For the Day of Trouble
How the Lord delivered me from severe depression and my own hypocrisy.
You can’t get better than getting into the Word of God for yourself, but in our world today, we have tons of other resources at our fingertips, to reinforce our faith.
The Son’s of Korah is a group from Australia that many find to be very healing as they only sing the words directly from the Bible’s book of Psalms with music that would fit the time period and is very worshipful. You can find them on You Tube. What’s interesting about the name for their band is knowing who Korah was in the Bible… but a good example at all. But his sons chose to follow the Lord!
Others I like are Don Francisco’s 11 minute song, Too Small a Price, The Imperials, Praise the Lord, Keith Green I can’t wait to get to heaven. The Cathedrals have Can He Could he would he, or other artists are Fernando Ortega, Bill and Gloria Gaither, Dallas Holm, Petra (and an awesome You Tube video to go with the song, Mine Field), Twila Paris, Sandy Patty, Chris Tomlin, Tobey Mack and Adam’s Road, just to name a few.
Rich Mullins has many songs, If I Stand being just one of them, but there is a movie about his life called Ragamuffin, and several documentaries on You Tube.
Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Rabbi, who got saved in the first place by learning of Biblical prophecies being fulfilled for Israel, in the now old book, The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Now we have Eye to Eye by Koenig. Cahn has written by far best sellers about America’s need to repent, starting with The Harbinger. His last book/ DVD teaching, The Oracle, about how world events have matched up with Torah readings topped the world’s best seller list at number 16, just days before it was even out!!! His ministry is called The Hope of the World.
Ravi Zacharias of RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) with his programs Let My People Think. He is a great Christian apologist who has a wonderful way of ‘reasoning together’, and respectfully helping us understand the choices before us.
Erwin Lutzer, who is very funny, does a perfect imitation of Billy Graham on this You Tube, “Your Eternal Reward, Triumph and Tears at the Judgment Seat of Christ.”
Do you know the life story and testimony of of John Wesley? He was a preacher for many years sensing he was never good enough for God, before he realized the truth that he could never be good enough, and got saved as he learned what it means to saved by faith in God’s goodness… not his supposed own. He’d been a preacher for years til he was finally saved from God’s wrath, and born again. That is when he was inspired to write so very, very many hymns we still sing, about the love of God!!! There’s a movie about it on You Tube, “John Wesley, full movie, Leanard Sachs.”
“The Case for Christ” is both a fact filled book, as well as a movie by the same title, with Mike Vogel starring as Lee Strobel in the movie format. Lee was a Chicago Tribune investigative reporter whose wife got saved, and believe me, he did everything in his investigative power, traveling the world over and interviewing experts to be able to prove she was wrong!
Another man, Josh McDowell, also tried to disprove Christianity, only to become a famous evangelist. The book or the movie about his life, including issues with molestation and alcoholism, is called Undaunted. Have you ever heard words you were never intending to say spring out of your mouth? That’s something that happened to him, deepening his faith all the more.
I have a friend who as a child, suffered incest while at the same time her father read her Psalms 23. No wonder she hated the Father God! Well, until she got to know God, and what He says He will do to people like that, especially those who abuse children!! Warnings found in Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2. Dire warnings to those who have not turned repented. Judgment day is coming, friend. Judgment day is coming!
I met one man, who shortly after receiving Christ, died and came back, and I only believe him because of how his account so lined up with Scripture, which having been a new believer, he wasn’t very familiar with yet. He explained that Jesus asked him if he wanted to come back. When he thought about it, he didn’t even remember how he had died. He realized he might come back to a body that was crushed. But he was so changed after time with the Lord, that he decided he did want to come back, to just do one thing. Start treating the people he knew with the love of God that he’d found!
Maybe you’ve a physical handicap. Nic Vujcic, who was born with no arms or legs, who has a ministry called Life Without Limbs. Joni Eareckson Tada, founder and CEO of Joni and Friends, is a ministry to handicapped people like her, finding hope through the hardship. Can you even imagine being born both deaf and dumb, like Helen Keller was? Sometimes I think of faith like that… we are born into this world with our sinful nature, both deaf and blind to our God… but slowly we can have our spiritual eyes opened and learn to discern His dear voice!
I have a good friend whom due to nerve damage, has had extreme pain for over 25 years, and spends much time in the dark and is isolated in quiet. But her love for the Lord, and finding the strength and the willingness she needs to carry her cross has always inspired me so, NOT that it’s always easy!
Karla Faye Tucker, once an inmate on death row, found God’s forgiveness in prison. This once tough and drug ridden, and very abused and lost soul had one of the most amazing transformations I’ve seen! So much so that the families of the 2 people she murdered in cold blood, vied for her release. See her real life interviews on You Tube, as well as a movie about her life, Forevermore which is on Roku, under the channel World Events and Bible Prophecy, you can see several awesome Christian movies.
The Seal of God by Dr. Ivan Panin is a 20 minute video on You Tube is an excellent resource revealing the numerical structure and patterns in the Greek and Hebrew original languages of Bible (and only in the Bible)… are patterns that man could never invent.
One of my favorites is by a former Satanic high priest and vampire, Bill Schnoebelen, about the dangers of the occult, and why God tells us to have nothing to do with things like wizards, and witches, and the occult. It’s a long program, I’ve had to take in chunks, but at the 2 hour and 8 minute mark, he begins sharing how he got saved, On You Tube, “Werewolves Are Real! Firsthand Witness”. His ministry website that he has now is WithOneAccord.org and I find the Scriptural prayers there, a real boost to know the authority God gives us believers in prayer!
The Prophecy Club: Ken Peters Dream, is also very interesting as Ken, who didn’t know Scripture, had a 7 hour long vivid and detailed filled dream about the great tribulation, which he hadn’t even heard of before. That’s the time period following the rapture of the church… when believers across the globe suddenly disappear as they’re taken to heaven. An event that may happen soon! According to Scripture, a lot of people will come to Christ during that most awful time, where the wrath of God is not held back, although it may cost them their lives, for the One who gave His life for us!
But the best Christian movie ever made on this earth, in my humble opinion, is a move on You Tube called Second Glance with David White. It’s similar to It’s a Wonderful Life. Also You Tube, like The Secret of Jonathan Sperry and Time Changers, both with Gavin McCloed from the Love Boat). The Ultimate Gift (written by a blind man), is excellent about helping us appreciate the changes faith tests can make. Oh, and I don’t want to forget a 14 minute amazing You Rube of Louie Gilglio, Mashup of Stars and Whales, as well as his teaching on Laminin! Unplanned is a great one about abortion.
But still the best yet is Scripture… When is the last time you read Psalm 103, which talks about God redeeming our life from the pit?
I Like Rewards
It was slowly dawning on me that one way I could seek Him was invest in Dr. Missler’s audio commentary on the whole entire Bible, every book, verse by verse, brought detail by detail into the light. You’d think by now, I’d know better, but I really wrestled with this decision. And although I didn’t happen to “feel like” doing it at the time, I decided to make a faith choice and take God up on that promise. And so chose to order Chuck’s series. Do you remember the poem about Humpty Dumpty, and how it was by every faith choice, he felt better???
Well, I’m so glad that I did, take God up on His Word!! It’s funny, because you would think given my history, I would have known this by now. But sometimes we just need reminded! I’m here today to tell you that yet again learning to seek the Lord deeper was again the best choice I ever could make. Listening to Scripture with explanations ministered to me in a way nothing else could. It assured my confidence in the Lord, encouraged my abiding in Him.[3] and gave me hope not only for then but for my future as well. I had a lot of time on the road, at this time and it was the perfect way to “redeem the time”[4] , I’m so glad I used that time wisely, and listened.
He has many lessons on YouTube, as well as audio commentaries on Blue Letter Bible.org which is an incredible tool to dig in the Word, because at a click you can go back to the Hebrew and Greek, to really make sure you know what God said. I like the way Dr. Missler respectfully teaches the different views on a given topic, includes why his is what it is, but challenges you to think for yourself, saying you flunk, if you just adopt his. He used Acts 17:11 a lot, encouraging us to be like the Bereans in the Bible who “were more fair minded… in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”
Also I have never seen anyone handle the Word like Dr. Missler where he gets so frustrated with people saying that you can’t prove God. Watch YT’s “Knowing God – An Extraterrestrial Message.
The account of creation in Genesis is really heady, and may be hard to understand if you don’t have an education, as he includes the information sciences, and statistics, as well as in particular, the science of the study of time. In his study on Joshua, I found it interesting to learn that during the time when Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still, so they could win the battle, there was also found a legend about the long night, on the other side of the world!
One thing that’s interesting, as you find yourself growing in the Lord, is being able to look back and see how you’ve changed. Maybe it’s an old movie that you used to love, and when you watch it now, you wonder to yourself how in the world you could have even stood it! “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Reedemer.”[5]
Blessed is the Man
Listening to teachers, good ones anyway, is great. But there’s no substitute for reading God’s Word for yourself which “living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow, it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”[6] And it is fun when you’re reading something in it you’ve known for years, when something new jumps off the page and pops out to you that you hadn’t realized before. That ss God talking. And that’s why I prefer the Amplified version of the Bible, because it has a way of making truths really stick out. Here’s John 3:16 again for example, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world, that He even gave His One and only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him as Savior, shall not perish, but have eternal life.” And I hate to exclude the next verse, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
If you’re looking for good solid Bible teachers online, here are just a few I’d like to recommend, and I’m sorry to not be able to list them all. God bless our pastors who don’t compromise the precious words of life, and so make the freewill choice of salvation clear to us all! They’ve got the most important work on the planet, and so are also targeted greatly by Satan, I’m sure!
Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries. There you can hear more about the Hebrew roots of our faith… insights that don’t come across in English but that have a real way to open your eyes, and make you amazed once again at the Lord and His absolutely incredible precision. His teaching on The Full Armor of God is a good one to get a feel for his teachings.
Steve Cioccolanti of Discover Ministries AU, (from Australia). Steve keeps up with world news and brings out amazing insights of how it pertains to prophecy and teaches in such a practical way. Just check out his recent YT, End Time Financial Hardship During the Coronavirus Lockdown, if YT hasn’t censored it yet.
Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Rabbi, who got saved in the first place by learning of Biblical prophecies being fulfilled for Israel, in the now old book, The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Now we have Eye to Eye by Koenig. Cahn has written by far best sellers about America’s need to repent, starting with The Harbinger which was number 1 on the New York Times top sellers for 78 weeks in a row, followed up with and The Harbinger Decoded, plus by now, many, many more teachings by now. His last book/ DVD teaching, The Oracle, was the best seller in the world… yes, in the world, that is, 2 days before being released! His ministry is called The Hope of the World.
Ravi Zacharias of RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries0, with his programs Let My People Think. He is a great Christian apologist who has a wonderful way of ‘reasoning together’, and respectfully helping us understand the choices before us.
I’d like to highlight what the Misslers both said was their most important teaching during their 50 years as believers. It’s in their study called The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory: The Overcomers Handbook. In this study, they highlight what the Bible says about why it’s so important to live like a believer, after you become one.
You might also want to YT one of the funniest programs by Erwin Lutzer, who does a perfect imitation of Billy Graham by the way (which you can YT too), but check under this if you’re interested, Your Eternal Reward, Triumph and Tears at the Judgment Seat of Christ. It’s interesting to compare what those teach with what a drama on YT , called The Bema which is what is commonly taught in our churches today.
If you’ve never heard teachers like these, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I’ve spent time in a whole lot of different churches, even ones that act more like family than associates, because they are, “But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right (The authority, the privilege) to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name..`[7]
I have the following statements up in my house to remind me, which I often find I need! “Let no doubt or unbelief make you waver but be fully satisfied and assured that God is able to keep His promises.” “Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, The Messiah”, and “The righteousness of God comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Christ Jesus, for without faith, we cannot please God.”
Know Anyone?
Do you remember that example of John Wesley? I’ve known people myself who spent a lot of time serving in church before they realized they prayed with their lips, not their heart, and so came forward for salvation. But who we are really going to do with Jesus Christ in our heart is our choice because just like Eve, it’s up to our very own self if we will or will not swallow a lie!! (And, thus experience all of its nasty side effects too!)
The Tears We’ll Cry
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Lie
Have you heard these names of Jesus, and are you on a first name basis?? Or are you forcing Him, because He is righteous to then have to be your judge, versus your own defending attorney? “…Ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.[8]
But here are just a few things Christ wants to be to us, instead! Friend, Servant, Mercy Seat, Gift, Kinsman, Living Bread, My Joy, Rewarder, Weaver of My Life, The True Light, Healer, Counselor, Good, Provider, Breath of Life, My Help, Finisher of My Faith, The Source of All Peace, Pearl of Great Price, Pruner (ouch!), Judge, Physician (who even makes house calls!), Perfecter, Lover of My Soul, Comforter, Sure Foundation, Manna in the Wilderness, A Fountain of Life.
And the Bible versions can seem a confusing thing, that there are so many. Another reason the Amplified is my favorite: “The Lord is my strength and my impenetrable shield; My heart trusts (with unwavering confidence) n Him, and I am helped.”[9] My other recommends are the NASB or New American Standard Bible, then even the New King James, which for most intents and purposes is the Old King James, up to date in our language, because we all don’t talk like that anymore.
- [1] Isaiah 55:6
- [2] Hebrews 11:6
- [3] John 15:4
- [4] Ephesians 5:6
- [5] Psalm 19:14
- [6] Hebrews 4:12
- [7] John 1:12
- [8] Jude 1:4 and Luke 9:26
- [9] Psalm 28:7
