At Such A Time As This

I believe we are moving into this world's darkest age. Vividly surreal, that one will find it extremely difficult to grasp the speedy pace at which things are happening as they are plainly laid out in scripture. Yesterday we were blessed to have gathered with a small number from the church body to help instruct each and everyone who has been given a heart for the lost, the points of sharing the gospel in line with proper biblical doctrine, both one on one and on the street. I remember saying this line without thinking, "the world out there does not need more ministers, but people who are willing to die for the gospel."

A hospital that operates only eight hours a day is absurd. A fire department that closes at the end of the day is even more. But a church that operates only two hours one day of the week is a tragedy. And as a fiery preacher puts it, 'the tragedy of our day is a sick church in a dying world.' If we refuse to let our very light shine forth, the very gospel of God's appointed means to the saving of men, then God will make His own light. And he will make sure the world will see it. A judgment so terrible that the very detail of it will make men tremble and faint with fear. And God is just in doing so. He will judge us no more than we deserve, and in mercy, even less than we deserve.

I am not concerned about the deception that is happening today. Christ has prepared us for this time of deception with a warning that most has thrown away presumptuously. Men's hearts failing them for fear over everything that is coming upon the earth. But indeed I am more heartbroken that most of us, as the people of God, are still holding on to the chains from which Christ has already set us free. We have slighted the gospel, in favor of a peaceful Christianity. Not a Christianity that seeks the face of Christ at the cost of death, but a silent one. An acceptable one. A respectable one. We have replaced the crudity of the cross with polished wood. One that is appealing and respectable. With all the blood of Christ wiped off of it. A varnished and smooth cross, not the one with splinters and rough edges that will cut and gouge the very back of the one who carries it. A cross that we can look upon, but not die upon. We will readily offer our Isaac's at the altar, but not ourselves. No, not ourselves.

I am personally in dire straits. I want to go out now more than ever to proclaim Christ. But in doing so would I be sinning stubbornly and presumptuously? I have such miserable regret that I did not do as much when I had the chance. I was more afraid than believing. God have mercy on me. Though I am afraid, not for my life or the life of my family, but of God taking away His candlestick from a church that has belittled it. When God recalls His ambassadors; when He allows the gospel to be taken away from a people; when He who is holding back the mystery of iniquity be taken out of the way - then God intends war on those who remain until none is left standing. And God is rightly just in doing so.

At the moment a lockdown has been declared in our area. Only those who have very important errands can travel outside. Curfews are in effect. 6AM to 10AM only for banks, markets, and medicines. Those found to ignore the said "quarantine" measures will be apprehended. Considering the situation is global, something big is looming ahead. Will the solution involve forced vaccinations? A merging of nations into one super government? No supposed viral outbreak in the past has had this effect on a global scale. I pray I am wrong, and that we have yet time to redeem ourselves.

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psalm 56:3

I can't help but be moved to tears, when reading about the godly men who proclaimed the gospel in the great fire and plague of London in 1665. They preached as dying men to dying men, they loved not their lives unto the death.

It was said that holes were dug all around them, so if they perished, they would fall right into their own graves! Oh, how our nation needs preachers like this again to sound the alarm and lift their voice like a trumpet. When the fires of sin, death and disease rage all around us, will we too stand our ground, or will we retreat?

Continue to Read...

In Vincent's little book "God's terrible Voice in the City," is a description of the preaching of the few faithful ministers who stayed at their post during the great plague and fire in London. These men lifted up their voices like a trumpet and spared not. Every sermon might be their last. Graves were lying open around them; life seemed now not merely a hand-breadth, but a hairbreadth; death was nearer now than ever; eternity stood out in all its vast reality; souls were felt to be precious; opportunities were no longer to be trifled away; every hour possessed a value beyond the wealth of kingdoms; the world was now a passing, vanishing shadow; and man's days on earth had been cut down from three-score years and ten into the twinkling of an eye.

"Oh, how they preached! No polished periods, no learned arguments, no labored paragraphs chilled their appeals or rendered their discourses unintelligible. No fear of man, no love of popular applause, no unscrupulous dread of strong expressions, no fear of excitement or enthusiasm, prevented them from pouring out the whole fervor of their hearts, that yearned with tenderness unutterable over dying souls."

" Old Time," says Vincent, " seemed to stand at the head of the pulpit, with his great scythe, saying, with a hoarse voice, ' Work while it is called today: at night I will mow thee down! ' Grim Death seemed to stand at the side of the pulpit with his sharp arrow, saying, ' Do thou shoot God's arrows, or will I shoot mine! '

The Grave seemed to lie open at the foot of the pulpit, saying -

"Here thou must lie -
Mouth stopped,
Breath gone,
And silent in the dust."

Truly ministers were in earnest then - no coldness, no languor, no studied oratory. They preached as dying men to dying men, in every deed. And what an added power there would be in our pulpits if all ministers preached like this!

Thomas Vincent (1665)
God's Terrible Voice in the City

Pray that the Lord would once again bring revival to this Nation. Pray He would raise up men to boldly preach the truth, and stand upon God's Word in the midst of a dark and depraved world. If godly Christians from old could resist the plagues, death, and disease of their day, then we too must stand confident in Christ in the midst of this chaotic Coronavirus threat.

Jeff Rose
JeremiahCry Ministries

Here is the downloadable PDF that I have just finished compiling electronically so I can print it in book form. This is one of those rare books that is timely and urgent. The time for being a prim and acceptable Christian is past. I pray this may sear your spirit into action deeper than it did mine. Glory be to the Father, and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 ->God's Terrible Voice in the City<-