WHAT'S AS SWEET AS HONEY BUT TURNS YOUR STOMACH SOUR?

What's As Sweet As Honey But Turns Your Stomach Sour? - Jack Kelley - www.gracethrufaith.com

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. (Rev. 10:9-10) For years now many of us from the religious right have warned that the USA is due for judgment. We point to the acceptance of homosexuality as merely an alternative lifestyle, and the murder of over 46 million pre-born children in the name of responsible family planning, as major indicators that Americans are in the final stages of rebellion against God. Even Billy Graham, a respected figure not noted for inflammatory rhetoric is quoted as saying, "If God doesn't judge America, He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah." We who study prophecy regularly warn that the US stands in the way of the fulfillment of a major End Times sign, the ascendancy of the European Super State to world dominance. Something has to happen to get us out of the way. Some have even come to the extreme and demonstrably incorrect conclusion that America is the Babylon of Revelation 18 and will be destroyed.

Many view with sadness the coming demise of the world's greatest experiment in democracy, and others can barely conceal their glee at America's certain comeuppance, but most agree. America is in for a bad time. (I'm excluding Liberals and Reconstructionists here because the former think the world's getting better all by itself and the later think they're going to fix it.)

What's That Got To Do With Me?

Pre-trib scholars often teach that the church will be snatched away before any serious judgment happens. I've speculated that if we'd just get off our pews and do some serious evangelizing we could probably make the rapture happen as early as next week. Remember it's an event that's determined by number, not by time. The church has a predetermined number of members and as soon as it's reached, off we go. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25) But if we maintain the status quo we'll probably experience some pretty serious difficulties as God issues His great last call before the rapture, and that's where this study begins. We all know the US is in open rebellion against God. Even if we repeal Roe v. Wade, there are many other areas of our national life that don't pass muster. I mentioned homosexuality above, and I could list dozens of other things like corruption, sexual depravity as entertainment, a broken judicial system. But how about our appeasement strategy toward Islam? It's nothing short of the kind of flirtation the Jews conducted with Greek Philosophy and religion during the reign of the Selucids. It led to complete subjugation by the Greeks. Do you think this will turn out any differently? They've already publicly stated that's their goal.

As long as judgment remains out in some undefined future, we agree it's what we deserve. But as news reports and Bible prophecy converge, telling us that the time might be nearer than we thought, it becomes a different matter. Suddenly it's not so exciting any more, and that's what John meant by saying the scroll was sweet as honey in his mouth but turned his stomach sour. He knew that the judgment he was told to prophesy about was just and righteous (sweet as honey) but when he had to witness us the details it made him sick to his stomach.

While he was writing about events the church won't experience, we can get a sense of how he felt by looking at possibilities for the next few months. As I reported last week, The Laboratoire Européen d'Anticipation Politique / Europe 2020 (LEAP), a European think tank with an impressive track record of predicting major world events, estimates there's an "80% probability that the week of March 20-26, 2006 will be the beginning of the most significant political crisis the world has known since the Fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, together with an economic and financial crisis of a scope comparable with that of the 1929 Stock Market Crash."

Sure this is an outcome that might not come to pass at all, and if it does it'll still take months to mature into a full blown crisis, but consider the implications of a worst case scenario. We've heard stories about the stock market crash and the Great Depression that followed. This is serious stuff. Suddenly, End Times prophecy isn't all fun and games anymore.

We all love the idea of being the generation that sees the Lord's return, and it is the most exciting time in all of human history. But it's also a very dangerous time to be around, one that'll require the kind of faith most of us have never had to muster up.

So What Can We Do?

I'm not a financial advisor so I won't offer any advice in that department except to suggest you find one and develop a strategy to lessen the effects of hyper-inflation.

The kind of advice I can give you is spiritual. Study the promises of God, especially Matt. 6:24-34. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

To help make these promises come true for you, seek to honor God in all that you do. Take care to avoid behavior that will disappoint, embarrass, or offend Him. Sure you're saved by grace, but that doesn't give you a license to sin. Show some gratitude. You shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you, after all, and what's done secretly on Earth is an open scandal in Heaven. When you do sin, confess early and often. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38) Give generously with a grateful heart. Remember your tithe just gets you out of debt with God. It's not a measure of your generosity. In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephes. 4:26-27) Don't let your anger over some offense, no matter how justified, put you out of fellowship with God. Forgive those who've wronged you and seek forgiveness from those you've wronged. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18) Maintain an attitude of gratitude. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.(Phil. 4:6-7) Worry about nothing, pray about everything, be thankful for anything.

This is just a beginning. Assuming that the course has already been set, and powerful nations will be reluctant to change their strategies, I'll be devoting more time to this subject in the weeks and months ahead. If I'm wrong, and I hope I am, at least in the severity aspect, you'll have gotten a good Bible study on how we should all behave anyway.

And for those of you who've already written this article off as just more religious fluff when what you need is some real world advice, I'll say this. When judgment comes, there won't be any way for you to survive in your own strength, and the fact that you think you can just shows how far you have to go in rebuilding your faith in the only One who can see you through. Better get started. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) 2-28-06
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