Hi Everyone, I just wrote a book and introducing it on Amazon. It is called Ears to Hear - Part One: Ephesus... The Seven Candlesticks of the Apocalypse, by Jay Atkinson Find it on Kindle for 99 cents, they wouldn't let me do it for free. Paperback coming soon. Here is part of the introduction.
The restitution of all things. That has a nice ring to it doesn't it? The restoration of we the children being restored to the faith of our fathers and apostolic truths being put in their proper order. The apostle John wrote in his first letter for us to "love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God. He that loves not knows not God; for God is love." 1 John 4:7-8. The Bible teaches us not to be ignorant, we already know the outcome of these things, we have been warned by the One who knows the beginning to the end. We are already told that many of us may be killed by those thinking they are doing God and country a favor. They will be against us and use the name of Jesus to mask their delusions of misplaced patriotism. But I digress, I am getting too far ahead. Love sometimes blinds us to the faults of others, we become justly tolerant and that leads to us being vulnerable. While we might not be able to trust even the ones we love, we are compelled to try to set them straight. Some people need to listen more and speak less. There are subtle inferences in the Bible concerning profound truths that are taken out of context and mistakenly allowed to stand on their own. The Bible will interpret itself if allowed to be read with an open mind and heart to the whole truth and not to narrow arguments. Too many of us find Jesus in church and then bring Him into our world view; Jesus is looking and finding people to bring them into His world view. Those who pretend to know when confronted with someone who knows better, will many times entrench themselves in whatever delusion that drives them to bring forth error and shout even louder. In the long run, division, hatefulness and pride will show up to expose them. If you lack wisdom, pray for it. Many in the Body of Christ are still in the Stone Age. Because the Temple restoration is simply what it is, other Christians cast stones at the workers. They haven't a clue and may never understand what we are trying to do, we love Him and have the desire to obey Him. We walk in His Spirit not because we have to but because we want to fulfill our calling. Stone Age Christians may be missing out of the restorative process merely from their malicious confrontations. We must however, measure the Temple of the Living God if we are to restore it. Many analogies are used in the Bible to describe the work, one of them of course is that we are to rebuild the walls. Many stones are used in the construction and as long as God has only the chosen remnant doing it, our kinsmen outside the walls of the Temple will be jealous and cast stones. What will we do with these stones? God is not through with them, He is not through with us and we are not through with the construction. So we gather these stones, identify the weaknesses in the walls and strengthen the work that remains. If we pick up the stones and throw them back, we are just giving them more ammunition. We pick them up in humility through self-examination, polish the rough edges, shape them so they will fit perfectly and place them in the wall to quicken the work. We are out of the Stone Age and into the light which shines like a beacon with the words "God is Love." So love them, pray for them, and take the battle into the Heavenlies. God is not finished with Stone Age Christians either and they may have to go through the process of restoration as well. They have the power to cast stones, we have the power to cast out demons. They hurt and destroy, we heal and restore. As they lift up their spiritual swords so as to cut the flesh of the workers, we lift up our Spiritual swords to preach the truth. Ours is the better way. Ignore them, forgive them, put up with the harassment and fiery darts with the shield of faith and get on with Kingdom business. Use these stones not as an offense but as a blessing. Do not cry but laugh out loud. We must stay focused on what we have been commissioned to do and not give them the advantage of wasting our time. The solemn assembly that Joel prophesied has been on my heart a lot, I believe it is very important in this kairos time. Generally when the Lord puts things on my heart, I try to verify them. I have been in that attitude a long time. It is sometimes hard for me to sing praise songs, I love them and I sing with joy but also think that we should rather be singing the blues. We should be praising the Lord in all of our circumstances but praising the Lord out of our own blessings while so many others are suffering can be hard. It is the luke-warm church that is rich and has need of nothing and also seem to be the ones that are praising the Lord the loudest and then throwing the biggest stones. That's OK, but is that what we have become, noisy gongs and clanging cymbals without the substance? I want no part of that, I will have compassion on those that I know have been oppressed and marginalized and exploited and lied to and prejudiced against by the very ones that think that they will be the ones taken up. I will do what I can to stand in the gap for them. I will also preach that we should come into that solemn assembly to pray for those that have been led away captive. A sanctified congregation requires repentance but pride keeps us from going to certain churches sometimes: they don't measure up to our standards, our way of doing things, our interpretation of Scripture. Pride and false authority every time and coming from all directions. I was out of a local church for years, studying and writing when I should have been under a faithful pastor that can see into my Adamic nature and any falseness and weakness about me without condemning me. The Lord seems to send the kind that dumps on me, muzzles me and thinks of me as a heretic with so much false doctrine he needs his flock protected. They really do, but that's so the Lord can teach me through them. Not all but enough to make it an irritant. I need rather a loving pastor who will guide and support me, not standing in the way of God's calling on my life but stand along side of me with encouragement. Sometimes we just want to be at church and soak in the presence of God. I know that we know Jesus through the Father and His creation. I know that He is everywhere and vitally interested in all of us but I seek Jesus among the congregation, experiencing Him in a personal and vital way among others. There is a move of God in a few churches that can see the true shekinah glory. You think that you are part of an evangelical movement or spiritually gifted or whatever and that's all there is. We need to get together as we work together in His Spirit. Listen to what Jesus taught us, we are His representatives; where we are, there He is, or should be. Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts. Through the confirmation of the Spirit-led, working together with the congregations, God is giving a unity of love to us as the key that will unlock His final move for the harvest of souls and the establishment of the Kingdom to come. That should excite you. The Bride of Christ is being readied and we are about to celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. If your church is asleep, try to fill their lamps and wake them up, time is short. Jesus will come anyway but don't be as the foolish virgins. Now that you know and if you believe, you must choose. Anoint action with prayer and expect restoration promises as a sign to you. The Jesus I would seek today is the same Jesus that empowered the Early Church with an earnest and urgent expectancy of His soon return. They turned the world upside down but produced a Church right side up. I have had visions of being among the number that brings the next great work of God and I see many of you there. This is the Jesus I seek in all of us, an Elijah generation but with a double portion, the name of Jesus on our lips as we act and speak in His power and authority. I see a new Pentecost that reveals Jesus in us with love and Spiritual power being the evidence of our Baptism with the Holy Spirit. The world wants to see Jesus also but instead sees a Body that has been fragmented, judgmental and illiberal. I will shamelessly proclaim resoundingly on these issues and I thrive on controversy. Amid the strife, we have seen the Holy Jesus, the One that has been handed down from our fathers as an example to us. God's grace upon us all, we would see that Jesus as we would be that Jesus, His Spiritual Body acting in glorious unity. That old time religion? Perhaps, but rather a new holiness movement, not by the standards of man but with a Jesus that brings the kind of love from the heart that changes the world. It must be in the power of the authentic and I mean the really, really, real Jesus attached to a perfect Bride fed by One Shepherd. Jesus will come quickly so get ready. If you are waiting for Him, you will miss out, He is waiting on us. The world will believe if a united Church lifted their hands together as only a united front can do. I see a Jesus that will do all these things through us and much more. Getting us ready is what my book is about. Zec 10:1. "Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain."
Latter Rain about. Statement of Faith
