December 12, 2007
RICK JOYNER:
"THE JUDGE IS COMING. We Must Be Devoted to Justice--First Toward God, then Toward One Another"
Intro
by Steve Shultz:
Many of you know that we are known at the ElijahList for specializing in grace and mercy. But it is also true that
God is teaching me to fight this year like never before and to examine myself like never before. So we remain BOTH in "grace" and
in the "fight." Beyond that, we must trust God--that HE KNOWS ALL THINGS. So He knows when and how we are to examine ourselves, fight
and rest, and at the same time--remain in His Peace. It's all true at the same time and for each of us, it looks a bit different.
This word by Rick Joyner is perhaps harder than some words we post--but it's also true.
Remember that the prophets get a piece of the
puzzle. Some see the grace side, some the justice, and some a little of this and a little of that. It's up to you and I to put it
all together and then ask God where we are in His plan.
While putting this word together, my editor received this revelation from the
Lord: "In 2008, the laws of Heaven will be executed on the earth. There are written laws in Heaven that have been saved for specific
windows of time to be executed. He is the King of justice and the King is executing His order and His justice. It has been ordained!
Wherever atrocities have been committed and darkness has prevailed, God will infiltrate with light and with the law of order of the
high government of Heaven. His law doesn't cease. He is a just Judge Who is executing His orders upon the earth! God's divine order
and high government rule and reign will be the major mark of 2008."
Steve Shultz
Founder, ElijahList and ElijahRain magazine
www.elijahlist.com
"No
one likes to prophesy troubles, but for those who can see and prepare for them, they are the ones who will escape the consequences
of them."
There is a hope that will never disappoint--the hope in the Lord. He will never leave us and He will never fail us. Christianity
has been given the greatest hope the world has ever heard--Jesus is going to return to rule over the earth. He will establish His
Throne upon righteousness and justice. Not only will everyone be treated fairly, but He is going to restore the original paradise
that the earth was intended to be. The lion will lay down with the lamb; children will be able to play with cobras; and there will
be no more mourning, dying, crying, or pain in all the earth.
There is no utopian hope or hope given in any other religion that comes
even close to matching what we have been given. It is true, and will surely come to pass, just as surely as the Word of the Lord is
true and always comes to pass. As Psalm 96:10-13 states:
"Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns; indeed, the world is firmly established,
it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.' Let the Heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar,
and all it contains; let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord,
for He is coming; for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness."
Not
many people are rejoicing like this at the prospect of the Lord coming back to judge the earth, but that is because of their misunderstanding
of His judgments. We tend to think of them as condemnation, but they are correction--because He loves us. His judgments are to be
desired so much that the whole earth, right down to the trees and plants, are going to rejoice when He comes to judge the earth.
This
great rejoicing is not just because He is going to get rid of the wicked, but His judgments are coming to save the wicked too. This
is not to imply that all of the wicked will be saved, but His judgments will at least give them a chance.
One might look at the troubles
in the world and say that we are already in the greatest time of trouble the world has ever known. This is understandable, but we
are not quite there yet. There are even more serious troubles coming. However, these are not because He has rejected us, but because
He loves us. He is not actually doing these things to us, but we are doing them to ourselves, and He is allowing these troubles until
we get the most important message of all--we cannot exist long in the creation without obeying the Creator. All of the troubles coming
upon the world are basically the result of mankind trying to run this world without God. The troubles are simply mankind reaping what
he has sown. Even so, as we are told in I Corinthians 11:31-32:
"For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when
we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world."
If we judge ourselves, He will not have
to do it. That is the easy way. We can fall on the rock and be broken, or it will fall on us and grind us into powder! So let's humble
ourselves and repent so that He will not have to discipline us.
Hurricane Katrina was discipline from the Lord, intended to help wake
up America and get us to turn to Him. So are the earthquakes, fires, drought, floods, and all of the other natural disasters. God
is not doing them to us, but they are the result of the earth being out of whack because her king is man, which God gave to the earth
to rule over it, righteously.
More troubles are coming, not only to America but to the world, unless we repent. Possibly the most devastating
disaster in the history of America could be creeping up on us through some of the most beautiful weather conditions imaginable. The
South has enjoyed its most beautiful autumn weather in memory--which is the problem! The glorious sunny days, with near perfect temperatures,
are veiling what is potentially the worst disaster to ever hit our nation--a whole region of the country is fast running out of water.
Without rain, major cities and a multitude of small towns will soon have to be abandoned, displacing millions of people. It seems
that the warning of I Thessalonians 5:3 is especially appropriate for this:
"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."
Can this be avoided? Yes, as we
are told in II Chronicles 7:13-14:
"If I shut up the Heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land,
or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and
turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
The Word of God is very
clear that droughts are a curse. Everywhere in Scripture, except for the flood, rain is a blessing from the Lord. If God's people,
not the heathen, will turn from their wicked ways, then the Lord will hear from Heaven and heal our land.
Right now the Church in America
is like Jonah. We have a clear call and commission from the Lord, but we do not want to do it and are determined to go our own way.
The storm is not coming upon the ship because of the heathen, they are only doing what they know to do; the storm is coming to wake
up the prophet. The heathen actually had to wake up Jonah and tell him to call on his God, and we will soon see the heathen in America
begin to beseech the Church to start calling on God because of the storms.
Just as in the end of Jonah's story when some of the worst
heathen in his time turned to the Lord and repented, when the Church wakes up and preaches what we have been given to preach, the
same is going to happen.
The drought in the South is similar to other potentially devastating problems that are all creeping up on
us in conditions that seem as remote as they could be from a disaster. The weather is perfect; the sun is out, but the land is dying
of thirst! The other conditions are creeping up likewise, unobserved except by a few. There seems to be a veritable "perfect storm,"
where a number of conditions all come together at the same time to produce the most devastating storm of all--each one multiplying
the effects of the others.
If you are tempted to lay this aside now, thinking that you just do not want to read this type of thing,
I understand, but I encourage you to read on because it could save your life. No one likes to prophesy troubles, but for those who
can see and prepare for them, they are the ones who will escape the consequences of them. You may call them "negative prophecies,"
but by not seeing them, we could be the ones who are crying "peace and safety" just before the destruction comes. The Scriptures themselves
make it clear that these things will be coming upon the world, and if you cannot see them, then you are living in a large degree of
delusion. Many Christians are in this delusion, and when living in such darkness, even a little bit of light can be blinding. I implore
you to please read on, even if it is hard for you.
Seeing the Signs of the Times
The Lord chided the Pharisees and Sadducees for knowing
how to discern the weather but not knowing the signs of the times (see Matthew 16:3). Who could have seen such a creeping disaster
as this drought in the South when the weather was so beautiful and peaceful? It is very difficult in these conditions to even think
of hardship, much less such a widespread disaster as this drought could become. At this writing, some towns have their water turned
on for just three hours a day. Note that I said water is turned on three hours a day, not off. This is the last resort to no water
being available from public sources, and probable evacuation of everyone who does not have their own source of water, such as a well.
However, in many cases, those who do have wells have already had to evacuate because their wells have run dry.
The interesting way
that this drought crept up on the South was because of the recent devastating hurricanes, and the predictions of increasingly violent
ones to come because of global warming. Naturally Christians, especially along the coast, prayed for protection from any more of those
super storms, and the Lord seems to have answered those prayers. However, even though storms can be devastating, hurricanes and tropical
storms are a main source for replenishing the water tables and reservoirs in the South. Because the storms did not come, we may have
been rejoicing, but few understood that this posed a potentially worse disaster--the lack of fresh water for much of the South.
Things
are becoming very difficult in the South in regard to fresh water. This is for our preparation, and we do need to prepare for it.
Consider Revelation 8:10-11 concerning water:
Click Here for Part 2
