The Empty House
At our local church recently, we were speaking to a lady who, like our selves, was lamenting the state of the world. She had discussed this subject previously with a friend, commenting on all the Mosques and other non-Christian temples in our country. The friend replied, “Yes, and they are all filled with people. It is up to us to fill our Churches!” This was a good and positive response – for certainly we have attended services where you are lucky to get 10 or 12 people. And indeed there are many ‘redundant’ churches throughout our land.
I have recently read a very interesting book entitled The Return of the Gods, written by Jonathan Cahn. He is the same author who wrote The Harbinger.
Both books centre on America, and how a once strongly Christian nation, built upon Christian values, and dedicated at its birth to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has turned away from this same God, and in so doing, now embraces the same pagan gods that swept through the ancient lands of both Israel and Judah.
If you thought that woke-ism, and gender changing, along with all the other bizarre aspects of life today – seemingly having sprung up from nowhere – are new, then you are mistaken. Jonathan has studied in detail all that was involved in the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth (Ishtar, Queen of Heaven, Goddess…), and Molech. And low and behold if you transformed those original acts of worship into today’s world, you would see the very same actions and events now taking place.
But don’t think these ancient gods are harmless, imaginary idols. The power behind them is very real, and very evil! And very strong.
And although both books centre on America, the same can be said for the whole of the ‘Christian’ West. If not for Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Jehovah, things would be very dire indeed.
Back in 2013, when ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died, she left a warning message in the readings from her funeral. Ephesians 6:10-19, which speaks of …. the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places… and urging us to …. take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day….
And if you don’t believe me then consider that there are many evil spirits in the world. And many of them are in possession of – not just individual peoples – but whole countries! In Daniel chapter 10 you will read how one of the angels that spoke to him (and had been delayed), told Daniel; … “the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me…” For ‘princes’ read angels – or in Michael’s case, archangel. And the ‘prince’ of the kingdom of Persia was not a good angel!
Our Lord Jesus Christ cast out many demons from people when He walked this world. And He gave an ominous warning; “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty and swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worst than the first.”
Matt 12; v 43 – 45.
If a person, or indeed a nation, that worshipped the God of Israel, and abided by the Word of that same God, their ‘temples’ – that is their bodies and their buildings, and indeed their country would be filled with the Spirit of the Lord. But if those same peoples turn away and forget the Lord – they are as the empty house. And as such they are immediately vulnerable to whatever evil forces are around.
They say ‘nature abhors a vacuum’, and indeed if a patch of soil is left neglected and bare, it will very soon become full of nettles, thistles, dandelions and other weeds. We also consider the old adage that, the …‘devil finds work for idle hands…’
Going back to our empty Churches, it is worth noting that many of our lovely old Churches were built on old pagan sites of worship, and it just struck me that if these buildings are left empty, they are then vulnerable to the spirits of the old gods taking them over. As are we, our selves.
It is the same with our countries and our leaders. If the country is lacking in Christian fellowship and worship, it will be replaced with another type of worship, and people. And now here in Britain, as I write this, we have yet another new prime-minister – our ‘Globalist masters’ not approving of ‘Liz’. And this new prime minister is a practising Hindu. A Christian land now being led by someone of another faith, and not only that but at the time of the Hindu Festival of lights – Diwali… This because the Spirit of the Lord has left the Houses of Parliament – just as the Stone of Destiny (the Coronation or Witness Stone), left Westminster Abbey, (in 1996 on ‘King’ Charles birthday…). Interestingly the Stone is supposed to be brought down from Edinburgh Castle for any future Coronation, so we shall have to see if it does…….!
We need to invite the Holy Spirit of the Lord God into our ‘Temples’ (“Behold I stand at the door and knock…”). And to keep this Holy Spirit alive within us, by studying and absorbing His Word, and giving Him Praise, all of our waking time. And regarding empty or little used Churches, use them for your own private prayers, and perhaps, in so doing, you will find that others may likewise be drawn in – thus eventually lighting up the said building once more with the Spirit of the Lord.
Only then can we look to that exciting time promised in the hymn; “ …when the Earth will be filled with the Glory of God as the waters cover the sea”…!
