9) Without natural affection!
Jude 10 refers to such a person as a "Brute Beast", then continues to say "Woe unto them for they have gone the way of Cain". Cain murdered his brother Able because Able tried to warn him not to sin! Selfishness is the root of this lack of love.
Natural affection is the love that God placed within our being to have for one another. We are now living in a time where a child growing in its mother’s womb is worth only the amount of money required to abort it. God wants us to love one another!
10) Trucebreakers -
Breaking agreements and promises whenever it is convenient to do so.

11) False Accusers -
to charge somebody falsely who is not guilty of crime or what we accuse them of.

12) Incontinent -
unrestrained and uncontrolled, primarily lacking restraint in sexual matters. Not only is this rampant in the world today but even amongst professing Christians and mostly people ignore it.
13) Fierce -
showing aggression or anger. More and more people are impatient and quick to wrath than ever before. People will blow you away for cutting them off in traffic.

14) Despisers of those that are good-
I remember when good and well doing was admired and promoted on movies and in books. Today the character shown as ‘good’ in a story is usually ridiculed or played down while the wicked are held up as being ‘realistic’.
Many a young person does wickedly merely so his friends won’t call him a sissy or a ‘goody-goody’. Time after time on TV and even cartoons we see the studious and hard-working set out as ‘geeks’ or misfits and the sexually pure are mocked as ‘not with it’ or ‘prudes’.

Even those who want to uphold right will usually say, “well everyone has their own opinions. This is what is right for me!” Rarely do we hear: “This is WRONG!” and almost never: “This is SIN!”

15) Traitors -
Those who betray the trust of others, and behave in a disloyal or treacherous manner

16) Heady -
impetuous: impulsive and rash in behavior; “If it feels good- Do it!”
17) High-minded -
To inflate ones-self with self-conceit, to be lifted up with pride. To think oneself highly important.

18) Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God!
There has not been any other time in these past two thousand years, since this book of Timothy has been written, that people love their pleasures and entertainment more than they do today. Certainly they love pleasure more than they love God! Even their ‘worship’ of God centers on indulgence, church suppers, and entertainment.
When on every side we hear the chants: "true knowledge places man above all law;" that "whatever is, is right;" that "God doth not condemn;" and that "all sins which are committed are innocent."
When the people are thus led to believe that desire is the highest law, that liberty is license, and that man is accountable only to himself, who can wonder that corruption and depravity teem on every hand?
Multitudes are eagerly accepting teachings that leave them at liberty to obey the promptings of the carnal heart. The reins of self-control are laid upon the neck of lust, the powers of mind and soul are made subject to the animal nature, and Satan exultingly sweeps into his net thousands who profess to be followers of Christ.

These - the teachings of SPIRITUALISM - Are even heard in our pulpits today! And they are called ‘LOVE’ by the deluded.

19) Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof!
Of all this amazing prophecy, this item is perhaps the greatest sign of our times!

Never has religion been so widely accepted among the worldly minded – and never before has so much worldliness been accepted and welcomed into the church!
In the past, ‘getting religion’ was associated with repenting and turning from at least the grosser sins. Now it means socializing and indulgence, entertainment and anything goes.
But if you start to talk of the POWER of the Lord to free the life from SIN! People turn away. If you have a problem You will be advised to go to counselors, self-help seminars, therapy groups. The POWER of God is pushed aside and Humanism stands in its place. The first question is not ‘What is Truth?’ but ‘What organization or group do you belong to?’

THE OLD TESTAMENT WARNED OF OUR DAY ALSO:
“There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men". Proverbs 30:11-14
TRULY PERILOUS TIMES ARE HERE !
What are we advised to do when we see these things?
"From such turn away."
What are we to turn to?
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:18-20

TURN TO JESUS! TURN TO HIS WORD – FIND THE POWER!

THE LAST NIGHT ON EARTH

One of the most dramatic verses in the Bible has been translated by Dr. Moffett in these words: "Evil on evil says the Lord, the Eternal ... it is coming, the hour is striking, and striking at you, the hour and the end. Your doom has come." Ezekiel 7:5-7.
Based on this startling text, our attention is drawn to the most solemn message ever heard by human ears. It is a warning to each person alive on this planet today, because every individual must pass through their last night on earth. What will it be like to begin living that final 24 hours of time?
Perhaps you've heard about the city of Pompeii which nestled in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius in old Italy long ago. In A.D. 79 that mountain simply exploded with volcanic fury and millions of tons of molten lava came pouring down upon Pompeii to completely inundate it, wiping out all its inhabitants. A friend of mine has walked over the hardened ash and pumice which still covers the excavated ruins of that ancient city. He described the contorted postures of the victims whose forms have been perfectly pre-served by molding the space occupied by their decayed bodies.
I've often thought, "If the stones of the street could speak, what a story they would have to tell about that last night on earth for Pompeii." The whole thing seems to come up before me as I think about it right now. The experience of an entire city full of people, overtaken without warning and thrust into eternity, whether they were ready or not. What will it be like when you and I face that same experience? Will it find us clinging to the same old sins that many of them were obviously committing as they were swept away by the sudden deluge of death?
Doubtless, many in Pompeii heard that initial explosion and had time to look up to see the terrifying wall of lava just before it engulfed them. We know nothing about their thoughts, but the graphic physical positions of their bodies reveal that sin had become a science, and few, if any, were thinking of death or the hereafter.
I wonder what Paul must have felt when he preached his gospel of grace to the inhabitants of Pompeii. Surely in his ranging over the chief cities of the Roman Empire he would have visited that center of vice and evil repute. But it is highly unlikely that the apostle received any favorable hearing from the dwellers in that seaport sin-city. Perhaps they expelled him out of hand, and Paul had to shake the dust from his feet as he departed.
It was from Pompeii that General Titus had drawn many of his soldiers for his infamous assault on Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Perhaps it was one of the citizens of Pompeii who threw the flaming torch which burned the magnificent temple to its foundations.
But now those veterans of foreign wars have returned to their home place to live out their years of retirement in unrestrained indulgence. Slowly the cup of iniquity fills to the very brim, and on a night of unusual revelry and drunkenness, the angel of death flies low over the streets of Pompeii. It is not hard to imagine how the final call of God was extended to every man, woman, and child on that last night. Before the angel of mercy folded its wings, the Holy Spirit pleaded at the door of each heart. Long after the music and dancing had ended, people tossed on their beds, wrestling with the powerful convictions of conscience, but one by one, those tender impressions were suppressed and denied. The voice of the Spirit was drowned out by the fleshly clamor for more excitement and sin. The fate of Pompeii was sealed.
Lingering Over the Call
The Bible gives us another striking illustration of the last night on earth in the book of Genesis. A city was to be wiped out of existence because of its total abandonment to the perversions of iniquity. On the eve of its destruction, Lot made a final visit to his daughters and their Sodomite husbands who had made their home in the midst of the doomed city. But his urgent pleas were ridiculed as groundless fears. The Bible records that "he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law." Genesis 19:14. They actually laughed at the old man as he wept over their unconcern. How different it would have been had they known that it was indeed a judgment message from God. Eagerly they would have responded and hastened out of Sodom had they truly believed that it was their last night on earth.
But they didn't know, and they didn't believe. Most of us will never recognize when that fatal moment approaches in our own lives. Many are snatched by sudden accident and death without a second's notice, much less a 24-hour alert. But suppose you did know that you had exactly two months, or two weeks, or two days. I've heard people say, "Oh, if I had that knowledge ahead of time, I could easily give up all my bad habits and make my decision to follow Christ fully." Of course, but the truth is that none of us are privy to that information, and for many who are reading these lines, that last night is much nearer than we can think or imagine.
How very clever Satan is in exploiting this personal area of the unknown in each one of us. He well recognizes that procrastination is his most effective weapon in causing people to be lost. The longer the decision is postponed, the easier it is to wait a little longer, until finally the putting off process turns into a lethal addiction. The will waxes weaker and weaker as delay saps the initiative and makes it less and less likely that the individual will act before it is too late.
The Bible has some very sobering things to say about this subject of lingering over the call of God. When Paul reasoned with Felix about righteousness and judgment, we are told that the governor trembled and promised to call for Paul when he had a more "convenient season." That better time never came, and as far as we know, Felix went down into a Christless grave at the end of his life. King Agrippa was also deeply convicted as he listened to Paul's testimony about Christ. He cried out, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Acts 26:28. What a tragedy that, with all the trembling and conviction, neither of those Roman rulers actually moved to obey what they knew to be right. "Almost" is not enough.
It is sometimes the case that individuals are faced with choices that must be made within a few minutes which will affect the entire future direction of their lives. In these rare instances (and perhaps they are not as rare as we think) that golden moment of opportunity flashes into focus, remains only a few precious moments, and then disappears forever. It seems patently true that Felix and Agrippa faced the most significant and favorable opportunity to choose life over death, and they blew it. They waited too long, and their conviction faded and disappeared.
Men and women do the same thing today. They wait for more convenient circumstances - a different job, retirement, or financial security. They make promises to themselves and others that they will surrender to Christ and obey the truth just as soon as the time is right. Somebody else - Satan - hears those promises and he immediately begins to manipulate events that will make that right moment impossible. Those people keep waiting and waiting and waiting, and many of them will be waiting when the water turns to blood and probation's door has closed on the human race. No wonder the Bible declares that "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2.
When the flood came and the door of the ark closed, it did not matter how near or how far a person happened to be at that moment. Those who were one foot out-side that door were just as lost as those who were miles away. After 120 years of pleading, the Spirit of God was withdrawn from the earth, the hand of God closed the door, and the fate of a world was fixed and settled. Does that have anything to do with what is happening to the progeny of those eight ark survivors today? Indeed, it does. Because Jesus said, "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:37.
Christ was referring to the end-time in which we now live. He said, "So shall it be." Are there similarities with the antediluvian culture and lifestyle? We are told that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis 6:5. Does that appraisal of man before the flood match the perverted picture of Noah's modern descendants?
For the answer to that question consult your morning newspaper and the local TV guide. Iniquity is rampant. Crime is out of control. Terrorists strike in unexpected places. No one would question that evil imagination marks the present age with its harvest of violence and lawlessness.
Is there also evidence that the Holy Spirit is striving with human hearts and confronting multitudes with their final invitation of mercy? As an evangelist, I can bear witness that there is a present raging controversy revolving around every living soul. Some who are reading these words are on the verge of making a decision that can mean life or death, and you need to go ahead with God. At the same time, Satan plays upon your ungrounded fears to try to hold you back from an all-out commitment. You are being tempted, like Felix, to wait for a more convenient season, but such will never come. To linger now is to become a part of the vast majority who were destroyed in the flood and who represent those who will be unprepared when Jesus comes again.
The Red Sea Place
Think for a moment what would have happened at the Red Sea if the people had hesitated to go forward at the command of God! Suppose the leaders had pressed for a committee meeting to discuss the radical option of marching the entire encampment into an apparent death trap. The truth is that there was only time for action. Delay of any kind would have brought the pursuing Egyptian army upon them, and they would have been on their way back to the land of bondage in chains.
What does this experience have to teach us? It has much to say to those who have recently broken free from the slavery of sin. This parallels the escape from Egypt. And the Red Sea experience symbolizes baptism for the newborn Christian. How do we know that? In 1 Corinthians 10:2, we read that "they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." God set before them that golden opportunity which we talked about earlier and which may appear only once in a lifetime. The decision made within the next five minutes would settle their destiny for years to come. This was it. Either trust God and obey His command to step into that restless sea, or run the risk of capture by the enemy.
Have you come to that Red Sea place in your life? I've observed thousands struggle with that step of total surrender in baptism. It signifies a complete yielding of the entire life and a willingness to move forward in obedience - regardless of the consequences. It is not an easy decision to make. I know one lady whose baptism was set three different times, and she failed to show up at any of them. Her faith was not strong enough to take that final step which would place her wholly in the family of God. You can imagine the result of her procrastination. She was finally overtaken by the enemy, drawn back into smoking, and was soon back in total bondage of the flesh.
I'm just glad that somebody at the head of the line had strong faith when Moses gave the orders to go forward into the sea, and just as surely as the waters parted under their feet, so will the forbidding circumstances disappear as God's people today move forward in obedience to Him. It is interesting to note that the next move was up to the people in the days of Moses, and the same is true for those who have departed from spiritual bondage. God cannot and will not make the decision for us, but as soon as we take the first step in obedience, He fills us with the power to overcome every obstacle.
Some might object that I am pressing too hard upon those who are lingering in the twilight zone of indecision. You may get offended by my strong urging for you to act quickly to follow Jesus. But please remember that I am addressing those who may be living their last night on earth. I do not believe it is possible to obey God too quickly, and somehow I don't think anyone will ever chide me in heaven because I made the call to them clear, concise, and urgent. I'm very much in earnest about it because I have seen the results of waiting too long.
I could fill this book with emotional stories of those who postponed surrender until their hearts were cold and unresponsive. Further, I could give names and places where nightly attendees of the crusade meetings were taken in a moment by sudden accident or death. Time after time I have made calls for decision, not realizing that there were people in the audience listening to their last invitation to be saved.
Why So Few?
But why is it that such a comparative few respond to those calls for surrender? Why should anyone need to be begged to enter the glorious salvation of our Lord? I want to answer those questions in such a way that you will never forget it. Even Jesus confirmed that only a few would be willing to follow the narrow road to heaven. Most would choose the broad road of death where the great majority would be traveling.
Then we have that shocking statement by the Master to which we have already referred: "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:37. How many were saved in those days from the global disaster? Only eight had the faith in God's word to be shut in that monstrosity of a boat. They were the only survivors. Will there be any kind of proportionate number spared "in the days of the Son of man"? All agree that this is talking about the end of the world and the coming of Jesus.
I've heard the statement, "Oh, if I had lived in those days, I would have gone into the ark with faithful Noah." How easy it is to say what we would have done under certain conditions of the past. Others have talked about the noble martyrs who died for their faith during the Dark Ages and have stated with great assurance that they would have gladly laid down their lives for the truth's sake also.
Now it may be true that some would have died for their faith, but few have any conception of what it meant to stand for Christ during those terrible days. Those brave men and women who were burned at the stake, thrown to the wild animals, or tortured in medieval dungeons could have saved their lives by a simple motion of the hand. In most cases they were offered amnesty and immediate freedom if they signaled their willingness to renounce their faith. So the choice was very clear as they watched the dry faggots being heaped around them. They could suffocate in the midst of the punishing smoke and flame or else walk back into the comfort of home and family. Untold millions chose the heroic but horrible living death rather than deny their Saviour.
How many Christians of your acquaintance have that kind of self-sacrificing faith and love? Which ones would have followed the martyrs to the stake or the arena? Some might, had they lived in those days. But of one thing we can be certain: Only those who would rather die right now than to break God's holy law would have proved loyal to Him during those years of severe persecution.
Unfortunately, we live in an easy, permissive age where self-denial is decidedly out of fashion. Truth has become very negotiable in the relaxed ecumenical climate of contemporary religion. Pluralism has become so acceptable that membership applicants are given a wide range of what they may believe or not believe. Very few, if any, issues of doctrine are considered important enough to even contend for, much less die for. There are notable exceptions, of course, but these are often found outside the comfortable contours of the so-called Christian West.
The Man Who Gave All
For example, every time I listen to people make excuses for not going all the way with Jesus, I think of Saddiq. It was on December 25, 1955, that I responded to the furious pounding on my door in Lahore, Pakistan. A typically dressed Moslem villager rushed past me into the house, crying out: "Baptize me quickly! Baptize me now!" After calming down somewhat, the man began to pour forth an amazing story. His name was Saddiq and he lived in the tribal areas of the Khyber Pass near the Afghan border where there was little or no government control. Moslem law was invested in each man who possessed a knife, an ax, or a gun.
Saddiq had a good job and a wonderful family, and he was also a faithful Moslem who prayed five times a day toward Mecca. But recently he had started listening to an evangelist friend of mine who was holding a tent meeting in the area. Every evening on the way home from work Saddiq would stand outside in the shadows absorbing the thrilling truths of the gospel. He dared not go inside for fear of being killed as an infidel, and when the altar calls were made, Saddiq could only commit himself in his heart to follow Jesus.
Later, he confided to his wife that he was going to become a Christian. The following day he returned from work to find his house empty. His father-in-law had taken everything and everyone from the home. He was never to see his wife and children again. A few days later, he was fired from his job, as relatives intervened against him. Then, he was waylaid by members of his own family and beaten almost to death. Fleeing for his life, Saddiq had come to the teeming city of Lahore and sought out someone who could help him finish the journey from Islam to Christianity. I was happy to oblige. We filled the baptistry and buried that courageous man with his Lord on that Christmas afternoon.
I saw the scars on Saddiq's body as he came up out of the water - marks of devotion and sacrifice that he will carry for the rest of his life. He will also be a refugee and fugitive from the wrath of his own relatives for as long as he lives. Anyone who finds him will count it a duty to kill him.
I think often of Saddiq when I'm holding an evangelistic series, and most of the audience have been convicted by the same truths that my brother Saddiq learned outside the tent so long ago. But all do not respond in the same way he did. None of them face the lifelong loss of children, the constant threat of death, or the extreme physical persecution that will follow Saddiq the rest of his days on earth. A few, though, are being tested by the possible loss of a few dollars and perhaps even a few friends. They hold back and complain of the hardship and sacrifice involved in making the decision for baptism. The truth is that we don't know what real self-denial and sacrifice are. Unless we are ready to give our lives for the truth's sake, we are not worthy of the kingdom of heaven.
Sometimes we hear fervent saints declare, "If I had lived in the days of Jesus, I would have been one of His followers." But do we know what was involved in such an open alignment with Jesus of Nazareth? Regardless of their status, people were cast out of the synagogue immediately. This meant they were boycotted in their business, disinherited from their families, and considered to be dead by all their friends. Would some indeed have made that choice if they had lived in Palestine 2,000 years ago? Yes, but only the ones who would rather die than sin in their current situation would have stepped out to follow the lowly Nazarene then.
And would it be the same for the days of Noah? We've already learned that only eight were willing to risk the censure and ridicule of being a member of Noah's boat church. How many modern saints would have dared take a public stand for the outrageous project of building a huge ship on the side of a dry hill? Probably no other religious group in world history has endured more negative publicity than Noah and his family.
Noah's Last Sermon
It has always been fascinating to me that Noah probably hired helpers to construct the ark, and they perished later on because they rejected the very means of salvation in which they invested much of their lives. And these were the people who had the greatest reason for believing that a flood was coming. Day after day, they listened to the earnest message of the old patriarch as he pleaded with relatives and friends to avail themselves of this way of escape. The Bible calls Noah "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5) which indicates that he might have spent more time calling for decisions than driving nails into the ark.
How can we explain the amazing resistance to the powerful, Spirit-filled appeals of Noah and his sons? It seems almost a classic example of majority influence. The dread of being different has driven many sincere people to reject, out of hand, the appeal of conscience and sound judgment. It happened in Noah's day, and it still happens today. Prejudice and emotion, once aroused, has a greater influence on decision than all the logical truth in the world. None of the antediluvians could deny the persuasive evidence of those animals marching two by two and seven by seven into the completed ark, but the jeering multitude reminded them of the cost of non-conformity. They dared not be different and show any support for the unpopular little group of religious standouts.
I've tried to imagine the dynamics of that last appeal Noah made to the crowd of curious onlookers. The sounds of construction have ceased, and the tools have been put out of sight. The animals are all safely on board, and Noah's family has finished transferring all their possessions into the massive. Of all the sermons which have ever been preached in the history of man, this is the one I would have preferred to hear. The drama of this moment was captured by our Lord Jesus when He said, "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
Another last call - another final sermon, if you please - will be given to the doomed inhabitants of this equally wicked age. This time the destruction will not be by water but by fire. Yet, there is a terrible parallel between the urgent message of Noah and that of the faithful who will give the loud warning cry that the world is about to be destroyed again.
Jesus described the indifference with which that message will be received. "They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all." Luke 17:27. What a commentary on the paralyzing effect of sin! People continue, business as usual, while the last moments of probation slip away.
Has any other preacher operated under the emotional stress that constrained Noah that day? He was fully aware that in a few moments the door behind him would close forever on any hope of salvation for the human race. Only the words of this final sermon could make a difference for any living soul. The Scriptures indicate that Christ by the Holy Spirit was preaching through Noah to the spirits of those sin-bound people (1 Peter 3:18-20).
I'm sure there were tears in Noah's voice and on his cheeks as he pleaded with them to join him in the ark. Many in the audience were lifelong neighbors, and perhaps Noah even called them by name as he pressed his appeal for decision. A solemn conviction held the crowd motion-less as the old man paused to wipe his eyes. Then, there was a restless stirring as some began to edge forward as though they would join the little group, but they were instantly drawn back by the hands of relatives or friends.
I cannot enter fully into Noah's feelings as he turned to join his family in the ark for the last time, but I have a strong kinship with him in that lonely last call he extended to the crowd. I've felt it every time I close a crusade and give the final invitation. I always personally know individuals in that audience who are fighting the Spirit of God. They believe the truth, tremble with conviction, and are almost persuaded to come forward. That's the way it must have been with Noah as he turned to beseech just one more time. But finally he had to bring the meeting to a close and walk, weeping, through the open door. And suddenly that door began to move on its hinges, and within seconds it had swung shut with a solid thud.
There were nervous cries from some as the door closed, and then, a babble of excited conversation. "My, have you ever heard anything like that in your life?" one voice came out above the others. "Do you think he really could be correct about a flood?" asked another. But, then, there was sharp dissent, and some were pointing to the cloudless sky to loudly affirm what had been heard repeatedly since the ark project began, "It never has rained, and these people are wild fanatics to believe such foolishness."
For two or three days apprehension continued to grip the community, especially as they passed the tightly closed ark each morning on their way to work. But by mid-week it seemed obvious to all that Noah's prediction had been totally wrong, and even those who had been stirred deeply with conviction were embarrassed by their former concern. To cover their chagrin, some of them began to make mocking comments to anyone who would listen. By the seventh day not one sympathetic sentiment was to be found favoring the cloistered family.
And then it happened! Clouds seemed to appear out of nowhere, and drops of rain began to spatter against the hungry earth. Screams and cries rent the air as men, women, and children fled toward any shelter available. But then the water was pouring in torrents from the heavens, and out of huge cavernous cracks in the ground. Those who were able to struggle to higher levels were quickly overwhelmed and dragged to their deaths, while the great cypress ark floated gently and safely on the rising waves.
"As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man." A few faithful ones, counted as fools and fanatics, but courageous enough to follow unpopular truth and proclaim a special warning that the end is near, will be saved. Have you heard it? Do you grasp the lesson our Lord was teaching in the Noah sermon? "As it was ... so shall it be." No ifs or ands or buts - "So shall it be." The last night on earth will come for everyone when the heavens split wide open, and the glorious retinue of angels provide a dazzling freeway of splendor for the King of kings and Lord of lords. It will be unexpected, and it will be too late for those who waited till the door of mercy closed.
Gambling For Time
Just as the probation of the antediluvian world ended seven days before the flood, so the probation of the planet will close seven plagues before Jesus appears. During those desolating, end-time seven last plagues, the Bible says no one can enter the temple in heaven (Revelation 15:8). There will be no intercessor for the human race. The great edict will have gone forth, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still ... and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly." Revelation 22:11, 12.
Millions are waiting in the vain hope that some special event will signal that they can quickly make the necessary preparation to meet the returning Lord. Like Felix, they intend to take advantage of that "more convenient season." And while they linger, their hearts grow harder and their wills more indecisive. They lose the precious ability to judge their own need, or discern the panoramic signs of the end.
During the excavation of the ruins of Pompeii, they found the skeleton remains of a woman who was apparently running from the fiery river of lava that was pouring down the side of Mt. Vesuvius. Clutched in her bony, skeletal hands were two jeweled earrings. It was not hard to figure out exactly what had transpired in the experience of that woman. It was obvious that she had been alerted to the approaching destruction and had dashed back in the house to save the baubles in her hands. But the delay made it impossible to outrun the stream of death, and she was overtaken and buried under the lava.
Let me ask you a question. What was wrong with that woman? Where did she make her big mistake? The answer is easy. She thought she had more time than she really had. That is the same mistake that the majority of human beings are making today as the holocaust of destruction approaches. There is not an unbaptized, uncommitted individual in the world who is not making that mistake. They want to be saved and intend to do it some-day, but they calculate that there is still plenty of time.
Are you one who has been postponing the day of decision, that unreserved surrender of your will? Please let me address you for a moment. There is a small chance that you may be right and that you will have another opportunity - but it is only a chance! There is another chance that you are dead wrong. You are gambling over the salvation of your soul. You are playing a deadly game of Russian roulette over eternal life. Every day that passes, the stakes go higher and higher, and your chances of winning become less and less. The cards are stacked against you. Why gamble that you will have another chance in the future? You don't have to gamble. You have a chance right now.
The door of the ark is still open, and it's only a step inside. Why not settle the uncertainty this very moment? Surrender your will and say Yes to the loving Saviour, who longs to give you His peace and assurance.

BLESSED ARE THE POOR

Possibly, one of the most complicated things is our way of speaking. Our languages were born from a confusion. It was part of God’s design in an effort to overcome sin to confuse the tongues. If there is something complicated today it is grammar. But in God there is nothing complicated.
All that is of God is simple in its nature. But we live in a complicated world, and even more complicated because our essence is pride and selfishness. So to understand truth, is a very difficult issue today.
But for God, truth is very simple, and Scriptures define truth in such a different manner, because Truth in Scriptures, and in the universe, is a person. But for us, Truth is something of a conceptual nature. Plato has really hurt us! He placed us in the world of the ‘ideas’, but God works in the realm of realities, facts.
God works in the experience. He doesn’t work in a conceptual manner. The Holy Writings are the acts of God and He explains with acts, but we explain with abstract facts. The very same subject of Truth is complicated in our grammar. We say that truth is an abstract subject.
Something abstract is something you cannot grasp; something that you cannot see; something that you cannot feel; something that is of an ethereal nature—almost nothing. In the Scriptures, Truth is what is of a most concrete nature, but our grammar says truth is an abstract subject.
Love is an abstract verb, and righteousness is an abstract noun. All what really IS, is abstract according to our grammar—but not according to the Holy Scriptures. God’s Love is the most concrete thing. It’s His Son, and that is why He says that God is Love. There can’t be anything more concrete or real than this. There is no abstract theme in Him; there is no ‘idea’ in Him. He is and He said, "I am!" "I am the ‘I am’."
For us, that is still abstract, because our mind is abstract, our mind is Greek. And the Old Testament was written with that Hebrew mentality. In the Old Testament, we don’t find theologians. We don’t find philosophers in the Old Testament. Philosophers came from Greece.
From the Hebrew, we have the Prophets. The philosophers and the theologians developed their knowledge with the premise of the human mind, and all human minds are leprous minds, because all human minds are sick. Every human mind is full of sin and of pride.
But God’s Knowledge is not born in you and it’s not born in me. The Knowledge of God is born in Him and maintains itself in Him—lives in Him and He transmits that Knowledge through the prophets. He has to use our complicated knowledge but with a great problem because each human being has a conflict between what he thinks and what he feels; between what he believes and what he really is.
But in God we don’t find this dichotomy—what He thinks is what He is. What He believes is what He lives and what He speaks is what He does. Between what He says and what He does, there is no difference. That’s why the Hebrew word ‘dabar’, is the word chosen for ‘word’. It means not an idea, not an abstraction, it means an act—something that happens—news—Good News.
But our mind does not perceive that. We speak and what we speak is in contrast with what we are and what we are is so different from what is Truth. God in His mercy has purposed Himself to make that a living reality in us; something whole—the Truth within us and the way He does that is simply through His Word. Only through His Word. "Say the Word", said the Roman Centurion, and he was not a theologian and he did not know of the prophets but he had perceived in Jesus that He was the Truth and he told Jesus, "Say the word and my servant will be healed."
The Centurion had trust in truth—the Hebrews had lost their trust in truth. They had the book, they had the concepts, they had the Old Testament, they had tradition but they did not know the Truth because the Truth is His Word and His Word is Him.
The Lord Jesus said, "What is Truth?" "I am." "I am." And Pilate and the Jews were just scared. They didn’t understand. Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" and Jesus answered him but Pilate never understood—because the Lord is Truth even if He does not speak it. But we are truth when we speak it but Jesus is Truth without speaking.
We believe that the vehicle of truth is our tongue, but the vehicle of truth in Christ was His being, His character, His essence—His Truth. And He said it, "I am the Way; I am Life and I am Truth, I am the Door, I am the Light—I Am."
Before Lazarus’ tomb, the Lord told Martha and Mary, "I am the Resurrection," but they were already influenced by the common Greek and for Mary and Martha resurrection was a doctrine. It was an idea. For them it wasn’t Him. The Lord Jesus has said, "This is not a matter of death." It was not an issue of death and not even the disciples understood.
Four days had passed since he had died, but for Jesus that was not death—for Jesus he was just sleeping. But we cannot understand that because we have a complicated mind, an abstract mind. The Lord Jesus said, "Lazarus come up, wake up, come out!" He is resurrection; He is the Truth; He is Life; now—always! Have we received Him?
What a difference it makes to really receive Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. He came to His own and they analyzed Him through concepts, and they rationalized Him, but they did not experience Him. They applied His ideas and they applied His theology in order to identify Him but their feelings, contrary to their concepts, their selfishness and their pride, contrary to prophecy did not permit them to perceive the simple Truth.
And that process that is a spiritualist process is what Satan has developed with intellectualism and today it is even more refined than ever. And possibly we, unconscious of that fact, live that intellectual experience. But our Lord Jesus, Who is the same yesterday, the same today, the same tomorrow and forever—the One Who never changes—the immutable One, He will always be the same—the great ‘I Am’.
How different righteousness by faith from the lips of Christ—very different from righteousness by faith from Paul’s pen, because Paul was influenced by Plato and Aristotle—his culture was from Aristotle—he lived in the Greek world. He was influenced by the Hellenistic mind thought. Alexandria had an impact in his values and in his culture.
But Jesus’ values are very simple values—easy to follow—authentic values—the Truth. He said something that is so beautiful, and is so simple, and at the same time is so deep. We discuss so much who is going to be saved, and we study so much how to be saved. Jesus said as soon as He sat down, when He gave the Sermon on the Mount, He said, "Of whom is the Kingdom of Heaven?" He said it, "The kingdom of God is of the poor in spirit."
"Of theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven—of the poor in spirit".
Is it simple? Do we understand it? "Blessed are the poor in spirit".
When we speak of poverty, it’s something horrible. Who wants to be poor? No-one wants to be poor. All the cultures strive to be rich. But Jesus said, "Happy are the poor. The poor!
"Because the poor in spirit—of them is the Kingdom of Heaven."
The 144,000—poor in spirit. Really poor in spirit. More than poor—pauperism in the spirit. So poor that there is nothing in them, nothing worthy, nothing! Nothing in which to place their knowledge; nothing from which to hang their wisdom; with no pretension. So poor that they are empty, they are completely void and there is nothing in them.
Isaiah came to this experience. "Woe to me! Woe to me! Because in me there is only filthy rags!" when he saw the Lord. He saw the Lord; and he saw Him in the same way that we can see Him. He did not perceive Him in his sensorial capacity; he did not see Him with his eyes—he saw Him through faith.
God always reveals Himself; He has always revealed Himself; to us He has revealed Himself. He has revealed Himself to you each time that the Holy Spirit moves in your conscience. He is revealing Himself, He manifests Himself and His only purpose is to convict me of sin. He knows that in order to convince me of sin, He has to be able to make my life void that I might experience that I am poor. That in my spirit, that in my flesh, that in my knowledge, and in my wisdom, and in my theory and everything that is mine that I am poor. And I should be made completely void but human beings complicate it. We reject that.
There are many ways in which we reject that. There are many ways to reject Him. Sometimes in the way we deal with each other at home we are rejecting that experience; but we don’t perceive it. But He is present and He is telling me, "Be poor! Be poor of spirit—with your wife—with your children—be poor. So that you might be in the kingdom. So that you might experience the kingdom." But we reject.
But we have the Truth here [in the head] and we believe we have the Truth in the mind and we are exclusive with Truth. The Jews were exclusive with their truth and they came to believe that all the rest were out of the Remnant. But the Canaanite woman was more willing and she experiences becoming void because of God. But the disciples did not understand. The disciples told Jesus, "Send her away, Send her away! She bothers us!"
The Lord Jesus, He was trying, He was educating, and He was redeeming His disciples from all types of religious bigotry and exclusiveness. But they were not poor. They were not poor. They thought that they were rich; That Jesus was only for them; that truth was only for them and how much did the Lord struggle to empty Peter of himself, and make them all depositories of His Spirit—rich in the Spirit of God but poor and totally emptied of themselves.
Do we understand it? It’s as simple as that. The most simple One, the most sincere, was Jesus Christ. But we still believe that Jesus is our example. Is that true? We still believe that Jesus is our example.
The Protestant world believes that Jesus is only our substitute, but in reality, He is not even our substitute. The substitute for the Protestant world is the arrogance of their pride. That’s their substitute. That’s the substitute of this world and whoever has that substitute has already transgressed the First Commandment, because the First Commandment implies the death to self.
How will they accept Jesus as their example? And in reality, what has happened with us because we in our concepts, He can be the example; in our ideas, He can be the example and in our theology, He can be our example. But in our reality, my selfishness is my example; my self is my example—that is the great dichotomy created by Satan. And Brethren, Satan is the creator of making truth spiritualistic. Not only the Body and the Soul but Truth itself. We accept it as a theory; we accept it as an idea, as a theology. But in our reality, in our bodies, it never is, and with our tongue we express it but with our spirit we deny it. That is spiritualistic truth and Satan is an expert in spiritualism.
Satan’s technique for sin is to separate, to disintegrate, and to break apart; that is Satan’s technique. He began using that technique in the Garden of Eden and he will not change it. When God created us, the crown of creation, He created us whole. He created us one, even as He is One. There is no separation between what He feels and what He thinks. There is no separation. But for us these are two different things. We feel one thing; we think another thing. That is the work of Satan; that is not the work of God.
The work of redemption is that the very same thought that is in the Lord, is the same thought that is within us. The same feelings that are in God may be the same mind that is in us. That the same love in Him may be in us, because He is One and He will never be dual. He will always be One, the whole One, He who is complete, where there is no shadow of variance.
We behold in Scriptures the same way that He treated Nicodemus, the same dealing with Mary Magdalene, the same way He treated the big people, the same way He dealt with the small insignificant people—the same. The same hope for Nicodemus, the same hope He gave Mary Magdalene, the same hope. He was the Door; He was Life for every human being.
There’s no indifference in Him, that’s why He said, "I am the Truth. I am the Life. I am the Way". But people still today have not understood that. I hope that we might perceive it, in that very simple language of Jesus.
The disciples had a problem; possibly the same problem that we have today. The disciples had a problem, but very easy to solve for Jesus. For Jesus, it was very easy to solve it. But for us to solve a problem is something very complicated. For us to solve the problem of our families, it’s a very complicated problem. And the conclusion to which we arrive in order to solve the family problem is divorce. That’s our solution.
But for Jesus, separation was not the solution. Rupture was not the solution. And much less when I say, "I love you"—less. Because we say, "I love you" and then we divorce, because we do not know Him.
When Adam and Eve separated themselves from Him, when Adam and Eve broke apart from God, He did not separate them. Notice how He solved the problem—so simple the solution: "I will die for you, so that you might not be separated from Me. So that you might not be apart from Me. I will die for you. I will empty myself for you, because of you, for your family, for this human race."
What a simple way of solving things—without lawyers; without courtrooms; without a judgment. "I will come down, because I love you and I forgive you and I place in the deep sea your sins. I am your substitute so that I might come to be your example, so that you might also learn to die to yourself, to deny yourself, to be poor in spirit."
So simple a plan; if we experience it, there is the essence of God’s simplicity. It can’t be explained but you can experience it. Nicodemus, the wise man, he couldn’t understand it and he was a wise man, he was a professor and he was an expert, more than any of us, in Hebrew, in Hebrew thought, but he had not experienced it.
The Lord told something very interesting to Nicodemus. The Lord told him, "If you want to see the Kingdom of Heaven." See—not to posses—only to see—not to posses. To the poor in spirit, the Lord told them, "Yours IS the Kingdom of Heaven. You are the heirs", to the poor in spirit. But to Nicodemus, who was not yet poor in spirit, He only told him that he had to be born again in order to see. At what distance would he see it?
But the disciples, to the disciples He said something even more concrete—much more concrete. Matthew 18:1, 2 & 3, and see the way in which Jesus explained things. He would explain things with acts. He explained the Kingdom of Heaven with the grain of wheat; with the man who went to sow; with a very simple act; with something with which they were very familiar. "The kingdom of God is like the sower who went out to plant."
But here we find some rich disciples, full of themselves, anxious for a high place, anxious to have a position. From where had they come from? From where had they come from? They were coming from a level where it was impossible to reach any position, but in this human rupture and this spiritualistic disintegration in which we participate, when they saw Jesus, they became great. They desired to have power. They wished to have authority and to have a great position. Amongst themselves they began to discuss who was the greatest. Rich! They were rich! Rich in themselves. They did not know the nature of the kingdom.
They had renounced, they had renounced—they renounced things, but to leave things—to renounce things, is the easiest thing. But to renounce our own self, that’s something different. Leave the boat. Leave the employment. That’s easy. To leave our self—that is redemption. That is to become poor in spirit—poor of ourselves, poor in our essence, come to the conclusion that my moral essence is only leprosy, filthy rags—that is very difficult to our complicated, spiritualistic mind.
The enemy has given us a false value and we believe in that false value. And the more we believe in ourselves the more difficult it is to trust in Jesus’ word. "If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."
How simple Christ’s formula for salvation. There is no complicated word in that. There’s no technical term. We don’t need a dictionary for that, because our Lord is very simple and Truth is very simple.
Let us hear what it says here: Matthew chapter 18. "At the same time came the disciples to Jesus saying, ‘who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’"
For the disciples it was already a familiar term, ‘the kingdom of heaven’. From the same moment that Jesus was baptized He announced the kingdom of heaven. So up to this moment the kingdom of heaven was a familiar term. So they asked Him, with their human values, ‘who will be the greatest in heaven?’
The greatness of this is the answer of Jesus, and the simplicity of this, the truth in this, is Jesus’ answer to them. It was not a philosophical answer. It was not a theological answer and it was not an ideological answer. It was not an abstract answer, it was a very concrete answer.
"And Jesus called a little child"; called a little child. What a way to answer.
A tremendous problem—"Who is the greatest among us, Jesus?" He could not hurt them. It wasn’t His plan to offend them. It was not His plan to make them feel inferior. His plan was to redeem them. His plan was to restore them. His plan was to show them the kingdom. Let them participate the kingdom without offending them, without hurting them, without breaking their values—just reaching them in the most special manner so that they could perceive the kingdom. And at the same time they could experience their shame and they could experience their leprosy—experience their leprosy with a redemptive motive, because we can show someone else their leprosy with the motive of putting him down and not of redeeming him. With religion it is so easy to show who is more.
"And Jesus called a little child and set him in the midst of them."
A child; what did the disciples do with the children? "They bother us! Get out!" They would reject the children.
Oh, But Jesus did not despise the children. Jesus was not bothered by the children. They were an object of redemption and He said of the children, "Of theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus said of us, the adults, the kingdom of heaven does not belong to us. It isn’t ours because we are complicated, but children are simple. Oh the children! But adults, we don’t trust; we are suspicious of each other; we approach each other in a defensive manner; but children—they trust; they give themselves; they are open—completely—they still are one, notwithstanding the fact of sin and our fallen condition. What an agent God has given to us that even in children you still can perceive that innocence and purity.
And He put the child in the midst of them, and then He spoke. Hear what He said: "Amen" that’s the word translated for ‘verily’. It’s the word for truth. It’s the word for assurance; certainty; what is reality; what is authentic; what really is; without any abstraction.
"Verily I say unto you except ye be converted." The Hebrew word ‘chou’[sp] is to become—it is an act, it is a reality; if you do not become. And the Lord, understanding by inspiration the conflict in the language, the Lord added another verb in order to compliment the first verb so that we might understand that the experience of salvation is an act. It’s not a declaration; it is not a forensic act; it’s not an idea; it’s an act. It’s an event; it’s an experience—in us; in the disciples; and in anyone. And if that doesn’t happen, we will never see the kingdom of heaven.
If you do not convert–and He adds, "and become" and it’s from the verb ‘be’, ‘being’. Very interesting—first the action—then the state of being. First the action—if you are not converted and then ‘be’ and that’s an inflection of the verb ‘to be’ and the verb ‘to be’ is God’s verb and fortunately in our human grammars, that is still that way.
God in His mercy has permitted something with the verb ‘to be’ because that verb does not indicate action. The verb ‘to be’ implies nature, our constitution, a state of being; it’s a state of being. Our Lord Jesus used the most simple language and He used the act of a child because the child was a child and was in the condition of a child. The child was a child. But we are adults and adults are incredulous, they have unbelief and adults—we suspect, and we have a defensive attitude because we are filled with ourselves.
"Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore…"
And this indefinite pronoun ‘Whosoever’, is a very common pronoun in Jesus’ usage. Whoever! That pronoun has nothing exclusive about it—anyone—with which condition? That empties himself. Whoever descends—who descends his spirit—whoever descends. Whoever comes down. In whatever circumstance—in whatever circumstance—in every circumstance!
My loved ones, in the context of sin, God’s guidance is for us to descend—is to come low. But in the realm of sin, the direction of spiritualism is to exalt and lift up ourselves; is to go up—is to be up. But in God’s direction is to go down.
Oh if Adam had humbled himself before Eve, he would not have accused her. He would not have justified himself. He would not have invented the religion of self-justification. But Adam was not empty, he was already full of himself and instead of recognizing his leprosy, he accused the leprosy in her. And that is our problem. He became an adult. He stopped being a child.
Verse 4 "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Do we want to be the greatest? Do we want to be the greatest—you and I need to become children through God’s grace. Will we permit this to the Lord? The kingdom is yours—is ours. We shall be of the 144,000 if we permit this.
May God Bless you!