Joseph Herrin (07-21-08)

Stop for a moment and look around you. What do you see? If you are at work, do you see business going on as it has for years? If you are at home, do you see the normalcy of routine, the ebb and flow of the daily patterns of living? Does it not seem like things have always been the same, and that they will continue indefinitely? This may truly be how things appear, but the appearance is a lie.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the… conviction of things not seen.

The sons and daughters of God are not to walk by sight and hearing. To do so is a trap that leads to spiritual blindness. We have other senses that we are to live by, spiritual senses gained when we were born again of the Spirit of God. Yahshua said, “Unless you have been born again, you cannot SEE the kingdom of God.” We have spiritual senses by which we can receive the thoughts of God and act upon them as the reality of our lives. If you are doing your reckoning according to the report of your natural senses and rational thought, then you are not seeing things as you ought to.

What has God said about your life, the hour you live in, and the things coming swiftly upon the earth? I have shared much about these matters in recent years, and there is an acceleration of signs in this late hour. America will collapse, never to rise again to a glorified status in the world. Israel will lose her protector that has usurped this position from God. The powers of the nations will be realigned. We live in an hour when many of the most momentous prophecies of the Scriptures are set to be fulfilled. It will be a day of woe and great trouble. The earth will experience birth pangs. Fear and panic will be felt by the nations. Men’s hearts will fail them for fear in the anticipation of the things coming upon the earth.

As I look around at the churches in America, I see no awareness of the lateness of the hour; no anticipation of how severely life is about to change. Christians are still spending money, still buying houses and lands and cars and furniture as if all will go one into perpetuity. This is madness; madness precipitated by spiritual blindness. The apostle Paul declared:

I Thessalonians 5:2-6
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

There has never been a need for greater vigilance and sobriety. But most are sleeping. They are acting in a manner that is lacking sober judgment. I was encouraged a few days ago when I received an e-mail providing a testimony of a woman had attended a seminar in Atlanta where Kay Arthur spoke. She revealed that Kay Arthur had spoken in a very blunt manner about coming judgment, and her words and demeanor were noticeably unorthodox, being a departure from what was anticipated. I went out to the Internet to see if I could verify the facts of this testimony, and I was indeed able to do so from a number of sources. Therefore, I want to share it with you. Following is the testimony from a woman named Beth.

On June 27th and 28th I attended a conference in Atlanta called “Deeper Still.” Internationally known speakers Kay Arthur, Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer were there and I looked forward to a special time of worship and having God convict me of my sins and lead me to areas in my life where I need to change. I have been to similar conferences for years, although none this large and with so many well-known speakers. There were over 20,000 women in attendance at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta- they said it was the largest crowd ever. I had an idea of what to expect from the conference, but nothing prepared me for what actually happened. I feel led to share my experience with family and friends. This is important, so stay with me!

When Kay Arthur took the stage you could just tell that her spirit was heavy and there was a certain “heaviness” in the atmosphere even before she started to speak. She said that she had been literally physically sick to have to bring us this message and right out the gate she said, We are in grave danger.” She said that God had revealed to her that a literal famine is coming to America. Physical, not spiritual. She said that God is moving in judgment against our nation. I know I can’t describe this well enough, but the atmosphere was ominous. Kay is a seasoned speaker and she had to BATTLE to get through her message. She stumbled over scriptures and had an extremely difficult time. At times I was almost expecting her to collapse. At one point she just had to stop and pray. There was no person, myself included, that I could see who did not have tears streaming down their faces.

As you may know, Kay Arthur is normally a very confident, composed speaker, but she was literally in a spiritual battle and it was taking place right before my eyes. I have never seen anything like it. She went on to give 7 things that Christians must do during this time and I am going to give those to you now:
1. Jer 4:3- Break up the fallow ground- return to Me. Repent. Get on your face before God and ask him to break your heart with the things that break His heart.
2. Mourn- Jer. 9:17-18 and Ezekial 9. It is time to weep because our nation’s sin is incredible.
3. Pray- Jer 36:7- Pray fervently, passionately for America.
4. Love God’s Word- Jer. 20. You MUST love the Word of God and be in the Word of God. I was particularly convicted here because I know I have not been as deeply in His Word as I need to be. She said we must get serious about this.

5. Love others as Jesus loved them. Jer. 31:3 and John 13:34.
6. Introduce people to Jesus Christ. It’s time to get serious about this. This is no time for timidity. Jer. 31:31; Jer. 33:1-9 and 15 and 17.
7. Rest. If you will do these things, then rest in the fact that you have done God’s will. She said that it is going to be vitally important for us to get enough physical rest.

She went on to say that God has not given us a spirit of fear and that if we are obedient to Him, we will be protected. She said to read Ezekiel 14 over and over until you understand it. This is what God will do if a country turns against Him. She said that this is going to be a calamity ( she used the word calamity in such a way that you knew this is going to be no small thing) for our country, and gave many more scripture references, but what I have given you are the main points that she made. I hope you know that I would not have sent this to you if I had not been profoundly affected by it and feel it is of great importance to share it.
[End Letter]

Following is the passage from Ezekiel 14 that is relevant to what was shared.

Ezekiel 14:12-23
Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves, “declares Yahweh God. “If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live, “declares Yahweh God,” they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it,’ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live, “declares Yahweh God,” they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it, to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live, “declares Yahweh God,” they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

For thus says Yahweh God, “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague to cut off man and beast from it! Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did to it,” declares Yahweh God.

The essence of this passage is that when a nation turns to sin, God will not withhold His judgment, nor show mercy. He will judge severely, yet the outcome will reveal the wisdom of God’s actions, for a remnant will be brought through the judgments whose lives will be turned to righteousness. Considering the depths of depravity and selfishness in America, how severe must the judgment be? Previous judgments have already come, and America has continued on the course she was set upon, even accelerating her transgressions. America has seen New Orleans devastated by two hurricanes a month apart when she was about to host a debauched festival called Southern Decadence. We have seen California erupt in flames the day after the Governor signed a law permitting homosexual marriages. We have witnessed catastrophic flooding in the Mid West, following hard on the heels of a record breaking tornado season. We are seeing the collapse of the economy with over a million homes in foreclosure, the dollar falling against world currencies, gasoline increasing in price 100 percent a year, and premier industries such as General Motors on the verge of bankruptcy. We are hearing news accounts reporting a growing trend of people paying their monthly bills with credit cards, as if they can borrow themselves out of trouble. We are seeing major investment banks and thrifts failing, but the church and the people of America have not changed their behavior a bit.

We are seeing signs of collapse all over. The day after I posted the recent writing on the collapsing cranes in New York, the news reported a further crane collapse, this one being at an oil refinery, and it was reported to be the largest mobile crane in America.

Just before this I had reported on the two Miss USA contestants that had fallen two years in a row at the Miss Universe competition. The news then reported the fall of two American Olympic Athletes, one of which broke her left leg, and the other her right leg.

Shayla Worley broke her leg last week, knocking her out of the gymnastics competition where she was a leading contender on the parallel bars.

Three days earlier, Abby Wambach broke her leg. She was the leading scorer on America’s women’s soccer team.

Everywhere that America is seeking to arise, she is getting knocked back. Collapse is everywhere, and the economy will not be far behind. With it will come a collapse of food, oil, employment, health, security, and a host of other things. The hour is truly late.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
Parables Blog: http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063