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- The most heartrending idea to grip me recently has been a
fresh revelation of this world completely without God. Can you
imagine our present society suddenly free of all moral restraints?
Everything that now represents purity and the high and holy things
will be absolutely removed and non-existing, allowing unfettered
evil to completely baptize the world. It will be a dark and filthy
place. Satan will realize his long dream of world control and
will turn this globe into hell on earth.
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- Before that can occur, God’s restraining powers must
be removed. For the entire period of man’s earthly existence
the Holy Spirit of God has been the "Restrainer." For
some unknown reason, the church has never developed the truth
of this area of Holy Ghost activity or at least I have not seen
it.
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- From the very dawn of creation as God the Father acted to
call forth order and creative beauty, the Holy Ghost has been
the agent of restraint, The nothingness out of which God created
the worlds and all matter or creatures was a chasm of emptiness.
Why that was true the Bible does not explain. The first act we
see of the Holy Spirit was at this moment. "And the
world was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the ‘Spirit of God’ moved upon the
face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light and there
was light" (Genesis 1:2,3 KJV).
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- Out of nothing but a void and formless chasm, the Father
called forth light and order while the Holy Spirit pushed back
the darkness. The second person of the Triune Godhead was also
actively present as the eternal Word of God and light of all
creation. You see the Son of God in these words, "And God
said," and in the glory of light that followed His speech.
it was a display of God’s entire personhood and reveals
that our God is beyond all human explanation. The Holy Spirit’s
unique place in the Godhead is as the Father’s and the Son’s
right arm of power and authority. All hell is held at bay by
the Holy Spirit.
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- The Holy Ghost is The Standard Bearer
Isaiah spoke of the "Restraining" action of the Holy
Ghost with this marvelous statement: "When the enemy
shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift
up a standard against him" (Isaiah
59:19 KJV). The theology of this Biblical truth in incredible.
The word "standard" means a force or power superior
to the enemy. It suggests to "chase away," "put
to flight," or to "vanish." The believer or the
church that dares to depend wholly on the Holy Spirit is destined
to be a great power for God. The Holy Spirit alone is God’s
restraining power to "vanish" all our enemies and we
certainly need no other.
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- The Holy Ghost And Pentecost.
On the Day of Pentecost something happened in God’s economy
to forever change His witnesses in the world. The epicenter of
the Holy Spirit’s activity had always been the throne of
God or the Heavenly Sanctuary. While the Spirit is absolutely
onmipresdnt (There is nowhere where He is not), the center of
His presence and power was not within the First Testament church.
He came upon men or women for special anointings and responsibilities.
This illustration is probably crude and somewhat inadequate but
let’s say it’s like being near a fire or being at a
distance from a fire. You feel the heat in both cases, but there
is an extreme difference. The First Testament church lived at
a distance from the fire, but were certainly dependent upon its
power and warmth. King David expressed that when he said. "Cast
me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from
me" (Psalm 51:11 kjv).
On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost moved His center of authority.
Jesus had said, "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; Of righteousness,
because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things
to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he,
the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He
shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show
it unto you" (John 16:7-14 KJV).
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- When The Restrainer Is Removed With The Bride
The picture is breathtaking. God the Father, at the request of
the Son, sent the Holy Spirit to the church to choose a Bride
for the Son. For 2,000 years He has wooed, convicted, and converted
millions to this Brideship. Now the time has come to present
that Bride to the Master’s Son. All Hell has marshalled
its forces against the Bride, but the "Restrainer"
has reserved Her from defilement. She is holy and undefiled,
without spot or blemish, and ready for Her crowning day. At the
Word of the Father, the Holy Ghost and the sound of the trumpet
unleashes the most incredible power known to mankind. Resurrection
life invades the graves of the dead in Christ and changes every
living member of the Sanctified Bride.
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- All the Father needs to do when the Rapture occurs is to
call His Spirit to the throne. The Holy Spirit cannot move His
epicenter to the heaveniy sanctuary without the Bride being removed
with Him. There will be no search and find effort necessary for
the Holy Spirit is the life of those ready for this day of victory
and triumph. The Holy Spirit cannot leave without the Bride nor
can the Bride leave without the Holy Spirit. "But
if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you"
(Romans 8:11 KJV).
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- "Now, He That Letteth Will Let"
The mystery of iniquity or the spirit of Antichrist has been
at work during the duration of the church, but always limited
and held at bay. This evil design has been on a leash until the
Bride was secure and safe. Apostle Paul explains these facts
clearly. "And now ye know what withholdeth that he
might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken
out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall
destroy with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thessalonians 2:6 KJV).
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- There can be no doubt hut that Satan and all the powers of
Hell are already at work. There is a growing spirit of wickedness,
even a diabolical surge of an Antichrist spirit. Christianity
is hated with a vengeance by an ever enlarging group of people.
Satan is enlarging his kingdom and vying for the worship of the
world. His present tactics are marvelously successful as men
have become more humanistic and less discerning of the true realities
of the spiritual world. http://www.pawcreek.org
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