We all know God’s holidays to be his way of reminding those who worship Him, about the purpose He is accomplishing in their lives. Come every holiday, beginning with the weekly Sabbath, and then the Passover, all through to the feast of tabernacles- see Lev.23:1-37 please, we remember and get stirred up to a renewed commitment of whatever the specific holyday is bringing to our remembrance. A great majority of us who observe these holidays have as we talk, made it a mere tradition of meeting, talking about it and it ends there.
This happened to the ancient nation of Israel, at which point, God showed them how they have missed the mark, and so, have made their observances of no profit. Hear it please. Hear o’ my people and I will speak. O Israel and I will testify against you…..I will accept no bull from your house…Psalm.50:7-13. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I have had enough of them……..Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They have become a burden to me-Isa.1:11-15. A burden, and yet we are obeying a command! Why a burden? Brethren, this voice you are reading here is not for the ancient Israel, but for you, who are in God’s church in this present time.
Now, as we read, let everyone be in their heart to see whether it’s you whose observance, tithing and sacrifices, God hates. We are here addressing the feast of trumpets, and wondering whether it is impacting in us, the fresh reminder and energy needed to continue in the firery, striving to enter through the narrow door-Luke.13:24, or, like the Israelites, it has become a mere love song- Ezek. 33:32, and this because, even though we may be unaware, we have forsaken the Lord, and are imagining we can flatter Him with our mouths while our hearts are elsewhere-Psalm.78:36-37. Christ wants to perfect His church now, to make it blameless, in readiness for His second coming and the establishment of His kingdom here on earth. If we know the work God is doing in our lives, then, that is where the perfection work is happening ( see our message, “ Who are you?”, in www.endtimecog.org for details). Its is also what the trumpet feast is about.
DEVELOPING MIND AND HEART
In God’s man’s- creation-process, we know that God is at the stage of writing his laws (imparting knowledge) in his people’s minds, by which, in applying that knowledge, they are also being built into his behaviours (character). (See details in our message, “ Man’s creation process” please). It is these knowledge and behaviour which God is perfecting in those who will submit to him, which the trumpet has to do with. Have we heard it and are submitting? Brethren, know and understand that, we are created in God’s word; I mean, we are what the word of scriptures say- John.1:4. Those who worship God in spirit and truth, have nothing else to apply as knowledge in whatever they do, except this word-Deut.4:6.
But if we remember, it took God to sent his messenger, Christ the messiah from heaven to come and reveal it to us. We know how man from the word-go, was deceived and believed a lie, and so, being introduced to life by those who accepted it, we all have once lived in it-Eph.2:3. If then we have truly heard of it, for the truth can only be taught and learned from Christ-Eph.4:21, how far have we gone from imagining things, and restricting our knowledge to scriptures only? Yes, how far have we gone in guarding our hearts strictly by God’s word? It’s only to the extend one does this that he/she is observing the holidays in a worthy manner. Let’s understand please.
GOD’S VOICE
As we have just said, if there is any reason God will blow a trumpet, it has to do with the work He is doing in man’s life. For surely, it can’t be to animals, plants, or any other living thing that He blows it. When we look into scriptures, we find that the trumpets is actually God’s voice proclaiming to mankind a warning against impending destruction, as well as announcing a victorious end to those who will submit. From the beginning, God warned man against following Satan’s way, telling him; if you listen to Satan’s lie( the tree of knowledge of good and evil), and apply it as knowledge, it will destroy you, and you will surely die-Gen.2:17. Man stubbornly went against God’s warning. Look at the fruits today. Families, which are the basis of a society, are broken and those which are still standing are chaotic. As a result, communities and societies which are run by members of those broken families, are packed with strives. Governments are fighting their subjects, and vise versa. The universal machinery in which the entire existence is interlinked is jammy right now.
We are almost lacking oxygen due to heavy pollution. Clean water is almost an history. Not to mention the soil which is heavily contaminated to an extend of being unable to support farming any more. The physical life-supporting ingredients, air, water, and food, are greatly damaged. Results! Incurable diseases are now on stage. All this are fulfilments of what God warned Adam against. Man now, leaders and the being lead alike, are all moaning and moaning like doves; looking for justice but there is none; for salvation but it can’t be got, and this because, they have rejected the way to it, and so, they cant know it now-Isa.59:11,8.I know that, very few people are aware of this important thing. Which one? The bible is the very manual from God for mankind on their way of life. So, because they have transgressed it, broken the instructions, and violated the life agreement, the results are the polluted earth we are living in-Isa.24:5-6.
REPEATING THE WARNING
God is everlasting, and so are his plans. Whatever He purposed to do from the beginning, he will accomplish at His own appointed time. How I prayerfully wish that, this 2019 trumpet sound would make a meaning to those who hear it! For the like of the days of Noah, and of Lot are with us now. In Noah’s time, the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination in men’s thoughts was continually evil. The earth was corrupt in God’s eyes, and filled with violence-Gen.6:5,11. Is this not the exact condition of the earth right now? In Lots time, men were practicing homosexuality-Gen. 19:4-5, actually, the word sodomy originated there. Isn’t this the exact condition of the world now? Aren’t the words of Christ fulfilled before our own eyes-Mat.24:37-40? Not unless we are among the blind. Brethren, every time the world reaches this climax of wickedness, God intervenes with both, a saving hand to those who obey him, and a destructive one to the disobedience. But before he does this, he makes sure that a warning goes forth through His picked messengers.
This 2019 trumpet-sound is that warning from your maker, because the world has now reached the climax in which, God must intervene, or else, none shall be saved- Mat.24:22, for man will annihilate himself by what he is doing by applying the lie he believed in.The feast of trumpet is a two-stages plan. What we are proclaiming here in this message, which those who will observe this year’s Trumpet should heed to is, the first stage which is commanded in this manner: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a Trumpet; declare to my people( the Church) their transgressions, to the house of Jacob their sins-Isa.58:1. And why? Because the time of intervention is here with us, and those who abide in wickedness will be destroyed just like those in Noah’s and Lot’s time. With the kind of annihilative nuclear weapons in the hands of very ruthless, and violent wicked men, this system will be extinct unless an intervention occurs.
But God did promise to do so, for He says, now I will rise; now I will be exalted, I will lift myself up-Isa.33:10; 40:10. If you read the above verses 8-9, you will agree with me that, God is here rising after a very destructive war which leaves men in despair. Before this happens, we are here blowing a trumpet-warning to those who have ears to hear, saying, flee from Babylon, let everyone save his life-Jerem.51:6. Flee to where? Know and understand that, the present world which constitutes to Babylon, is built on a spirit occupying the hearts of those who perpetrate it. It is the one inspiring men to this destructive life.
In the same heart where God is working His perfection, is also where that evil spirit is working, and therefore brethren, each one of us has a choice to make, whether to allow the evil or, the good spirit. The Church as we talk, has thrown Christ out of its hearts. Seeing that He is the only one who can build us to completion, then He is right here saying, I am knocking at the door of your heart. If you open for me, I will come in and finish my perfection work-Rev.3:20. Friends, fleeing from Babylon is actually rejecting that spirit which makes us disobey God’s instructions (our manual), and allowing Christ to put his spirit in us. Let everyone of us who wishes to heed this warning do a thorough and diligent-heart-searching, to prove if the sitting spirit is that of Christ, which is proven by seeing the word of God being our thoughts and feelings (our knowledge).
Is a Trumpet blown in a city (warning) and the people don’t fear? Does evil befall a city unless the Lord has done it (punishment)-Amos.3: 6? Jeremiah heard it in his days, and unlike us, he feared, saying, My anguish, my anguish. Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly. I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of a trumpet, the alarm for war-Jerem.4:19-22. God is posing a stern warning to His Church. Actually, what you are reading here is that warning. He who will fear and heed is the only one who will go back to the potter’s hands for, the taking out ofhis/her, the fleshy-stony-heart and replacing it with a new one and a new spirit- Ezek.36:26-27. This will kick-start the work of perfecting us by which, we will also be separated from the Babylonian works which God is about to destroy. Yes, it is those who will fear and turn to God with their whole hearts whom Christ will, sanctify, having cleansed her by the washing ofwater with the word, and present them , spotless and blameless ( perfect)- Eph.5:26-27. This brings us to the second and last stage of the feast of Trumpet.
THE SOUND OF VICTORY
Even though the destruction will be so great, and so massive, those who will heed this warning will be kept from this dark hour which is coming to the whole world-Rev.3:10. We will have no need to fear during these days of terror, nor the arrow that flies in the day…..A thousand may fall at your side; ten thousands at your right hand. But it will not come near you-Psalm.91:5-11. This will be if only we choose the way of life. Remember, these wars and catastrophic happenings are as a result of men’s misdeeds, choosing a lie instead of the truth. So, as a free moral agent, God allows everyone to be overtaken by what he/she chooses, for He promises saying, I will fulfil the desires of your heart-Psalm.37:4.
So, because those who are now hearing this first stage of the trumpet and heeding to it have chosen life, then God will protect and build their lives to completion, for this is what He has promised us, eternal life- 1John.2:25. After this struggle with evil, making choice in every step with the two opposive suggestions-Rom.7:23, those of us who will remain steadfast to the end-Heb.3:14, will be completed. When is this end? When Christ was ascending to heaven, He left us this promise. I shall come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may also be-John.14:3.Brethren, let’s know and understand that the second coming of Christ is the very climax of the feast of Trumpet, and the end of this second stage.For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven,…..with the sound of the Trumpet of God- 1 Thes.4:16. Now, for those who will have fought the fight of faith, obeying even if it is unto death-Rev.2:10, it is they who will have overcome. What will happen to them? In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the Trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and the living will be changed- 1 Cor.15:52.
This is the same time when Christ will be in the air, for, the dead will be raised first, then those who are alive will be changed and caught up in the air to meet Him-1 Thes.4:17. For while in the clouds, Christ will send His angels in the four corners of the earth with a loud Trumpet call, and gather His elect-Mat.24:31. What are we understanding here please? The feast of Trumpet is for the over-comers. It is for those who are right now fighting with all their strength to remove the old man, to crucify the self and its passions, and to carefully walk by the new knowledge as defined by God’s word. Yes, it is for those who will resist Satan with all their God-given strength to the end, for, it is only he who endures to the end, who will be saved from destruction and death-Mat.24:13. Are we seeing ourselves there, using every circumstance as an opportunity to practise God’s word as our knowledge, and handling everything, thoughts, feelings, talks and deeds by using that word as our way? Remember, what fills our minds as knowledge is an inspiration of the spirit that fills our hearts.
If it is God’s spirit, our minds will be filled with God’s word, for His spirit can only walk and flourish in the word-John.16:13. If it is the spirit of Satan, our minds will be filled with imaginations which oppose God’s word, with darkness, without understanding, because we will be ignorant-Eph.4:18. Prove whether you are one of those whose feasts’ observance is one that God rejects, or one whose observance is acceptable. Those who are striving to remove self, and putting on the word are the only one who are hearing the Trumpet-warning and who fear, and so, they are striving to come out of Babylon before it falls.
It is only those who are fully engaged in this first stage of the Trumpet, who will partake of the last stage of it, that of victory, for the promise is, he who overcomes, I will make him to sit with me on my throne-Rev.3:21. While the majority will hear a Trumpet of terror, calling on mountains and rocks, to fall on them and hide them from the descending king-Rev.6:16, those who are observing this first stage in the spirit will hear a Trumpet of victory, for they will say, this is our God, we have waited for Him, that he may save us; this is the Lord we have been waiting for. Let us be glad and rejoice-Isa.25:9.
As we observe this year’s feast of Trumpet, let each one of us search their heart and be sure whether your observance is an abomination to the Lord, or a pleasing spiritual worship, acceptable to Him, for as long as we are not obedient, then our observance will always be one which our God abhors. The feast of Trumpet is a reminder of continuous overcoming whose climax is the coming of Christ, and our being changed from these physical bodies to the spiritual ones, a time when God will also have completed His work in those who will have overcome.
Are you not hearing the loudness of this Trumpet? If yes, what are you doing about it? The warning is ceaselessly flowing from the heavenly throne from Christ through His servant.