GLORY AND FIRE

GLORY AND FIRE
By Jeannette Haley

How great is the danger in these end times! This great danger is not the
danger of bio or nuclear weapons, nor is it the danger of natural and man-made
disasters, nor the danger of satanic globalist tyrants and despots although all of
this, and much more, is very real. The greatest danger the Church faces is the
loss of the fear of the LORD, the knowledge of the Holy, and the overwhelming
awe of His glory.

Like Esau who sold his birthright for a bowl of lentils, the organized,
institutionalized, worldly, nominal church has sold her commission to go into all
the world, preach the Gospel, and make disciples for a cheap “form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof” 2 Timothy 3:5. The glory and the fire has been
exchanged for a mushy “feelings-based” sentimentality that smothers and dulls
any sharp-edged contrast between God’s glory, and His holiness, with the inner
workings of pride, sin and rebellion in the unrepentant heart.

The Jesus of the Bible is now being misrepresented in videos, movies,
plays, books, music and other avenues (including “preaching”) as a “common”
man who sometimes merely bumbles his way through the people and is basically
just a “good old boy” with the rest of fallen humanity. (Unlike the “Matthew”
project that was verse by verse Scripture.) What has happened to discernment?
Are multitudes of professing Christians so caught up with, and addicted to
entertainment, lying tales, and the fiction of “cleverly designed fables” that they
fail to see the poison bait of blasphemy on the deceiver’s hook? Consider this
verse, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made
known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
eyewitnesses of his majesty” 2 Peter 1:16.

Yes, Jesus Christ was fully man, but He was also fully God. Have we
forgotten WHO He is? “IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God” John 1:1. “And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth” John 1:14. Remember, Peter, James and John
witnessed His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Have we forgotten the
words Jesus prayed concerning His glory in John 17:5, “And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the
world was.”? Have we ignored Jesus’ prayer concerning His glory in verse 24,
“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am;
that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me
before the foundation of the world.”?

How dare we support in any way a distorted, nay, a perverted image of the
LORD Jesus Christ whether it be through entertainment, music, religious
services, fiction, mysticism, or by any other means that is inspired by a wrong
spirit? A wrong “religious” spirit woos novices, the undiscipled, and undiscerning
into a false presentation of Jesus by presenting a Jesus who “gets them”—a
Jesus who doesn’t require brokenness over sin, true repentance, obedience,
separation from the spirit of the world, or obedience. This “hip” Jesus doesn’t

require death to self-love, self-interests, self-exaltation, or “self” anything, but
rather he just wants to “hang out with you” and sympathize with all your felt
needs. The truth is, “another Jesus” has nothing to offer but a false light that
ends in gross darkness. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be
corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which
ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might
well bear with him” 2 Corinthians 11:3, 4.

Another Jesus, whether unbiblical presented from the pulpit or by any other
means, can never reflect the true glory of God but only a false, beguiling light that
blinds the minds and souls of those who receive it. “But if our gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them” 2 Corinthians 4:3,4. Remember what
Jesus said to Philip when he asked Him to show them the Father. Jesus said,
“He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9b). Colossians 2:9 states
this about Jesus: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” No
wonder He received worship, for only God is to be worshipped.

The question is, shouldn’t God’s people long to see His glory in the Church
as much as Moses desired to see His glory, even after all the great miracles he
had seen, and cried out, “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory” Exodus 33:18? And
God said, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live”
verse 20. Nevertheless, God put him in a cleft in the rock and showed Moses his
“back parts.” Sadly, people today are clamoring for more entertainment, more
excitement, and more feel-good emotional content, which, unfortunately, includes
signs, wonders, and miracles regardless of the source, or the impression it
leaves, or the fruit that is produced. How do we know this is true? Because, the
bottom line is, the Holy Spirit, who is the One who always exalts and reveals
Christ, is, for the most part, forgotten, ignored, unwelcome and missing in our
busy, man-centered churches. Jesus said, concerning the Holy Spirit, “He shall
glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” John 16:14.
Finally, what do we really know about the glory of God? The word, glory, or
some form of the word (like glorious or glorify) is found in the King James Bible
538 times so that, in and of itself, would make for a good topical study. Most of
us know Psalm 19:1, “THE heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament
sheweth his handywork.” Every time I see a glorious, indescribably beautiful and
spectacular sunset I think of this verse. In 1 Corinthians 15 we read of the
different glories of celestial and terrestrial bodies, and of the sun, moon and
stars. Each has their own glory. We also read of our bodies, sown in dishonor but
raised in glory.

The glory of the LORD is generally associated with blazing light, and often
fire. “And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of
the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel” Exodus 24:17. Think also of the
pillar of fire that stood over the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the Shekinah
glory over the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies. Luke 2:9 tells of the glory of the

Lord, “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord
shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.” In Matthew 3:11 we read
these words of John the Baptist, “I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” We know
that this indeed took place on the Day of Pentecost when the glory of God came
upon those who waited for the promise, and “appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues” Acts 2:3, 4a. Notice that the glory
and the fire of God is also accompanied by power. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But ye
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth.”

As for us in these end times, may the LORD God Almighty grant a spirit of
repentance if so be that any have stepped aside to seek Him among the
unrepentant dead, or anywhere else outside of the true glory, fire and power from
heaven that is available to us through His Word, His Spirit, prayer, and humble
obedience to His will.