The Handwriting is on the Wall - Part 3

by Pastor Gary C. Price

This is the third and final installment of the series entitled “The Handwriting Is On the Wall.” This time, we will deal with God’s response to the Satanic invasion that has been launched against the Church and the Saints of God that are willing to sincerely serve the Lord with all of their hearts, minds, souls and strength.

As you know, the Lord will never allow the devil to have the last say about anything, especially when it concerns His church which is also depicted in Scripture as His Bride. God is preparing to engage and destroy Satan and his invading hordes. Some of you who have read our newsletters over the months may believe that I have been overly negative at times concerning the end-times that confront us. Let me assure you that I am extremely optimistic concerning what the future holds for the Body of Christ.

In the past, the pictures I painted may have seemed dark, gloomy or even hopeless, but I have done this in order to allow us to focus on the seriousness of these times. Yet, I don’t want to see any of us become despondent or anxiety-stricken because Praise God, Jesus is still Lord over all the earth! You see friends, night always precedes the dawn. Dark, stormy weather precedes beautiful, clear skies. We are dealing with the darkness in order for the Lord to instill the hope of a brighter tomorrow within our hearts. As a matter of fact, a careful study of the Scripture will reveal that God usually shows up to demonstrate His power when situations have gotten extremely hopeless and there is nothing that men can do about them. So it is now. If Jesus does not manifest His presence to deliver us, we are of all men most miserable. But, I believe that He can and I believe that He will.

The Gospel of John 1:1-14 gives some insight into how the Lord will reveal Himself in these last of the last days.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Note that verse 5 states, “...the light shineth in darkness.” This lets us know that the Lord loves to appear on the scene in absolute darkness and hopelessness. Why? Because it is then that the stark contrast between darkness and light is apparent; the difference between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, rebels and obedient servants, Satan and Jesus, saints and sodomites becomes easily discernible. The Lord’s manifest glory will present the world with one last choice concerning mankind’s final destiny. The Lord is allowing Satan to take his best shot at establishing rulership over mankind using religious organizations, educational systems, governments, media, arts, literature and sexual immorality.

As a result of mankind’s choice to follow Satan, we are now experiencing the decay of our civilization and the mutation of man from human to beast. I call this new mutated life-type a manimal; a man with a beast’s nature inside. If you don’t believe this is possible, then I challenge you to take a trip to your local mall and just take a look around at the people. You will see exactly what I am talking about. We are very close to the beginning of the final end-time sequences. More and more people are being drawn away into all kinds of false religions and cults posing as Christian organizations.

Let me warn you to be very careful and avoid any seemingly religious organization that overemphasizes “law” as a way of attaining righteousness. The New Testament saint is not required to observe any laws. We possess a new nature that does not need the heavy burden of the law to weigh us down or hinder our love relationship with God the Father, Jesus His Son and the precious Holy Spirit. Above all things, make sure that you keep yourself free from performing up or down to the standards of man-made religious institutions. If you are really born of God’s Spirit, then you should be displacing religious conformity and performance with a love relationship with your heavenly Father, through His Son, by His Holy Spirit. Remember, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

God is raising up an army that will be free and able to minister to those who are being held captive by Satan. There is a natural inclination in people to want to be free, but they don’t know how to be free. Since freedom is such a rare commodity, most people just gravitate to what is most comfortable or what is most familiar. In most cases the “familiar” is a place of Satanic control. We must all cultivate the desire to be free no matter what the cost.

The banner flying over God’s end-time army will read, “Whom the Son has set free is free indeed!” Yes, God is raising up an army of liberators. We won’t be lawless, but we will walk in submission to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus we see it outlined in the Book of Romans 8:1-8:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Praise God for liberty in the Spirit and a newness of life to enjoy fellowship, brotherhood and freedom! God’s end-time army will be the real salvation army. We will go forth to save people from inner bondage and the suffering of being under the yoke of organized religion and Satan’s web of confusion. My prayer is that Jesus Christ alone be glorified; that the hearts of His people accept His discipline so that they do not become spiritual bastards at the end. We must be chastened and disciplined in order to walk in freedom without laws. God’s desire is to baptize us with His Spirit in order to instill in us His nature and according to Galatians 5:23, “against such there is no law.”

Finally, at the end of the age a manifestation of God’s people that have been delivered from every snare internally and externally. We metamorphosize from sinners to a saints, from saints to the church, from the church to an army, from an army to a bride, and finally from a bride to a queen sitting with Jesus throughout eternity. I can’t wait. How about you?