What’s In Store?

It says in Romans 13:1,

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

This means simply, that all authority – every leader – has been selected by God for a for a reason – and a season.

Those that aspire to lead, may try to do so – by peaceful means or by force, but if God hasn’t chosen that person, whether if they do good things or not. then that person will fail.

To see a classic example of this, let’s look at King David as a little history lesson.

The order of succession for kings back then was clear – the firstborn son was to assume the throne on the death of his father, or if he abdicated the throne. David’s firstborn was Absalom, who decided that he wasn’t going to wait for his father’s demise, so he tried to assume the role, and kill off his father, King David. We read all about it starting in 2 Samuel. chapter 15, and where Absalom is killed by David’s men in chapter 18.

Not to be outdone, but not to make the mistakes of his brother, was David’s second son, Adonijah. He waited until David was up in years, and thought he could get away with his plan to set himself up as king. So a bloodless coup was planned – 1 Kings 1:5-10:

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom. He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him. But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei and David’s mighty men were not with Adonijah.

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the Serpent’s Stone, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the mighty men or Solomon his brother.

Why wasn’t Solomon invited to join in the sacrifice? Because Solomon was to be the next king – per Nathan the prophet, also not invited. He was clearly planning a coup. But word gets back to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, who gets word to David, starting in verse 11 of 1 Kings, chapter 1:

Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it? Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’ Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.”

So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber (now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to the king). Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king, and the king said, “What do you desire?” She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ And now, behold, Adonijah is king, although you, my lord the king, do not know it. He has sacrificed oxen, fattened cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he has not invited. And now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders.”

David heard his wife’s words – put in place a plan with Nathan and Zadok the priest, to put Solomon on a mule and parade him into Gihon – and install him as king – as Adonijah was partying it up at his “inaugural party”. Zadok the priest anointed Solomon as king and the trumpet sounded announcing it. Adonijah, not knowing what was going on, was informed – starting in verse 41:

Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “What does this uproar in the city mean?” While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and bring good news.” Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king, and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And they had him ride on the king’s mule. And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard. Solomon sits on the royal throne. Moreover, the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed himself on the bed. And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone[d] to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’”

What would you do if you were Adonijah? Let’s finish the story, starting in verse 49- to the end of 1 Kings, chapter 1:

Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way. And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. Then it was told Solomon, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.”

Solomon was wise beyond his young years, and pardoned him. He could have had him killed, but he didn’t. The point is – God will always have His way even when we try to get in His way.

God gave us many years of evil – maybe to show us that we needed God, not a man, for “hope and change”. His people prayed fervently for godly men to be brought to leadership, and God delivered for four short years.

Did we get it? Not by a long shot!

Of course, people protested even during this period of prosperity. Fuel prices were at all time lows, prices in general, were low. If you wanted a job, you could get one – it was the “roaring twenties” all over again.

So, what the heck happened? Why is this nation in the sad state it’s in?

Well, for one thing – the people still pushed God out of the public square, more than ever. The more our former president tried to bring God back into our lives, the more Satan used the public at large to push God, and the former president to the sidelines.

Let’s look back at the prosperous “roaring twenties” – the 1920’s, a hundred years ago. The country was doing very well, much like it was a hundred years later in 2020. But then the thirties – the 1930’s – came along, and the associated depression. The administration running the nation threw God under the bus then too.

People, you see throughout the Bible, throughout history, and even these days – when God is tossed aside and isn’t held in the highest position in our land and lives, He steps aside and allows us to slide into our sin – don’t believe me? Read Romans 1.

God gives us time to repent, and we have done so over the ages. When we’ve repented and brought Jesus back into our lives, prayer back into our schools, and trust in the almighty God back into our nation, God has given us prosperity and relative peace, or if we had to go to war – protection and victory.

Unfortunately, I just don’t see it happening now. God’s been tossed into the garbage like scraps of last night’s dinner. We’ve redefined biblical marriage, we’ve redefined God’s creation as it pertains to gender – heck people, we’ve redefined creation itself. We’ve redefined it all for our own benefit.

If this nation has to go to war, we’d have a heck of a time being victorious. China is certainly giving us a run for superiority in terms on weaponry. This nation has always held the upper hand, and was always in a position to help our friend Israel. Now, this administration is throwing Israel, the apple of God’s eye, to the curb as well.

What does God say? Bless Israel, I’ll bless you – curse Israel, you’ll be cursed. Guess what’s God is doing now?

God Himself can go to hell – if it doesn’t make us feel good, then we don’t want it.

Jesus warned us that division would occur – even in our own families. Division is rampant in the world today. Straight vs. Gay, Black vs. White, vs. Brown, vs. whatever skin color, Male vs. Female.

I saw an episode of Dr. Phil the other night – where this doctor who professes to be a Christian – was trying to help a mother and grandmother deal with a son/grandson who is now”transgender” and is “transitioning” to be a female – to accept this!

A true, born again Christian would never counsel a parent to accept this as normal, and sure as heck not normalize the child’s behavior! A true, born again Christian would be working to get that child, who is now 22 years of age, by the way, to repent of the behavior in some long term therapy – but of course, this is illegal in California, where the show is shot.

This guy wouldn’t have a show to begin with if he used a biblical standard, because his original producer, Harpo Productions, owned by Oprah Winfrey, who claims to also be a Christian, but that there’s more than one way to Heaven, would have never underwritten his show and have gotten him off the ground to begin with.

You see people, deception is all around us. I’d hate to be Oprah Winfrey or Dr. Phil on judgement day. I know that unless they truly repent and get things right, they will not be hearing those words, “well done my good and faithful servant,” it’ll be those words “depart from me, I never knew you.”

As Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, and I’ll paraphrase, very few people will be on that two lane country road to Paradise, most people will be on that twelve lane interstate highway to Hell. That’s sad – very sad. It breaks my heart.

Just like David’s son Adonaijah who tried to engineer a palace coup, Joe Biden and his ilk actually did – and for whatever reason, God allowed it.

Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and most the rest of them in Washington claim to “love God” – but they’re willing to embrace laws that would cause our founding fathers to vomit over. They certainly break God’s heart when they sanction the murder of the unborn, and generally toss God to the curb in the name of equality and unity.

I very much believe, and I’m not alone in this, that God’s starting to usher in the era of the Antichrist, and rapture is close. How close, no one knows, but people, God’s given us time to get things right, and we’re just not doing so.

Heck, we have mass media “preachers“ who for a seed offering, will send you some miracle spring water or some such nonsense, or are preaching heresy – instead of the plain gospel of Christ and Him crucified.

Churches have become entertainment venues. Gone are the hymns, the organ and piano, and in with the Hillsong, Inspiration and Bethel rock concerts with the lights, electric guitars and heavy bass. I think it was John MacArthur who said, and I’m paraphrasing here, that if you strip away the lights, the concerts and the coffee bar, and get back to solid preaching of the Word, we can get back to the basics of the Gospel.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against contemporary Christian music. I do have a problem with using music that “sounds right” to draw people into a church which preaches a garbage gospel such as those mentioned – and a few others. That’s plain deception.

Do your research, and you’ll see. Bethel church and their teaching of “Grave soaking”? Give me a break Bill Johnson!

My wife said it only yesterday to me – the harvest is ripe, but the workers, meaning good preachers, willing to preach sound doctrine of Christ’s death and forgiveness of sin,and His resurrection and victory over death and penalty of that sin – are so very few.

She’s so very right. Too many are out to make a name for themselves and to pastor a megachurch. I’d rather pastor a small church of real disciples yearning to learn and disciple others, than to entertain. I mean, I could any clown to do that. Heck, Houston’s full of them.

The church today, is in shambles. The true, gospel teaching church has become a minority. That’s a sin. And that, my friend, is why God is going to have His judgment over the world.

You see, we’re all God’s creations, but we’re not all God’s children. Only if you’re truly saved by the blood of Jesus are you a child of Christ. Don’t let a false teacher tell you otherwise.