-A note to the readers: most of what I have been writing comes with lots of dictation from the Lord; He makes sure He gets what He wants said in the writing. Not so for this piece: He specifically noted to me that this one I must write on my own, from my own heart and training. Yet, as a disclaimer on this piece in particular, I certainly acknowledge that my writing is not easy. As a devoted servant, surely you must realize that I wish with all my heart that I could be better. Notwithstanding, it should be noted by the readers that something very serious has now occurred, something which cannot be simply ignored this time, like we so often do. Even though this sounds like the same old message, and has been going on for thousands of years, something has occurred which has truly caught my eye. So, please bear with me, and my obvious failings, and read this piece thoroughly. I am convinced that through this very serious incident God has sent a wake-up call, but not for me; this is for you, and it cost my brother his life:
Joel 1:5-7
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
For it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
7 He has laid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white. NKJV™
-[for convenience, find the “Thomas Companion Scripts” document, under “Read Me First”, open in a second tab, to find Scripture references list in this document, in order as they appear.]
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Sometime during the night of June 11, 2010, my brother Thomas died. The hospital may list June 16, the day he was removed from life support, as the day of his death. But the truth is that the Lord took him out of the clutches of the forces of evil during the night of the eleventh, in order to make all the statements He wanted to make [and as a kindness to me: I could not bear to watch the demons make sport of my brother; it was grotesque enough to see his corpse abused].
I somehow need to communicate clearly what has happened. Right before my own eyes, thoroughly trained to see such things, I watched the spiritual setup and murder of my beloved brother, just one more of the endless, senseless killings all over the earth. Horrified, but powerless to stop the spiritual entities who came after Thomas, this gruesome event has torn me to shreds, and taxed my heart and mind to it’s limits. Yet I am virtually alone in my angst, because no one even sees one bit of this, to be in this same state of horror; they cannot see any of the spiritual movements of the realm wherein this whole scheme was planned and executed. It was completely invisible to their spiritually blind eyes. But, my trained eyes witnessed every morbid detail, and it has rocked me to my soul.
In our ignorance, we are being laid waste, “dusted” by these terrible forces, who use the immovable Word of God to their favor, against us. There are rules of engagement to learn, my friends; we will learn this fact one way or the other. The world as we know it is going to shake, and we are all trapped under the power of God’s Word. And even though we ourselves may be completely oblivious to it’s boundaries, these entities use their knowledge of the Word of God against us. The powerful forces arrayed against us know the rules all too well; and they use our ignorance as their advantage, brutally abusing and destroying us continually, on all fronts, dividing personal relations, international relations, robbing us of money, land, even our very lives. God allows these entities to bring it home to us, until we finally come to our senses, and bend our knees before His mighty Word. My brother learned this the hard way:
Hag 2:6-7
6 "For thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the Lord of hosts. NKJV™
Luke 20:17-18
17 Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:
'The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone'?
18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." NKJV™
The family and friends think he simply had an unfortunate stroke and died; it might read this way in print: “This June (2010), my younger brother Thomas died of complications from a stroke.” Some may say smoking was a factor, or diet, or stress; no one ever looks at the spiritual realm, not knowing that the forces of darkness use anything, and have no such limits. These adversaries can take people in perfect health, even having a building fall on them. The truth is that Tom was assassinated [and this simply because those who could have done their jobs helping him, did not, a point to be thoroughly developed later, in the studies].
Luke 13:1-5
1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
NKJV™
Theoretically, this does not have to happen; we are supposed to be able to choose life. But did my brother actually choose to reject God’s Word; or did we, those who know of His saving Word? It is true that I could also blame my brother for his own demise; I did not fail to give him ample warnings, according to the Scriptures. He had his chances to respond to the message, and turn. Or did he? If he was not reached according to God’s commands, then how could he have a choice? If we, the supposed people of God, along with those He has been calling to serve the people for His name, just keep on disregarding His Word this day, actually choosing to reject His commands yet again, then serious results can come. With enough refusals to acceptably respond to our God, these eager adversaries can secure ‘execution certificates’ [consider Job 2:1-7; Dan 6:5], spiritually, and/or physically. These assassinations happen all over the world, while we just wander along through this life, oblivious to it all. We can see all the wrecked lives and dead people; but we never see the spiritual realities of the forces truly behind it all, nor why they get permission. Even those who are supposed to be doing their spiritual jobs are themselves invalidated and/or untrained to deal with such things in truth and power [Acts 19:13-17].
Spiritual assassinations do not always end in immediate carnal death; tragically this one did. It has totally broken my heart, and to write what the Lord now expects me to write is so hard I wonder how I will get it done. But, I must get this work done, lest my brother’s death would have been in vain. And there is much to see and learn and understand from such a precisely detailed life and death example. With the grace of the Lord I will complete it.
While it is true that Thomas actually was assassinated, it is also true that this could not have happened without the express permission of the Lord. No person dies apart from the direct command from the throne of the Sovereign Lord; but when that death includes such precise and impossible details as occurred here, it is also a major statement from His throne. There are far too many reasons and purposes behind Tom’s death for me to try to explain in this short notice; suffice it to say that the Lord is making some big points, which we are going to need to take to heart. And one main point is not all that complicated, even one we have heard before; but through the long years we have become complacent about this particular point. Judgment is coming upon he earth; and there are some things we must get straightened out, or many of us could end up dead. God never changed His mind about what He warned Adam; and “surely die” has arrived [which is thoroughly studied out in the book series]:
Gen 2:17
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." NKJV™
God does not want us to die; but it is truly a choice, and now He is encouraging us to choose wisely. He prophetically notes this in His Word, saying this through His servant Moses:
Deut 30:19-20
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." NKJV™
Yet, though few indeed realize it, we have been choosing death as fast as we can. And I don’t just mean those “pagans” so many pious people look down their noses at; I mean everybody. We most often do so for the same reasons my brother died; we don’t realize what we are doing, nor what we are truly getting into. We do not see the simple truth, that we are being systematically decimated, and even murdered, in our blind ignorance to boundaries we often do not even know exist. My brother stepped over one of those very serious lines, and basically stepped into the craftily set spiritual IED that blew him away. It was a well planned scheme for his murder, spanning years of subtle conspiracy, leading to his eventual demise. I see similar movements against the souls of so many people around me, and I am in wonder at how more people aren’t immediately struck dead. But, I suspect there must be many incidents in place before a death certificate is released to their eager fingers. Who can say when that bottom line is finally stacked against us [consider also Dan 5:1-30]?
Then there is the worst case scenario, which lulls asleep virtually anyone caught up in it’s grip: spiritual death. When the body of my brother died, all natural eyes could easily see it. In fact, my own eyes became acutely aware only when his body was just beginning to come under attack. That was when I went into full-on prayers, with all my heart, for the soul of my beloved brother. But, far worse is the very real eventuality of spiritual death; because it is not so easily seen, it just sits there, untreated in our ignorance, festering until judgment day. The result can be our being cast out, as we weep and gnash our teeth to no avail [Matt 8:12; Luke 13:25; Ezek 9]; most within the ‘people of God’ fall into this grouping. But few indeed fear this at all, because they cannot see a single thing happen in this carnal world; life just seems to go on like normal.
This may ultimately be the reason God allowed them to kill this honorable man: so that we might see all this better, and finally wake up out of our deep sleep. Tom may have died to save lives [consider Is 43:3-4; Gen 45:4-8]. I fully intend to write a big study on it, for the book series, hoping many people will avoid a serious miscalculation as to what is now coming. His last words to me belied the truth of our collectively blind condition. Like most of us, Tom actually thought he could clearly see what he was “getting into”, and to the end had no idea that he was actually going to die, that very night, and how ill-prepared he was for that reality:
Rev 2:11
11 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death."' NKJV™
Rev 20:14-15
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. NKJV™
It was a great kindness of God that He allowed me to express my last words to Tom while he was still very lucid, and actually doing well enough that he still saw no real danger: that my heart was torn for him, and that I just had to tell him how much I loved him. But truly, what good is that if he just ends up dead? Jacob’s love for Rachel was the stuff of novels, but she ended up buried along the road like a dog. She did not get gathered into the family’s burial caves at Mamre [Gen 35:19; Gen 49:29-32]; this is a huge statement from God, and as a lot of people are going to discover soon enough, Showtime is arriving. We are heading for a very big and serious courtroom- I am like an assistant to the Chief Counsel; and my job is to assist you in how to correctly give answer before this Judge, so that things will go well for you. But, we must make all these preparations here and now, “outside that courtroom”, before we go in. That means, in this life now, before it is too late. And now God has obviously sent this profound message, this very serious wake-up call, in the tragic death of my beloved brother.
My friends: I do not care at this point what any of you thinks when I say this, but the Lord is a Friend of mine; I mean really close. I speak with Him, and He with me, every day, all day long; He hears me; though I am less than nothing, this King gives me His ear, and even requires my words of me. Yet, though I interceded for Tom, contending for my brother with all my heart; He let them take him anyway. There are Scriptural precedents for this, that I should have been able to prevail [Num 12:1-16; Ex 32:1-14], unless there were some very big reasons for it. There is not the least hint of second-guessing of my Lord’s decision in my tone; that is not at all my point. My point is simply that God is saying something very serious, or this would never have happened. If He is dealing with His friends in this manner, all need to truly pause and consider what hour this may prove to be.
One thing we are going to come to terms with in this age is the power of God’s Word, and His agenda through it this day; He will be glorified in all the earth through His Word [as compiled in the 66 books of the Bible], something that has been a long time coming. In the case of my brother, there was nothing I could do to stop this death; I had to watch it all go down in horror, because my hands were tied by the Word of God:
Mark 6:4
4 But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house." NKJV™
There was no way my brother could ever hear my guiding words, which could have helped him avoid the deadly schemes of these assassins. He never could hear it from me because he was from my own house, my relative, as plainly stated in the above Scripture. But where were the ones who could have been sent to him within the boundaries of God’s Word? They were not sent to him in time because, when called to service years ago, they were not willing to come, and get acceptably sanctified and trained, so as to be truly ready to go. So my brother died in a spiritual firefight he did not see nor understand, because no properly sanctified and trained servant explained it to him, that he could take warning, and make changes [consider Ezek 3:10-19; Acts 8:31]. It is no different than all the other senseless killing going down all over the world, except for one thing: this one was extremely close to home, and has left my heart broken in two. But, unlike all those other spiritually blind servants, I know what happened to my brother, because I had to watch all the gory details [I could see these spiritual details because I did come when called, years ago. It takes real time to get properly trained, and acceptably cleansed, so as to be qualified to serve. I do not boast over anyone, knowing it is simply God’s grace which has brought me at this moment; this is simply a statement of the facts of what God did in me.].
Yet, God wanted certain things said, spiritual things, which are so hard to see. And I am His called writer for this purpose. So He brought it carnally, even brutally, just so that I could clearly see it in detail, and write precisely what He expects of me. It will take at least a full chapter in the studies just to cover everything He has already revealed about this statement directly from His throne. Thomas was sacrificed so that we all might better see, and thus be able to respond. Because this day, if we don’t respond acceptably, we all will surely die. That is what He said; and He never changed His mind about it. And now the hour is getting late.
I just don’t know how to get your attention to the horror of what is truly going on here; my brother is dead in this same carelessness I see daily, thinking we can ignore this God Who has come to us this day: He will not be ignored. Maybe this account will help our hardness of heart.
Many years ago I had a prophetic, visionary dream which may have been of this killing; or maybe it was of any of the myriads of other people, brutally struck down all over the earth. It really does not matter; any man brought down like this is someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s dad, someone’s husband, someone’s friend or neighbor [for female readers, do not bother being offended; simply change over the gender of these words, as needed. I am way too overloaded to bother typing extra words to deal with yet another devastation brought by these demons, which is all these gender wars actually are. Truly, we are divided against each other, and thus conquered (consider Matt 12:25); everything, every last detail, according to the Word of God, which they use so well against our ignorance and naivete].
In my horrific dream I was in the other world; it was no longer invisible to my eyes. Lit by an eerie half-light, there were these terrible assassin types marauding throughout the neighborhoods, so terrifying that your toenails would curl in fear. As I watched, a killer came near, and at first I thought he was going to get me; my very soul trembled in fear. But the killer was not after me this time; he was after another man. Right before my shocked eyes he was brutally murdered in one of the bloodiest, most gruesome events one could ever imagine. But, I wasn’t actually part of that world; I could only see it, so I could do nothing to directly alter any of the action; my hands were tied. It was the most horrifying thing I ever witnessed, far worse than the slaughter of the body of a man; it was like the murder of his soul. And man, it rocked me to my very core, about the same as I now am over Thomas: I just cannot seem to get over how he was murdered right before my knowing and seeing eyes.
Though invisible to our eyes, these brutal assassins are ever searching through the earth, seeking whom they may destroy. But we are numb to it all, being completely blind spiritually; so we ignorantly play right into their hands, not being acceptably trained in God’s Word. Since we do not see this realm, we simply do not care about it’s consequences, if they don’t immediately carnally affect us. Some proclaim the name of the Lord, convinced they are acceptable, forgetting that it is written that judgment will begin with the house of God, and for good reason [Ezek 9:5-10]! So, in our complacency, we never come and get acceptably trained, to be ready to help. Even those who do proclaim that they are trained are no match for these heavy-weights [Acts 19:13-17]; maybe especially these! For many years we have not had His fullness of power needed to handle these serious situations, simply because we offended His Holy Spirit, and He left us to drown in our own vomit [Hosea 5:14-15; Lev 18:24-30; Jer 25].
Tom’s death has now profoundly affected many who made up the world around him; but they did not see what I saw. God has allowed me to spiritually witness this carnally manifested assassination, from start to finish, so that I can write it out for us all. It might be to shock us awake, and to help us to better understand His issues, which will not just ‘go away’. If we respond by trying to hide from this day, it will come into our caves after us [Rev 6:15-17].
It is true that I am not the Judge; but I am trained in how the Lord says He will judge, according to His Word. I don’t judge anyone, and certainly hope for extensive mercy to any and all He might extend it to. I asked and hoped for mercy for my brother; God took him anyway. In Exodus 34:7 God notes this attribute about Himself, and I see it as unchangeable: “..., by no means clearing the guilty, ...”. So, if He will not change, then we had better change [Mal 3:6].
According to God’s Word, Tom’s blood will be held against those responsible. Most will look at the demons who actually struck him down. But this Judge is far wiser than such shortsightedness, and knows all the little things all of us did, and did not do, which assisted and facilitated in this particular killing, and all the other killings on earth [Matt 23:35-36; Rev 16:4-7; Rev 18:13]. We are dreaming if we think we can just wash our hands like Pilot, and be absolved of any partnership in murder:
Matt 27:24
24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it." NKJV™
Much like our current day CIA and FBI searches, scouring the ends of the earth to find all those responsible for today’s terrorism events, this God Who now coming to us will stun us with the details He will search out, even to the hidden recesses of our “secret” heart. There will be no secrets kept from Him, to Whom we must give answer [1 Kings 8:39; Job 40:7].
Long ago, close to a quarter century, there was a case that in certain ways was not unlike this one. In that scenario the gentleman in question was nearing death from terminal cancer. He also was a very honorable man; yet he too, like my brother Tom, did not have a saving relationship with the Lord [consider Luke 13:25]. There was a servant of the Lord there, who knew it was an important issue, and went to the man to introduce him to Jesus before he died. But, being a close family member to the dying man, his witness was flatly rejected. This is in accordance with the Scriptures, and thus to be expected, actually, which the servant of the Lord immediately recognized. Undaunted, this servant simply looked for another servant not a close family member, but with access nonetheless, and set up a plan to obey the Scriptures. Covered with prayers, the first servant [the ultimately responsible party in this attempt] laid out the witness he wanted done for the sick man, to which the second servant fully agreed, and then executed. It was a witness message identical to the first effort, but now obeying that particular Scripture, which had blocked the first attempt. The sick man fully accepted the witness, and was the first genuinely “born again” salvation the servant had witnessed. God had blessed that fledgling service simply because the servant had made genuine efforts to adjust himself to obey Scriptures, even though there was still much that the servant had yet to learn; it was totally by the grace of God, which of course any salvation is.
But this day, with further training and insight in place from the Lord, as to our true condition, there was no one qualified to send, none He would now accept. No one had been willing to come when invited, to be acceptably sanctified, and then properly trained. In desperation, I tried to witness to Thomas anyway, but to no avail. I am convinced that the Lord made an exception in that long ago effort simply to make a point: when we work in true obedience to the Word, He will bless our efforts. I have not seen a verifiable, sustainable, truly born again salvation since [consider also Luke 4:25-28; Lam 2:19; Luke 4:25-27]. No church wants to hear such truths.
Truly, my heart cannot be consoled with anything less than Tom’s salvation, unless I consider God’s will, His purpose, His kingdom to come, and His glory, honor and justification. Because, oh my friends: we all will, with one accord, justify our Lord God, or we will perish in our rebellion. He will be kind to us, undeservedly and profoundly so; but it will be under His terms. Isaiah 1:18 says it this way [not coincidentally, my brother’s birthday was Jan 18 (1:18)]:
Isa 1:18-20
18 "Come now, and let us reason together,"
Says the Lord,
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword";
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. NKJV™
In the brutal murder of my brother Thomas, the mouth of the Lord has spoken resolutely to me, and ultimately to all of us. He has spoken with precision and detail which defy all natural norms or probabilities, in particular to get our attention to His points. There will be extensive study done on what all these details mean, with all the symbols, metaphors and agendas between the lines, in that “language within a language art form” of communication our God uses with us. For many with untrained eyes, this may be real hard to understand in our current spiritual immaturity, no less than it was for my untrained brother. One thing should be especially clear to each of us now, though: Our God is very, very serious. We had better hear Him this time; maybe next time it will be your loved one.
One of the most central details I must point out at this time though, was where the Lord had me serving when I came to realize Tom’s life was under such serious attack: not one tiny detail was an accident, nor “coincidence”, as we so often assume. I am trained to not only see the “dots” in the first place, but also to make the connections, to “hear” when He speaks. That day the Lord had sent me on assignment, to take notes of a museum showing, where a major gathering of actual idols was being displayed, all as part of the anniversary of a significant historical event, locally. In complete disregard to the One True God and Maker of heaven and earth, I was seeing profound violations of His written laws to the highest degree, even carnally manifested [therefore my brother carnally paid the cost]. Having taken thorough notes on the entire debacle, I was then outside the exhibit, waiting for the bus, when I called the hospital for an update on my brother’s “mild” stroke. Having personally had a major, death-defying stroke recently myself, I immediately knew without doubt that he was in very serious trouble as soon as I spoke with him. With Tom I had seen plenty of other spiritual information prior to that moment [as I do every single day, all day long, with everyone], but there seemed no specific reason to “connect the dots”. That changed in a hurry when I suddenly realized that this was not a just another humbling experience he was being put through, but rather a full-on attack upon his actual life. I prayed like I seldom ever prayed before; an attack upon his life was like an attack on mine also, because we were knit together from our youth. But just like my dream, there was not one thing I could do to stop this assassination.
This divinely arranged detail, that I was on such an assignment at the precise moment when Tom’s true condition was so profoundly opened to my mind was no accident; this point is everything to our God. My brother’s life was given for the purpose of further understanding His agenda, making the statement He wishes to make in this serious day the whole world has now entered; and He expects us to seriously take note, and acceptably respond. Just any old offering will not be accepted, as Cain discovered in Genesis 4; this time we need to learn what He will accept, and why?
God brought very similar, stunningly serious events at both His previous start-ups: with the first day of Moses’ tabernacle [Lev 10], and with the First Century Church [Acts 5]. We must respond better this time if we want to avoid the same fall they both ultimately experienced [detailed in our study of Ezek 16]. This is our chance to choose more wisely; because God remains the same, serious God He always was, and always will be. Anyone fortunate enough to survive this day will truly fear God, finally knowing just how serious this day is:
Ezek 6:7-10
7 The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
8 "Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. 9 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them." NKJV™
Jer 32:39
39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. NKJV™
In the deeper study of his incident with Thomas, to come out in the book study series, all those significant details will be more thoroughly examined. Because of the impossibly precise details involved, I know without a doubt that our Lord pointedly brought this particular event. He has specific things He wants said, which are more than are allowable to be studied at this juncture; but all those details will be examined: He will be heard. And it is true that this loss has blown a huge hole in my heart; and it will hurt for awhile. Even so, I also must proclaim the many wonderful kindnesses the Lord has steadily brought to me through the entire process. There has been impossible mercy at several points, which has been steadily healing my heart and mind, and for which I am profoundly thankful: what a wonderful God we have, especially in view of all we have done to Him, through all the eons. Even the death of Tom itself is a profound kindness to me, and all of us, as God uses his death that we might be better able to choose life [again, Gen 45:5-8; Is 43:3-4]. All those who do end up willingly coming to these studies will learn all this in depth, and hopefully will be thoroughly blessed by the details of the life and death of this brother, whom I loved so dearly. But, in closing this notice of the death of a brother now lost from this land of the living, I wish to share some insights the Lord brought to me, in the way He does with me at times.
What I find most disturbing in this whole thing, even as the Lord has comforted me about Tom, is what opportunities were stolen from him. Removing true choice from him because of lack of true witnesses, robbed him [and God] of some very big things. I would have hoped Tom could have known the wonder of serving God in this world; it is truly a privilege, and one heck of a show. It is very hard to put into words what it is like to be allowed the opportunity to lay down one’s life for the name of the Lord: it will prove to be God’s ultimate gift of grace to us. Genuine sacrificial living is a fullness of life in ways one can ever never know apart from living it out; truly to do so is to gain true life. It is golden beyond all other things of this world, and my brother never sailed those seas, like I now do.
There is also the thing of the first resurrection, spoken of in Rev 20:4-6; this is truly a great and wondrous honor, no small thing to miss out on. And unless God intervenes somehow, he will not be there either. Not only did the Lord speak to the unfathomable joy such things will hold for us, but He also noted the reactions of those who come to realize what they have allowed to slip past, opportunity missed:
Matt 8:11-13
11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." NKJV™
Matt 7:21-23
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' NKJV™
The Lord will hold this against us, that we have stolen from Him the glory, honor, justification, and joy He otherwise would have rightfully received, had we done our jobs, and these people had come to Him through it [see also Mal 3-4]:
Matt 25:41-46
41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'
44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." NKJV™
Matt 23:37-39
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" NKJV™
God made an example out of my brother, by his death like this. Tom is merely one more of the countless millions across the earth who did not get a real choice for true and full life. The ones who never bother to go all the way into genuine service in the first place simply stand aside as countless millions drop at their feet. Of the ones who believe they serve the Lord, there is zero understanding that none of their work is currently acceptable [Hag 2:14]. I assure you, my friends, if God does not accept the work, it is in vain [Ps 127:1; Matt 15:9; Gen 4:1-7]. Not only do we fail to bring clean doctrines of true salvation, we even carry messages which bring death and destruction [Matt 23:13]; we do Satan’s work for him. We have become the terrorists to the entire earth. [I realize this is a shock to these who sincerely aspire to serve; it is thoroughly studied out in the series. {for now, consider Is 42:19-20}].
God is fully prepared to deal with all these issues; all we need to do is to come to Him, and allow Him to cleanse us, in this plan He has always had in place, since before this entire story began. But, until we do finally submit to His plan, His way, all we will ever see is wonderful brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, children, and all forms of loved ones, all dropping dead right before our eyes, both carnally and spiritually; and we do not understand one bit what is going on here. And God will never get the glory He should have been getting all along, even though He Himself never did us any wrong; we simply never choose God [not in truth, which are His words, and His opinion of our “relationship” with Him]. It is true that He has always kept some pure in this world, set apart to Himself; but they are so few and far between that encounters with them are rare indeed. On the other hand, encounters with those who think that they are in good standing with God are extremely common [see also Matt 7:13-14; John 9:39-41].
Matt 23:29-36
29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31 "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. NKJV™
Isa 48:1-2
"Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But not in truth or in righteousness;
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
And lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name: NKJV™
God has always known those who are not real about Him “in truth and in righteousness”; religion is full of them. He also knows those who have doctrines which actually cause harm, and only lead people astray, even to their deaths [though they have long been too blind to see it {see Acts 9:1-19}]; also those who would not truly come and serve, when invited. All these things tear the heart of the Lord right out of His chest, no differently than mine now has been. Only, unlike my own case, He has been going through this nightmare for thousands of years, all because we [mankind] chose Satan that day in the Garden so long ago, and have continued to do so ever since. Our war is with God, even though many say it is not so. And no one is willing to do anything to change a thing; they do not come to the immersion studies to get cleansed, and properly trained. How many loved ones will we stand around watching be destroyed before we finally break down, and come to Him, to let Him do what only He can do [John 13:1-17].
John 9:39-41
39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."
40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"
41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains. NKJV™
Isa 42:19-20
19 Who is blind but My servant,
Or deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as he who is perfect,
And blind as the Lord's servant?
20 Seeing many things, but you do not observe;
Opening the ears, but he does not hear." NKJV™
This day God has come to mankind nicely, one last time. It is an act of phenomenal kindness, which we in no way deserve; truly, we only deserve to die. If we fail to come to Him, and be washed, we surely will. There is no man or woman above this design of God’s will for this day, His command, no matter how close they may be to God; Scripture is full of examples of this point [see also Job 42:1-9; Dan 4:31-37; Ex 4:24-26]:
Gen 37:10-11
10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?" 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. NKJV™
Num 12:10
10 And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. NKJV™
Isa 43:8-13
8 Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the deaf who have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, "It is truth."
10 "You are My witnesses," says the Lord,
"And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
11 I, even I, am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
12 I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses,"
Says the Lord, "that I am God.
13 Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?" NKJV™
John 13:8
8 Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!"
Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." NKJV™
Matt 3:13-15
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him. NKJV™
- A special note: as I worked upon this document, I was encountered by the opposing forces, with an attack upon baptism itself. Such attacks are to be expected now. As we can clearly see with incidents like the murder of my brother, these forces truly want us all dead, and for none of us to inherit our true inheritance. This particular attack was founded in a false doctrine propagated by a group which insists that they truly search out the fullness of Scriptures, and thus know the true will of God for us today. A proselyte stopped by my ministry vehicle while I worked, and handed me his tract, explaining it all, and how we now are under grace, and therefore do not need baptism, under direction of the apostle Paul. The tract made claims that these people are now operating in obedience to Paul, God’s anointed servant for this age we are still within.
While it is true that I believe God is already bringing the new age we are now entering, I do acknowledge that God did assign Paul as His anointed servant to the Gentiles, with all authority, as clearly laid out in Scriptures; but I did not remember Paul ever teaching that baptism was at any point not God’s will for us, especially once the symbol was fully and carnally displayed by Elisha [see 2 Kings 5:13-15] and John. So I looked up Paul’s conversion, and found that after his errant ways were corrected by a close encounter of the Divine kind, he was baptized:
Acts 9:18
18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. NKJV™
Acts 22:16
16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.' NKJV™
I then searched Scriptures further, and saw later on, when he saved the jailer and his whole household, Paul baptized them too:
Acts 16:33
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. NKJV™
I went on to note to the man many other places in Scriptures wherein the Lord points to baptism [a metaphor for these immersion studies] as His plan to deliver us this day [Acts 8:34-39; Acts 10:48; Acts 2:38-39; Matt 28:18-20]. But, of course Satan does not want us to know God’s truth for us, because he knows that truth will set us free, so that we are no longer his slaves:
John 8:32
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." NKJV™
Ex 14:5
5 Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" NKJV™
“Baptism” has always been God’s plan to deliver us from our current state of bondage to these terrible task masters, ever since this entire show began, even displayed at the time of Noah as part of God’s grace to us, because it is by His grace that we are saved. Noah had to find that grace in the eyes of our Lord, before the atoning sacrifice of Jesus had even been made [see Gen 6:5-8; 1 Peter 3:19]. Our sins were fully covered by the sacrifice of God’s Passover Lamb, which only He could provide; No other sacrifice or work could ever pay such a cost. And now He has provided the cleansing of our innermost being through the immersion studies His Resurrected Word, to break the chains on our hearts and minds Satan has used to hold mankind in for thousands of years, so that our answer before Him will be acceptable:
1 Peter 3:18-22
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. NKJV™
Eph 5:26-28
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. NKJV™
Cain refused the kind counsel of God, when He came to him, to help him get his offering acceptable; his brother ended up dead through his rejection of God’s kindness.
We need this immersion study because we must acceptably answer the question that first came down, when we made that mistake, long ago in the Garden. Adam and Eve didn’t answer God acceptably that first time; and they were cast out. We will remain “cast out” until we do answer Him acceptably. It is true that we are saved by His grace, and not by our own righteousness, such as doing the works of the Law. But that grace He gives us is actually the ability to submit to His righteous requirement [see also 2 Kings 5:9-15]; without it we will only rebel against His will for us, and thus come up short on that big day [Luke 7:29-30]. We must acceptably answer this Judge, and that will only come through His provided immersion studies:
[it is well studied out in the series that water baptism is symbolic, and that God's intent for us this day is actually an immersion study of His Resurrected Word, which will clear up all the confusion Satan has sown for thousands of years, and bring us to the truth we need to finally be free (John 8:31-32)].
Gen 3:13a
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" NKJV™
Gen 3:24
24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. NKJV™
We cannot acceptably answer this question until we do these immersion studies, to learn what He wants us to understand [except for an ultra rare override directly from His throne {Gen 41:40}]. Only then will we finally be free of all this senseless death and destruction, at the hands of our oppressive slave masters, whom we chose to serve so long ago, and most every day since. This day God is finally relenting, pouring out His grace to us, allowing us to again consider, and choose once more; hopefully many of us will choose more wisely. He is more than willing to be graciously helpful, and is plainly inviting any and all who would come to these waters of life, and drink freely. But, my friends, note this: according to what is written, there will be no offer after this one. And this day will itself move quickly. So come, drink in deeply His life-giving Resurrected Word, to His great honor and glory.
Rev 21:5-8
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
6 And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." NKJV™
- a final thought on this whole matter, from the author, mr.bill:
Again I note that from the beginning, the Lord had asked me to personally write this piece, and not from His insight to me, through His normal dictation. If He had instructed me what to say, it might have included these passages as His central perspective; it is what He prophetically told the people long ago, which is the message for this day:
Luke 12:4-5
4 "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! NKJV™
Luke 13:1-5
1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
NKJV™
It isn’t that I don’t think it is a serious issue; it is what was symbolized at the times of Noah and the Red Sea crossing: safely passing over to the other side, or dying in the judgments of God, soon to come. I do fear God, and like many people I know, I really don’t want to make mistakes which might end me up in hell. And I do want to be in the company of true believers, the family of God; they are my true family; I do not want to be cast out. But, the truth is, this is my document to write, to say my peace about this whole issue, now spotlighted by the loss of my brother. And I see my fear of God from a slightly different angle than simply if I lose my place in the congregation and end up ‘drowning’ in the everlasting torment of unquenchable fire. Surely I don’t want to die the second death; but my true fear is that I would ever again do anything which would cause the loss of the closeness I now cherish with the Lord; or even worse, to loose it forever. To me, that would be hell, even without the flames which I understand truly are a part of that place. It is death itself to be separated from His intimate closeness; and truly that was precisely the death Adam and Eve came to face for their error.
I realize now how much harm my sins can cause to others; and I do care about them too, more than it may sound when I say this: but, to me the absolute, most serious loss of all would be to be daily cut off from His company, His counsel, His close friendship, His heavenly light. I know God is holy, and cannot abide with sin. It is within that understanding, even while still considering all those other, very valid reasons, that I dread such a fatal error, any error, which could ever cause insult to His Holy Spirit, and cause Him to step away from me. Because, I know that if He ever does, and as soon as He does, I will wither and waste away [probably in some terribly disgusting manner, of total debauchery, in total darkness (1 Sam 28:15-20; Ps 28:1)]. David said it this way, after his terrible fall:
Ps 51:10-11
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. NKJV™
Maybe this closeness with God is something that can be attained to in heaven, at some later point; I don’t know for sure, in spite of the countless arguments on the subject. I am just very thankful to have discovered it while I can, in this life; not necessarily because I insist it will never again come as an opportunity, maybe many everlasting time zones from now... . No; it is just that now that I have tasted of His presence and love, I cannot imagine life without it; it would not be life. And, this discovery, which my brother never knew, is what disturbs me most for him, no matter how things may end up, many, many years from now. Every day I awaken in Him is impossible for me to equate to words. Even my sleep is in Him, so that when I awaken, I am already with Him; it is ongoing, never-ending. But, for my brother, it never was. It deeply bothers me that my brother missed such life; like so many of us do, who make no preparations to face that coming day, nor even concern themselves in this world with the spiritual side which we truly are, he died working away in this carnal realm, for the things of this world; it was all he knew, because it was what he could see. And none of what we see will go with us into the life we now head for. So, Tom not only has no ‘insurance’ for the judgment he will be facing next, but he also missed these Golden spiritual experiences, in this realm.
Through an old friend came a thought along this line, as the Lord expanded my view of this whole matter. My friend pointed out that the Wall Street Journal ran an article for the Forth of July {“A Cold Man’s Warm Words: Jefferson’s tender lament didn’t make it into the Declaration.”, by Peggy Noonan, 7-1-2010}. The article noted Jefferson’s lament upon what might have been, had this newly forming nation not divided itself against it’s parenting nation, Britain. “We might have been a free and great people together,” he wrote in his original draft. But that part of his writing was cut from the final draft. I wonder what might have been for my brother under better circumstances, if we, the people of God, had made better choices? I wonder this for all those many lost loved ones, if we had just chosen God’s Word over Satan’s, all those long years ago? Satan’s ways are a” known quantity”: our history of death and destruction is the story of our “life”, and it will continue to be if we don’t choose better this time.
As I read on in the WSJ article, I saw another note, which also was no small observation. I knew that the pride of Satan is listed as a major factor in his fall; it is a signature “fingerprint”: when we see it in ourselves, we can know he is near, influencing us [Ezek 28:2]. This is so opposite of Jesus, Who came to us, lowly, riding upon a donkey, to serve, even laying down His life for us. So, when I noted this other comment about the formation of this nation, I recognized the same deadly bullet of pride that struck down my brother; he never knew how dangerous his pride was, because he had no one to help him understand what is written about it all.
That second observation was this quote a little further down in the article, also cut from the final draft of the Declaration: “‘These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us renounce forever’ our old friends and brothers. "We must endeavor to forget our former love for them."’ “Manly spirit” is more commonly called pride today; and the “spirit” is decidedly Satan. It is hardly a good foundation for any nation under a God, Who disdains the pride of man [Prov 13:10], which usually leads mankind against one another: one of the most significant attributes of pride is being easily insulted.
This whole sentiment reminded me of a prophetic passage which describes some of the attributes of the age we now find ourselves in:
Matt 24:12-13
12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. NKJV™
Now that Tom is gone, and no longer has the opportunity for changes, it tears at my heart what might have been for the two of us, as a smaller picture of the brotherhood of man, as we fight bloody war after war, with not one civilization able to stand the test of time. With nukes and high tech war toys in our hands, mankind is only deceiving himself if he thinks his ways will change without a major cleansing from God. We have some dark ways to get cleansed out of our hearts and minds, compliments of thousands of years of propaganda from Satan, the one we chose when we divided against our parenting God, so long ago. I ponder what might have been for mankind if we had not chosen insurrection against the King, back in the Garden of Eden.
I so wish someone could have helped my brother before it was too late. His failings were not huge; but left unattended, they festered, and became deadly. His book is now closed; the decision is now in the hands of the Judge of all nations, our Lord and God, Jesus of Nazareth.
I do miss Tom, this is true. Yet, even as I know I must go on, and will be fine, I will now live these days to come with renewed hope and tireless effort, so that all those potential brothers and sisters to come will always get my best efforts to serve in such a manner that might help them to make the Golden discovery my brother never did.
Isa 55:6
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near. NKJV™
His true kingdom of peace will come about slowly, through much work, not the ‘easy way’ taught by rapture theologists, or by the slick words of the silk tongued Antichrist. Indeed, that one will bring peace twice, according to what is written. But, unlike God’s true kingdom of peace, it will not be able to endure. God’s elect will see through his thinly veiled disguise, thanks to help from the Holy Spirit. The true kingdom to come will take some time and effort; Joshua and company actually had to go in and take the kingdom for God’s name [not them, but the armies of the Lord, with them]. ‘Little by little’ was prophesied in Exodus:
Ex 23:29-30
29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. NKJV™
It takes real time for the older generations to train up acceptably, so that we would even then be able to pass that training on to the next generation. Then it will take time for that generation to get trained, and little by little to take the doctrines of this earth for the name of the Lord. But it never truly came before because we never truly began, not in whole: the disciples balked in fear, denying their Lord [Paul being the only anomaly, for reasons thoroughly discussed in the studies], and we simply pass on to endless next generations this same old destructive way. This will change this time, as God begins to gather His people to the work at hand, and pours out His Spirit upon them, so that they are able to do such a great task. So, come, all you who are willing, and get to work:
Hag 2:1-5
1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: 2 "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: 3 'Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? 4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says the Lord; 'and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,' says the Lord, 'and work; for I am with you,' says the Lord of hosts. 5 'According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!' NKJV™
So, after all this has been said, hopefully one thing very is clear: God is sending us a message, that He has now come to His people this one last time, before the end comes crashing down upon us, quite severely. It is true that He has come this time in merciful grace beyond compare, in impossible, phenomenal kindness, to invite, to heal, to restore, to deliver, before His angel of death comes, soon on the heals. But, He wants us to deeply understand that, though healing is in His wings, He is also as serious as a heart attack. So, get real, and stay real; and for all those who do, He will be extremely kind; in fact it will be beyond belief just how kind He will be, to all those who come, and do what He asks of us this day. But, for those who refuse Him this time, all heaven and earth will shake:
Heb 12:25-29
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." 27 Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. NKJV™
May the Lord richly bless His people this day, both new and old, as He now gathers them to His great work, your servant before the Lord, mr.bill.
[see also Neh 2:1-8; Ezra 1:1-6; Song of Solomon 5:1]
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