Watchman, please tell us
February 2006
"Watchman, please tell us."
Some of the week's major events in review...The BBC News...
"Italy, Greece and Bulgaria confirm their first outbreaks of the
deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, in wild swans.
"Scientists fear a global epidemic of deadly flu in humans will
strike soon as this tends to happen three or four times a
century. "Bird flu is the most likely trigger and one virus that
causes it - H5N1 - is giving particular alarm. "Highly
contagious and deadly in birds - and spread by them - this virus
has also killed dozens of people since re-emerging in SE Asia in
2003. "Experts think it is only a matter of time before the
virus changes and develops the ability to spread easily among
humans." ABC News reports... "Russian President Vladimir Putin
announced this week he was inviting Hamas leaders for talks in
Moscow. "The Hamas spokesman said the visit would help the
Palestinian position. 'It will also represent a division in the
Western position led by the United States and aimed to isolate
and besiege Hamas.' "The Russian invitation drew an angry
reaction from Israel and expressions of surprise from Moscow's
partners in the so-called Middle East Quartet -- the United
States, the European Union and the United Nations." CBS News
reports... "The Iranian president on Saturday rejected Western
pressure to freeze the country's nuclear program and issued a
veiled threat to walk away from the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty "He has declared the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews
during World War II was a "myth" and that Israel should be
'wiped off the map,' prompting worldwide outrage" MSNBC
reports...
"(COPENHAGEN, Denmark) - Denmark has temporarily withdrawn its
ambassadors from Syria, Iran and Indonesia because their safety
was at risk in the wake of a Danish newspaper's publication of
drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, the Foreign Ministry said
Saturday. "Denmark's embassy buildings in all three countries
had been targeted by angry mobs protesting the publication of
the caricatures in September. European and American newspapers
subsequently reprinted the drawings." USATODAY reports...
"(RIYADH, Saudi Arabia) (AP) -- Saudi Arabia's top cleric called
on the world's Muslims to reject apologies for the 'slanderous'
caricatures of Islam's Prophet Mohammed and demanded the authors
and publishers of the cartoons be tried and punished, Saudi
newspapers reported Saturday." The question I ask is this. What
is America doing while world cultures clash? "(CAMBRIDGE, Md.)
-- President Bush defended his warrantless eavesdropping program
Friday, saying during what he thought were private remarks that
he concluded that spying on Americans was necessary to fill a
gap in the United States' security." My thoughts... We stand on
the brink of a cultural war becoming a world-wide-war--with the
real possibility of nuclear weapons being used against Israel
and the West--and still we are arguing over the legalities of
the Patriot Act and NSA wiretapping, just to name a few. The
world stands on the brink of mass carnage while one of the top
news items in the U.S.A. tells us this... "(From WASHINGTON) --
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Thursday
narrowly voted to recommend putting the strongest type of
warning possible on widely prescribed stimulant drugs for
attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD." Now don't
get me wrong. I'm for free speech and warning labels on
medicines. But I'm thinking that the WARNINGS for today should
reach beyond the legalities of wiretappings and stronger warning
labels on drugs. I think the world headlines should boldly
inscribe these words at the top of every newspaper,
everywhere--REPENT! FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND! And I
think this scripture should appear underneath the headlines,
"The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud
voices in heaven, which said: 'The kingdom of the world has
become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will
reign for ever and ever.'" (Revelation 11:15) What's happening
today?
I believe that the seventh and final warning of impending, world
disaster is sounding but few are listening. For some time now,
I've been waking up at 3:00 AM. I've wondered why 3:00 AM? I
read the other day that the 3:00 to 6:00 AM watch, according to
the ancient, daily-Jewish timeline is the last watch of the day,
just before the new day starts. Is the Lord telling me something
by the symbolism of the fourth watch? I believe He is. And I
want to share it with you. The title of my message today is
"Watchman, please tell us." I'm going to speak to you about the
responsibilities of the watchman on the walls of Jerusalem and
how his responsibilities relate to the fourth watch of these
latter days. In order to do this, I must tell you about the
watchman in the Bible. Let's begin... First of all the watchman
was placed in a watch tower. This was a fortified structure
rising to a considerable height, to repel a hostile attack, or
to enable a watchman to see in every direction. Many of the
Psalms speak of God as our High Tower, our Tower of Strength,
our Tower of Refuge, or our Strong Tower of which the Righteous
shall "run into and are safe." What does this mean? In order to
fulfill the duties of a watchman, we must first embed ourselves
in God's covering of Righteousness. Our view into the
supernatural should always be through the eyes of God, His Word,
His will, His way. Only as we stand in the Righteousness of
Jesus Christ can we stand against the enemies of faith. Yes we
are watchmen, but watchmen stand in watchtowers to elevate their
vision, and cover them against all attacks by the enemy. We
receive the Righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ,
being regenerated by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:1). Secondly, the
watchman was watchful. The Jews, like the Greeks and Romans,
divided the night into military watches instead of hours, each
watch representing the period for which sentinels or pickets
remained on duty. Thus we read of 'a watch in the night' (Psalm
90:4). During the days of Jesus, the Jews divided the night into
'even,' 'midnight,' 'cockcrowing,' and 'morning' (Mark 13:35).
The morning watch was the fourth watch from 0300 hours to 0600
hours. The word "watch" comes from the original Biblical
languages of both Old and New Testaments that speak of being
"wakeful and so watchful, either for good or evil." When we read
the words of Jesus about the coming of the end of the age, He is
always using parables or direct language to warn us of
slumbering when we should be awake, scoffing when we should be
saying "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand," and above all
vigilant for the "night cometh when man will work no more."
Sobering thoughts, are they not? Again I say, shouldn't today's
headlines be screaming Jesus is coming soon? Get your house in
order. Yes, I realize that free speech and warning labels on
drugs are important issues for Americans. But what should the
watchman be saying? He and she should say, "Wakeup and get ready
for "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." Pastor
Terry Dashner Faith Fellowship Church Broken Arrow, OK