“The Day of the Lord”

by Jacob Prasch

The Day of the Lord” in Hebrew is called the “Day of Yahweh. From the fall of man, until that time, it is “the time of Satan”. Jesus identified Satan as “the god of this world,” a fact that will intensify in the Last Days. God is the God of history and He exercises lordship over history. But we’re told in the book of Daniel that when the antichrist manifests himself, he will think to change the laws and the times. And they will be given into his hand for two “times, a time, and a half time”. (Revelation and Daniel both break the last seven years of history into two halves of two “times, a time, and a half time“ – 3-1/2 lunar years, 1,260 days by the lunar calendar, thereabouts.)

There are a number of precursors that teach about this “times, time, and a half time”, one of which foreshadows it – prefigures it – is what happened in the days of Elijah the prophet. Remember, it was 3-1/2 years when it did not rain. During that time Elijah was in conflict with King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Understand the pattern – this is Jewish midrash. Naboth‘s vineyard was coveted. Jezebel turned Ahab against Elijah because Elijah tried to defend Naboth’s vineyard. It was a wicked woman who turned the king against Elijah.

Jesus used Jezebel as a metaphor for the spirit of false religion in the book of Revelation. “You tolerate the woman Jezebel who beguiles My servants, who seduces My servants.”

John the Baptist and Elijah have the same spirit. They’re not the same person, but they have the same spirit, same anointing, same commissioning, same calling, same character. John the Baptist comes before the First Coming of Christ in the spirit of Elijah. And again, the wicked woman Herodias turns Herod against “Elijah”.

This is a pattern of what will happen in the Last Days. The vineyard – that is, Israel – will be coveted. The church will also be coveted; Christendom will be coveted. At this time during this period, the ministry of Elijah will again come into play in some way. The false religious system of the world personified in Jezebel will turn the political system against God’s people, bringing it into conflict with Elijah. What happened with Elijah happened with John, and it will happen again in the Last Days. Nothing is going to happen that has not already partially happened. However, the Last Days will be singularly unique, though there are things in the past that foreshadow it. If you want to know what’s going to happen, look at what did happen. Prophecy is pattern. Having said this, let’s understand what “the Day of the Lord” is.

The Day of the Lord

The New Testament explains in greater depth and in greater detail something the Old Testament Hebrews only understood in part. We know that the “Day of the Lord” is inaugurated with the return of Christ.

Look carefully at what Jesus says in the Olivet discourse:

“And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:22).

The word used there is koloboo,.a Greek word translated from the Aramaic. It is a word for “amputate”. Had it not been cut short – had it not been amputated – nobody would survive. That is the way it is. It will take a radical intervention by the Lord Jesus in the form of an amputation to preserve human existence.

Once that amputation takes place, once the faithful are removed, God pours out His wrath on the kingdom of Antichrist. We must draw a distinction between “tribulation” and “wrath”; they’re different words in Greek. God’s people – the faithful church – will never experience the wrath of the Lord. But the cohorts of Antichrist will experience the wrath of the Lord. The “Day of the Lord” takes place when the church is removed. The faithful bride, the faithful church is literally amputated, taken out of here. When that happens then God pours out His wrath. This is the “Day of Yahweh”, the “Day of the Lord”.

We’re told in the Hebrew Scriptures – one of the passages – “be ye not anxious for the day of the Lord”. We shouldn’t want it to come. We should want Jesus to come, but the “Day of the Lord” is something completely different.

The Babylonian Captivity

Joel was the first prophet who prophesied for the Babylonian captivity. And like all of Israel’s prophets, Joel prophesied for at least three time frames. He prophesied for his own time and the events leading up to the Babylonian captivity. He prophesied for the First Coming of Jesus, and he prophesied for the second coming of Jesus, sometimes in the same passage. When we read Joel, or prophets like him, we have to always be aware what was for his own time, what was for the first coming of Christ, what’s for the return of Christ, or a combination. What happened with the Babylonian captivity teaches about what will happen in the last days.

Nebuchadnezzar built the image to be worshiped, desecrating the Jewish temple. The image – if you read the dimensions in Aramaic –comes to six-hundred and sixty-six. Nebuchadnezzar entered the beautiful land and in the last days of Judah before the captivity, the people were misled by their leaders. There were only a few people like Jeremiah and Barach telling the truth. The people on a popular level chose to follow the false prophets who were telling them things like, “Victory is coming.” “Blessing is coming.” “Prosperity is coming.” They were being given this one message by all these prophets. People like Jeremiah were giving the opposite message. The people on a popular level chose to follow the false prophets and negate the voice of the true ones. The last days will be the same way. Most of Christendom will follow the false prophets and reject the people telling the truth. Israel will reject the true voices of the Messianic Jews who God sent to them to preach the Gospel. They would rather follow the deceptions of the rabbis. What happened then will happen again.

It Happened Again

The same, exact pattern that happened in the last days of Judah in the Babylonian captivity happened in 70 A.D. Jesus began His Olivet discourse prophesying about 70 A.D. before He spoke about anything else. “Not one stone will be left standing upon another”.

The mystery religions of Babylon that began when Nimrod built the Tower of Babel, then spread through Asia Minor, particularly the city of Pergamum, “where Satan’s throne is”, and from there into the Greco-Roman world. Today those same mystery religions are preserved in things like Free Masonery, Roman Catholicism, the Greek Orthodox Church, and so forth, but the root of those things is Babylon. The early Christians identified Rome with Babylon because they knew that Rome had become the new home of those mystery religions. That is why in his epistle, Peter writing from Rome says, “She who is in Babylon greets you.”

The Babylonians destroyed the first temple on Tishah be’Av, roughly the 9th of August. They surrounded the city as Jeremiah predicted. Likewise, the Romans destroyed the second temple in 70 A.D. the exact, same day: Tishah be’Av. The first temple and second temple were destroyed on the same day. But it was only the early Christians who recognized this as the same as Babylon. The Jewish believers escaped. They remembered what Jesus said, “When you see it surrounded, flee to the mountains.”

A Type of Rapture

After the apostle James had been martyred, a cousin of Jesus names Simeon was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. The Romans inexplicably withdrew the siege temporarily and the Jewish believers escaped to a place called “Pellah” -- not “ Petra”, but “Pellah”. They thought that was going to be the Rapture. And in fact it was a type of the Rapture, but they escaped. The way that those believers escaped before all hell came upon Jerusalem is a picture of what will happen in the end.

If you want to know what the “Day of the Lord” will be like, read Josephus’ “The War of the Jews”. What happened inside Jerusalem after the believers escaped is a microcosm of what will happen to the whole planet. Starvation became so unbearable that women began fighting over afterbirth. People waited for women to deliver babies so they would have something to eat. That is what happened in Jerusalem. More than that, the partisans – their own people, the sikim, the Zealots – were more cruel and barbaric than the Romans were. It was something inside the city as well as outside. The “Day of the Lord” is prefigured by what happened in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. after the church was removed.

There are many other things in the Bible that teach about the “Day of the Lord”, what this period will be like, but our focus is on what happened in 70 A.D. Only those who followed Jesus made it out; the others were left and something terrible happened. And it will happen again.

In 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the temple, they burned incense to worship their pagan gods on the temple mount where the Holy of Holies had been. After the believers escaped, they understood this to be the “shiqqutzim meshomem“ – the “Abomination of Desolations.” Once again, what happened then is a microcosm, a shadow, a picture of what will happen at the end.

Joel prophesied about the Babylonian captivity. What happened at the time Joel prophesied is a picture of what will happen in the last days. But it also was fulfilled partially in 70 A.D. What happened in 70 A.D. as Jesus had warned in the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24, is a picture of what the “Day of the Lord” will be like. Only it will not just be something local in Jerusalem, it will be the entire planet; an entire planet of people going through that kind of situation. Can you imagine an entire planet of people waiting to fight over a maternal afterbirth to have something to eat? Can you imagine? If you read Josephus, it is shocking -- horrific.

Jeremiah laments this. The book of Lamentations is called “Eichah” in Hebrew, and it’s read on Tishah be’Av, the day the temples were destroyed. Ritually in the synagogues to this day, the rabbis read the book of Lamentations – “Eichah” – where Jeremiah laments the destruction that took place. Only Jeremiah was also rescued, wasn’t he? He got out of there with his followers. Before this happens, the faithful people always have a ticket out.

The Insects

Joel used insects as illustrations the way that Daniel did with monsters.

The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel. What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust has left, the hopping locust has eaten;

And what the hopping locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten. (Joel 1:4)

These insects are pictures of invading political entities. Daniel generally used beasts, Joel used insects, the book of Revelation uses both. Notice there are four different swarms of locusts. The Babylonian captivity of the Jews took place in four invasions. Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians invaded four times, and each time there was a greater and greater deportation of Jews.

This idea of a systematic deportation is exactly what happened in the Holocaust of the 1930’s and 40’s. They built a wall around the Jewish ghettos – the “shtettles” – and they would deport a certain amount the first time, a certain amount the second time, a certain amount the third time, and then the rest the fourth time. That’s exactly what happened with the Nazi concentration camps in the 1930’s and 40’s, very much in the character of Nebuchadnezzar; the same demonic spirit.

Deception in the Last Days

Look what follows these four swarms of locusts in verse 5. What does Joel say?

Awake, you drunkards, and weep;

And wail, all you drinkers of wine,

Because of the sweet wine

For it’s been cut off from your mouth.

Understand the deception being perpetrated against the body of Christ today -- the popularity of “experiential theology. This contemporary “new wave” originated with the late John Wimber, former leader of the Vineyard group of churches. He had been a part of Calvary Chapel until Chuck Smith booted him out because he began teaching things that were based on experience instead of on Scripture. Wimber went into mysticism, he went into Gnosticism, he went into New Age philosophy putting it into Christian terms.

Wimber later aligned himself with people from Kansas City who said they were prophets. One of these people, Mike Bickle, said the rapture of Elijah was a judgment, “Elijah was too negative”, so God had to remove him in judgment.

Another one of his prophets was Bob Jones, a man found to be in serious sexual immorality that used his authority as a so-called prophet to get women to disrobe. Another was Paul Cain of whom it was revealed recently is an alcoholic and a homosexual.

Paul Cain, John Wimber, Mike Bickle – they came to England to put on a big conference in London in August of 1990. They proclaimed that the “Latter Day Rain” was about to happen, the “Manifest Sons” would be revealed, there would be a great outpouring of God’s Spirit. And this revival would begin in England and then spread to Germany and then into continental Europe.

Well, I happen to live in England and I can testify that since the “great revival” prophesied for October of 1990 five times more mosques than churches have been built in England. For every church that’s been built, five mosques have gone up since 1990. The Methodists close one church a week, the Church of England closes two to three churches a week while one mosque per week opens in England. They prophesied falsely; they predicted things that didn’t happen, and they did so in the name of the Lord. Sadly, a multitude of hyper-Charismatics followed these men who were alcoholics, who were homosexuals, and were telling people things they wanted to hear.

The people cheered them. They believed this was the “Latter Day Rain”, the “Manifest Sons”. And they went on to proclaim themselves as “the locusts who were going to devour”. Look at the next verse, 5.

Awake, ye drunkards, and weep.

The same churches that followed the Kansas City crowd welcomed the deceivers from Toronto, Canada and later Pensecola, Florida. They also heralded a South African named Rodney Howard-Browne who sang as his theme song – “Drinking at Joel’s Place”, encouraging people to get drunk “in the Holy Ghost” and fall into hysterics.

So, that is what they said about the book of Joel. Now look what Joel says about the book of Joel. They say “get drunk”; Joel says “sober up.” They say “laugh”; Joel said “weep.” No revival ever began with people laughing. Every revival began with people weeping in repentance.

Can There Be Revival?

Can there be a great, end times revival? The Bible speaks much more of a great end times apostasy than it does a revival. Now, there is to be a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Israel and the Jews during this time. That is true. But it will come during the time of “Jacob’s Trouble”. During “HaTekufa ha Tsorat Yakov”, the darkest hour of their history that takes place at this period. It will not be a happy time.

If revival comes, it will be like the revival before the Babylonian captivity. What was the revival before the Babylonian captivity? It was the revival of King Josiah. The sin had become so treacherous, particularly the genocidal sacrifice of Jewish children to demons like Molech under King Manasseh, until Josiah put an end to it. Even though repentance came resulting in a revival, God told Josiah that the axe wouldn’t fall in his lifetime because he had been faithful, but the axe still must fall; things had gone too far.

I don’t say revival can’t come or the “Day of the Lord” cannot be delayed, but the axe must fall. Why? Look at it. 40 million babies aborted in the United States in non-therapeutic abortions since “Roe vs. Wade”. Had they not done that, the Social Security system would not be in trouble. That same generation responsible for “Roe v. Wade” is now going to reap the whirlwind...euthanasia will be the next battle. The demands on the public health care system, on Social Security, “We can’t let these people go on living into their 80’s with improved medicine – we have to let them die.” Otherwise the system – mark my words – it will go from “voluntary” euthanasia to “involuntary” euthanasia. That fetus had no choice about being aborted, neither will the generation that aborted them. They will reap what they have sown. It is inevitable that the judgment of God must come on the western world. It must fall on the Protestant democracies.

If revival comes, the most you can do is delay the inevitable. Things have gone too far. “If my people, who are called by My name will turn and pray, I’ll heal their land” – that is true; but it can only be true in the way it was in the days of Josiah. Things have just gone too far. This is not to say we shouldn’t pray for revival – we should – but understand when it comes it will only delay the inevitable. A chance for more people to be saved. God will increase and return His grace ultimately back to His ancient people Israel.

Sober Up

So for this to come about, Joel is saying, “Sober up.” Today, major denominations are telling people, “No, get drunk”. The word is “sobreizo” in Greek. We’re told to practice self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is “egkrateia” – “self control” – they are saying be out of control. If someone is not in control of himself, the Holy Spirit is not in control of him.

I went to Toronto, Ontario on business during the last false revival and what I witnessed resembled a lunatic asylum with a cross on the roof. The first thing that I noticed was that everyone was talking about experience, nobody was talking about Jesus. And they kept saying, “I can’t control it! I can’t control it!” Well, the fact that you couldn’t control it proves it is not God. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

Just think of an alcoholic who becomes a Christian and the Lord delivers him from alcohol addiction. If that person goes into a pub or a bar and begins drinking again, is the Holy Spirit in control of them? No. A beer to him is death. If the Holy Spirit was in control of him, he would be in control of himself. When people sin, the Holy Spirit’s not in control of them, They are grieving the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is “egkrateia”. They are saying the diametric opposite of what Scripture says.

Now that the lunacy has died down, the same circle of heretics are anticipating the next wave of what they call “the spirit” when in fact, it’s an unholy spirit. The signs and wonders they seek, such as gold teeth and mysterious glitter, are expected to be more spectacular the next time.

Blow a Trumpet

The second chapter of Joel describes the Day of the Lord, beginning with a directive to sound the trumpet:

Blow a trumpet in Zion,

Sound an alarm on God’s holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

For the day of the Lord is coming near;

Jesus reiterates the same prophecy in His Olivet discourse:

The Lord utters His voice before His army;

For His camp is exceedingly great,

He who executes His word is powerful.

For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome,

Who can endure it?

But they wouldn’t blow the trumpet in Zion. This corresponds in figure to the Hebrew Feast of Trumpets. Today, the rabbis gave the Feast of Trumpets a completely different meaning than Scripture does. “When the people in the city hear the shofar, will they not tremble?” It’s a convocation and a warning. It’s the Jews being regathered to Israel for the Great Tribulation. The Jews are not going back to Israel for a picnic or a blessing; they’re going back to be deceived by the Antichrist, to make a covenant with death, and to go into a holocaust in which two-thirds of them will be wiped out.

The rabbis changed the meaning of Trumpets. You know what they call it now? “Rosh Hashanah.” “Happy New Year.” Now, biblically they should be saying, “oy v’ voy” “Woe upon woe!” When the trumpet is sounded, let the people tremble. But instead of saying, “ Oy v’ voy”, “Woe upon woe”, the rabbis are telling Jewish people to say, “Happy New Year!”

What do you do when the church, when its leaders instead of telling people to sober up are telling them to get drunk? Or instead of telling them to fall down and weep, they’re telling them to fall down and laugh. Israel is blind; the church is blind. Only a small remnant, albeit a growing remnant of Jews know the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. The proportions are not much different in the church. In most churches and denominations today, they’re all following one fad after another: Pensacola, Prosperity Gospel, Purpose Driven, Alpha Course, Emergent Conversation -- anything as long as it’s popular and unbiblical, they’re going to do it.

Jesus said directly, “When you see these things happening, lift up your head, your redemption draws near.” The book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible with a special blessing promised for reading it. Events are happening in the Middle East and in Europe today, such as the re-confederation of Europe exactly how Daniel said it would. “When you see these things happening, lift up your head, your redemption draws near.” As we see the “Day of the Lord” drawing near, who are people listening to? They’re listening to a man in California with his own global peace plan named Rick Warren who said don’t study Bible prophecy, it’s a diversion. Jesus said when you see this stuff happening, you better get into this book and understand what’s going on. “Oh no, don’t do that”, says Rick Warren. Who cares what Jesus Christ said? Why do we need Him when we have the Purpose Driven Plan?

Increasing Deception

There are three kinds of people in God’s economy as the “Day of the Lord” draws near: the Jews, the Gentile nations, and the church, composed of both Jew and Gentile.

Satan has the Jews deceived; they don’t recognize their Messiah, except for a faithful remnant. Satan has the nations deceived. That leaves the church. He is trying to deceive you and me.

When they asked the Lord Jesus at the Olivet discourse, “What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?”, He spoke of wars one time, rumors and wars one time, famines one time, earthquakes one time, pestilence one time, persecution one time, but He warned of deception perpetrated against the Elect four times. In fact, the first words out of His mouth were, “See to it that no one leads you astray.” He warned about deception perpetrated against you and me, your family and my family, your church and my church – He warned about that four times more than any other sign of the end

If you would have asked me when I was a young believer back in the early 70’s why I thought it was the Last Days, I would have told you, “Israel, the European Common Market, destruction of the environment, globalization of the world economy” – I would have told you all that stuff. I’m even more convinced that stuff is prophetically significant now than I’ve ever been. But it’s no longer the clearest signs. The clearest signs of the return of Jesus and the approach of the “Day of the Lord” is deception perpetrated against the Elect: The numbers and caliber of the people who are believing it and buying into it are astounding.

How can anybody in their right mind think they can be out of control when the Bible says be in control? How can anybody in their right mind say don’t study prophecy, when Jesus said we should? Deception. He’s got the Jews, he’s getting the church. “Blow a trumpet”. No, it is not “Happy New Year”, it is “Oy v’ voy.”

The Locust Armies

Now these armies of Babylon, represented by locusts, appear in Joel 2 and again in the book of Revelation. In other words, what happened with Nebuchadnezzar is a shadow of what will transpire eschatologically in the future, the Apocalypse. What happened with the Babylonian captivity will happen again. Revelation 9 says:

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet...

(Now, remember the trumpets.)

...and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.

What does it say in Joel? The sun will be darkened, a star will fall from heaven.

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth. And they were given power like the power of scorpions on the earth.

Well, here’s the locusts, they’re coming again. Look what they did the last time. So what does the church do? What should we do? We should see this and warn people Jesus is coming. “No, don’t do that,” says Rick Warren. “That’s a diversion.” These locusts are the demon cohorts of Antichrist. These locusts, who had a literal fulfillment in the Babylonian army, are a picture of the demon cohorts of Antichrist in Revelation 9.

I have seen tens of thousands of born again Christians gathered in stadiums singing:

“We run on the city, we run on the walls,

Great is the army who carries his word.”

They thought they were singing about themselves; they were “Daddy’s locusts,” the great army. Yes, it’s called Yahweh’s army, but it’s His army of judgment to bring His own people to repentance like the Babylonians were. They were actually singing about the demon cohorts of Antichrist thinking they were singing about themselves.

The Absence of Doctrine

“Blow a trumpet in Zion, Zion. Here we come. Latter Day Rain, Manifest Sons, the Manchild, Kingdom Now.” This whole global peace plan is merely Kingdom Now theology, over-realized eschatology, post-millennialism. Hyper-Charismatics going by experience, feelings, mysticism since they don’t have any doctrine.

So where do they get their doctrine? They go to hyper-Calvinists called “Reconstructionists”, the followers of Rousas Rushdoony, David Chilton, Greg Bonson, Gary North. Reconstructionists are people that believe that the church has to take over the institutions of government and finance to establish the kingdom of God before Jesus comes. “Kook” + “Kook” = “Kingdom Now”.

What bothers me most about Rick Warren’s “Five Point Global Peace Plan” is that it is not God’s. It is about education; it is about social welfare, it is about all those things, but it doesn’t talk about the Gospel. It doesn’t even talk about salvation. And his collaborators who bank-roll him are reportedly Bill Gates, Rupert Murdock and Mel Gibson, according to a report on the November 27, 2006 Fox news.

Jesus warned, “When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases like the heathen do.” In Hinduism it’s a mantra repeated over and over and over and over. In Catholic countries it is the rosary featuring prayers like the “Hail Mary” chanted over 50 times. It is so strong you can’t tell them, “Look, Mary says she needs a Savior” because they’ve been programmed by too many rosaries. Like Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister said, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it’s the truth.” They get into the mantra. So we have what some people call the “7-11 choruses”: 7 words, repeated 11 times. Where do these people get their theology? They get it from mindlessly singing choruses as if they were a mantra. There is no exposition of the Word, they just sing and sing the same thing over and over, but it doesn’t dawn on them that much of what they’re singing is not even Scriptural. They become captivated by it like a mantra. It is the same as Hinduism.

The Eastern Invasion

This is the third time eastern religion has permeated – invaded – the western church. Jeremiah warned of it in chapter 5: “My people are filled with influences from the east.”

The first time it happened was with the post-Nicean fathers, particularly in Alexandria; that was the first time eastern religion invaded western Christendom, with the Gnostics.

The second time was when the Crusades brought the influences of Hinduism and Sufi Islam into Europe during the time of the Crusades. The whole thing with little girls dressed like brides for their first communion and counting prayers on beads, that was all copied from Muslims and Hindus. The self-flagellation seen in monasteries and convents was all copied from Shi’a Muslims. That was the second time.

This is the third time eastern religion has invaded the western church.

At the 2004 National Pastor’s Conference in San Diego, the keynote speaker was Rick Warren. After a coffee break, the next session was featured Yoga. These are Evangelical pastors and they don’t have a clue what’s happening.

That day should not overtake us like a thief. He’s coming like a thief in the night, but it shouldn’t overtake us like a thief. It’s going to shock people, it’s going to surprise them, but it should not shock or surprise us. What should we be doing?

The Proper Context

Joel 2:

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

...verse 15...

Call a solemn assembly,

Gather the people, consecrate the congregation,

Assemble the elders,

Gather the children, even nursing infants,

Let the bridegroom leave his room

And the bride her chambers.

There’s a reason for that. Remember Jesus warned they’ll be marrying and being given in marriage.

Let them gather between the vestibule and the altar,

Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers weep

And say, “Spare Your people, O Lord.”

Make not Your heritage a reproach,

A byword among the nations.

Spare Your people, O Lord.

A “text”, out of context, in isolation from its co-text, is always a “pretext”. Satan is great at taking Scriptures out of context. Look what he did with Jesus. He tried it with Jesus. That whole argument between Satan and Jesus in Matthew 4 was from the book of Deuteronomy. Satan would pull a verse out of context, Jesus would answer him in context. Whatever Jesus answered was from Deuteronomy because everything Satan raised from Deuteronomy – he was great at taking certain verses out of context.

So they’ll point out in Peter’s charigma in the Book of Acts 2 that he quotes from Joel 2:28.

Afterwards it shall come to pass I’ll pour out my Spirit on your flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy.

That’s true. But first of all, in its context, it’s mainly focused on Israel and the Jews. Secondly, it doesn’t precede calamity, it follows it. They’re buying into a big lie.

Does It Matter To You?

Recently I was at the airport in Hawaii and the Lord put in my way the biggest con-artist, false prophet, money preacher in the world. Eyeball to eyeball, I told him he was a false prophet, that I can prove he’s made these predictions in the name of the Lord that didn’t happen, that he needs to repent and get out of the ministry. It doesn’t matter what I told him. No, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have told him. Ezekiel said tell them anyway, even if they won’t listen. It’s like serving an indictment, but they won’t listen. It just doesn’t matter to them. The question is, does it matter to you? Do you want a ticket out of here? The “Day of the Lord” is coming.

There is a message. The message is not, “Get drunk”, the message is not to lose self-control, the message is not, “Happy New Year”. The message is: pick up your Bible. What does it say in Amos? “Set the trumpet to thy mouth.”

Blow a trumpet in Zion.

Sound an alarm in my holy mountain,

The day of the Lord draws near.

You see CNN today? You watch Fox News today? The “Day of the Lord” draws near. But the biggest preachers in the world are giving the flock the opposite message, what chance will the sheep have from these wolves when their own shepherds give them over?

But there is a message. The message is the “Day of the Lord” indeed draws near.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

Consecrate a fast, call an assembly, a solemn assembly,

Gather all the people, consecrate the congregation,

Assemble the elders,

Gather the children, even the nursing infants.

Remember what Jesus said about the nursing mothers.

Let the bridegroom leave his room

Let the bride her chamber.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

Sound an alarm in God’s mountain!

The day of the Lord draws near

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep

And let them say, “Spare thy people, O Lord.”