There is a story of a rich woman who was on the Titanic and had brought a great amount of money and jewelry with her onto the ship. Once the ship struck the iceberg, in haste she ran toward the lifeboats, then suddenly she turned back toward her room. She wanted to get something she knew was of great value: ORANGES! Once the Titanic had struck the iceberg that lady’s perspective had a Titanic “awakening” to the truest sense. This lady went from being on a cruise, living in luxury to in an instant having her whole world be turned upside down and when it did, she made a very wise decision to let go of things that would be of no use in exchange for things that would save her life.
When I watch the movie about this event I’m always struck by the order of events. It shows a man watching for icebergs, sounds an alarm, and the iceberg is struck. The people ask what in the world is going on? And then they proceed to be shocked to hear that the ship really is going to sink! Which in turn propels many to ask what must they do to be saved while there are those who are urgently exhorting the people to get to the safety of lifeboats.
Can you imagine how major that awakening was? I mean just a few minutes earlier, EVERYONE was cruising through life, enjoying the surroundings and comfort of the ship that they were on, eating, drinking and partying not realizing how everything was about to get radically changed.
Ironically this planet is very much like the Titanic. People are living life on “cruise control” eating, drinking and partying along not realizing that the Bible has told us that we have struck an iceberg.
2 Peter 3.10: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
Abraham was at one time told news very similar to what we just read and are hearing now. In Genesis 18, the Lord comes calling on him and reveals that due to an outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, He’s about to visit the place with His wrath. Abraham hears the news and instantly begins to pray on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. WHY? He had family there!
Abraham, by the grace and mercy of God was being forewarned of coming judgment upon a place where he had family. In 2 Peter 3, we have been forewarned of coming judgment upon a place where we have family!
In Abraham’s account we read the story and it seems Abraham is bartering with God, “Lord, if there be 50 righteous will you spare the city?” But I think sometimes in reading biblical accounts we don’t really hear the human side of the account. We see Abraham as the giant man of faith that he was, but miss out on the fact he was flesh and blood just like we are. When he heard that a place where he had family was about to be destroyed, he was moved in desperation to PRAY! It was a Titanic awakening in Abraham’s hearing and he instantly began to “redeem the time.”
I have a brother and sister who live in different towns from where I live and if God came calling and said “Tim, I’m getting ready to destroy the town where your sister lives.” I promise you I would instantly be begging, “GOD, PLEASE DON’T DO IT!” And that is exactly what Abraham was doing and it led to Abraham’s family being rescued from the time and place of God’s wrath! Here’s the cool thing, God shared what was in His heart with Abraham to achieve what Abraham would want through the grace and mercy of God. 2 Peter 3 shows us that the heart Abraham displayed lined up with God’s desire that “none should perish”
So, I say this to you: God has come calling. He is telling you and me that He has been hearing an outcry and is being moved in anger to visit this place in great wrath. That this visitation will come as a “thief in the night” and that “time is running out.”
Joel 2.1-2: “Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming;
surely it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people;
there has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it.”
Romans 13.11: “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here.”
ICEBERGS!
Scoffing hearts would say, “Ah man, I’ve heard this before, it’s a broken record.”
Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of a time when in America alone, people made a decision that it was legal to kill a baby and since that decision over 55 MILLION babies have been killed.
OUTCRY!
God has said He will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel. We are witnesses to a time when world leaders are not only cursing Israel but unknowingly quoting right out of Psalm 83, “Come let us make Israel no more.”
OUTCRY!
To those in America who can’t see an ominous storm coming, can I ask you one major wake-up call type of question? Obama’s America is sending 1.5 billion dollars, plus 20 F-16 s, plus almost 400 tanks to the Muslim Brotherhood led, Israel hating, newly established Egyptian government for what reason? There is already at work an evil plan to pressure Israel to “give up land for peace” and Joel 3 says that is causing an outcry.
We have same sex marriage, adult entertainment (a thriving industry), violence, “as it was in the days of Noah” and “as it was in the days of Lot.” An outcry ascends all across this planet and God has PROMISED He will once again be moved to pour out His wrath! On a place you and I have family!
Friends and neighbors and co-workers are living on the Titanic and most don’t realize that it has struck the iceberg and they are in grave danger.
PARADIGM SHIFT
Like that rich lady on the ship, we too need to awake to a major change of perspective and let go of things that are of no lasting value and begin to urgently focus on the job at hand. The apostle Paul said this: “Knowing the terror of the Lord, I beg many.” And I too, sit here typing like a beggar.
Churches all across this nation are asleep to the time at hand. Many are just “going through the motions” of “having church,” having a form of godliness but no power. Can I ask you, would you please stop and think? Are your altars being fruitful, are souls being saved daily? Are broken lives being healed, is their a godly fear growing, is their an urgency, expectancy and passion stirring? If not, then WAKE UP.
On January 21, 2013 I heard a fellow end-time watcher and brother, Sherlock Bally, say this: “Islamic terrorist are living out their faith by strapping bombs to their bodies willing to die for their beliefs and yet you can’t get Christians to show up to a prayer meeting.”
I believe that it’s sincerely time to stop just playing church and get real. This is not a time to be living on “second hand smoke” or falling prey to what’s trendy. There is a passage in Jeremiah that should give us all pause that we need to be hearing from God and what we share needs to be what we have heard from God.
Jeremiah 23.30: “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.”
For too long we’ve settled to hear from someone else who has supposedly been hearing from God! A golden calf was once created out of a similar mindset. It’s time to know HIS voice personally and one of the things the Bible makes clear is that it is heavy on God’s heart is for people to PRAY! If you aren’t spending time in prayer I will submit it’s because you are NOT awake! If your church, if your leaders aren’t calling “solemn assemblies” to pray and repent and cry out to God, I submit it’s because Jesus hasn’t been allowed to come calling!
Please stop and think that if at every time in biblical history God has been moved in anger and has He told His people to repent and to pray, to seek His face do you NOT think that is what is at the Lord is saying now?
Yet we settle for a “best seller” at Christian bookstores when instead we can hear directly from God. Hey, I’m a writer and I appreciate that God uses that gift to speak, but if what I write doesn’t propel the reader to HIM, then I’m failing miserably. If I’m failing its because it’s just me writing for God instead of spending time with God having Him put the wisdom from Him into my typing! It is my hunger that whoever is reading this message is experiencing a major wake-up call and in that awakening, it will stir repentance, prayer and intercession all consumed of His presence!
“Behold I stand at the door and knock, to they who open, I will come in and dine with them and they with Me.” Abraham answered that knock. He was driven to intercession and God was moved to rescue Abraham’s family from a place where His wrath would be poured out.
Right now, God is knocking on our hearts. He is desiring to share with us what is heavy on His heart, “that none should perish.” If it doesn’t drive us to seek His mercy on behalf of our friends and family at a very perilous time and say, “DEAR GOD PLEASE. I HAVE FAMILY HERE,” then we are deceiving ourselves!
Jesus says in Revelation 22, “Behold I come quickly.” He tells us the response of the Holy Spirit and His bride is to cry, “Come.” If we are awakened by the Spirit of Almighty God, there should be an intense longing to be where He is, there should be a work taking place in our lives that is causing us to long for a city whose Builder and Maker is the Lord. It should be stirring an urgency to warn all who will listen that when Jesus calls His people to Himself, that a time will be unleashed upon this place that unless God shortens the days “no flesh will survive.”
If in being honest you can’t say that you have urgency and longing in your heart or at your church please pray for a Titanic awakening!
In Christ,
Tim Cameron