ARE WE WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS??

From: tiaan gildenhuys Pretoria Gauteng South Africa 19 April 2009

Dear friend…

ARE WE WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS?

“God's prophets and ministers are as watchmen in the city in a time of peace, to see that all is safe. As watchmen in the camp in time of war, to warn of the motions of the enemy.” (Matthew Henry)
Should you be of the opinion that Matthew Henry is only referring to ordained preachers, ministers or prophets in his quotation, quickly read the following verse with me:
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained THEE a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
“And hast made US unto our God kings and PRIESTS: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:10)

So friend, you and I are in reality those “prophets” ordained by God. To “ordain” also means to enact, establish or appoint. So WE were so APPOINTED as watchmen! By whom? By God Himself! We, who have given our lives to Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as Lord and Savior of our lives, are those prophets and ministers.

Prophets who are as watchmen on God’s city’s walls, who must see that all is safe and who must warn the people of the present and future “motions of the enemy” – Satan! The second scripture I quoted states that He made US kings and PRIESTS - in other words ministers - so that we may reign and live according to God’s Word, here on earth.
The question is, are God’s prophets and ministers - YOU AND I - really doing what we were appointed to do? With this book, I hope to come a step closer to fulfilling the instructions I received from my Heavenly Father. And you friend? What are you doing to fulfill yours?

MY PERSONAL INSTRUCTION

I cannot think of any better way to describe that which the Lord has put on my heart to write in this book, other than Matthew Henry’s quotation which I gave in Chapter 1 above. So, I will start with the scripture that the Lord gave me personally early in the year 2000, and work from there, from time to time returning to Matthew Henry’s statements as quoted in Chapter 1 above. The quotations below are all from Ezekiel 3:17-21.
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them WARNING from me.”
Is your heart ready before the Lord, Jesus Christ, to be warned, dear reader? Do you have a teachable spirit? Are you open to be taught from God’s Word, no matter who you are and no matter how long you may have walked with the Lord? And no matter who the one is that is doing the warning?
“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

If you, dear reader, have as yet never given your heart to Jesus Christ, if you have never received Him as your Lord and Savior, this book may be your last chance to come out of a life of unrighteousness and wickedness. Who knows whether you will live to see tomorrow? Are you willing to gamble on spending an eternity separated from God, just because you are unwilling to heed the warnings contained in the Bible – or in this book? The choice is yours, but after holding this book in your hand, you will never be able to stand before God’s throne of judgment and say: “But Lord, I never knew…” If you wish to rectify the situation in your life, please pray the short prayer I quoted after the scriptures below out loud, so that the whole world, including Satan and his demons can hear you make a choice for Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
“Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.” (Ezekiel 3:17-21)

And you, Christian reader, have you been walking a long road with the Lord, but feel that you have “backslidden” because of things that happened in your life? Have you “turned from your righteousness” too? If so, are you willing to be warned and turn back from those things, repent of your sins before your Lord, Jesus Christ, and return to a life of holiness and righteousness? If so, won’t you also pray the following prayer out loud, so that the world - and Satan - can hear you decided to return to the life of holiness that God wants you to live:

PRAYER:

“Lord Jesus Christ, I hereby confirm that I am a sinner and pray that you will hear my prayer. I know that without your grace and mercy I am lost forever Lord. Therefore I now confess all the sins I have committed to this day Lord Jesus, whether they were wrong thoughts, wrong words or wrong deeds, You know them all Lord.
Lord Jesus I believe with my whole heart that You came to earth and died on a cross as atonement for all my sins and I now accept and receive You as my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer and my King. Please teach me from Your Word Lord, and give me a new hunger for the Bible. Holy Spirit, please reveal the Bible to me, and teach me to live the holy life that Jesus wants me to.

Thank you Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, that I can now know that I am safe in your heavenly arms and that nothing can ever separate me from Your wonderful love. I glorify and exalt Your Holy Name! Amen.”
Wonderful! You have just ensured that nothing can ever separate you from God’s love ever again! So, let’s proceed with this book.

The Lord repeated the instruction He gave to me in 2000 more than once in later years. Initially I just asked: “Lord, who am I that you want to give me such an important instruction? I am not a theologically learned man.” The answer I received on more than one occasion was: “Tiaan, do you wish to be obedient to Me and My Word, or not?” Could I ever argue with that? So, I started writing books during June 2000 and my prayer to our mighty Heavenly Father, is that each and every book I have written since then, will have an everlasting spiritual impact on some person’s life, somewhere on earth. So, dear friend, whoever you are, and wherever you are at this very moment, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit of God will touch your spirit and your soul through the reading of this humble book.

I pray that you will have a teachable spirit that is open and willing to be advised, taught, and WARNED. May this book open new spiritual truths to you on your walk with Jesus Christ. In Hebrew He is called YESHUA HA MASCHIACH, Jesus the Messiah! Praise His Mighty Name!
WATCHMEN MUST WARN OF THE MOTIONS OF THE ENEMY

In the first place, the watchman’s purpose is to see that all is safe in times of peace, and to warn of the motions of the enemy in times of war. Question: Are we presently in a time of peace? I do not think anyone who knows anything about spiritual matters will contend that we actually are in a time of peace. No!

We most definitely are in a time of the greatest war of all times! And this war is a spiritual war. How do we know that we are in this great war? Because we all know that we are living in the end-times, and look what the Bible says about this time:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
I repeat, God’s watchmen have to warn His people of the motions of the enemy in these times. What warning do we get from these scriptures? Let us look at these scriptures in more detail, in order to ascertain in what way they represent the “motions of the enemy” especially in our lives today:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
We all know that the times we live in today, are indeed perilous. People can’t dare to walk alone in street at night anymore. Lives are not worth a penny to many robbers and thieves roaming the streets.

For men shall be:
lovers of their own selves,
Can there be any doubt today that men are “lovers of their own selves”? Status, material possessions and personal ability has become more important to most people, than what God really put them on earth for, namely to make disciples of all nations. To tell nations about Jesus Christ and what He did for us, and to do THAT in real Christ-like humility.
covetous,
To be covetous means “inordinately desirious (of something – especially something belonging to someone else), avaricious, greedy”. Man’s greed is very clear in these last days, especially if we look at the fact that status and material possessions have become all-important to most people. The thousands of court cases where people are being charged with corruption also proves this point. In the same manner embezzlement of company monies is at the order of the day.

boasters,
The “I am better than you”-syndrome is very clear. Or “my car is better than yours”. Or “my house is bigger than yours”. This is in direct contradiction to Jesus’ instruction to deny the “self”. Just listen to conversations around the barbeque, or at lunches, or at sports venues, if you need any confirmation of the statement that men most definitely are “boasters” in these times we live in.

proud,
Pride and haughtiness flows from, and forms part of the boasting of people today. The Bible is clear that pride comes before the fall. We must never forget that pride is exactly that which made Satan fall from grace and from heaven. So it makes quite good sense that he will use the same weapon against man to this day. If it was good enough to make him fall from grace, it must be good enough to use against man in order to try and pull them away from God too. You see, Satan knows the Bible and he knows that Christ requires humility from us. If he can get us to be disobedient to God’s word through pride, he may eventually get us to a place where he can pull us away from God, in the same way that he fell away from God.

blasphemers,
You only need to listen to any conversation in the street, or watch any movie or video, to understand how big the problem of blasphemy has become. However, it is very interesting to note that only the names: “Jesus Christ”, or “Oh my God!” is used in a blasphemous way on a daily basis all over the world. You never hear anyone say: “O Allah!” in a movie or video; or even “Oh Buddha!” Why not? Because there is no power in any of those names. There is only power in the one Name above all names, the Name of Jesus Christ. That is exactly the reason why Satan attacks this Name – the Name above all names - in such a public way all over the world, and tries to belittle, discredit and dishonor it. Obviously he hopes that in this way he will be able to reduce the power of the Name of Jesus. What Satan, and all other blasphemers seem to forget, is that the Bible states clearly that there will be a day when EVERY KNEE shall bow and EVERY TONGUE, including Satan’s own tongue, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Hallelujah Lord Jesus!

disobedient to parents,
Children’s behavior towards their parents or teachers proves this part of the verse. The reason for this also lies in the fact that Satan ensures, through so-called human rights, the breakdown of Biblical discipline in homes, schools, and even countries. Parents aren’t even allowed to discipline their own children anymore, for fear that their own children may have them prosecuted by law. This leads to more and more anarchy in schools, towns, cities and even countries.

unthankful,
People just accept that things HAVE TO be given to them, without even thanking the person rendering the service to them. Just ask any fuel attendant or waitress how many people really thank them for the services they render. People have the attitude of: “She is getting paid to do her job, so why should I thank her?” Well, one reason stays that it is only good manners, and the second reason is that Jesus instructs us to be thankful towards each other.

unholy,
All the different false religions on earth today, including New Age, atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etcetera, confirm this fact that people have become “unholy”. As only God is “holy”, anything else claiming attributes of God, is unholy. Anything else is abominable, impure, cursed, polluted, wicked and worldly to God. In God’s eyes ANY other so-called “god” is an idol. “For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For ALL the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.” (Psalm 96:4, 5) Very clearly then, every other religion is unholy in God’s eyes, as are their gods. In the same manner people’s attitudes have become “unholy” in these days.

Without natural affection,
“Affection” means to have a good disposition, or kind feelings toward each other. With racism, hate, anti-Semitism and other similar emotions, Satan ensures that man has no “kind feelings” toward each other anymore. Of course all these things are opposites of the love that Jesus teaches us to have. Any opposition to what Christ teaches, is rebellion and the Bible is clear that such conduct effectively constitutes witchcraft. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:23) As long as we live in opposition to Jesus’ teachings, and reject His word, we are actually practicing witchcraft and will we also lose our appointment as kings and priests for God.

trucebreakers,
All the so-called “peace agreements” between nations, that are broken nearly as fast as they are drawn up - after much pomp and ceremony -, is proof of this fact.

false accusers,
People have no qualms at all to accuse others falsely about things they have not even done. This is found in families where kids blame each other from the youngest ages, but also in politics, in churches, in governments and all over the world. It is nothing new however, as Adam also falsely accused Eve – and actually even God - for his mistake in not taking up his authority against Satan’s attack.

incontinent,
“Incontinent” means: “exercising no control over the appetites, especially sexual passion; unchaste.” Any person who watches present-day movies or videos can attest to the fact that people are most definitely “incontinent” today. Satan’s sexual spirits of lust, adultery and perversion make sure that people think unchaste lives are acceptable, or even the norm, while it is most definitely not acceptable to God.

fierce,
Most people today have violent and cruel or savage tempers, as a result of Satan’s attacks on their lives and thoughts, which they don’t capture to the obedience of Christ. All the incidents of road rage on many countries’ national roads, also attest to this fact. Through videos and films this aggression and fierceness is built up even more.
despisers of those that are good,
If you look at the slogans and pictures on clothes, cars, posters, etcetera, you will most definitely see that the trend today, is to despise those that are good. The more wicked, ugly or evil something can be depicted, the better, it seems.

Traitors,
Traitors are people who betray someone else’s trust. In other words, people who act deceitfully and falsely. Open any newspaper or magazine today, anywhere in the world, and the proof of this fact, is plain for all to see.

heady,
“Heady” means to be headstrong, stubbornly bent on having one’s own way, and obstinate. As a result of the fact that the world does not obey the Word’s instruction to die to the “self”, people are most definitely “heady” in today’s society.

highminded,
To be “highminded” means to be haughty or arrogant, in other words prideful. We have already discussed this negative attribute earlier.
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
If we need any proof of this statement, we need only look at the number of people attending sport venues on Sundays, in comparison with the people attending churches at the same time.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
As long as our religion consists of dead rituals, traditions and form, instead of a personal relationship with the Way, the Truth and the Life – JESUS CHRIST Himself – we will most assuredly only have a “form of godliness” with no power at all. You see, the power flows directly from a personal relationship with our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Himself warned us against ever elevating traditions above the Word of God: “And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition…Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” (Mark 7:9 & 13) Traditions undoubtedly have a “form” of godliness, but no power at all. How can I say this? I am just reading what Jesus said. God’s commandments and word bring power, and Jesus said traditions makes that power of no effect.
Now then, the question arises, what should we do with any of these people whose characteristics we have discussed so far. What does the Bible say?
from such turn away.”

Oh wow! This is truly a hard word! Can Jesus really be serious about this? I do believe if He wasn’t serious about this, this Scripture wouldn’t have been in the Bible. All the above most definitely represents the “motions of the enemy” today. Satan is still trying his best to pull away God’s people from the Truth, and the watchmen must speak up and warn His people. That is why God’s children must “turn away” from these people, because the characteristics they display are clear signs of enemy movements, and definitely not something God’s children want to be part of.

If any of God’s children may have identified themselves in what I wrote so far, it is time for them to take heed and STOP doing these things and return to a place of holiness before God.
(From the book: “Watchmen on the walls” – tiaan gildenhuys)