Romans 10:13-15

Romans 10:13-15 King James Version (KJV)

¹³ For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. ¹⁴ How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ¹⁵ And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Paul asks, how can people call on God if they have never heard of Him and how can they believe on Him if they do not know Him? Then he answers, they cannot hear without a preacher. A preacher cannot go unless he is sent. Sent by whom?

Unfortunately, many today are sent by the seminaries, or the diocese, of their chosen denominations. They will carry with them the excess baggage of the doctrines of men and their denominational biases. They are limited to the confines of their denominational standards and thus are not permitted to wander beyond them. They are held accountable to men and their traditions.

Others may send themselves as they choose preaching as their chosen occupation. It is their living. It is how they will pay their bills. It is simply their bread and butter. They usually approach the Scriptures from an intellectual standpoint and there is seldom any spiritual meat to their messages. They will eventually conduct their messages according to what draws the biggest crowds and brings the most cash into their coffers. There is little accountability to anyone and God is not always in what they teach and preach. In fact, much of what they preach does not often align with Scripture from a contextual standpoint.

Still, there are others who may actually have the call of the Almighty upon their lives, but are too impatient to sit under the subjection of the Holy Spirits instruction. They often start out as a gasoline fed fire, but soon burn out, or become just an ember in short order. They usually end up becoming discouraged and disillusioned. They often depart from their calling and frequently become hostile towards God and His children.

We are living in the days spoken of by Paul in his second letter to our brother Timothy where he says in chapter four, verses two through five:

² Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ⁵ But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

I want to encourage those who have a calling upon their lives to persevere. We are living in dangerous times. Many are looking for an easy and lawless gospel. They want to hear about prosperity. They want to hear that they will fly away and not face the trials and tribulations about to come upon the whole earth. They want to hear nice things. If it is not sugar coated, they will turn away to the mega-church preachers and follow the wide, and easy road. We are instructed to be watchful in all things. We are accounted to endure afflictions as Scripture reminds us over and over again. Yeshua (Jesus) cautions us that he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Prepare yourselves. The days ahead are going to be brutal. Many will become disillusioned as they witness things they had never imagined could happen to God's children. Many will fall away in a great apostasy. It is certain to happen in our day. Pray that you would be found worthy to escape the destruction that is coming upon the whole earth, and to stand before the Son of Man in His kingdom. Heed the warning in Revelation 12:13-17:

³ Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵ So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The woman is the body of believers here on earth. We will be persecuted. However we make a flight into the wilderness here on earth where the dragon had been cast down. The believers are hidden here on earth, not in heaven as many teach. Flying into the wilderness is exactly as spoken of when God bore the children of Israel out of Egypt on eagle's wings as spoken of in Exodus 19:4. God does not change. The dragon will open his mouth and will cast out a flood of waters (figurative of people), but God will cause the earth to swallow them up just as he did the household of Ko'-rah in Numbers 16:28-33. Also see Isaiah 59:19.  God does nothing outside of what is already written in His Word.

We are to be praying that we are found worthy to escape God's wrath. It is coming, and all indications are that it is coming sooner rather than later. Remember Peter's warning in 2 Peter 3:3-4,9. Let us be watching and praying.

Pray for the Shalom (Peace) of Jerusalem,

Barry W. Gaugler

Prophesies for This Present Age

Right now there is a prophetic area of discussion going on that many of us are seeing occur over and over again throughout the whole community of believers in Messiah. Many, from different walks of life, are mentioning these exact same prophesies in different terms and expressed in different ways. However, they are the exact same visions. I­ am certainly not the only watchman on the wall sounding these warnings to God's people in this present age. The prophesies being seen and heard are all having the same theme. Personally, I don't believe in coincidence. Everything is done according to the plan of the Almighty, and He is sending a clear warning to His people.

In Amos 3:7, God makes this fact perfectly clear:  Adonai, God, does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. (CJB)

Whether you consider those of us speaking these things to be prophets, or not, is completely irrelevant. We have a commission to fulfill. Our calling is from the Almighty, and it is not dependent upon whether or not the masses recognize our calling. It is to be understood that our calling is to be watchmen (and women) on the wall. If that fits into the category of being a prophet, then so be it. However, the cry is coming from far too many mouths to ignore as mere coincidence.

Dangerous times are ahead, and they are going to start coming to pass in this present year. Several older people have been having dreams like never before. Passages of Scripture are coming forward, seemingly, out of the blue. They are always concerning the days ahead. I'm hearing the same thing coming from others and all of our dreams and Scriptures seem to be lining up in agreement. Something enormously prophetic is about to happen.

Many will scoff at these warnings and not take them to heart, but they will do so to their own harm.  Many are going to suffer greatly in the months to come. I am talking about suffering like you may have never imagined. God is going to try His people to show us of what we are made.  He is saying to us, "Don't give up!" Things are going to happen which will cause many to ask, "How could God allow this to happen to His people?" He is saying, "Do not become offended in Me."  There will soon be a removal of the tares from His congregation. You may feel as though God has abandoned you and ask yourself, "Why is God not answering my prayers?" Don't give into the temptation of believing that He is not there. He is saying to His people, "Seek Me with your whole heart while I am yet be found. Do not turn to your own understanding. Trust in Me and do not waver. I am in charge, and I know what I am doing. Only trust."

We are going to see things that will be very unsettling in the months to come. We are going to be witness to atrocities like we had never imagined could happen in a civilized nation. Prepare yourself.  Know that these things must happen for God to get our attention and turn our thoughts to Him. He wants us to turn to Him, and Him alone, for our provisions. It is no longer a matter of, it might be coming. It is coming! Trust Him. All of our strength must be supplied by Him. Too many are speaking these warnings by Ruach Elohim (the Spirit of God) to ignore them. Some of us have been saying these things for several years, but we have never sensed the urgency like we have lately. This is not a joke. It is as real as a brick wall. Come out of your slumber. The time is at hand.

Shalom,
Barry W. Gaugler