What Is About to Hit Us, from the Book of Joel--Post 3

By David Hobbs

(This is a segment of a string of posts that all flow together. Keep reading from the posts above)

We all hope for massive revival and I believe it is coming. But how is it going to get here? The Book of Joel tells the whole story: Joel, the only prophetic book in the Bible that has never been fulfilled in real time except for 2:28-29 on the Day of Pentecost.

 It starts with terrible times for the people of God—first a drought/famine befalls them, then a mighty army attacks them. What’s puzzling about this army is that it’s sent by God against His own people (2:11 & 26). But it all becomes plain when you consider what I said in my last post: God’s judgment, when it begins, must start with the house of God. And that’s what this is. God sends this terrible army against His own people with the intent of calling them back to Himself. But it’s a high stakes game: the army is real and will destroy His people unless God intervenes to save them, but that will only happen if they repent. It's important to note that because the judgments are sent by God against His people, they can't be prayed away by the intercessors. All the intercessors can do is cry out to God that the church will repent

Chapter 1 starts off making it plain that this is a worse disaster than they have ever seen in their lifetimes or for many generations. Verse 5 has the first wakeup call: to the drunkards (those intoxicated with the riches and sensual pleasures of this life?). The call goes out to mourn because of the dearth upon the land. The call intensifies in verse 11: call a fast and a sacred assembly, gather the elders, lie all night in sackcloth, bring all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord and cry out to Him. The creation itself feels the effects of the dearth and cries out.

We don’t know how well they followed these instructions but things got worse. In chapter 2 they lurch from the frying pan into the fire. What started as a series of natural disasters in chapter 1 now becomes an attack by a vicious army like had never been seen before.

³A fire devours before them,

And behind them a flame burns;

The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,

And behind them a desolate wilderness;

Surely nothing shall escape them….

⁶Before them the people writhe in pain;

All faces are drained of color.

            In verse 12 the call to turn back to God goes out a second time. Apparently they didn’t take it seriously enough before, which is exactly where the church is at today. We’re concerned about things but not desperate. The emphasis this time is on turning to God with all their heart, not just going through the motions of fasting and prayer (“rend your hearts and not your garments”). Again the nation is called together to pray and fast and cry out to the Lord. But this time it is made total: even the nursing babes are to be there; even the bride and groom are called from their wedding to be there. In other words, the whole nation is shut down and commanded to cry out to God with all their might. “Business-as-usual” is finally abandoned. Either we break through to God right now or the nation will be destroyed--it finally becomes true desperation! And it works! This is what God has been waiting for! This is what God is waiting for today. No more half-hearted, limp-wristed, “when-will-this-be-over-so-I-can-go-to-Dennys?” church services. They finally get the compromise out.

            Look what happens next. After the people of God finally give God their full attention and full heart, in verse 18 God hears from heaven and the whole situation starts to change. He deals with the immediate threat but He doesn’t stop there. He also promises abundant blessing and restoration for all they lost during the dearth. But He goes still farther. In verse 18 he speaks the familiar passage about pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh, which sparks the great revival we’ve all been waiting for.

            Then, in chapter 3, after He is done judging His people and reaping the saved of the earth through great revival, God turns to the world and deals with them (verse 2). He actually goes to war against the nations (verse 9 +) which ends with the terrible judgment of the wicked. Then the story continues right on into the Millennium (verse 18 to the end) and the happy state of the victorious people of God.

            There you have it—the whole end-times scenario played out in the Book of Joel. But to get through to final victory, the church must go through her own tribulation where she finally gets right with God. Judgment must start with the house of God.  It’s a “win big” or “lose big” scenario, there’s no in-between. It’s going to take all hands on deck, battle-station ready. Those who are not willing to give it their all will walk away, never to be heard from again. God told me, “Call the church to a war footing.”

(Keep reading down to next post, where the thread continues. To get there click on "older posts")

An Example of War Footing (Post 4)

By David Hobbs

(Keep Reading down from the last Post)

The concept of war footing became very real to me back when we built our first church building, what’s now known as “The Old Sanctuary” at GT. At that point we were a Jesus People, “hippie church.” Our founding pastor, Jerry Russell, had turned the work over to Reg Layzell out of Canada. Reg was a no-nonsense, man’s-man who impressed upon us that if we were going to continue to grow, we needed a bigger facility than our rented, old Cal-Trans building in Marysville. He convinced us of two things: we weren’t going to go to the world (i.e. the bankers) for our financing but were going to believe God for the money to come in; and we were going to do the work ourselves instead of paying others to do it. We were all excited by the prospect, but of course didn’t realize the price we were going to be required to pay. The only way it would work was the church was going to have to go on the equivalent of a war footing-- It would take a total sacrifice and commitment.

         For sake of time, I’ll just mention a few things. Every Sunday, sometime during our service, Brother Layzell would stop the service and ask Mark Cites, the foreman, how many workers he would need next Saturday. Mark might say, “I need 4 people to pull wire, and 10 to stuff insulation.” Brother Layzell would ask for a show of hands of those who would be there. The service wouldn’t go on until we had the necessary people for Saturday. People were on the spot. Many already had plans. The Mrs. had made her husband promise to take her and the kids to the lake over the weekend. But brother Layzell was ready. He would say in his droll voice, “I know some of you ladies want your husbands to spend the weekend with your children. That’s fine; bring the children out to the building too. What better example can dad be to your children than for them to see him working on the house of the Lord. They can run around picking up wire and bringing water to the workers. You wives can come too and help the sisters prepare food for everybody. Oh and another thing. I hear that some of you are planning to take vacations this summer. We need to cancel all vacations until the building is finished. Here’s an idea: put the money you were going to spend on your vacation into the building fund.”

            Of course some people became offended and left the church, but he never failed to get the people needed week by week. The people who left were those not willing to get on a war footing to get the project done. A war footing means that someone else, the commanding officer, is calling the shots. It’s the difference between civilian and military life. Military life gets results: it wins battles, defeats enemies, and wins wars. Civilian life is always more enjoyable. But you can’t get military results with civilian effort. Civilian life will never win a war or defeat an enemy.

So our ragtag band of ex-hippies ended up building a sanctuary/office/classroom complex of 19,000 sq ft. without borrowing from the bank in under 2 years, because we went on a war footing.

            The church is called to be the army of God. The most common name for God in the Bible is “The Lord of Hosts.” which means, “Lord of armies.” When Jesus returns to earth, He is leading an army from heaven, an army I expect many of us to be in. it’s not an army of angels, but an army of the redeemed. (Would angels be riding on horses?)

            The church in America is enjoying civilian life, but needs the discipline and commitment of military life in the hour we are entering into. We are about to be thrust into battle as in Joel 1 & 2, and military life is the only way we can win. Think of Jesus trying to lead an army of cats into battle, each one doing its own thing! That’s the situation we are in now.

            The Apostle Paul talked a lot about the military and the Olympic games. It’s obvious he knew the church needed the discipline both produce:

1 Cor. 9:234-25--Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

And in 2 Tim. 2:3-4--You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

In Eze. 17, in the vision of the valley of dry bones, God identified them as “the whole house of Israel.” But when Ezekiel prophesied to them and they stood up and lived, they stood up as “an exceedingly great army.” The people of God are called to be an army.

Rev. 19:11-14--Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

That’s what we’re called to folks.

(This is the end of this series of posts)

Trans-gender Bathrooms

By David Hobbs

This was a letter-to-the-editor I submitted which was published  in our local paper last week. I think the time has come to push back, and if we don't drive them away, I think there are many non-Christians who will join us.

Dear Editor,

Men and women are wired differently. For instance, there are periodic stories in your paper about men with hidden cameras on their shoes trying to film up women’s dresses, make secret films in women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, etc. Men have this fascination with the female anatomy! Everybody knows that. When was the last time you saw a story about a woman trying to take secret pictures of naked men? Why do we have “Peeping Toms” but not “Peeping Susans”? Men are wired to get sexual stimulation visually. Advertisers know that. Look how many products are sold with pictures of scantily-clad women! On the other hand, you send chocolates, flowers, and mushy cards to women on Valentines Day, not men. Men and women are simply wired differently.

So whose lunacy was it to allow men and boys into girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms as long as they “self identify as women”? Did anybody see a potential problem with this? I was just reading an article on The Daily Wire (an internet news feed) about instances where they’ve caught men in woman’s bathrooms spying on women while using the transgender excuse. One guy they caught had an hour’s worth of secret video on his phone already. Are we supposed to feign shock and surprise? “Wow I never saw that coming!” And those who want to pull the plug on this idiocy are called “bigots” and “haters”

The real question in my mind is how long the rest of us are going to put up with this? Back when they were pushing gay marriage so hard, many on my side thought, “Let’s just give this to them and they’ll be satisfied and leave us alone.” Nothing could have been farther from the truth! Neither will they leave us alone if we let them get away with this bathroom outrage. There are already movements afoot to allow humans to marry (and have sex with) animals, and to legalize sex between adults and children. They’re just waiting for the right time after the transgender bathroom flap dies down. When are the majority of us decent folk (Christian and non-Christian alike) going to draw a line in the sand and start pushing back? I tell you, they will never stop until they are stopped.