The"American Wisdom Series"
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Pamphlet #5123 KCJames2

It is amazing how many people go to church just in case there is a God.

The Book of James, written to the 12 Tribes of Israel scattered abroad (The Christian Nations), to that "precious fruit of the earth" whom the "husbandman waiteth for" (James 5:7).

It was especially written to those who are alive and remain in this generation of the fig tree, for the whole thrust of James' letter can be summed up in his words in the following verse:

James 5:8
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
To "stablish your heart" is to "steadfastly set" or to "strengthen" your mind.

It is the Lord God who strengthens us through His Word, through the nourishing bread of life we receive as we eat the whole scroll (Ezek. 3:1-4).

And the point the apostle James makes in the verse we just read is that we need to be patient and make ourselves ready, for time is running out, "for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh"!

So we will continue to study the Book of James as our guide for the present time at hand, the time just before the tribulation of Satan who comes to earth as the spurious messiah claiming to be Jesus, to prepare us for the trials and tribulations to come.

We learned in our last study that if someone is a doubter and wavers in his belief, what he really lacks is wisdom from the Word of God, which means he also lacks faith.

So if a man is not a doer of the Word then the question is "Why should he expect to receive anything from the Lord?"

James 1:7
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Especially a crown of life!

How do you think the Lord feels about those who are not committed and are on-again off-again, sometime or part time Christians.

Surely He loves them but they don't really know the Lord because they don't know His Word.

It is amazing how many people go to church just in case there is a God.

[8] A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
A double minded person, much like the waverer of verse six, is one who tries to be worldly and spiritual at the same time.

He wants to serve both God and mammon!

What did Jesus say about that?

Matthew 6:24 "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

To carry it one level further, a person cannot follow Jesus Christ and Satan at the same time.

Next, James gives us a contrast between someone who is poor and someone who is rich.

Of course we know that both are going to shed the flesh!

That same fate happens to the rich, the poor, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

James 1:9
Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
The brother who is poor may rejoice because he knows that God has called him to the true riches.
James 1:10
But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
But those who are worldly rich (from ill-gotten gain) should rejoice in knowing their spiritual poverty, because earth school doesn't last very long, maybe 70 or 90 yearlong semesters.

Then it's all over!

And you either graduate with a crown of life (vs. 12) or at best you get to go to summer school for 1000 years.

[11] For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
What can we say about earthly riches?

Solomon said it best in Eccles. 1:2 "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."

And what about the unrepentant rich man?

Ditto!

But know this, you of the 12 scattered Tribes, and all those who serve the Lord, there is a rising "burning heat" beginning to build to "seven times hotter" in this final generation.

Yes, things are beginning to heat up and great spiritual tribulation is soon upon us.

(By the way, have you noticed any "signs" of burning fires lately in the west of the land where many of those of the scattered tribes dwell?)

James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Our Father's Word is full of promises and contained in this verse is a very comforting PROMISE from the Lord, but it is not that you won't be tried, because YOU WILL!

The promise is that WHEN YOU ARE tried and tested, IF you endure the temptation and tribulation, (even unto the end or shall we say from here on out!) then you SHALL RECEIVE the Crown of Life.

The reason this is so comforting is because when He promises something YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!

Therefore, if you believe His promises without wavering and truly love the Lord it is easy to endure temptation, even to count it joy as James told us to in verse 2, and it doesn't matter if you are a rich man or a poor man.

In this case, to be blessed means to be happy, FOREVER!

So always remember the promise of the crown of life!

Speaking of crowns, did you know that there are only two churches out of seven in these end times which Jesus Christ finds no fault with?

They are the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia found in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.

Let's read about one of them, the church of Smyrna, to whom that same crown of life is promised.

Rev. 2:8
And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
The apostle John was taken to the Day of the Lord (Rev. 1:10) which begins at the 7th Trump when Christ returns and he was shown what was happening in the churches just prior to that second advent.

So this is what Jesus Christ has to say to the church of Smyrna today, right now:

[9] I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
The Lord KNOWS these beautiful folks real well.

They have good works (which shows they have real, genuine faith), yet they have problems (boy do some of them have problems), and most of them aren't rich in worldly possessions just like the brother of low degree in James 1:9 (but they are oh so rich spiritually in Him) and they know full well who the kenites are, which by default means they also know who and where the 12 scattered tribes are right now, to whom James wrote his letter.

So the Lord knows, doesn't He?

Here is His advice about the days just ahead of us along with the very same promise He gave in James 1:12.

[10] Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
First of all, CALM DOWN, and don't worry one whit about anything you might have to suffer.

Yes, the tempter of all tempters, Satan the false-christ also know as thespiritual king of Babylon, is soon to be cast from heaven (Rev. 12:7-9) and some are going to be put on the hot seat and tried, for His name's sake.

That's big time tribulation all right.

But look, if he (or she) endures Christ will give him (or her) a crown of life (eternal life)!

That's what James just said!

Do you begin to see why the Book of James is so relevant to today?

Hopefully you do.

So some will be put in prison and tried and have tribulation 10 days. Hmmm.

Let's look at a worst case scenario.

Remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abedneggo when they were "delivered up" to the king of Babylon?

They were caught in an act of New World Order disobedience and would not waver and bow down to the "image" the king had set up.

So they were brought before the king, for religious reasons, and the king has just given them an opportunity to bow down or else he will cast them all into the fiery furnace.

Here is their reply:

Daniel 3:16
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Does it sound like there is any "wavering" here on the part of these three servants of the most high?

Their life is on the line here and they know full well that they are about to be tossed into the fiery furnace which the king has made 7 times hotter (showing us that the "fire" of the end times when the king of Babylon comes, is a "spiritual fire".

The number 7 is the number of spiritual perfection).

So their choices are
1.) to compromise their faith and bow down to the image of the King of Babylon, or
2.) Fry! Were they "tempted" to give in to save their flesh necks? No, they never even hesitated nor asked to have a sidebar!

They continue saying to the king:

[17] If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
They had real faith because they SERVED God!

They were doers!

"If you toss us into the fiery furnace, O king, our God WILL DELIVER US out of your hand."

[18] But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Had they died, either way they were faithful and endured unto the end and they would still have been with Him, wouldn't they?

They were in a win-win situation because when you serve Him you are always in a win-win situation.

So fear not!

Be patient and endure any temptation that comes your way and trust in Him.

Count it all joy, James says!

If you can't handle it, the Lord can and He is able to deliver!

In our next study James will give us good sound advice for those who dwell in the end times when lust and multi-media perversions and temptations have invaded the lands of the scattered tribes.

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the ancient Israelites} for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

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