The Rod of Judgment Begins In The Church

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17). What this means for us in America is, the rod of judgment begins in the church. Judgment begins with those who call themselves “Christians”.

When I started this website a few years ago my main focus was those within the church. Those who call themselves Christians, Believers. I have a burden for those who claim to be Christians because many of them are lying to themselves. Therefore, based on the Word of God, most are not Christians/Believers at all. To be a true “Christian” means you follow Christ.

Therefore, the term I prefer to use is “Followers of Christ”, because if you’re a follower of Christ you will acknowledge that He alone is Lord, and you will live your life according to His instructions found in the Bible. That doesn’t mean you’re perfect, but your goal is to honor your Lord and Savior with your life.

I’ve posted many articles and stats that show that approximately 69% of people in this country claim to be Christian but when you dig down only about 10% or less believe the Bible. That is a very scary statistic. This shows me that we have many people claiming the name of Jesus, but they are not following Him.

They’re OK, living in sin. I don’t mean making mistakes, but blatant open don’t hold back, in-your-face, sin. And when you talk to them, their reply is “God understands.” Really?

God Understands…

Yes, He understands that you desire to follow a god of your own making and always make excuses for why you act and behave the way you do.

God understands your excuses will keep you out of the Kingdom of God if you do not repent…

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

I’ve done my best to share encouragement, teachings, and articles speaking to various subjects as:

• Why you can believe in Jesus…
• What it means to believe in Jesus…
• Who God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are…
• End time events, the Rapture of Followers of Christ…
• The 7-year Tribulation, the return of Jesus Christ, His kingdom reign…
• His judgment of those who rejected Him at the “Great White Throne” judgment.

All this and much more in hopes that people would see that time is short and we need to be sure of our standing in God’s eyes. Not by what we feel or think but ONLY per the Word of God.

Moreover, we in this nation have long ago crossed the “red line in the sand”. We are at a point, where God will withdraw His mercy on us, and judgment will be released. We can see Him beginning to remove His hand of mercy all around us even now…

And just being blunt, Jesus Christ can return at any moment. The signs are all around, but people are ignoring them and don’t want to acknowledge them.

I have family members and friends who are not followers of Jesus Christ. It rips my heart out to think that they will spend eternity in Hell because they are rebelling against their Creator. Their unwillingness to acknowledge facts now while they have time to repent will have eternal consequences.

So many people think God is love and He’d never do such a thing. However, that is only based on their opinion and not Scripture. The Bible says that God is a God of love BUT He is also a God of judgment.

How loving is it to allow murderers, terrorists, thieves, corporations, governments, men and women, get away with what they’re doing out in the open and behind closed doors?

It’s not like God hasn’t warned us. And by us, I’m talking about the people who claim to be Christians. Those who make excuses for their lifestyles and choices. Those whose actions are not based on the Bible but on their feelings…

The Warning

“Know this: In the last days perilous times will come. ² Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ without natural affection, trucebreakers, slanderers, unrestrained, fierce, despisers of those who are good, ⁴ traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness, but denying its power.” – 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Knowing the Rapture could happen any day, I am so afraid that there will be churches full of lost people who claim to be Christians left behind. That is if you live through the devastation of what will happen when thousands of people instantly disappear.

The video below is an excellent message from my Pastor which I decided to share regarding those of us within the Church.

I am praying that whoever reads this article or watches the video would examine themselves and if need be repent and turn back to Jesus Christ and follow Him as the Lord He is before it’s too late.

Those who are left behind once the tribulation starts will experience hell on earth. You don’t want to be around when this happens.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9TNriPw9yUU%3Fsi%3D4-jkkbikmPYEtyL8%26start%3D3180

Can We Not Repent?

Below are a few excerpts from the video.

In Revelation 9:18 it says, “A third of mankind was killed“… and in verse 20 “They Did Not Repent.”

Luke, 16, tells a tremendous story of Lazarus and the Rich man… Lazarus died and went to Abraham’s bosom (the righteous side of Hades) and the rich man died and went to the unrighteous section of Hades, a place of torment. The rich man never said, “Get Me Out of here.” He only asked for a bit of water, and that his family be warned not to follow in his footsteps… He wanted comfort in his hell. He didn’t want deliverance from his hell.

Too often in the Church,

we want comfort IN our sins,

not deliverance.

“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” – 1 Peter 4:17-18

We Fail to Examine Ourselves

In the Church today we are so good at pointing our fingers at everything outside the church that’s wrong but we fail to examine ourselves…

“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Matthew 7:3-5

• The Church has become nothing more than a family psychological center. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be sermons on how to keep your family together, but if that’s all we ever preach and we never preach about sin, could sin not be the reason for problems in families?

• We talk about business principles and how to be a successful leader and we call Jesus our business partner because we refuse to call Him Lord. And we’ve gotten good at talking about success from the American idea of what we believe God to be. However, we have yet to submit ourselves to the God of the Bible.

It’s Time

I’m not talking about sinning outside the church but INSIDE the church. Maybe you’re not aware but there’s all kinds of craziness going on in the Church.

We have preachers who know more about business and success and leadership and great speeches to encourage and edify people, but not to correct them of sin. It is time for judgment to begin in the House of God.

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” – 2 Corinthians 13:5

What Does the Rod of Examining Yourself Look Like?

What does examining yourself look like? In Psalm 23:4 we read “Your rod and your staff comfort me.”

We know what the staff is, let me give you a quick picture of what a rod would be used for…

• To examine the sheep
• To be counted
• To fight predators
• In David’s time frame, a rod was used at times to break a sheep’s leg because the sheep wouldn’t listen.

Jesus said I am the door to the sheepfold. No one comes in except by me. If anybody tries to come in any other way but the door, he’s a thief. (Read the account in John 10:1-14)

Passing under the rod means you are one of His. And if you’re not one of his, the rod of inspection will reveal what that you’re not.

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. Before Him will be gathered all nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left...”  – Matthew 25:31-46

False Assumptions

We have made the false assumption that because you come to church you’re a Christian. But if you sleep in the garage does that mean you are a car?

Judgment [being passed under the rod] begins in the House of God. We have allowed ourselves to be justified because we think we are not as bad as somebody else.

The Rod in Ezekiel 20…

5 “… Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, and … made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am the Lord your God, 6 on that day that I lifted up My hand to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey… 7 then I said to them: Cast away, each of you, the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

8 But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me… Then I said I will pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them … 9 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations… 10 Therefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness…13 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness….Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. 14 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations…17 Nevertheless My eye spared them from destroying them, nor did I make an end of them in the wilderness… 21 Yet the children rebelled against Me…Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the nations in whose sight I brought them out…

25 Therefore I gave them also statutes that were not good and judgments by which they could not live. 26 And I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all who opened the womb, that I might make them desolate in order that they might know that I am the Lord…

42 You shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel…. 43 There you shall remember your ways and all your deeds in which you have been defiled. And you shall loathe yourselves… for all your evils that you have committed. 44 You shall know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, or according to your corrupt deeds, Ezekiel 20:1-44 Modern English Version

Judgment begins in the House of the Lord. We should look around and see what God has done for us and loathe where we’ve gotten to. What needs to be moved? What needs to be addressed when you pass under the rod?

The rod is the shepherd’s authority.

• It’s a rod to:
  • corral, to bring borders in place. This is as far as you can go.
  • guide
  • purge rebels and transgressors’
• It’s a rod of:
  • safety and protection
  • correction
  • doctrine
  • instruction
  • judgment
  • security

You’ll either be counted as submissive and in subjection to the Word of God, or you will be the object of His chastening. You will either yield to the power of God’s grace. Or you will sink under the power of His wrath.

I would rather yield to the power of His grace than suffer under the power of His wrath. Because what I found is when I’m bound by His grace, it’s a covenant that I don’t ever want to get out of.

I wonder If we have failed to pass under the rod because we didn’t like the inspection. Moreover, could it be we’ve preached the love of Jesus so much that we no longer fear Him?

I wonder with eternity looming have we done what we need to do to make sure people know about the reality of a Heaven to gain and a Hell to shun. I am worried that we don’t care enough about God to submit ourselves to Him.

In Closing

If you read this far I want to personally thank you for allowing me to share my heart and my thoughts. I can’t make anyone believe what I write or believe in Jesus Christ. However, I can write and share what I believe the Lord lays on my heart to share with those visiting this website. Ultimately, your eternal destination is between you and God.