Signs of Judgment - Christchurch Earthquakes and the National Christmas Tree (USA)

You haven't seen many posts of late because I've been otherwise engaged plus a bit under the weather. Your continued prayers are appreciated, as ever. One of the efforts I've been engaged in resulted in a new writing on The Open Scroll, titled Grinding at The Mill - A Miller's Testimony. The timeliness of that work will be evident to some of you as it relates to judgement and a role or ministry appointed to me.

Other items with which I've been occupied involve personal responsibilities with regard to individual relationships. Some of these engagements began with the offering of apologies that were due as mentioned in the Jezebel vs Sarah series. As follow up to those and with regard to several other relationships, I've been walking in the greater light I've been receiving and necessarily approaching some people in challenging ways, including some with words hard to give and get. I've never been a fan of confrontation but I'm getting over that, because when the Lord asks a thing I'm increasingly willing to do it. Yes, I'm changing.

Some aren't liking the changes. Maybe you, _______. Fill your name in the blank as appropriate. If this means you don't want to be my friend anymore, I can accept that. You weren't a very true friend to me anyhow and I'm just now finding that out. There's no particular person or people that's particularly intended for, but I'm communicating some important points here. If this matter isn't personal, what's the point? It's critical to put the right kind of value on the right kinds of friendships. I'm learning that I really do want to be found as a friend of the Lord, and He really doesn't have many friends. Popularity that involves being friends with the worldly is HIGHLY overrated.

If the Lord has been leading you in such a way as I have described and you haven't been following through, let me encourage you to begin without delay. There's no need to be harsh or abrasive in your manner but don't neglect hard dealings because love makes demands on us as we look after each other. Accept what responsibility is yours for those to whom we do genuinely owe a debt of love. This debt must be paid, and you can put it on the Lord's account but you've got to write that check, so to speak.

The church is being judged at the present time. That's us, you and I, right? We need to get this and stop deferring to others. Imagine that in all-caps, if it helps. This present judgment has been announced and confirmed through the words of many saints, prophetic dreams and visions, signs in the heavens and signs in the earth. One of the most obvious scriptures testifying of this season is in 1 Peter 4.

16) Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17) For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18) And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

1 Peter 4:16-18

The nature of this judgment is that it begins gently and escalates. It must be so to accomplish the Lord's purposes, maximizing the harvest and bringing forth a purified people. I've been engaged in this judgment on a number of levels. Those of us who resist what must be seen as the diminishing extension of mercy are finding ourselves moving backwards, in a sense, being estranged from the Lord and more dull of hearing. Those of us who resist this work are by nature not perceiving it that way. Those who are being convicted in this hour and subsequently repent are perceiving how there is an immediate and striking widening gulf in the ranks. Seasons of judgment have most certainly been visited upon the church in numerous cycles over the course of the past several years, but make no mistake; today is different. The "luxury" of second chances is now passing. When this season has passed, where we have not responded with obedience we will forfeit reward. Many who even read here will wager that I'm wrong about that - and lose big! I pray it's not you. I pray it's not you.

Consider some recent signs. The earthquakes in Christchurch, NZ have been recognized by many watchful saints as signs to the church. The notable one of September 2010 was widely acknowledged as miraculous for the magnitude of the quake relative to the cost in human life. The cost then was zero - it was a "no charge" freebie. As a parable, this reveals how the judgment began with a gentle warning. I was led to write about that quake here: The Twelfth Orbit of Neptune and the Earthquake under Christchurch

Since that time, the city has experienced many, many more quakes (upwards of 4000 "aftershocks"). The one that struck at lunchtime on February 22 was considered an aftershock of the big one that struck on September 3rd last year. See these as being directly related, one to the other. Even though the magnitude of the quake on the 22nd was "roughly 11 times weaker" than the one last September, the loss of life and damage to the city was notable! In a parable, the nature of this judgment is that it begins gently and escalates.

Recognizing some signal features underscores to the watchful that this is surely another warning and testimony of escalation in the consequences of failing to quickly embrace the One who washes with water by the Word (Ephesians 5), even submitting to a bit of rough scrubbing behind the ears, if you will. The 11 and 22 numeric combination mentioned above call out numbers that others have identified and emphasized, knowing these signal a flesh cutting or dividing among men.

I was led to write about bells and bell towers not long ago, and personally given two signs to assure that this matter was highlighted for special attention. Bells have long been leveraged by Satan in a pharmakeia scheme that intends through spells to bring forth an army of transhuman rebels in the earth. It will succeed! It has been noted (The Church Bells All Were Broken) that the bell towers of the institutions of Mystery Babylon seem to have been targeted in this action that would not very many years ago have been freely termed an act of God.

Here's something that speaks to me and I hope it does to you, too. Brother Herrin referenced a song called American Pie in that blog post titled, The Church Bells All Were Broken. He makes a number of observations about it in that post and I'll add one more, that the incident at The Mill happened when this song was released, as best I can recall. It was an instance of judgment within the church. It was a prophetic parable. It happened 40 years ago - the number of trial and testing. Now, the Christchurch quakes are a sign of present judgment, and this is my testimony. What it looks like is that we have arrived in the appointed season of judgment on the church and it warrants our full attention.

Here's one of the lines in the song lyrics. "February made me shiver/with every paper I'd deliver"

It's February and folks are shivering in the cold. It snowed here in Los Gatos a couple days ago - a VERY rare occurrence. Have you been reading the paper, the headline news? Does it make you shiver? The world is shaking, and the church is really at the center of it.

Look at the picture of the statue honoring the founder of Christchurch lying face down in the dirt. This is in Cathedral Square. Are you seeing what it means? It's not my Lord but one who compares to Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar.

The loss in New Zealand is genuine and I don't want to discount it. I am not numb to the very real pain felt by those whose lives were and are touched by the quake. Yet, what's imperative is that you hear the message that the pain and loss it portends will be just as real and on a far greater scale with consequences extending beyond this mortal life.

Another sign with similar meaning had occurred in Washington DC a few days prior to the earthquake in Christchurch. See Strong winds topple National Christmas Tree. The National Christmas Tree has a national identity. It also is a Christmas Tree, which is in most people's minds the object linked to the Christian church that is perhaps second only to the cross. Today, it has become a wider symbol around the globe of a season of gift exchanges and feasting, mammon and carnality. Really, few things say "Mystery Babylon" quite like the National Christmas Tree. That it has fallen over is a picture of the judgment that has come on the "Babylon" church and on this national Babylon.

7) Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8) And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9) And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

Revelation 14:7-9

This is not the first time a National Christmas Tree has fallen, but when some numbers are considered the witness is plain enough. This tree that many connect with the birth of Christ fell in its 33rd year, the age of the Lord when he gave His life for a sacrifice. It represents the church of His body. Remember the recent sign of the Chilean mine incident and its 33 men who were trapped? This tree was set in place at the White House in 1978. It lasted for 22 years to the end of the millennium, then another 11 years, presenting a set of 22 and 11 features. After it fell, it was quickly cleared, within seven hours. When the church is judged, and it is being judged, it will not survive its pagan form but will be turned into mulch. Those with eyes that see will note the destiny of the wild olive branches in Romans 11:21-22, which we are assured will be broken off. Mulch is useful, but it will be far better an end for those who heed the call to come out from among those who will become as mulch.

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Revelation 18:4