Destruction of the Church of Reconciliation in Berlin’s ‘death zone’ in January 1985 (Picture credits https://www.rbb-online.de)
But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. (Matt 25:4-6, KJV)
The last call of God, as judgment is pending, is a call to Himself. Here then is the call of God in our time. The last movement of the people of God is to Himself: not to a movement as such; not to a teaching or interpretation of truth; not to a sect or party; not to an enterprise or mission – but to Christ. The final true and Divine movement is to the Lord Himself. The sheer pressure of the conditions in the gathering storm and tempest will demand a leaving of all lesser interests and objects, however good a purpose they may have served hitherto, and a moving toward the Lord Himself. ‘Things’ divide; the Lord unites. ‘Things’ must pass; the Lord abides. The time comes when all the means and accessories which the Lord has sovereignly used will cease to avail. This includes all the organized side of Christianity, and the Lord will force the issue as to how much there really is of Himself. ~ T. Austin-Sparks
(1)
Someone pointed out that God does not tell time in hours, days, or even years like we do, but in ages (See Ephesians 3:1-6) or dispensations. One of these ages lasted from the fall of man to the flood, the next one from the flood to Moses and the age of the law. That age came to a close 2000 years ago on the Day of Pentecost when God poured out His Spirit on all flesh (See Acts 2:16-22 and Ezek. 36: 26-27), not just on an appointed few as in the Old Covenant.
With all this in mind, think of how traumatic it was at the end of each of these ages–a world ending flood, Egypt all but destroyed, the destruction of the temple, and the end of Israel as a nation and the Jewish worship and sacrificial system, etc. What do you think will be the sign of the end of the “church age” before God ushers in what I believe to be “The Age of the Bride and the Bridegroom”? I believe it will be a complete destruction of this false system built by men around the gospel of Jesus Christ, coinciding with the raising up of His bride as she has made herself ready to go out to meet the Bridegroom in grace and Truth.
“…and the light of a lamp may be appearing in you nevermore; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride should be heard in you nevermore; for your merchants were the magnates of the earth, for by your enchantment all nations were deceived.” (Rev 18:23, CLV)
What started out as a comment on an inspired article by Susanne Schuberth eventually turned into this article. The above quote from T. Austin-Sparks also came from her article. Take a look at the above picture that she chose for her blog post.(2) It shows the destruction of “The Church of Reconciliation” in the “Death Zone” of Berlin. How apropos! For the past few years almost all denominational leadership have been striving to bring their organizations into reconciliation in a sort of humanistic unity. Their efforts are failing to come into agreement with one another no matter how many doctrines they do away with, for unity in doctrine does not make a people of one heart and one spirit. Jesus came not to bring peace but the sword of division! All man-made sects will be divided against one another even if they are forced under one title and human head, just as it was at the tower of Babel. Babylon the Great is the end result of their efforts– religions that have formed around “Christianity” — and God’s judgment is on it. Why? Jesus put it this way, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matt 15:13, KJV). God is ushering in a new dispensation. The sword is necessary because the previous administrations are so embedded that they never willingly let go and follow His lead!
Peter wrote,
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Pt 3:8 ESV)
A day is as a thousand years with God. We are also about to go into the third millennium of the church age, but not without a bang! Hosea prophesied,
“Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” (Hos 6:1-2, KJ2000)
Yes He is tearing us, the church! It is not the devil, ISIS, communism or anything else. These man-made temples that Christendom is so focused on are coming to an end along with the political systems that support them. Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus command the apostles to go forth and build churches and organizations to support them so Christians would have a structured form and place to worship! Quite the opposite! He stated that all worship would no longer be in holy places, but true worship of His Father would be in the Spirit and in verity, truth in our inward parts, our hearts. He also said that the temple system would be torn down and that His temple would be made of living stones, the very hearts of the true worshipers!
So, all that said, after two days (2000 years) of Him tearing us, He will heal us and bind up our wounds. In the third day, not at the end of it, He will raise us up that we, His bride, may dwell in His sight. Jesus is coming back for His perfect bride who is filled with the oil of His Spirit, not a divided and self-destructive church system that is so focused on its own greatness and need to survive that it cannot see Him coming!
Look up, dear saints of God who truly love the Son, because your redemption draws near!
(1) http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/002100.html
(2) https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/is-the-church-age-over/#more-2200
A Wilderness Voice 
I made a comment on Susanne’s blog concerning your statement. Especially the 3rd day. Everything is coming together. I never thought of all my years of dreams would turn out like this. Amen Michael. I’m hope the Lord sees me as ready. I have been waiting for years for this even though I would forget. But I can’t forget now. Not for at least a decade.
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Stacey, Susanne has not moderated your comment on her blog, yet. Yes, everything is lining up like those seven planets in the night sky (another sign in the heavens?). Remember, the thing that makes the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins is from whom they try to get their oil. The wise go to the One Source who has the oil, but the foolish virgins always go to other virgins. Like I told Fred, the Lord always rewards those who diligently seek HIM.
God bless you always,
Michael
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I have not noticed the seven planets lining up but that almost seems to fit another dream of mine from years ago. A light would appear in the sky and change colors then disappear followed by several more but then I had to focus on what was in front of me where I was in a house that was without electricity and was caring for women and children because they were frightened and needed to be ministered to. It seems like I was in Florida and more inland away from the shores. Come to think of it the lights were bright and white then changed colors and disappeared. I did not count them but it doesn’t seem like it was more than 7.
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Thanks, Stacey. Dreams can be meaningful if they come from God and HE gives us the interpretation.
“Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his clothes, and came in unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of you, that you can understand a dream to interpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, ‘It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.'” (Gen 41:14-16, KJ2000)
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And sometimes we don’t understand it until it gets closer to time. In the last two or three years it seems to me that a lot of my dreams are making more sense. Maybe I don’t understand it at the time but it always feels very profound when I remember them exactly how it went. But I have had other dreams that I know were not meaningful at all unless it was an issue I was dealing with. Funny you said Joseph because I would joke around and say I am like Joseph the dreamer. Another thing after watching the cartoon with my granddaughter Joseph the Dreamer, I had been feeling inspired to read that story. It was so cute what Erin my 5 yr old said. Grandma? Why did I decide to watch that movie? Meaning why was she inspired to watch it. She could have picked any movie on Netflix but she chose that. I had tears of joy and excitement.
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Michael, Susanne and all, I find my spirit leaping inside of me as I read this post. Darnella and I have been having serious discussions about the “bride making herself ready to go out and meet the bridegroom.” Just this week Darnellla made the comment that, “the signs of the times are not, wars, rumors of wars, and all the trauma and drama that is going on throughout the land and the world. These are NOT the signs we should be looking for and at.” We, the bride of CHRiST, are to be actively engaged in the process of, “making ourselves ready.” Everything else are just distractions from the enemy to get us to engage in his agenda in primarily one area, the man made institution called church. This is mostly evidenced in the bold unfolding agenda of the current false prophet called the pope. This man in just a short time since he took the reins of the roman catholic church has met with the likes of Kenneth Copeland and some of his top agents, James and Betty Robinson and several others. This did not take me by surprise because I heard Kenneth Copeland espouse “ecumenicism” over 40 years ago. Just about the time I quit listening to his nonsense.
So dear ones, let us dive headlong into this one we have come to know as CHRiST and continue the marvelous process of preparing to “go out to meet HiM” as soon as we hear the cry, “HE COMETH, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH! GO YE OUT TO MEET HiM.”
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It is good to hear from you again, Ken. I have been meaning to call you to see how you have been doing my friend. Thank you for your insightful comment. I think it was Russia’s Lenin who said, “If you are going to attack from the east, make a big noise in the west.” This seems to be the tactic of our enemy as you well pointed out. So many Christians are being distracted from their Bridegroom. They are either caught up in worldly politics and fearing things coming upon them, teachings of worldly false shepherds who suck their loyalty and support to themselves, or into worldly pursuits of all kinds instead of seeking a deeper work of Christ in their lives to cleanse them of all that is of this world in their hearts and loving Him above all things.
As for ecumenicism, I had an interesting thought. Harod and Pilate were enemies until they agreed on how to do away with Jesus Christ from their kingdoms and over that they became the best of friends. Somethings never change.
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You know that I love this article, Michael, since it is excellently written and the Spirit’s flow comes clearly through.
What I simply want to add here – not to your post, to be sure – is a subtle warning as for those who eagerly wait for the Lord’s coming to this earth and tend to interpret what happens on the outside as an unfailing sign of His second coming to be very soon. As for my own experiences I can say that the Lord’s coming, first, is something that must happen in our own lives. The closer we personally have come to know God, the more destructive our own old self can be seen by ourselves. Without this painful self-knowledge no one will be able to stand the Day of the Lord for real since our God is a consuming fire.
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Susanne, you bring up a very valid warning here, As Ken said in his comment, it is easier to be looking at all the world’s events, turmoil and even church distractions and to ignore where the REAL kingdom of heaven is and where Jesus FIRST must come… within our very hearts! Our hearts are just like the world was when He came as a helpless infant, there was no room in the inn and there was an evil king living there who wants to kill Him. The sooner we can see the antichrist within and call out to God to kill it, the sooner we as Jesus’ bride will set about to make ourselves ready for the Bridegroom who comes to abide in peace within us. He waits for a very simple prayer to come from out depths, “God, do whatever you have to do in me, but don’t let me fall short of the full manifestation of Christ that you have for me to walk in. Amen.”
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Amen.
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You are so right about that Susanne! Everyday that I still live I am still aware of myself that needs to be changed and only Christ can do this. Not so much as to what is happening in the world because there is nothing we can do about that. I wish that I could just get rid of this one nasty habit. But there are other stuff too that is glaring to me. Mainly my patience with children. I really need to work on that. Man your statement above really does make one to be nervous.
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Susanne, as for our God being a consuming fire, if we are HIS it is a win-win situation. The same fire that consumes all that is false within us (the wood, hay and stubble) is the one that purifies in us all that is of Him. Even after all is said and done and even if we have suffered the loss of most of what we have built upon Christ, we remain with HIM as our Foundation (See 1 Cor. ch. 3). Praise His name forever!
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Yes, that is true, Michael. And in the end, there is only the fire of His love in us and the fear of God that drives out all other (earthly) fears and anxieties.
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YES!!! Well said, my dear sister! ⭐
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Thank you very much, Michael! 🙂
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Hi Michael,
Wow! I would “like” this several times if I could!
Louise
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