In today’s world the most important issue relative to religion concerns the identity of God’s people. I am not referring to those who label themselves as children of God, but to those whom He identifies as members of His family. The difference between the two groups is undeniable for honest students of His Holy Bible. It is important that we understand who is whom relative to God-man relationships. Unfortunately, few people know the difference between those who say they to belong to Him and those whom He says belong to Him.

A while back there was a gathering of church parishioners at the local county courthouse in Athens (Tx) where I live. These people had come together to pray for the nation. The irony of this situation was that their meeting and praying was based on an Old Testament Scripture–the same Old Testament they routinely declare to be null and void–a relic of the distant past. It seems that to the proponents of Catholicism/Protestantism the Old Testament is dead until it suits their purposes to resurrect it. For this and other reasons, professing Christendom is by far the most convenient religion known to man. The Scripture this group deemed worthy of a temporary resurrection is 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). Earlier a call had gone out to all churches in the area asking their parishioners to meet on that Saturday morning to beseech the heavens on behalf of the nation. Another megairony is that the call to congregate included those churches that are “not really Christian,” meaning any church other than mine. It also included those churches that are “somewhat Christian,” but not as Christian as mine. One thing becomes abundantly clear when all the different competing, conflicting, contradicting religious bodies set aside their natural rejection of each other and come together in unison–the situation has reached critical mass.

Knowing that there would be hundreds, possibly thousands of religious people at the meeting, I asked the Lord if He wanted me to crash the meeting and tell the audience the truth. Though I am persona non grata among religious people in this area due to newspaper articles I routinely publish in the local paper–such as the one you are reading–I knew that God could arrange for me to speak if He so desired. He did not. My sense was that I would be wasting my time. I can only imagine the reaction of those religious giants if I had been able to tell them that a) they are not God’s people, b) God does not call them by His name, c) they have not turned from their wicked ways, and d) it was too late for prayer in that He had turned His back on their nation which is about to be defeated, destroyed and enslaved. Which brings up the subject of the next few postings: Who comprises God’s church? Though I introduced the subject in a series of postings titled White Fields, I will at this time provide some Scriptural information not presented in the earlier postings. To be continued. L.J.