Category: Voices of the Day

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

The Day of Harvest

Part Two

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

Many of God’s people are drowsy in this day of great peril. The Parable of the Wedding Feast is at this very moment being fulfilled and there are few who understand the eternal ramifications. The cry went out to His Own, but the invitation was met with lethargy and carelessness. The activity of business, the pleasures of the world, the comfort of a deceptive lifestyle, and the preaching of a false gospel are lulling His own into a deep and fatal slumber.

God’s Provision

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”
Hebrews 10:24-25

There are many who assemble together today but often the gatherings are filled with false comforts and void of the fear of the Lord. There is a preaching of forgiveness without repentance; of good standing with God regardless of how a life is lived. There is little “provoking unto love and good works”. No wonder His people are so unmoved and careless in response to their God. The Parable of the Wedding Feast portrays this tepid response to the Call of God.

In the Greek the literal translation is terrifying, yet true: “he called the called…” It was the “called” who did not respond. It was His own who failed to give heed to His beckoning. This is often repeated in the history of God with His people.

“He came to His Own and His own received Him not…”
John 1:11

What was the response of the people in the Parable of the Wedding Feast?

“But they made light of it, and went their ways,
one to his farm, another to his merchandise…”
Matthew 22:5

They made light of the call and went their own ways. They fabricated a gospel that everything is well, and God has everything under control; why should I worry? As the Bride of Christ prepares herself, the foolish live on in ignorance concerning the Day of the Lord which is about to unfold. Fires of trial beyond human imagination are about to break upon an unprepared people. Unlike Noah, who saw the day coming and prepared himself (and his family), these slumbering ones do not comprehend the Day we are in.

“For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”
Matthew 24:38-39

Anyone with a simple understanding of English can see it was the foolish who were taken away in the above reference. Noah entered into the Ark; it was the ignorant and the unprepared who were “taken” in their pride and rebellion. Noah preached righteousness for 120 years to a whole generation who were eradicated in the judgments of God. It is time to forsake false teachings and repent of our lethargy. It is a Day to seek out fellowship filled with exhortation unto righteousness and purity of heart. It is a Day to find in Him grace to forsake self and to present ourselves unto God as a living sacrifice. Let us awake, turn from our ways, and seek the welfare of God’s people.

Paul’s word to the Church at Corinth…

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not;
for some have not the knowledge of God:
I speak this to your shame.”
1 Corinthians 15:34

Where are those who would speak the truth; who see the day coming and declare to this generation “Awake to righteousness, and sin not…”? If a declared righteousness is sufficient, why was Paul declaring such things to the Church of God? Why was he speaking this to “their shame”?

A false gospel produces lax living and tepid hearts which cannot respond to the call of God.

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
Matthew 24:11-12

Iniquity abounds because false prophets and teachers propagate false and deceptive teachings causing the love of many to become cold.

Brian Troxel

Voices of the Day – Let Us Consider Our Ways

Voices of the Day

The Moral Dilemma of the Day

“Most recently, it was discovered that a comatose patient at a nursing facility in Phoenix, Arizona, gave birth, despite having been in a vegetative state for 14 years. The staff at the 24-hour care facility said they were unaware of her pregnancy until late December 2018, when she went into labor. She delivered a healthy boy…. After hearing about this horrific act, I felt filled with disgust and could not make sense of it. I buried myself in books by the great moral philosophers and spiritual leaders — Socrates, David Hume, C.S. Lewis, Pastor A.R. Bernard, Adam Smith and, of course, the Holy Bible — to try to understand, and hopefully make sense of, our broken moral and spiritual code. Make no mistake, “the system” is more than just flawed; it is broken on many levels. No one can deny that increasing levels of moral relativism have resulted in tragic outcomes that we never thought possible.”
– Armstrong Williams – (read article)

The above article was written by a secular man in response to a current news story. I was struck by the passion and clarity with which he wrote in calling out the depraved society in which we live; a passion that is seldom seen even within the people of God. It begs the question; why is there not a united voice from within God’s people decrying the wickedness in our land resulting in intercession unto our God? How is it that we have become so desensitized to the horror surrounding us in North America? How is it we hear little, speak little and spend little time concerning these things? It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit moving and reigning within the lives of His own where sin and disobedience is addressed…

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me…”
John 16:7-9

We, the Church as a whole, are becoming as desensitized to sin as the world in which we live. The spiritual decay is almost complete. A gospel which does not speak to sin in its own ranks will have no force or power to stem the rising tide of debauchery without.

Can we not feel the growing tide of dissipation, depravity and wantonness filling our land? Is there no comprehension of the day we are in and the implications of what our children are being subjected to every day? Can we not see the stain of the world pervading the Church of Jesus Christ? The invasion of sin robs God’s people of the fervency of heart and the fire of God.

“Because of the increase of wickedness,
the love of most will grow cold”
Matthew 24:12

When pornography, divorce, strife with one another, greed and power mongering is rampant within how can the Church of Jesus Christ be a light to those without? It is a Day to “consider our ways” to repent of the flippancy of a “seeker friendly” gospel, to repent from men’s desires to build magnificent buildings and ministries, and increase their appetites for worldly wealth all the while neglecting the condition of God’s House. The day of seeking to fill the pews rather than the hearts of God’s people with Godly living is bringing the Judgment of God to our land first and foremost upon His Own Church!

“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?”
1 Peter 4:17

“And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience,
when your obedience is fulfilled“
2 Corinthians 10:6

It is hypocrisy to speak to the sin without while we hold to the same within our own hearts. God’s answer to this dilemma is simple…

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore, and repent”
Revelation 3:19

Brian Troxel