The Day of the Lord and the Wicked

This is from The Missing Cross to Purity:

Selections from the Works of Francis Howgill (1618-1669)

SECTION III

What the Day of the Lord is,
and what it will be to the Wicked [the unpurified].

Though the day of the Lord is pure light and brightness, and mixes not with night, which is of a contrary nature; yet it is a day of blackness and gloominess, and a notable terrible day unto the wicked, who hate its appearance, and hate the light, who are children of falsehood, and of deceit; whose deeds are evil. It shows or manifests them and their deeds; as it is written in Job 24:17: “the morning is unto them as the shadow of death.” The appearance of the Lord frightens them; and they would run from it as a thief that digs through a wall and breaks open a house in the night while deep sleep is upon men; such an evil man is afraid when the day appears that discovers his actions. The day of the Lord will steal upon those who live without restraint upon earth; whose hearts are set to seek after wickedness, as for hidden treasure; and it will come upon them as a thief. They, being children of the night, and bringing forth fruits of darkness, will have their portion in utter darkness. Thus shall the ungodly perish, and have their portion with hypocrites. Think of this all you railers, and revilers of the Light and the appearance of God, and repent. For as with the wild ass that snuffs up the wind at her pleasure, and those who seek her will not weary themselves with her, yet the time comes when she will be found and taken; the same will be with all the ungodly, though they may run as a wild ass, and traverse their way as a swift dromedary, yet the day will come, when they will be overtaken in the midst of their security; and they shall not escape.

And though the children, teachers, and believers of this world, who profess the Scriptures, have prayed for the day of the Lord, yet when it comes, it will be as a burning and devouring fire, and they will fall as stubble before it; for whatever is reprovable is manifested by the day in which God appears; and it shall appear, even to the wicked and to the ungodly. So all you hirelings who preach for hire, and you people who love to have it so, you shall not be hidden; and all opposers of the Truth shall be found out, and shall be convicted of their hard speeches, and ungodly deeds. What makes your deeds manifest is the day, and it will convince you; for even the wicked shall see His appearance, although to condemnation, shame, and, contempt.     

"They shall look on Him whom they have pierced." For even in the wicked God has a witness which is pure, which checks often, though they regard it not, because the god of this world has blinded their eyes; but when Christ, the Light shall appear, He will make that to see in the wicked, which the god of this world has blinded; and they shall behold Him in dread; and His pure appearance shall make them horribly afraid. Although they would not see, they will be made to see; and they will be made to hear what they would not hear, when God sounds his trumpet, to give warning to all, that the dead, both small and great may arise, “some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”*

[*Some to shame and everlasting contempt is not everyone else who did not awaken to everlasting life. The Lord says a perpetual shame and everlasting approach applies to the false prophets, Jer 23:30-40, which would include the preachers of Christianity not called by the Lord, not taught by the Lord, not perfected by the Lord, not authorized by the Lord, not sent by the Lord, not speaking with words heard from the Lord immediately before speaking, and not doing only what the Lord shows them to do. Everyone who fails to learn how to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, will meet His fury, (but not forever and accompanied by His compassion).]

--Hall Worthington

The Day of the Lord - Section II 

The Day of the Lord - Section V 

Exposure of Politicians - May 20, 2022

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II Corinthians 2:15-16:  "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life."

The Day of the Lord

This is from the Missing Cross to Purity:

Selections from the Works of Francis Howgill

SECTION V

Where the Day of the Lord Appears,
How it Comes,
and How it is Looked For.

The kingdom of God does not come with signs to be observed or with visible display,
Nor will people say, Look! Here ! or, See, there! For behold,
the kingdom of God is within you and among you.Luke 17:20-21 

Those who gaze abroad [looking for a visible, outward appearance] cannot see the Lord’s appearance, or his day. He that does not know where it consists, does not know how to look for it, any more than did the Jews, who were scripture experts and learned men, knew where the Kingdom of God consisted. And the literal believers, whose faith is founded on the letter [Bible/Scriptures], and on what is visible, know no more where the Kingdom of God is to be found. This day of the Lord, which is eternal brightness, appears in the heart; and the dawning and breaking forth of it is to be waited for there; and as it is witnessed, it manifests evil, and brings it to light, and declares against what is contrary to its own nature. Christ, the Covenant of light, the Gift of God, who is sent and anointed of God, to preach and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, proclaims it in the heart; for He comes not to bring peace, but a sword, and his sword is the sword of the Spirit. It is what divides, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, and discovers its desperate wickedness. In earthly hearts where He finds no faith, He kindles a fire and executes his vengeance; and his day to those without faith is a day of great perplexity. Their spirits come to be wounded; their hearts become faint, and sorrow fills them, and trouble is known; and in this state He finds all who are unconverted; without faith; without hope; and therefore He takes away peace. Many have talked of the day of the Lord; but when it appears, they will not be able to stand it; but will rather run to anything, [the refuge of continued darkness] than see the Lord of life appear to execute vengeance upon his enemies.

They who have not yet seen this day of the Lords vengeance in themselves, have never seen the day of salvation. The prophet cried out:  "Who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appears?" And many have been eye-witnesses of the dreadful day of the Lord, which has appeared in them, wherein all peace has been hidden from their eyes; and all who ever came to see that day of joy and gladness, first knew the terror and the terrible day of the Lord in themselves. Therefore said the apostle: "We, knowing the terror of the Lord, persuade men." Now this day of the Lord comes not with observation, "Lo here, or there;" thus the Pharisees looked that the kingdom of heaven should come, when Christ told them it "as within them." I say, if ever any do behold the bright shining forth of Eternal Life, they must wait in what is of God, through which He will manifest his day and power in them; and as they keep their attention to what manifests evil unto them, and shows them good, they will see how it appears; even as the lightning shines from the east unto the west, so is the coming of the day of the Lord; and the eye which is spiritual sees it. The power and the glory of the Lord, are seen in the day which is pure and spiritual in the heart; and the eye which is pure discovers when it comes, where it comes, and how it comes; while it is hidden from the vultures eye, and is hidden from the eyes which cannot cease from sin.

Now the day of the Lord comes not where the carnal mind might imagine, nor when man wills; neither according to the carnal desire of the carnal heart; neither according to the evil eye that looks out, can it be seen.

And as the day of the Lord is a mystery, the Spirit of the Lord is the only discoverer of it; for none can know the things of God, but by the Spirit of God. The day of the Lord; even his bright shining forth in the heart of man, is one of the glorious things of God, which only the Spirit of God gives the knowledge of to man, and in man. The further men draw from the Light, the darker their hearts become; and their understandings being closed up, they cannot behold the Lord, neither his glory, which is revealed only by God's Holy Spirit; which Spirit is near man, though he sees it not.

Francis Howgill (1618-1669)

The Day of the Lord - Section II

The Day of the Lord and the Wicked

Resisting and Receiving God's Spirit, Experiencing His Teachings

The Letters of Isaac Penington

To Nathaniel Stoner

IT is a dangerous thing to resist God's Spirit; and yet, very easy for a man so to do, who has nor received a true understanding from the Lord, nor is acquainted with the leadings and outgoings of Him who is pure. He that is tender and truly sensible may discern when he resists, when he quenches, or when he grieves the Spirit of the Lord; but he that is not truly enlightened, nor in the true sense, cannot do so. The Scribes and Pharisees, who were interpreters of the law, and very strict in outward observations and ordinances, who blamed their fathers for killing the prophets, and said, if they had been in the days of the prophets, they would never have dealt with them as their fathers did; yet, concerning these, said Stephen,  “You stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do also resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do you.” For until the stiff will and stiff wisdom is brought down in a man, he cannot but resist God's Spirit, and fight for his notions and practices, according to his interpretations of the scriptures, against the testimony of God's Spirit and power. Paul walked according to the letter of the law was blameless, yet he resisted the Spirit which gave forth the law. Those who would be found not resisting God's Spirit,  must know the Spirit, receive the Spirit, live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. He who is indeed turned to the redeeming arm, to Christ the power of God, and gathered into the power, and dwells in the Spirit and power of the Lord Jesus, and is taught and led by Him from path to path, and from pasture to pasture, as the Lamb, the Shepherd, goes before and guides him; — he is preserved from grieving the Holy Spirit, which moves and draws, instructs and quickens, all that are born of God. But, he that is only in the letter [the Bible], and in the form of godliness, out of the inward life and power, he is of that birth, mind, nature, and spirit, which cannot but resist God's Spirit. He knows not, he heeds not, His drawings, His movings, His light, His life, — the way thereof, — either in his own heart, or in the hearts of others; and so, walks in a way of rebelling against and resisting Him, who is the only Saviour and Redeemer of the soul. See Job 38:1-4, and 24:13. Oh that you might learn to wait correctly to learn these things, and come into the true sense and discerning of the Spirit and power of the Lord, that you might not any more resist it, neither in yourself nor in others. The Lord open your heart, and lay your spirit low before him; that you may come into a right sense and judgment, concerning the state of your own soul; and may experience the Lord manifesting things to you, as they truly are. 

I. P.

15th of the Fifth Month, 1671

POSTSCRIPT

O FRIEND! 

Wait to receive an understanding from the Lord, that you may come truly to know, whether you have resisted God's Spirit, or not; that you not lose the advantage of making peace with your adversary, while you are in the way with him.

I would not have you deceived about that virtue, life, and power which redeems the soul. For, there is no other Redeemer besides the Lord Jesus Christ, and he redeems by the grace of his Spirit, and by faith in his blood, which cleanses from sin; which blood is sprinkled on the consciences of those that believe,- and that, not in the darkness, but in the light; as is said in 1 John 1:7. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin." Under the law, the blood of bulls and goats was sprinkled outwardly on the outward things, which sanctified to the purifying of the outward things; but under the gospel the blood of the Lamb is sprinkled inwardly, upon inward and heavenly things. See Heb 9:13-14, 22-23, 10:22, and 12:24. Oh that you truly understood  the difference between your own claiming of Christ's blood to yourself, and the Lamb's sprinkling it upon you, and washing your soul within! Rev 1:5, and also, between your own believing, according to your own assumptions of things, and His giving you to believe in the light of his Spirit! and, between your own praying in your own spirit, and his giving you to pray in his Spirit!

Ah! the Truth of our God is precious! the knowledge of his Christ precious! It is a precious thing, to have the Son revealed by the Father to the renewed in mind. God himself is the teacher, in the new covenant of all the true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, Oh how the teachings of his Spirit differ, from all the knowledge and learning men can attain unto of themselves! The Lord give you the true understanding; and to know what it is to begin your religion in his Spirit; and batter down and bring to nothing the understanding in you, which is not true; that you may not find your soul deeply deceived at last, as to the true knowledge of Christ and mysteries of God's kingdom, -- and so, perish forever! This, in very dear, true, and tender love, from him, who most sincerely and heartily wishes well to you.

I. P.

17th of Fifth Month, 1671

[This is from the Missing Cross to Purity:  Resisting and Receiving God's Spirit, Experiencing His Teachings]

Christian History

Christian History

The Deathbed Prophecy of King Edward the Confessor, 1066
John Milton:  Writer and Revolutionary
Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna
Quotes from John Knox
The Early Christians Were Intensely Christ-Centered
Gleanings from George Fox
English Bible History
Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky
President McKinley's Dream
Obedience to the Promptings of the Spirit

The True Knowledge of Christ

"The true wisdom, the true light, the true knowledge of Christ, is like the manna in the wilderness; it daily comes down from heaven, and must daily be gathered fresh.  The true light springs from the life; and it must be held in the life, in the vessel which the life forms, in the new bottle, in the new understanding; not in the fleshly part, no, not in the natural part for as the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, I Cor 2: 14, so neither can he retain them."

--Isaac Penington


I Corinthians 2: 14:  "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:  for they are foolishness unto him:  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


Where is the Wise?
The Death of Voltaire

George Fox Warning False Christians

George Fox (1624-1691)

Here is some commentary on George Fox by Hall Worthington:

But, for those who preached and taught in error without the words from the Spirit of God, Fox's criticisms were definitely harsh.
He was critical of religious leaders in hopes of motivating them to stop teaching the words of the Bible, without the words of the Spirit. Here is an example, Fox writing to the Puritan priest of Ulverstone, to which Margaret Fox listened before she became a Quaker.

The word of the Lord to you, 0h Lampitt! You are a deceiver, surfeited and drunk with the earthly spirit, rambling up and down in the scriptures, and blending your spirit among the saints' conditions. You had a prophecy, as your father Balaam had; but you erred from it, as your father did. One whose fruit has withered, (of which I am a witness), and many who have known your fruit have seen the end of it, that it is withered; and do see where you are, in the blind world, a blind leader of the blind; a beast wallowing and tumbling in the earth and in the lust; one that is erred from the spirit of the Lord, of old ordained to condemnation. You are in the seat of the Pharisees, are called master by men, stand praying in the synagogues, and have the chief seat in the assemblies; a right hypocrite in the steps of the Pharisees, and in the ways of your fathers, the hypocrites, which our Lord Jesus Christ cried woe against. Such with the light you are seen to be, and by the light are comprehended; which is your condemnation who hate it, and will be so eternally except you repent. To you this is the word of God; for in Christ's way you are not, but in that of the Pharisees, as you may read in Mat 23. All that own Christ's words can see you in the Pharisees way. Christ, who died at Jerusalem, cried woe against your kind; and Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The woe remains upon you, and from under it you can never escape, except through judgment, condemnation, and true repentance. To you this is the word of God. To that of God in your conscience I speak, which will witness the truth of what I write, and will condemn you. And when you are in your torment, (though now you swell in your vanity, and live in wickedness), remember you were warned in your lifetime. When the eternal condemnation is stretched over you, you shall witness this to be the word of the Lord God to you; and if ever your eye should see repentance, you would witness me to have been a friend of your soul. (Notice Fox speaks the words from the Spirit of God, often in the presence of God, in the Kingdom of God; click here to see more examples).

But in his day, Christ was also extremely judgmental of those who taught religion in error. For example, here is what Christ had to say about those preachers and teachers who had not been purified within their hearts: 

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
You make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within are full of extortion and excess.
You are blind, first cleanse the inside of the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
You are like whitewashed tombs, outwardly beautiful, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
So you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:25-28

You are of your father the devil, and you follow and yield to the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not remain in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of all lies. John 8:44

See Jesus' Criticisms for many more.

And John the Baptist had this to say about hypocritical religious leaders:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,
he said unto them, O GENERATION OF SNAKES, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Matt. 3:7

Yes, Fox was very critical of the religious teachers, priests/preachers, and to a lesser degree, to the professed believers of his day.
But that is because they were false Christians - they had not been changed in heart, purified, crucified of their lusts and affections.
To be a preacher, they must be trained and authorized by Christ himself, with his spirit guiding their words.
Those who taught error were blind guides, leading others into the ditch and to destruction. 

By the 1800's on, Quakers in general judged their founder's criticisms and vocal opposition to the Protestant and Catholic sects and priests to be appalling. The later Quakers judged their founders to be intolerant, rude, unloving, judgmental, etc. This is the case of unfinished  men of the flesh judging a spiritual man obviously under control of the Spirit of God; likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities, Jude 1:8-10. Fox and many of the early Quakers were in the Kingdom of Heaven, therefore heavenly dignities, deserving of respect. A man of the flesh is without understanding and supremely arrogant to judge a man of the spirit. A man of the flesh cannot comprehend the degree to which false prophets are held in contempt by God, and therefore spared no extent of verbal lashing, especially when in a debate with others listening who might have been misled.

Shiloh
Criticisms of George Fox Answered
John Eudes:  "a scourge visited upon the people"

Gleanings from George Fox

Johnny Enlow Exposes Franklin Graham and T.D. Jakes (1:18:00 - 1:22:00)

The Inward Cross - Hall Worthington

"It is a cross to a man's will to sit waiting on God, silently listening, struggling to keep his mind from wandering; it is a cross to a man's will to obey what he is commanded and taught by the Holy Spirit; this is the cross of which you must deny yourself and pick it up every day, to then follow Jesus. To obey his voice is to follow Jesus. This is how to do what you have prayed for a thousand times: thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. You cannot be his disciple unless you pick up your cross daily and follow his orders. Salvation is only received by those who follow the lamb wherever he goes - who obey completely the voice of the Lord, in whatever he commands."

--Hall Worthington

The Missing Cross to Purity
The Missing Cross