February 2004
Joshua 1:9
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
Special Update by Dr. Joe Webb
“The Evolution of Wickedness.”
Today, we are witnessing the fulfillment of Scripture as declared by Paul the Apostle to Timothy concerning the “end times.” II Timothy 3:13, 14; speaks first of the unsaved, un-churched crowd. “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” Then Paul tells us what our response to this condition should be. “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.”
In II Timothy 4:2-5 Paul tells us what we should be doing in the Church during these end times, what the response will be and reaffirms again what our response within the Church should be. “Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. FOR THE TIME SHALL COME when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
Assuming that most churchgoers today have a bible, and assuming they have probably read the New Testament at least once; I am amazed to see the shock in so many voices who call me and say “you won’t believe what is happening in my church.” Oh yes I will, because I have seen it coming on; evolving, if you will, for years, and I realize Jesus couldn’t come back if it didn’t happen.
I keep telling people to quit wringing their hands and roll up their sleeves and get busy standing alone, enduring affliction, doing the work of an evangelist, with their eyes on the clouds because Jesus is coming soon.
I recently had a pastor of a reformation church call me from the Midwest, to tell me about the pastor’s association in his community. He said the pastors were watching what was happening in the Episcopalian Church and were dumbfounded when they learned this denomination would ordain sodomites and perform sodomite weddings.
One of the pastors in the association was Episcopalian so they invited him to speak at the next pastor’s fellowship to justify his denomination’s actions.
When the priest accepted the invitation, all the pastors came with their bibles, ready to correct this pastor’s non-biblical doctrine.
When the priest stepped up to speak, he started with some questions. “How many of you pastors marry divorced couples?” Every pastor but the one who called me raised their hand. “How many of you know that if one remarries it constitutes adultery?” Again all raised their hands. “How many of you feel that ‘grace’ covers their sin and they are just as if they have never sinned?” Again, all but one raised their hands.
The priest closed his bible and said, “We believe as you do but have taken it to the next logical step with sodomy.”
When I heard that, I thought, He is exactly correct. I am so sorry the pastors who were in attendance didn’t catch the immensity of that statement. If they had, they would have either humbly repented, or agreed to join the priest in his doctrinal position.
We must understand the recognition of sodomite marriages is only a red herring. Their real goal is to open the door of legal jurisprudence to eventually remove all doors of biblical morality. Get used to it! Get prepared for it! Become aware of the fact Jesus Christ has placed you and me here, at this specific time to minister to this deteriorating society, and to refuse to compromise with it.
Let me give you some insights into what is coming in the days ahead and to let you know we cannot stop it. We can only be “light and salt” in the midst of social putrefaction. It is already here and growing!
This past June, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down as unconstitutional the Texas law prohibiting sodomy.
Two men challenged the law because it banned any “deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.” Gay right groups joined in saying the state could not criminalize actions by homosexual couples that were permitted for heterosexual couples, and the high court agreed. Justice Antonin Scalia, so incensed that he read aloud his dissent from the bench, predicted the ruling would “ mark the end of all morals legislation” and leave traditional marriage laws on “pretty shaky grounds.”
Again, many Christians are shocked and wonder if God is still on His throne, of if He has gone away on vacation. Again, they are ignorant of bible prophesy.
Another article in the Orlando Sentinel, on January 31, 2003 revealed a further decline within the Reformation Church. The title is, “Theologian: Abolish Marriage.”
In the article, a gay ethics professor stated “the institution of marriage wasn’t worth seeking or supporting.”
The article went on to say; “Americans are starting to seriously ponder gay marriage, legalized by Massachusetts’ highest court, and civil unions, enacted in Howard Dean’s Vermont and several cities. The issue of same-sex couples could affect the 2004 elections and is part of the Episcopal Church’s ongoing split.
But those moral innovations may be only the beginning. Why not legitimatize threesomes and foursomes? What about bisexuals, who are attracted to both genders? And why not abolish marriage altogether?
Such eyebrow-raisers are posed by Marvin Ellison, the ethics professor at the United Church of Christ’s Bangor ( Maine) Theological Seminary, in Same-sex Marriage?” A Christian Ethical Analysis, published by the United Church’s Pilgrim Press.
Ellison was married to a woman but didn’t find that estate ‘Particularly user-friendly’ and now lives openly with a gay partner. He’s a clergyman in the Presbyterian Church (U S A) and was appointed to the panel that wrote its 1991 sex study, which was rejected as too liberal.
His book is significant in signaling the new strategy among liberal Protestants seeking to topple traditional sexual rules. Ellison no longer ponders the Bible passages that have been cited for centuries to forbid same-sex behavior and exalt heterosexual monogamy. He simply ignores them ...
He thinks “a lively debate is needed, for instance, on whether marriage should now be redefined to recognize “polyamorous” people, those involved with “multiple partners ...
Besides pondering marriage for bisexuals, he protests that narrowly “bipolar” definition of marriage excludes ‘intersexualilty, transgenderism, transsexuality and other sexualities.’
Ellison notes that some Christian liberals who advocate gay marriage hope to stem ‘gay male cruising and experimentation with multiple anonymous sex partners’ and to foster monogamous commitment. He finds it ‘troubling’ that ethicists would see marriage is a necessary social control mechanism to tame men’s sexuality ...
In his view, strong defense of gay sexuality ‘requires critiquing the notion that the only moral (and legal) sex is marital sex,’ because old sexual categories and moral norms should be reconsidered ...
Like other gay writers, Ellison wonders whether government should abolish marriage rather than redefine it to include gays.”
The ultimate goal for the forces of darkness is to ignore God’s eternal word and cast out all restraint. It is so sad to see how man never learns anything from history. There has never been a nation in the history of the world that lasted after these walls of morality were demolished.
I remember an evangelist friend of mine who used to preach a powerful sermon that still rings in my spirit today. He said; “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and charge you more than you want to pay.”
Precious friends, pray our God will bring a revival of genuine Biblical repentance to His Church before it is too late. Pray also and ask God how far you should go on this slide into the abyss. Many of you who are standing on the edge do not realize where the tide is taking you. You and I have to decide which side we will be on. Which position will we support wholeheartedly, regardless of what our friends, church, or family says. God is looking for some Noahs today who will take all the ridicule for 120 years because they heard God speak to them.
Many of you have been vacillating for months and years now, waiting to see if this message will stand or fall. Let me assure you, this message will stand with or without man’s help because God is our source and we are preaching and teaching revelation truth for this age.
God’s true prophets were NEVER popular. History also tells us God does not judge the false prophets only, but all those who compromisingly follow after them in the name of denominational faithfulness or trying to keep “peace in the camp.”
George Barna Research, said:
Divorce is America’s “fulcrum spiritual issue:. Divorce is to the Church what abortion is to the nation. When America’s commitment is restored to marriage, perhaps her heart will be restored to the life of her children. Each is born and protected by our headlong pursuit of SELF and SELF- fulfillment. We have pursued happiness when God called us to holiness, and now we are neither happy nor holy.”
God is moving mightily in these days and many families are being impacted with truth concerning the marriage covenant. “The Hosea Project,” is already bearing fruit in the lives of pastors all over this country and in other nations. We want more of you to join us, and impact “people of influence” all over the world from your own personal computer.
The evolution of sin is coming to a crescendo and Jesus said to “Occupy till I come.” May He find us working, praying, witnessing, challenging, and supporting this end time message.
How we thank the Lord that our President proclaimed last month a “Marriage Protection Week.” Although the state of marriage is fragile, battered by divorce, eroded by rising rates of cohabitation and shaken by infidelity, marriage is still God’s plan and none can replace it. The parameters of proper sexual behavior are not arbitrary, nor are they intended to evolve. If we depart from the natural order of sexuality and the proper behavior and relationships that ensue from it, we are left with no guiding principle but the prevailing mood of the age. You and I must decide whether we will continue to reinforce the natural sexual order in our laws or whether we will let them cave in to arbitrary preference. What is broken should be restored, not redefined or destroyed.
As the Lord provides the necessary finances, Webb Ministries stands ready to send God’s message about the sanctity of marriage around the world. Please, pray for us and join us in this crucial endeavor! God Bless You!
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Points to Ponder:
The Barna Research Group recently did a survey of moral behaviors approved by a majority of Americans. The results are astounding when we contemplate the fruit it will bear in the next generation.
- 61% Approve of most forms of gambling.
- 60% Approve of cohabitation without marriage.
- 59% Approve of sexual fantasies.
- 45% Approve of Having an abortion.
- 42% Approve of Committing adultery.
- 38% Approve of pornography.
- 36% Approve of profanity.
- 33% Approve of drunkenness.
- 30% Approve of homosexual sex.
- 17% Approve of using non prescription drugs.
Barna’s conclusion:
“The moral perspectives of Americans are likely to continue to deteriorate.”
Question: Should facts like these cause us to become discouraged? Aren’t these the very things Jesus warned us of? II Thessalonians 2:1-3; “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or he troubled, ¼ Let no man deceive you by any means : for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, .”
Instead, we should be challenged more than ever to be: “ ¼ steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:58; It was the Lord Jesus who told us to; “Occupy till I come.” Luke 19:13?
We should also be rejoicing because we are privileged to suffer for His name. When the disciples were arrested and beaten, and told they should not speak I the name of Jesus again, did they complain? Acts 5:41 tells us; ¼ they departed from the presence of he council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
How many people do you know today willing to suffer for His name and rejoice, feeling they are privileged?
Jesus told us in Mathew 5:11,12; “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you (“to become an object of blame, censure or disapproval.” World Book Dictionary ) and persecute you, (“To punish for religious reasons.” Word Book Dictionary.) And shall say all manner of evil against you for my sake. REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDING GLAD:for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
The great number of calls and letters that come to this ministry come from people who are experiencing these very things. In most cases however, they are about ready to throw in the towel. “I can’t take it anymore” or “I am all alone and no one understands; My whole family is against me; My pastor threw me out of my church; Everybody thinks I’m crazy because I believe marriage is for life.”
It is seldom, but very refreshing when I receive a call saying; “I was privileged to suffer for my Lord Jesus and His word today, and I thank the Lord to privilege me in this way.”
May we, in the midst of moral decay around us see beyond the waves and “for the joy that is set before us, endure the cross, and despise the shame.” Knowing that our reward will be great in that day. The apostle Paul said, in Romans 8:18; “for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
“May the Lord Bless You and keep you, and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you, and give you peace.” AMEN!
Now you know why I say the Lord calls most men to comfort the afflicted but has seemingly called me to afflict the comfortable.
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