselves, choosing to take God’s remedy for sin, and in judging ourselves we won’t be judged on the merits of our past sin. We took His antidote! Jesus!
Paul made this point in II Corinthians 3 where he said Moses wore a veil over his glory-filled face due to the unbelief of Israel. Think of that – Moses was hiding the glory of God from them due to their unbelief. We are in a time in the world where God’s light is shining brighter than ever around the world. If one wants reasons to believe in Jesus, they can look from archaeology which continues to confirm people and places the Bible includes, to Internet teachings and testimonies of those around the world who have seen Him, or experienced miracles, and their testimonies, and so much more. There have never been more study helps, translations of the Bible, or means by which to read, watch, and learn about Jesus.
In spite of that, there are still many doubting Thomas’s, many who have chosen the darkness of unbelief rather than pressing into the light. I love Exodus 33: 9-11, where it says when Moses went into the tabernacle, the glory cloud of the Lord settled down upon the tabernacle, and the Lord spoke to Moses in that glory face to face, as a man speaks to a friend. But it is v11 that I love: “…then Moses left the tabernacle and returned to the camp. But his servant, Joshua….stayed in the tabernacle.”
Joshua loved the Lord’s presence. He was in the tabernacle when Moses and the Lord were speaking face to face, and after Moses left, Joshua stayed to spend more time in His presence. Let us develop that heart to stay in His presence! Stay tuned for the October Weekly Thoughts series, The Power of Choice.
Iran, Russia, setting the stage
Prophecy provides an end point like the narrow part of a funnel, to which all things lead. The narrow part of the funnel concentrates what is poured in the wide part. If we know that the Ezekiel 38-39 war will happen, and Ezekiel lists nations and circumstances leading up to that war, we can work backwards up the funnel to the wider picture. We know at some point the events in the wider part of the funnel will become narrowed in their focus and end up at that point, but because the funnel is so wide at the start we cannot know the specifics.
Working backwards. We know there is a war that Israel and her allies win, as prophesied in Ezekiel 39. We know Israel has allies for in 38: 21 God says “I will call for a sword against him from among all my mountains.” Mountains in prophecy means nations, as seen in Daniel where the mountain cut without hands falls on the feet of the statue and grows to control the whole earth, which is the kingdom of God – as just 1 example.
We know they will need 7 months to bury the dead, and end up with 7 years supply of food, fuel, supplies which will be taken as spoil from the defeated invading armies. We are told they will come on land in the north part of Israel, and they will come ‘ascend as a storm, as a cloud to cover the land.’ We know God, the leader of Magog (modern Russia) will enter from the north along with allies Turkey, Persia (Iran) and other soldiers from other nations, thinking they will ‘take a spoil’. It says God and Magog ‘will be a shield to them’, meaning allies and provider of men and weapons.
We know it will happen when Israel is at peace, for they come into ‘the land of unwalled villages’.
The curious part is the 38: 13 the mention of ‘Sheba and Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish (Spain) and the young lions thereof.’ Sheba and Dedan are today Arab nations, Saudi Arabia in particular and other Gulf States. The merchants of Spain can be interpreted as the colonies of Spain, which would be the Americas. The young lions could be interpreted as the colonies of Great Britain, as their royal symbol is 3 golden lions on a red shield. Again, that would mean the America’s, joining in with the Arab nations confronting the invading armies.
All those specifics Ezekiel prophesies are the narrower part of that funnel.
The developments leading up to those events is in the wide part of the funnel. That’s what we see going on now. Nations are choosing sides. Russia is strengthening its ties with Iran. Saudi Arabia and others are strengthening their ties against Iran. Once you know the specifics at the narrow end of the funnel you can observe the stage being sent for all the pieces to flow down that funnel to arrive at the finished prophecy.
Look for Russia, Iran and Turkey to further cement relationships. We can see from Ezekiel’s twice mention that they will cover the land like a cloud and come as a storm, (v9, 16) that perhaps drone and air forces will play a major role. Drone warfare developments should be watched as part of setting that part of the stage. We must also notice Ezekiel mentions a massive number of soldiers, boots on the ground of different nations coming into the mountains of northern Israel. So the destruction of Iran’s military going on now, could mean they will get to a point they will just use foot soldiers combined with drones to try to overrun Israel…all these things can be postulated, speculated, rolled around in our minds…what exciting times!
Just…watch. Don’t get rapture happy just yet; some are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. Stay grounded. Keep focused on what the Lord has for you today; stay in peace, for He will provide and will be as faithful in our future as He is now and has been in the past. He has been better to us than we’ve been to ourselves. Rest in that.
The audio teaching series this month, Shattered Faith; When the promises of God fail you, has been stirring in me for months, perhaps the death of our son Jason in February stirred up some foundational truths and struggles we first dealt with nearly 47 years ago with the birth of our oldest, Chris. It’s when you believe something, and then what you thought your faith protected you from happens. I share our own path to recovery and how we undergirded our faith with trust.
Thank you for being in our lives and for your generosity in prayer and giving for us!
John & Barb, Brian and Amy.
