In Ephesians 2:20 the Apostle Paul states that the New Testament (Covenant) Church was founded on the writings of both the OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT APOSTLES. History tells us that the Lord preserved the writings of the prophets over many generations by storing them in clay urns in the caves of the Israelite area known as Cumran. With the invention of the printing press the Words of the ancient prophets, along with those of the New Testament apostles, were sent throughout the world where they remain to this day. The question is, why? With the rise of the New Testament Church, why did the Lord go to such great lengths to save the writings of Hs ancient messengers? The answer lies in the Source of their messages as the Apostle Peter explains in His second letter to the church then and now: He wrote that “Holy men of old spoke as they were moved upon (spoken to) by the Holy Spirit” (1:21). Either they or their scribes then recorded the words they spoke to the Israelites and those Gentiles who had become spiritual Israelites by obeying God’s Law who became parts of the tribes of Israel.

In His first letter to the church at Corinth the Apostle Paul confirms Peter’s words as he tells us why the Lord preserved the messages of the prophets for over 4000 years. Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as did all of the prophets and apostles (2 Tim. 3:14-16), Paul stated that God’s dealings with the 12 tribes of Israel were recorded by His prophets TO BE USED AS INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH FROM ITS INCEPTION IN 31 A.D. UNTIL THE END OF THE AGE (1 Cor. 10:11). Originally, the New Testament apostles used the writings of the prophets as their teaching text because the New Testament did not exist at that time and would not exist until after deaths. The Lord kept John alive to bring together the writings of the prophets and the apostles into what is known today as the Holy Bible–God’s Book of Instructions which detail what one must do in this brief life in order to receive the Lord’s promised blessings now as well as eternal life in the future. For this reason Paul instructed Timothy the evangelist (and us) to “Study to gain God’s approval” (2 Tim. 2:15). If Timothy, one of the Lord’s Bible-writing messengers, needed to study the Old Testament in order to gain and retain God’s approval, are we not required to follow his example?

But where God’s word proliferates, Satan’s does also. For this reason, within a hundred and fifty years of the church’s founding, little of her teachings could be found within a religious organization that was calling itself “the church.” Only a few brave souls were still clinging to the teachings of the prophets and the apostles. Paul noted this change early on when, in around 52 A.D., he wrote to the churches of Galatia that he was astonished that the people had so quickly abandoned God’s Gospel and had embraced a perverted gospel.

Using Simon the magician as his instrument of deception, Satan created the Catholic Church in Rome two years after the founding of God’s church in Jerusalem. Within 20 years Simon’s people had infiltrated the true church and, over the following century, had turned it into a Babylonian religion that bore no resemblance to the Church of God. Using the power of the Roman Empire as her enforcer, that which called itself “the church” was able to force everyone within the empire to join her. A small group of true followers of God refused to bow to Catholicism’s heathen dictates and were forced to flee for their lives for many generations. These true believers comprised what God calls His “remnant,” His “little flock” whose spiritual descendants have stayed true to Him to this day. I believe that there are only about 10,000 true disciples of Christ on earth today. All others within professing Christendom are part of the Catholic/Protestant religious system that still calls itself “the church.” Read Simon of Samaria: the Legacy. Key word–Simon.

Due to the masses of salvation seekers’ embrace of Satan’s religious system, God warns them along with His tiny church of the outcome of such a rebellion. He warned ancient Israel–His chosen people–through the prophets and had them record His Words to and through them. Those Words, as Paul would later note, became His rules of engagement with Him for the New Testament Church concerning His dealings with ancient Israel–the church’s parent organization which God founded through the patriarch Abraham. Those whom the Lord views as modern day Israel are the United States of America, Great Britain and the Jews of the Middle East. For an explanation of these Truths read Who and Where is Israel Today? Key word–Who?

Bringing the narrative to the present day for the purposes of this series, what the prophets and apostles spoke and wrote during their ministries were, as Paul said, to be used as teaching tools for those who would be part of the end-time church which came into being on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. The current (Laodicean) church comprises the final edition of the final era of this world’s existence. Read Revelation 3:14-20 for God’s description of that church. Because this church has gone the way of mother Israel, God is waring “the church” today through His apostles just as He warned Israel through the prophets. The focal passage in this series (Isaiah 3) is central to that warning. The Lord’s dealings (messages to and treatment for) ancient Israel apply to her modern day descendants. Read the series on Scriptural duality using the word “Duality” as the key word. Concerning God’s dealings with both ancient and present day Israel, read the series about the “voices” of God. Key word–Voices. As He did to Israel in days of old, He will do to modern Israel today. Let us see exactly what He told Israel He would do, why He would do it. One will note that He did exactly what He said He would do.

His Words to and treatment of ancient Israel have served as warnings to the New Testament Church. Because she and the nations that house her have rebelled as did their ancestors, we will know what He will one day do to America, Britain and the Jews. In the following posting we will examine the third chapter of Isaiah in order to hear His message for those of us living in the final days of the final age of this world as we know it. As we view the horrific goings on taking place in the Middle East, America, Britain and other so-called “Christian nations” we can see the spiritual storm clouds rising over those who have sown the wind are about to reap the whirlwind. The Lord is reminding us that He is not mocked, that whatever one sows, one reaps. The so-called church and so-called “Christian nations” have mocked Him, rebelled against Him and proven that they despise both Him and His Son (Lk. 10:16). What we have been seeing for the past two thousand years is merely the “beginning of sorrows” (Mat. 24:8).

Nature tells us how the sowing and reaping process takes place. A single wheat seed that is sown produces hundreds of seeds. This is the same pattern God has instituted relative to the good or bad “seeds” we “sow” during our lives. As I so often do, I advise that one read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 where one will find God’s perfect teaching relative to sowing and reaping. He does not change. What Moses wrote to the ancient Israelites applies to their spiritual and biological descendants today. As this God-directed ministry was commissioned to do, I have repeatedly called out counterfeit “Christians” for continuing to sow rebellion against God by rejecting His Word–EXACTLY AS DID HER SPIRITUAL AND BIOLOGICAL ANCESTORS. True to His promise, Israel’s descendants are destined to receive the exact same punishment–military defeat, enslavement and global scattering. Isaiah chapter 3 is one of several messages that God is sending to America and other supposedly Bible-believing nations as He continues to warn those who call themselves by His name. L.J.