I'm going to be very blunt. Should the era we live in concern us? YES.
The Holy Spirit is putting out a world wide "wake up" call and very few are heeding it. There really is no need to "discern the times". It is written, as clear as a bell, everywhere we look. One would have to be completely blind spiritually not to see the writing upon the wall at this point.
Despite the clarity of the picture around us, God, in his goodness, is going to allow this picture to become even clearer. The demarcation lines between good and evil will continue to grow greater and soon no one will be able to walk between these two lines but will choose one or the other. There will be no middle ground.
I have written about this in the past and in no way has this sense of the "spiritual emergency" our world is facing lessened. If anything it has grown stronger.
We should pray daily to the Holy Spirit for the light of His truth to pierce the darkness of our times and for the grace to stand firm in our faith despite the obstacles around us. In this way we can become "little beacons of light" for others.
Trying to be just as blunt ... yes, we are going through very difficult times and I suspect things will get worse.
ReplyDeleteHowever, bearing in mind your quote from St Teresa a few days ago: "If this is the way You treat your friends, it's no wonder You have so few!" ... God knows exactly who His friends are, and He will ensure they will not perish. As Jesus said: "Those who are not with us are against us!" And He knows precisely who is with Him, and trusts Him, and loves Him.
God bless.
Yes, we can trust Him completely :) Difficult times are ahead, though. It's a good time to take a long, hard, look at ourselves and our world. It may sound odd to others but I know that one of my "jobs" or I guess you could call it a "spiritual duty" here on this earth is to warn people that the world is seriously off kilter. I often try to ignore this job but it makes me feel as if I am being obstinate in the spirit when I do. I am not talking about the world being a BIT off the mark today, I am talking about it being WAY off the mark.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Victor :)
I love your fire, Colleen :) These are great ways we can make a difference! Blessings and hugs to you, too!
ReplyDeleteThe world and most of those in it have become desensitized. I believe this to be one of Satan's deadliest weapons. What scares me even more is many of our young people are growing up that way as well.
ReplyDeleteMary, your post makes me think of this verse from Isaiah 62- "For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest till her just one come forth as brightness, and her saviour be lighted as a lamp. [2] And the Gentiles shall see thy just one, and all kings thy glorious one: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name."
Funny you should mention this particular passage, Karin. I cannot even read that passage without feeling as if a bolt of electricity went right through me. I have this passage in the Bible highlighted in a different color than the rest of my highlighted passages because it affects me so profoundly. It's one I read all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe souls of the young are not being nurtured as they should be and they are paying a heavy price for the failures of the generations before them. In your field, I'm sure you can see more than others how this lack of spiritual nourishment can cause terrible problems in the young.
I went to a movie rated for 12s lastnight, that had been reviewed as 'inoffensive.' Its treatment of sex and sexuality was so casual and wrong that I kept shaking my head at the thoughts of 12 year olds watching it. The young have got a very difficult tide to swim against, as do the older too!!
ReplyDeletePS...Mary, I had two 11:11 moments, in one day! I went back to read your post of March, and have decided to make more little changes in my life, to better serve in clarity.
Pip,
ReplyDeleteYes, people think it's "no big deal" that children are exposed to such things at so young an age. It does matter, though.
You too with the numbers? The same is still happening to me and millions of others. Whether it's 111, 11:11, 333 (I guess it's obvious that this number is all too common in my life)or 911. I pray about it. I would like to do another post on it but people find it very strange. By the way, this happens to a number of Catholic bloggers and Christian bloggers so you are not alone. I think that when this happens to people it draws them to take a deeper look at their spiritual lives. Which is not a bad thing in this secular society!
Without being flippant Mary, it would also be prudent to rule out psychological expectancy .... we may notice these numbers over others because a) they are not random, and b) because we have become aware of them, almost training our subconscious to notice them more readily ... just a practical thought
ReplyDeleteYes, Pip, this crossed my mind, too :) So, I did an experiment and set the clocks in my house with each one off by 5 to 10 minutes (including the one in my car) and the same thing still happened with the new times! Including being awakened at 3:33 in the middle of the night at the new setting. It even happens if the clocks are hours off. The battery in my wall clock died recently (it has hands). The time - 3:33.
ReplyDeleteI guess the next place my mind would go is ... are malevolent spirits involved? That is probably more difficult to discern. Best thing I think, would be to respond with good fruits anyway, and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteAs you can probably guess, this is where my mind went next, also. To be honest, my prayer was "Lord, if this is not from You, I rebuke it in the mighty name of Jesus!" After this I simply placed it in His hands. Though I did continue to pray about it, I didn't worry about it. After all, God is all powerful but Satan's power is limited. Did the number thing stop? No, not at all. I did research it online but I had to weed through the New Age stuff to find good Christian views on this subject. People like to muck things up these days! Michael Brown at Spirit Daily has written a bit about the 333 thing and the 11:11 phenomenon, people write in to him about this quite often I guess. He calls 333 "his favorite number" :) The number 333 symbolizes the Holy Trinity just as 666 symbolizes the antichrist. The Holy Bible is full of symbolism when it comes to numbers so this number thing can certainly be of God. I think it is and I take it as a call to prayer. It doesn't disturb my peace or take my focus off of God so this is a good sign. Actually, it does the opposite - it reminds me to keep my mind and heart ON Him.
ReplyDeleteLet's just say for a moment that it could be from evil spirits. Even if this were the case God can still use it for good. If it draws one into a deeper relationship with Christ then I wouldn't worry too much about it. God brings good out of things that were meant for our harm all the time. I could say a lot more on this subject but I just realized how long my comment was!
It's funny how many people visit here by googling 333, 111, 1111, etc... I often find these numbers listed in the keywords in my stats. This is one of the reasons that I HAVE written about this subject more than once before. Better that they land on a Christian site than a New Age site (where the focus is not on God but on the god of oneself).
Great response Mary, thank you :)
ReplyDeleteMary, yes, the spiritual battle is intensifying, and I can see it and feel it all around me every day. We must all pray for eachother to remain strong in our faith and to continue to trust God and His Love for us. I sometimes find myself getting close to despair, but you are right, God is giving us clarity, and we must trust Him.
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