In light of the recent tragedies in Japan, I believe that it would behoove us to take a look at what's happening in our world through the eyes of Scripture. No matter what your preference is in cable news it seems as though all the news networks are asking experts why there is such an increase of natural disasters. We've been having history making snowstorms globally. History making droughts and wildfires globally. History making floods globally. History making number of volcanoes globally. History making tsunamis. History making earthquakes. History making tornadoes, which are no longer restricted to tornado alley. History making cyclones throughout Asia and the Pacific. History making low temperature. History making high temperatures. History making solar disturbances. Etc. etc. etc. Many of these experts are honest enough to simply say, "I don't know what's happening." "There is no logical answer." Even the Prime Minister of Japan stated that he believed the disasters are from heaven because of his nations greed. And of course the European "experts" who say the earthquake was caused by global warming.It is as tho all of creation is groaning.
Nearly all the prophetic voices, with an accurate track record, have had this to say about the year 2011. 2011 will be a year of unprecedented chaos, upheaval, tragedy, economic collapse, poverty, disease, and historical record making events. But all of these prophetic voices also seem to agree that in the midst of all this we shall see a great revival break loose in the church, a global spiritual awakening and the great harvest of souls for Christ. One such prophetic voice stated in December of 2010 on two different occasions that in March of 2011 there will be great tragedy and disaster coming to the world. This same person said on February 28 of this year, "An earthquake of a 9.0+ magnitude will hit Japan soon." Upon hearing this another prophetic voice who has prophesied many of the events of the past decade added that once "the big one" hits Japan, California will be next. In fact the same person said that they have seen in a vision the city of Los Angeles laying in ruins, soon. Geologists have even discovered new fault lines lying under the city of Los Angeles which would seem to indicate pending doom. And I myself believe that the city of Las Vegas will soon experience an earthquake that will leave the Stratosphere and many casinos collapsed.
Immediately following the earthquake in Japan I began to seek God as to why all these natural disasters are happening. The short answer God seemed to be saying to me was these things are happening because of the sin of man and that the end is near. He spoke into my heart that the earth is simply reacting to thousands of years of sin. To better understand this we need to look at Genesis chapter 1. God spent some five days of creation preparing a perfect place for a perfect creation. A creation that would be God's companion for eternity. A place of peace and harmony. There were no meat eaters at the time, thus animals could dwell among themselves, as well as with man, with no fear. Man was created perfect, sinless, to have dominion and authority, and to be eternally existent. God then created man from the dust of the earth. So the earth was for man and man was for the earth for they were made of the same substance. They were created to be pure, clean and supporting one another. Everything was created to bring praise to God.
Psalms 47:1 states, "O clap your hands, all you people; shout to God with the voice of triumph."
Psalms 98:9 states, "Let the floods clap their hands."
Isaiah 55:12 states, "For ye shall go out with joy, and be lead forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
We can see from these verses of Scripture, as well as many others, that all of creation is to praise the Creator. In fact Jesus even said upon making his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as the people were shouting and rejoicing as He came into town and the Pharisees ordered him to stop this outburst of fanaticism, "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." (Luke 19:40). Then in Isaiah 49:13 we read, "Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; break forth into singing, O mountains." Just one more Scripture of many that we could share, Isaiah 44:23 states, "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord has done it; shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every tree therein." The earth, man and all creation were created to live in harmony and bring glory to the creator. We know that man has the ability to offer up a hand-clap praise unto God, but what about the floods (the waters of the deep), trees and the mountians clapping and singing before God?
As Jesus was making His triumphal enter into Jersalem and the religious leaders begin to rebuke Him because of the fanical praise of the people, He said. "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."(Lk.19:40) Is.49:13 states, "Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; break forth into singing, O mountians." Is.44:23 says,"Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord has done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountians, O forest and every tree therein." If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there, does it still make a noise? Just because man can not hear the earth clapping and singing doesn't mean its not happining--God hears it! We would never say that we have heard animals talk, yet Balaam's donkey carried on a conversation with him in Numbers chapter 22. With God all things are possible!! He created everything to to praise Him! Why would Jesus say that the stones would cry out if they could not be heard in heaven? Why would God say that the floods, trees, mountians and all of creation would praise Him if it were not true? "God is not a man that He should lie." Just because our finite minds can not see or hear nature praising God doesn't mean its not happening. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts,"(Is.55:8,9) All of creation, man, earth and beast, were created to be a praise to their Creator.
Everything was going fine until Genesis chapter 3 where in verse 13 we see that Eve was deceived. Instead of accepting the absolute truth of God's word; that being, "That if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will surely die," she and Adam chose to believe a delusion, the deception of Satan. As always Satan twisted the words of God to mean something other than what God intended. They chose the deception because it appealed to their flesh and thus sin entered a perfect creation--man's heart. Then man began to defile the earth. God pronounces a curse on the earth because this is where man came from. "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." (Genesis 3:17). "Because of the ground which the Lord has cursed." (Genesis 5:29). What Adam once had dominion over, now turns on him. The beast become carnivorous, flesh eaters, thus it was unsafe for man or animal to cohabitate together. The earth now begins to produce thorns and thistles instead of fruitfulness for man. This is to continue until, "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shall you return." (Genesis 3:19).
The earth is reacting to a foreign substance--SIN! By earthquakes, it's trying to shake it off. By tornadoes and hurricanes and dangerous winds, it's trying to blow it off. By its floods, tsunamis and torrential rains, it's trying to wash it off. By drought and wildfires, it's trying to burn it off. Sin has and is defiling the earth!! As a dog with fleas or ticks attempts to scratch them off, so it is with the earth, she is tring to rid herself of sin.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
THE GREAT DELUSION--Pt.2
Let us continue looking at the great delusion or the strong delusion that God said that he would send among His people. God is allowing leaders to be tested to receive a delusion or that which is not lining up with absolute truth. Then they, (believing to have revelation knowledge) begin to tell others a delusion, a diluted, compromise word, because they are receiving a lying spirit. The word diluted means to make weaker by mixing, such as mixing absolute truth with half truths. This can be illustrated by taking a small bottle of grape juice and pouring it into a pitcher and then filling the pitcher all the way to the top with water. Though it may still look like grape juice it has been diluted, meaning it will no longer taste like the original. This is what we do with the Word of God, the absolute truth. We began to mix with it our own opinions, biases, doctrinal understanding,etc., and thus, we stray from the original intent of the Word.
Another definition of the word diluted, is to reduce the purity of. This is what's happening with a majority of our modern translations of the Bible. The translators paraphrase the absolute truths to fit their own personal biases, doctrines, or opinions. It's as though today you can find a Bible translation that will fit almost any opinion of the believers. This has all been designed to dilute the Word in order for God to send this strong delusion to test the hearts of his people to see if we still know absolute truths and will defend them. If we do not know the truths of God's Word, then we are easily misled by the inaccuracies of many of our new translations. Without studying to show ourselves approved then we will also miss the inaccuracies in sermons, tapes, CDs, DVDs, etc.
Allow me to illustrate exactly what this strong delusion, this spirit of religion, looks like. First we must understand that there is a fine line between a professing Christian and a true Christian, a true follower of Jesus. A professing Christian may very well be one who started out as a born again believer in Jesus Christ. But through exposure to a compromised Word or diluted messages they find themselves in a place of complacency. They develop an attitude that not all of the Word of God applys to their lives. They find themselves in a position of compromise where now they begin to surrender biblical principles such as holiness, purity and righteousness. Soon there develops a "form of godliness but denying the power thereof", or to say there's a profession of faith but the power to change one's life is not evident. The Word of God admonishes us in Philippians 2:12, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." I must confess I always wondered what this "fear" is. Proverbs 8:13 states, "the fear of God is to hate evil." This is what's missing in a professing Christian's life, there is no hatred of evil.
Professing Christians began to place their faith and their eternal security in their churches, denominations, pastors, or other's opinions. We become more focused on performance than on relationship with God. We may know the Bible yet we don't obey it. Professing Christians show no regard for the Word of God when it comes to current sins plagueing the church, like divorce. It doesn't matter that in Malachi chapter 3 God says that he hates putting away, or to say divorce, or that Jesus told us that the only grounds for divorce is that of unfaithfulness, as believers if we want to get a divorce we just do it. We seem to believe that we can do what ever we want, and once we've enjoyed sin's pleasures, then we confess our sins to God and rely on His mercy and His love to just look over it. We have those in the pulpit as well as those in the pew living in adultery,fornication, lieing,etc., and yet professing to be Christians relying on God's mercy and love to just simply "overlook" our sins. This is a "strong delusion!!" This is what I mean by the Word of God being diluted over the years. With the shift to God's mercy and his love being the predominant message of the church we no longer fear his judgment, wrath or his hatred of sin.
We may be able to pray like no other. We can even quote Scriptures. We can be faithful and loyal to the local church, Bible studies, book groups, prayer groups as well as other church activities and still be deceived if we do not apply the absolute truth of all of God's Word to our lives. If we refuse truths because it doesn't fit our understanding or doctrine or if it interferes with our lifestyles, our recreational pleasures, etc., then we our deceived. It is this mindset that Paul addresses in II Thessalonians 2:12, which reads, "that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteous."
Paul is stating here that all who do not love, accept and believe the absolute truth of God's Word are the ones who are receiving this delusion and that they are also going to be condemned. Paul is not necessarily saying that these people are practicing unrighteousness but that they take pleasure in unrighteousness. In other words we may not commit adultery, fornication, gay acts, murder, violence, use foul language, or other forms of worldliness, but we take pleasure in them by supporting them. Whenever we view TV shows, movies, things that we watch on the computer, even the books and magazines that we read or look at we are saying that we approve of those things. So if we're watching a movie, a TV program or other forms of entertainment that is showing people committing adultery or fornication or committing gay acts or violence, murder or just the use of foul language, if we're watching these then we are saying we approve of these things as a Christian and that this is proper entertainment and lifestyles for those who love God.
Again Paul addresses this issue by stating in Romans 1:32, "who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." Paul had been speaking about homosexuality as well as numerous other sins in this chapter when he made this statement. Again, we may not participate in the sins that he had just listed but if we watched them, search the Internet for them, or read about them for entertainment value, then we are, by our actions, approving of them. The book of Psalms 102:2,3 states, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes." Are we walking within our houses with a perfect heart before God and our families? If we are permitting things into our home that do not glorify God then we are not walking within our houses with a perfect heart. " I will set nothing wicked before my eyes" should be our motto of life. We should not watch movies, television programs, anything on the computer, etc., if it defiles us. If it causes us to meditate upon sinfulness or unrighteousness then we should not set it before our eyes.
Isaiah speaks of this delusion being a religious spirit in Isaiah 66:1-4. "'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,' says the Lord.'But on this one will I look: on him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog's neck; he who offers a grain offering, as if he offer swine's blood; he who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so I will choose their delusion, and bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.'"
God is saying here that he does not take pleasure in those who flaunt their "liberty". Who "feel no conviction" when living in sin or "approving" of it. But he delights in the one who grieves over sin, not just their own sin but the sins of the world as well. When we offer up the sacrifice of praise unto God without the true spirit of sacrifice this becomes an abomination. We may offer up great prayers, worship and praise, we may lift up our hands, we may even speak in tongues, but without abiding in the absolute truth of God's Word and being in relationship with Him and being of a contrite spirit then these things are an abomination to God-- this is a spirit of religion. All the things that are listed in verse three were forms of religious observances offered to God. What He is saying here is that He is not pleased with religious ritual but with an obedient heart. God is saying here, through Isaiah, that the guilt of the people he was addressing lay in their insincerity. Their heart was far from God when their feet were in His house. Notice in verse four that Isaiah is prophesying what Paul would speak of in second Thessalonians, that being, God choosing a delusion for His people. That delusion is when people offer up their sacrifices of praise, thithes, gifts, etc., but not from a loyal heart and believing that religious rituals please God. II Chronicles 25:2 states when Amaziah become king,"and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart." We practice our religion well but our hearts aren't set on holiness and righteousness, this is a spirit of religion. God said in verse four that when he spoke they did not hear, this is all so true today. God is speaking through preachers and prophets, calling his people to holiness and righteousness, and yet they do not want to hear it. Instead "they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight."
With the absolute truths of God's Word having been diluted, mankind now decides what is right for them. We now conform the Word to fit us not conforming our lives to fit the Word. We want preachers who tickle our ears. "Who say to seers,' do not see,' and to the prophets,'do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.'"(Is.30:10) This is the strong delusion! This is the spirit of religion!
A spirit of religion, a strong delusion, has captivated a large portion of our churches. Truth is now being mixed with half-truths or man's understanding of truths. The delusion that God has chosen is a diluted Word, a straying from absolute truth. Remember the definition of a delusion is a false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. God is testing us to see if we not only know absolute truth but are we obeying it. Do we study to show ourselves approved so that we may recognize half-truths and even unscriptural prophecies and messages? What do our actions and lifestyles tell the world that we are approving of? Is our worship from a loyal heart or just religious ritual? Absolute truth or delusion which one are we following?
Another definition of the word diluted, is to reduce the purity of. This is what's happening with a majority of our modern translations of the Bible. The translators paraphrase the absolute truths to fit their own personal biases, doctrines, or opinions. It's as though today you can find a Bible translation that will fit almost any opinion of the believers. This has all been designed to dilute the Word in order for God to send this strong delusion to test the hearts of his people to see if we still know absolute truths and will defend them. If we do not know the truths of God's Word, then we are easily misled by the inaccuracies of many of our new translations. Without studying to show ourselves approved then we will also miss the inaccuracies in sermons, tapes, CDs, DVDs, etc.
Allow me to illustrate exactly what this strong delusion, this spirit of religion, looks like. First we must understand that there is a fine line between a professing Christian and a true Christian, a true follower of Jesus. A professing Christian may very well be one who started out as a born again believer in Jesus Christ. But through exposure to a compromised Word or diluted messages they find themselves in a place of complacency. They develop an attitude that not all of the Word of God applys to their lives. They find themselves in a position of compromise where now they begin to surrender biblical principles such as holiness, purity and righteousness. Soon there develops a "form of godliness but denying the power thereof", or to say there's a profession of faith but the power to change one's life is not evident. The Word of God admonishes us in Philippians 2:12, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." I must confess I always wondered what this "fear" is. Proverbs 8:13 states, "the fear of God is to hate evil." This is what's missing in a professing Christian's life, there is no hatred of evil.
Professing Christians began to place their faith and their eternal security in their churches, denominations, pastors, or other's opinions. We become more focused on performance than on relationship with God. We may know the Bible yet we don't obey it. Professing Christians show no regard for the Word of God when it comes to current sins plagueing the church, like divorce. It doesn't matter that in Malachi chapter 3 God says that he hates putting away, or to say divorce, or that Jesus told us that the only grounds for divorce is that of unfaithfulness, as believers if we want to get a divorce we just do it. We seem to believe that we can do what ever we want, and once we've enjoyed sin's pleasures, then we confess our sins to God and rely on His mercy and His love to just look over it. We have those in the pulpit as well as those in the pew living in adultery,fornication, lieing,etc., and yet professing to be Christians relying on God's mercy and love to just simply "overlook" our sins. This is a "strong delusion!!" This is what I mean by the Word of God being diluted over the years. With the shift to God's mercy and his love being the predominant message of the church we no longer fear his judgment, wrath or his hatred of sin.
We may be able to pray like no other. We can even quote Scriptures. We can be faithful and loyal to the local church, Bible studies, book groups, prayer groups as well as other church activities and still be deceived if we do not apply the absolute truth of all of God's Word to our lives. If we refuse truths because it doesn't fit our understanding or doctrine or if it interferes with our lifestyles, our recreational pleasures, etc., then we our deceived. It is this mindset that Paul addresses in II Thessalonians 2:12, which reads, "that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteous."
Paul is stating here that all who do not love, accept and believe the absolute truth of God's Word are the ones who are receiving this delusion and that they are also going to be condemned. Paul is not necessarily saying that these people are practicing unrighteousness but that they take pleasure in unrighteousness. In other words we may not commit adultery, fornication, gay acts, murder, violence, use foul language, or other forms of worldliness, but we take pleasure in them by supporting them. Whenever we view TV shows, movies, things that we watch on the computer, even the books and magazines that we read or look at we are saying that we approve of those things. So if we're watching a movie, a TV program or other forms of entertainment that is showing people committing adultery or fornication or committing gay acts or violence, murder or just the use of foul language, if we're watching these then we are saying we approve of these things as a Christian and that this is proper entertainment and lifestyles for those who love God.
Again Paul addresses this issue by stating in Romans 1:32, "who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." Paul had been speaking about homosexuality as well as numerous other sins in this chapter when he made this statement. Again, we may not participate in the sins that he had just listed but if we watched them, search the Internet for them, or read about them for entertainment value, then we are, by our actions, approving of them. The book of Psalms 102:2,3 states, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes." Are we walking within our houses with a perfect heart before God and our families? If we are permitting things into our home that do not glorify God then we are not walking within our houses with a perfect heart. " I will set nothing wicked before my eyes" should be our motto of life. We should not watch movies, television programs, anything on the computer, etc., if it defiles us. If it causes us to meditate upon sinfulness or unrighteousness then we should not set it before our eyes.
Isaiah speaks of this delusion being a religious spirit in Isaiah 66:1-4. "'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,' says the Lord.'But on this one will I look: on him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dog's neck; he who offers a grain offering, as if he offer swine's blood; he who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so I will choose their delusion, and bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight.'"
God is saying here that he does not take pleasure in those who flaunt their "liberty". Who "feel no conviction" when living in sin or "approving" of it. But he delights in the one who grieves over sin, not just their own sin but the sins of the world as well. When we offer up the sacrifice of praise unto God without the true spirit of sacrifice this becomes an abomination. We may offer up great prayers, worship and praise, we may lift up our hands, we may even speak in tongues, but without abiding in the absolute truth of God's Word and being in relationship with Him and being of a contrite spirit then these things are an abomination to God-- this is a spirit of religion. All the things that are listed in verse three were forms of religious observances offered to God. What He is saying here is that He is not pleased with religious ritual but with an obedient heart. God is saying here, through Isaiah, that the guilt of the people he was addressing lay in their insincerity. Their heart was far from God when their feet were in His house. Notice in verse four that Isaiah is prophesying what Paul would speak of in second Thessalonians, that being, God choosing a delusion for His people. That delusion is when people offer up their sacrifices of praise, thithes, gifts, etc., but not from a loyal heart and believing that religious rituals please God. II Chronicles 25:2 states when Amaziah become king,"and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart." We practice our religion well but our hearts aren't set on holiness and righteousness, this is a spirit of religion. God said in verse four that when he spoke they did not hear, this is all so true today. God is speaking through preachers and prophets, calling his people to holiness and righteousness, and yet they do not want to hear it. Instead "they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight."
With the absolute truths of God's Word having been diluted, mankind now decides what is right for them. We now conform the Word to fit us not conforming our lives to fit the Word. We want preachers who tickle our ears. "Who say to seers,' do not see,' and to the prophets,'do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.'"(Is.30:10) This is the strong delusion! This is the spirit of religion!
A spirit of religion, a strong delusion, has captivated a large portion of our churches. Truth is now being mixed with half-truths or man's understanding of truths. The delusion that God has chosen is a diluted Word, a straying from absolute truth. Remember the definition of a delusion is a false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. God is testing us to see if we not only know absolute truth but are we obeying it. Do we study to show ourselves approved so that we may recognize half-truths and even unscriptural prophecies and messages? What do our actions and lifestyles tell the world that we are approving of? Is our worship from a loyal heart or just religious ritual? Absolute truth or delusion which one are we following?
Monday, February 28, 2011
THE GREAT DELUSION--Pt.1
I would like to deviate from our study of the book of Daniel in order that I may share with you what the Lord put in my heart about the strong delusion that He will send upon us in the last days. I believe we are in the last of the last days and that God has already released this strong delusion and that it is growing rapidly among us. I also believe that this is one of the most important words I've ever been given. It is for sure one of the heaviest words of revelation knowledge I have ever proclaimed. I personally believe that its revelation knowledge for the body of Christ to be given in these last days
Jesus warns us in Matthew 24:24, "For false Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." Jesus began this discourse of the signs of the end times in Matthew 24:4 by saying, "Take heed that no one deceives you." Jesus would not have warned his followers about being deceived if it wasn't possible for them to be deceived. So in verse 24 when he says that these false prophets and false Christ are going to show up with great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect, those in the book of life, then it is possible for them to be deceived; and we must remember that even the saints of God can be deceived by this delusion. I personally believe it is happening right now.
Paul speaks of this great delusion that God is going to send among us in II Thessalonians 2:1-4,and 9-12. "Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him,(this of course is speaking of the rapture of the saints)we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Please note here that the day of the Lord will not come until there is first a falling away, which is occurring right now, and the antichrist, the son of perdition, sets in the temple of God. There's no temple in Jerusalem yet so how can Jesus' return be at hand. We know from Daniel and Matthew 24 that Jesus is not going to return until after the temple has been defiled by the antichrist which does not occur until midway through the tribulation. Since there's no temple in Jerusalem at this time, even if the antichrist were here now he would be hard-pressed to take his seat in a temple that does not exist.
Then beginning with verse nine Paul states, "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who parish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie." Here we see the ones who were going to receive this delusion or deception in the last of the last days are those who do not receive the "love" of the truth. The Scriptures do not say those who didn't receive truth, it says those who did not receive the "love" of the truth. In other words, you may have heard the word of God, whether preached, or by what ever means you received it, you heard it, you accepted it, you may have even agreed with it but you did not "love" the absolute truth found in God's word. We can read the word of God or hear a message from the word of God that moves us, by conviction of the Holy Spirit, to respond to that word. We may be born again. We may begin to attend church regularly. We learn how to pray, how to have personal devotions, how to pay our tithes, we may even get to the place of teaching Sunday School, serving on church boards and committees or even preaching in the pulpit. And yet all the while, we do not love the truth. We get to where we pick and choose Scriptures or we abide by some and cast-off others indicating that we lack love for the truth. When we love the absolute truths of God's word we accept it all and we abide by it all.
The word delusion used here from the Greek means, straying from orthodoxy or straying from absolute truths; deceit; to deceive; delusion; and error. From a secular dictionary it means, to mislead the mind or judgment; to deceive; the act of deluding; led astray; a false belief; something false but taken to be true; a false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. This is the delusion chosen by God. It is a religious spirit. It is a form of religion. It is a people who have developed a false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. You know you've accepted the delusion or have been deceived when people attempt to correct your doctrines or your theology or your mindset or your opinions of Scripture with the Word of God, which proves what you're holding to is wrong, it's in error or false and you are still fixed in that belief no matter what they say or know matter what they show you. This happens to me constantly. When God has me go to people with nothing but the word to correct their erroneous understanding of Scripture or doctrine and I show them what the word of God says their response is, "That's just your opinion." This is a result of people receiving the deluted word of God over the years that leads to the great delusion. Decades ago God began to send this delusion among His people. It's when man began to take the absolute truth of God's word and mix it with part truth for their own understanding or their own designs and desires for the word.
The word dilute means to make weaker by mixing, such as mixing part truth with part half-truths or our own understanding, to weaken or reduce the intensity, strength, or purity of, as by introducing another element. Diluted truth is what leads to deception, or to say the great delusion.
God has sent a strong delusion. It's not demonic. It's not evil looking. But it is very religious in its appearance. It is a religious system built on diluted truth full of compromise. The word compromise means an adjustment usually involving a particular surrender of claims (such as absolute truth), purposes (such as fulfilling the Great Commission), or principles (such as holiness and righteousness of living), something lying between, or combining the qualities of, two different things (such as taking the middle road). With this definition of compromise in mind, this is what the strong delusion looks like. It is practiced where people surrender particular claims, such as the absolute truth of God's word. We have diluted the Word with man's understanding and man's doctrine and denominational theologies to the point where the absolute truth is no longer recognizable. We have been deceived and have accepted a diluted truth in place of absolute truth. The delusion is present where people have surrendered the purposes of God's word such as the Great Commission. In most of our churches today, and in the lives of most professing Christians, we can take the Great Commission or leave it, it doesn't matter. We're no longer concerned about making disciples, only building up our man-made churches and religious systems. The strong delusion is practiced in the lives of people and churches where biblical principles, such as holiness and righteousness of living, are no longer followed. We determine for ourselves what's right and what is wrong and no one should dare to try to tell us any different. In today's church most are left to determine their own plans of salvation. After all what preacher has the right to tell you what's right or what's wrong for you. We seem to have the mindset in the church today that if we believe it's right for us then it's right and no one, or the word of God, can tell us any different. Remember the definition of delusion? A false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. People today in the church have accepted the strong delusion, sent by God, that has us walking with a double mindset. Remember that is a definition of compromise, something lying between, or combining the qualities of, two different things. In other words we take a middle of the road approach to Christianity. We try to walk the fence with one foot in the world and one in heaven. The book of James warns us about being double minded.
You may ask the question, why would God send a strong delusion that would possibly deceive even the elect? He has sent it in order to test the church to see whether we are going to live by his absolute truths, love his absolute truths, obey his absolute or are we going to accept the delusion, a diluted, compromised word of God.
I believe that First Kings chapter 22 is probably the best biblical illustration to prove that this strong delusion from God is religious. In this chapter we see where King Ahab and Jehoshaphat were contemplating going to battle against Ramoth in Gilead and Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from God as to whether God would have them to go up to this battle are not. Jehoshaphat asked if there were any prophets that they could ask a word from God as to whether or not they should go to this battle. So Ahab brought in his own personal prophets, some 400, to prophesy for Jehoshaphat. Each of these prophesied prosperity and great victory for Ahab and Jehoshaphat. They were told that they would conquer their enemies and that God was with them and that they should go up and fight this battle. Yet this did not pacify Jehoshaphat. He asked if there were any other prophets, and Ahab said that there was one remaining prophet of God whose name is Micaiah, but he never prophesied anything good for him. But Jehoshaphat insisted on sending for Micaiah. So a servant was sent to bring Micaiah to Ahab and Jehoshaphat. When the servant arrived with Micaiah,and he had told him what all the other prophets had prophesied to the king, he told Micaiah that he needed to do the same. When Micaiah came before Ahab and Jehoshaphat they asked him whether they should go to this battle or not,he answered and said what the other prophets had said. He prophesied only good things toward Ahab and Jehoshaphat. But when they had asked him,"How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?," he spoke the word from God. Micaiah says that if they go up they would surely die and of course Ahab responded by saying,"Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil?" At this point Micaiah tells Ahab and Jehoshaphat what he had seen when God came to him. The story begins in verse 19 of chapter 22.
"Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne and all the host of heaven standing by, and on His right hand and on His left. And the Lord said,'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will persuade him.'" It's important for us to note here that this spirit mentioned in this verse is not the Holy Spirit but a fallen spirit. If you look in the book of Job you see where the sons of God were around the throne and this included Satan as a son of God. We see here that Satan and the fallen angels are constantly going before God around the throne. They're involved in a lot of the decisions as it were as to what's happening with mankind. They are also there constantly accusing the brother. We know that Satan had permission to sift Peter as well as Job. So this spirit that we see here in verse 21 is a fallen spirit, a contrary spirit that was speaking before God in this vision that Micaiah saw.
Then continuing with verse 22, "The Lord said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the Lord said, 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.'" It is here in this verse that we see the lesson to be learned about the delusion. When this contrary spirit said that he would go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets, speaking of Ahab's prophets, he is saying here that he will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of those who are speaking for God. It's important also to see here that Ahab had his trust in his 400 prophets more than he had his trust in God. He had surrounded himself with prophets, who supposedly were to be prophets of God, who always told him good things, the things he wanted to hear. And so this contrary spirit is saying here that with God's permission, he would go and put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of God. In so doing, they would persuade Ahab to go up to Ramoth Gilead and fight the battle where he would be killed. It's in this verse that we see the groundwork laid for the strong delusion.
In order to test the hearts of his people, God has sent a lying spirit into the mouth of some of his prophets and preachers, those who have accepted the diluted, compromised word of God. Just as Ahab had put his trust in his prophets more than in God so it is today, people trust the ministers of the Word to do their reading and studying of the Word for them instead of trusting God to open the Word to themselves. The church today, for the most part, surrounds itself with ministers and prophets who tell the people what they want to hear. All of this being done in the name of the Lord and those proclaiming the Word believing that they're hearing from God while all the long it's a lying spirit sent by God. It is God himself who has given permission to the contrary spirits to try his church.
Verse 23 says, "Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours and the Lord has declared disaster against you." God had prophesied,through Elijah, that Ahab would perish and now to fulfill that prophecy he must persuade Ahab to go into this battle. God is using the delusion of a diluted and compromised Word that looks very real, sounds very real, appears to be right from heaven, in order to test the hearts of his people. He wants to see if we can recognize the delusion. He wants to see if we have studied to show ourselves approved.
We will conclude our look at this strong delusion next week.
Jesus warns us in Matthew 24:24, "For false Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." Jesus began this discourse of the signs of the end times in Matthew 24:4 by saying, "Take heed that no one deceives you." Jesus would not have warned his followers about being deceived if it wasn't possible for them to be deceived. So in verse 24 when he says that these false prophets and false Christ are going to show up with great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect, those in the book of life, then it is possible for them to be deceived; and we must remember that even the saints of God can be deceived by this delusion. I personally believe it is happening right now.
Paul speaks of this great delusion that God is going to send among us in II Thessalonians 2:1-4,and 9-12. "Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him,(this of course is speaking of the rapture of the saints)we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Please note here that the day of the Lord will not come until there is first a falling away, which is occurring right now, and the antichrist, the son of perdition, sets in the temple of God. There's no temple in Jerusalem yet so how can Jesus' return be at hand. We know from Daniel and Matthew 24 that Jesus is not going to return until after the temple has been defiled by the antichrist which does not occur until midway through the tribulation. Since there's no temple in Jerusalem at this time, even if the antichrist were here now he would be hard-pressed to take his seat in a temple that does not exist.
Then beginning with verse nine Paul states, "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who parish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie." Here we see the ones who were going to receive this delusion or deception in the last of the last days are those who do not receive the "love" of the truth. The Scriptures do not say those who didn't receive truth, it says those who did not receive the "love" of the truth. In other words, you may have heard the word of God, whether preached, or by what ever means you received it, you heard it, you accepted it, you may have even agreed with it but you did not "love" the absolute truth found in God's word. We can read the word of God or hear a message from the word of God that moves us, by conviction of the Holy Spirit, to respond to that word. We may be born again. We may begin to attend church regularly. We learn how to pray, how to have personal devotions, how to pay our tithes, we may even get to the place of teaching Sunday School, serving on church boards and committees or even preaching in the pulpit. And yet all the while, we do not love the truth. We get to where we pick and choose Scriptures or we abide by some and cast-off others indicating that we lack love for the truth. When we love the absolute truths of God's word we accept it all and we abide by it all.
The word delusion used here from the Greek means, straying from orthodoxy or straying from absolute truths; deceit; to deceive; delusion; and error. From a secular dictionary it means, to mislead the mind or judgment; to deceive; the act of deluding; led astray; a false belief; something false but taken to be true; a false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. This is the delusion chosen by God. It is a religious spirit. It is a form of religion. It is a people who have developed a false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. You know you've accepted the delusion or have been deceived when people attempt to correct your doctrines or your theology or your mindset or your opinions of Scripture with the Word of God, which proves what you're holding to is wrong, it's in error or false and you are still fixed in that belief no matter what they say or know matter what they show you. This happens to me constantly. When God has me go to people with nothing but the word to correct their erroneous understanding of Scripture or doctrine and I show them what the word of God says their response is, "That's just your opinion." This is a result of people receiving the deluted word of God over the years that leads to the great delusion. Decades ago God began to send this delusion among His people. It's when man began to take the absolute truth of God's word and mix it with part truth for their own understanding or their own designs and desires for the word.
The word dilute means to make weaker by mixing, such as mixing part truth with part half-truths or our own understanding, to weaken or reduce the intensity, strength, or purity of, as by introducing another element. Diluted truth is what leads to deception, or to say the great delusion.
God has sent a strong delusion. It's not demonic. It's not evil looking. But it is very religious in its appearance. It is a religious system built on diluted truth full of compromise. The word compromise means an adjustment usually involving a particular surrender of claims (such as absolute truth), purposes (such as fulfilling the Great Commission), or principles (such as holiness and righteousness of living), something lying between, or combining the qualities of, two different things (such as taking the middle road). With this definition of compromise in mind, this is what the strong delusion looks like. It is practiced where people surrender particular claims, such as the absolute truth of God's word. We have diluted the Word with man's understanding and man's doctrine and denominational theologies to the point where the absolute truth is no longer recognizable. We have been deceived and have accepted a diluted truth in place of absolute truth. The delusion is present where people have surrendered the purposes of God's word such as the Great Commission. In most of our churches today, and in the lives of most professing Christians, we can take the Great Commission or leave it, it doesn't matter. We're no longer concerned about making disciples, only building up our man-made churches and religious systems. The strong delusion is practiced in the lives of people and churches where biblical principles, such as holiness and righteousness of living, are no longer followed. We determine for ourselves what's right and what is wrong and no one should dare to try to tell us any different. In today's church most are left to determine their own plans of salvation. After all what preacher has the right to tell you what's right or what's wrong for you. We seem to have the mindset in the church today that if we believe it's right for us then it's right and no one, or the word of God, can tell us any different. Remember the definition of delusion? A false, fixed belief, held in spite of evidence to the contrary. People today in the church have accepted the strong delusion, sent by God, that has us walking with a double mindset. Remember that is a definition of compromise, something lying between, or combining the qualities of, two different things. In other words we take a middle of the road approach to Christianity. We try to walk the fence with one foot in the world and one in heaven. The book of James warns us about being double minded.
You may ask the question, why would God send a strong delusion that would possibly deceive even the elect? He has sent it in order to test the church to see whether we are going to live by his absolute truths, love his absolute truths, obey his absolute or are we going to accept the delusion, a diluted, compromised word of God.
I believe that First Kings chapter 22 is probably the best biblical illustration to prove that this strong delusion from God is religious. In this chapter we see where King Ahab and Jehoshaphat were contemplating going to battle against Ramoth in Gilead and Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from God as to whether God would have them to go up to this battle are not. Jehoshaphat asked if there were any prophets that they could ask a word from God as to whether or not they should go to this battle. So Ahab brought in his own personal prophets, some 400, to prophesy for Jehoshaphat. Each of these prophesied prosperity and great victory for Ahab and Jehoshaphat. They were told that they would conquer their enemies and that God was with them and that they should go up and fight this battle. Yet this did not pacify Jehoshaphat. He asked if there were any other prophets, and Ahab said that there was one remaining prophet of God whose name is Micaiah, but he never prophesied anything good for him. But Jehoshaphat insisted on sending for Micaiah. So a servant was sent to bring Micaiah to Ahab and Jehoshaphat. When the servant arrived with Micaiah,and he had told him what all the other prophets had prophesied to the king, he told Micaiah that he needed to do the same. When Micaiah came before Ahab and Jehoshaphat they asked him whether they should go to this battle or not,he answered and said what the other prophets had said. He prophesied only good things toward Ahab and Jehoshaphat. But when they had asked him,"How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?," he spoke the word from God. Micaiah says that if they go up they would surely die and of course Ahab responded by saying,"Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me but evil?" At this point Micaiah tells Ahab and Jehoshaphat what he had seen when God came to him. The story begins in verse 19 of chapter 22.
"Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne and all the host of heaven standing by, and on His right hand and on His left. And the Lord said,'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will persuade him.'" It's important for us to note here that this spirit mentioned in this verse is not the Holy Spirit but a fallen spirit. If you look in the book of Job you see where the sons of God were around the throne and this included Satan as a son of God. We see here that Satan and the fallen angels are constantly going before God around the throne. They're involved in a lot of the decisions as it were as to what's happening with mankind. They are also there constantly accusing the brother. We know that Satan had permission to sift Peter as well as Job. So this spirit that we see here in verse 21 is a fallen spirit, a contrary spirit that was speaking before God in this vision that Micaiah saw.
Then continuing with verse 22, "The Lord said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the Lord said, 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.'" It is here in this verse that we see the lesson to be learned about the delusion. When this contrary spirit said that he would go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets, speaking of Ahab's prophets, he is saying here that he will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of those who are speaking for God. It's important also to see here that Ahab had his trust in his 400 prophets more than he had his trust in God. He had surrounded himself with prophets, who supposedly were to be prophets of God, who always told him good things, the things he wanted to hear. And so this contrary spirit is saying here that with God's permission, he would go and put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of God. In so doing, they would persuade Ahab to go up to Ramoth Gilead and fight the battle where he would be killed. It's in this verse that we see the groundwork laid for the strong delusion.
In order to test the hearts of his people, God has sent a lying spirit into the mouth of some of his prophets and preachers, those who have accepted the diluted, compromised word of God. Just as Ahab had put his trust in his prophets more than in God so it is today, people trust the ministers of the Word to do their reading and studying of the Word for them instead of trusting God to open the Word to themselves. The church today, for the most part, surrounds itself with ministers and prophets who tell the people what they want to hear. All of this being done in the name of the Lord and those proclaiming the Word believing that they're hearing from God while all the long it's a lying spirit sent by God. It is God himself who has given permission to the contrary spirits to try his church.
Verse 23 says, "Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours and the Lord has declared disaster against you." God had prophesied,through Elijah, that Ahab would perish and now to fulfill that prophecy he must persuade Ahab to go into this battle. God is using the delusion of a diluted and compromised Word that looks very real, sounds very real, appears to be right from heaven, in order to test the hearts of his people. He wants to see if we can recognize the delusion. He wants to see if we have studied to show ourselves approved.
We will conclude our look at this strong delusion next week.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
END-TIME STUDY--Pt.15
Let me start by saying I am truly sorry for not updating this blog site but we have had extensive computer problems, and we're just now getting back online and are just now reprogramming our computer. Hopefully we will not have any other interruptions in our study in the near future.
Now to continue our Bible study. Two years after Daniel received his vision of chapter 7 he receives another vision found in Chapter 8. He is now some 67 years of age when he receives this vision of a ram and a goat. Daniel here is receiving more detail and confirmation of the things that he received in his vision recorded in chapter 7 of his writings. In his vision he finds himself at Shushan in the Palace. Shushan was in Persia some 150 miles north of the Persian Gulf (modern day Iran). Shushan or Susa is set in between two rivers, the Shapur and the Ulai. Both of these rivers join the Euphrates River just below the confluence with the Tigris River which then flows into the Persian Gulf.
In his vision Daniel sees a ram with two high horns standing by the river. One of its horns was higher than the other meaning that one was more predominant than the other. This ram represents a kingdom that we have already seen, the Medo-Persian Empire. Like the lopsided bear with three ribs in its mouth of chapter 7, this ram with the lopsided horns represents the silver chest and arms of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. This empire was mighty and conquered all the lands about them. They prevailed until a greater empire emerged, the goat of verse five.
The goat was the the national symbol of the Grecian (Macedonian) people. They were known as the goat people for some 200 years. This goat appears to not touch the ground, as though it were flying much like the leopard of chapter 7 with four wings. Both of these animals represented the bronze belly and thighs of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, the Grecian Empire. This goat had a notable horn between his eyes meaning one great leader, which was Alexander the Great. Alexander's conquest of the Medo- Persian Empire introduced the known world to the Greek language which would be the predominant language for centuries.
Verse eight tells us that the great horn was broken and four notable horns arose in its place. At age thirty-three Alexander the Great died of a great fever while at the zenith of his empire and pride. His brother Philip Aridaeous and his two sons, Alexander Aegus and Hercules, ruled the Macedonian Empire until they were murdered fifteen years later. Thus the great horn, the Macedonian empire, was broken and cut-off.
Out of the Macedonian empire came four notable ones, or to say, four kingdoms. One to the west, one to the north, one to the east and one to the south, the open "four winds of heaven." The Western Kingdom ruled by Cassandra. The Northern Kingdom was ruled by Lysimachus and known as the Macedonian Kingdom. The Eastern Kingdom was the old Persian Kingdom, Syria and Babylon ruled by Selucus. The Southern Kingdom, Egypt, was ruled by Ptolemy. What Daniel just saw was the next 200 years of mankind.
Daniel's vision now fast forwards in verse nine to the end of the age. Here in this verse we see the "little horn," that was revealed to us in Daniel 7:8, which is none other than the Antichrist rising up from the area of the old Roman empire. This "little horn" will come from one of the four kingdoms or great horns as recorded in verse eight. We are told here that this "little horn" grew southward, eastward and towards Israel the "glorious land." Although the Scriptures do not indicate that this "little horn" or Antichrist would be born in the North or West, it is from here that he began his reign as a world leader. This would include all of Europe.
Just what will be the thing that will cause such countries as Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Germany, Russia, France, as well as other European countries, to unite? Religion! Namely the Muslim religion. A religion that has a great hatred for Israel. A people who desire to control the oil rich middle east.
I will elaborate more on the Muslim religion later in this study when we look at the world religion of the tribulation period. Suffice i tto say the Muslim religion is the fastest growing religion in the world and as they grow their influence on world peace and politics is growing as well. With their disregard for life, the world leaders fear them, thus they give in to their demands. Who better to spearhead an all-out push to rid the world of Jews and Christians alike than a people sworn to eradicate these infidels from the earth. The rise of the Muslim faith is a sure sign that the end time events are unfolding before our eyes. Don't be surprised if the Antichrist is a Jew who converted to Islam. His appearing is very, very near.
Because so many do not fully understand the description of the Antichrist found in Scripture they tend to erroneously label certain people as the Antichrist. People like Nero Caesar, whose numerical name was calculated 666, and because he would not allow anyone to buy or sale without first pledging allegiance to Rome, many thought him to be the Antichrist. Then in 202 A.D. Hippalytus Romanus believed the Antichrist would come from the Jewish tribe of Daniel. This led to the Crusades to kill Jews, thus eliminating the seed of the Antichrist.
In 1099 A.D. Muslims and Jews killed one another in Jerusalem believing that the Antichrist would arise from Jerusalem. In the 1600s the belief in the Antichrist caused Christians to break away from the Catholic Church claiming that the Pope was the Antichrist. Also in the 1600s the Puritans, who came to the New World to evangelize the Indians, soon found themselves starving and began to raid the Indians food supply. When the Indians began to fight back savagely the Puritans thought them to be demon possessed, and thus agents of the Antichrist. This caused the Puritans to determine that the Indians had to be eliminated.
During the Revolutionary War the American clergy thought that King George III was the Antichrist, thus Americans must fight for their freedom from England and the rule of the Antichrist. In the early 1900s many believed Mussolini was the Antichrist. Then Hitler was thought to be the Antichrist because of his smooth use of words to persuade the masses to follow him in annihilating the Jews.
In the 1980s some pointed to Ronald Reagan as the Antichrist because each of his names had six letters in them, 666. All through the ages many have been declared the Antichrist, including Barack Obama. Were any of these correct? No! We must understand all the Scriptures pertaining to the Antichrist so that we, as believers, may be able to factually identify him so that we may warn others.
We, as believers, should welcome the appearing of the Antichrist because that will signal that the return of Jesus is near. (Luke 21:28)
Now to continue our Bible study. Two years after Daniel received his vision of chapter 7 he receives another vision found in Chapter 8. He is now some 67 years of age when he receives this vision of a ram and a goat. Daniel here is receiving more detail and confirmation of the things that he received in his vision recorded in chapter 7 of his writings. In his vision he finds himself at Shushan in the Palace. Shushan was in Persia some 150 miles north of the Persian Gulf (modern day Iran). Shushan or Susa is set in between two rivers, the Shapur and the Ulai. Both of these rivers join the Euphrates River just below the confluence with the Tigris River which then flows into the Persian Gulf.
In his vision Daniel sees a ram with two high horns standing by the river. One of its horns was higher than the other meaning that one was more predominant than the other. This ram represents a kingdom that we have already seen, the Medo-Persian Empire. Like the lopsided bear with three ribs in its mouth of chapter 7, this ram with the lopsided horns represents the silver chest and arms of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. This empire was mighty and conquered all the lands about them. They prevailed until a greater empire emerged, the goat of verse five.
The goat was the the national symbol of the Grecian (Macedonian) people. They were known as the goat people for some 200 years. This goat appears to not touch the ground, as though it were flying much like the leopard of chapter 7 with four wings. Both of these animals represented the bronze belly and thighs of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, the Grecian Empire. This goat had a notable horn between his eyes meaning one great leader, which was Alexander the Great. Alexander's conquest of the Medo- Persian Empire introduced the known world to the Greek language which would be the predominant language for centuries.
Verse eight tells us that the great horn was broken and four notable horns arose in its place. At age thirty-three Alexander the Great died of a great fever while at the zenith of his empire and pride. His brother Philip Aridaeous and his two sons, Alexander Aegus and Hercules, ruled the Macedonian Empire until they were murdered fifteen years later. Thus the great horn, the Macedonian empire, was broken and cut-off.
Out of the Macedonian empire came four notable ones, or to say, four kingdoms. One to the west, one to the north, one to the east and one to the south, the open "four winds of heaven." The Western Kingdom ruled by Cassandra. The Northern Kingdom was ruled by Lysimachus and known as the Macedonian Kingdom. The Eastern Kingdom was the old Persian Kingdom, Syria and Babylon ruled by Selucus. The Southern Kingdom, Egypt, was ruled by Ptolemy. What Daniel just saw was the next 200 years of mankind.
Daniel's vision now fast forwards in verse nine to the end of the age. Here in this verse we see the "little horn," that was revealed to us in Daniel 7:8, which is none other than the Antichrist rising up from the area of the old Roman empire. This "little horn" will come from one of the four kingdoms or great horns as recorded in verse eight. We are told here that this "little horn" grew southward, eastward and towards Israel the "glorious land." Although the Scriptures do not indicate that this "little horn" or Antichrist would be born in the North or West, it is from here that he began his reign as a world leader. This would include all of Europe.
Just what will be the thing that will cause such countries as Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Germany, Russia, France, as well as other European countries, to unite? Religion! Namely the Muslim religion. A religion that has a great hatred for Israel. A people who desire to control the oil rich middle east.
I will elaborate more on the Muslim religion later in this study when we look at the world religion of the tribulation period. Suffice i tto say the Muslim religion is the fastest growing religion in the world and as they grow their influence on world peace and politics is growing as well. With their disregard for life, the world leaders fear them, thus they give in to their demands. Who better to spearhead an all-out push to rid the world of Jews and Christians alike than a people sworn to eradicate these infidels from the earth. The rise of the Muslim faith is a sure sign that the end time events are unfolding before our eyes. Don't be surprised if the Antichrist is a Jew who converted to Islam. His appearing is very, very near.
Because so many do not fully understand the description of the Antichrist found in Scripture they tend to erroneously label certain people as the Antichrist. People like Nero Caesar, whose numerical name was calculated 666, and because he would not allow anyone to buy or sale without first pledging allegiance to Rome, many thought him to be the Antichrist. Then in 202 A.D. Hippalytus Romanus believed the Antichrist would come from the Jewish tribe of Daniel. This led to the Crusades to kill Jews, thus eliminating the seed of the Antichrist.
In 1099 A.D. Muslims and Jews killed one another in Jerusalem believing that the Antichrist would arise from Jerusalem. In the 1600s the belief in the Antichrist caused Christians to break away from the Catholic Church claiming that the Pope was the Antichrist. Also in the 1600s the Puritans, who came to the New World to evangelize the Indians, soon found themselves starving and began to raid the Indians food supply. When the Indians began to fight back savagely the Puritans thought them to be demon possessed, and thus agents of the Antichrist. This caused the Puritans to determine that the Indians had to be eliminated.
During the Revolutionary War the American clergy thought that King George III was the Antichrist, thus Americans must fight for their freedom from England and the rule of the Antichrist. In the early 1900s many believed Mussolini was the Antichrist. Then Hitler was thought to be the Antichrist because of his smooth use of words to persuade the masses to follow him in annihilating the Jews.
In the 1980s some pointed to Ronald Reagan as the Antichrist because each of his names had six letters in them, 666. All through the ages many have been declared the Antichrist, including Barack Obama. Were any of these correct? No! We must understand all the Scriptures pertaining to the Antichrist so that we, as believers, may be able to factually identify him so that we may warn others.
We, as believers, should welcome the appearing of the Antichrist because that will signal that the return of Jesus is near. (Luke 21:28)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Prepared for Greatness
I would like to apologize for not putting anything on our blog site for a while. Our computer has been in the shop and we just got it back. This week I'd like to take a break from our study and share something new that God put in my heart just a couple of weeks ago. He had me preach this in our church service, and I'd like to share at least the highlights of this sermon with you.
I Corinthians 2:9 says, "But as it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" For years I thought this verse was talking about the hereafter, about heaven and eternity; and I believe this is the way most of us have heard it preached. But if you put it in context with the Scriptures before it and the Scriptures after it, then we see that this is not what Paul was talking about. He was talking about a present glory, a present state of experiencing the greatness of God. Paul is quoting here from Isaiah 64:4 which reads, "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what He hath prepared for him who waits for Him." Paul is making it very clear that he is speaking of a present time of God's glory. A present time of God's greatness being expressed to His people and through His people.
I Corinthians 2:10 says, "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." Paul had just been talking about the mysteries of God and how God had revealed them to the apostles and unto those who were declaring His word. Paul had declared to them what these mysteries were. For instance he speaks of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, through the shed blood of Jesus, this was a mystery. How can a person be saved from sin by someone else shedding their blood or by someone else's death? It was a mystery to those people of Paul's time and he was explaining these mysteries of the cross to them. When he was speaking of the power of the Holy Ghost it was a mystery. How can God's Spirit come and dwell within you? How can one be baptized in the Holy Ghost and have the power to be a living witness for God's glory? I believe there's even more to this verse that God has been revealing to me for the times in which we live, the end times, the last of the last days.
God is about to do a new thing in the world and especially among His people, the church of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 43:18 and 19 says, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?" God is in the process right now of preparing His people, the church of Jesus Christ, the Saints of the Lord, for greatness. He's preparing us to do things that have never been imagined. Things that have never been done before. It's going to be awesome what we're about to witness. In John 14:12, Jesus says,"Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father." Jesus healed the cripple. The body of Christ has been healing the cripples ever since Jesus started it 2000 years ago. Jesus raised the dead. We hear the stories of many being brought back to life down through the history of the church. Jesus says greater works than these shall you do.
I believe there's more to these scriptures from I Cor.2. I believe we're going to do greater works than even He did, such as the healings, raising the dead, walking on water. God has shown me that He is preparing a people for greater works than the things that Jesus did. He's preparing us by bringing judgment to His church. He must get those things that hinder us from being used of him in a great way out of our lives. We know according to Peter that judgment starts in the house of God first, and I believe that that judgment has begun. We're hearing continuously about ministers being caught up in fraud and adulterous affairs and going through divorces. God is exposing our sins. God's judgment is coming to His house in the form of sickness and disease, through financial set backs and other calmities. As these things happen in our lives, I believe it's because God is bringing judgment to His house in order to prepare us for what he wants to do through us, His church. I've never seen so much sickness as I'm seeing today in the body of Christ. I've never seen so many prophets of God and apostles of God and ministers of the Lord and the righteous in the hospital suffering gravely as there are today. Cancer seems to be running rampant in the body of Christ. Heart problems are hitting the body of Christ like never before. Financial disasters, divorce, dysfunctional families, all in the body of Christ among those who profess to be Christians. I follow southern gospel music and I get the Singing News magazine monthly and generally there's a little paragraph or so of things that have happened or gone wrong and there's maybe another little paragraph of prayer requests for illnesses, deaths and this type of thing; but here lately it seems as though it's a page full of things that are happening among Christian groups that are going around spreading the gospel through music. You're constantly hearing of some group being involved in a bus wreck with severe injuries or deaths. We hear of buses that are catching on fire with the groups losing all their equipment. With sickness among the singers and even death I wonder if His judgment has started among all of us in the body of Christ?
We have to understand something about God, He is getting ready to do this new thing and He cannot and will not do it through unclean vessels. We must understand that as Christians God has his banner around us. We are covered by the blood of Christ. He is Jehovah Nissi, our banner. What happens is,as it was with Job, Satan went before God and asked permission to come against Job. He said,"You let me try him," and God said, "You can do whatever you wish but don't kill him," and God lifted his banner of protection off Job. Satan accused God of protecting Job and if He would lift the banner from around Job he would succomb to Satan's attacks. So God lifted his banner of protection off Job allowing Satan to come in and do everything but kill Job to test his faith. It was Jesus who told Peter that Satan had asked permission to sift him. As God had to lift his banner of protection off Peter in order for Satan to attack and to sift him, so it is with the saints. When we're going through this world and we have sin in our lives, or we have unrighteousness in our lives,or we have things that defile us in our lives, God lifts his banner off us and allows the enemy to come in to attack us. He's trying to get our attention. He doesn't want us to have cancer, or any other sickness, but if that's what it takes for us to cry out to God for forgiveness of our sins then He will allow it. God is wanting to get all of the defilement out of the body of Christ. He is wanting to get all of the sin out of the camp, the church, that he may raise us up in these last days to do great things, this "new thing" of God.
God is getting ready to do this new thing. He's preparing to do it and in order to do it he must clean up his vessels. He needs vessels of honor. He's not going to do it through the unclean, the impure, the sinful, the complacent, those who are playing games with Him. He's looking for the righteous seed that He can use for His glory. He is preparing us for greatness, we must understand this; but first he must cleanse us. God will reach out to us by His Spirit, through His Word, through a sermon, or whatever means necessary to get us to change. If we do not yield to His correction then He will withdraw His protection from us, allowing Satan to attack us. Either we will submit to his cleansing or face the consequences which is His banner being lifted. With His protection gone the enemy is allowed free access to us and to our families. To our finances. To our jobs. We must understand this, that in these last days God is wanting to do great things and He is going to do it through great people who have prayed the price. Who have died to themselves and allowing God to rise up in them to accomplish His plan for the end-times church. This is not a time to play religious games with God--He doesn't have time for games. If we always insist on doing things our way, if we keep on thinking that God is going to overlook all of our imperfections and our sins and use us anyway, we're only kidding ourselves. God is about to do a new thing and He's preparing each of us that we may be vessels of honor to be used in these last days to do the supernatural,the great things of God. But first we must be clean.
I suggest, get alone until you are no longer alone. Seeking God's face until He reveals to you the areas of your life that are unclean. The areas that need judgment. The areas that need to come under the blood so that we can be clean vessels ready for his use, well prepared for greatness.
I Corinthians 2:9 says, "But as it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" For years I thought this verse was talking about the hereafter, about heaven and eternity; and I believe this is the way most of us have heard it preached. But if you put it in context with the Scriptures before it and the Scriptures after it, then we see that this is not what Paul was talking about. He was talking about a present glory, a present state of experiencing the greatness of God. Paul is quoting here from Isaiah 64:4 which reads, "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what He hath prepared for him who waits for Him." Paul is making it very clear that he is speaking of a present time of God's glory. A present time of God's greatness being expressed to His people and through His people.
I Corinthians 2:10 says, "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." Paul had just been talking about the mysteries of God and how God had revealed them to the apostles and unto those who were declaring His word. Paul had declared to them what these mysteries were. For instance he speaks of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, through the shed blood of Jesus, this was a mystery. How can a person be saved from sin by someone else shedding their blood or by someone else's death? It was a mystery to those people of Paul's time and he was explaining these mysteries of the cross to them. When he was speaking of the power of the Holy Ghost it was a mystery. How can God's Spirit come and dwell within you? How can one be baptized in the Holy Ghost and have the power to be a living witness for God's glory? I believe there's even more to this verse that God has been revealing to me for the times in which we live, the end times, the last of the last days.
God is about to do a new thing in the world and especially among His people, the church of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 43:18 and 19 says, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?" God is in the process right now of preparing His people, the church of Jesus Christ, the Saints of the Lord, for greatness. He's preparing us to do things that have never been imagined. Things that have never been done before. It's going to be awesome what we're about to witness. In John 14:12, Jesus says,"Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father." Jesus healed the cripple. The body of Christ has been healing the cripples ever since Jesus started it 2000 years ago. Jesus raised the dead. We hear the stories of many being brought back to life down through the history of the church. Jesus says greater works than these shall you do.
I believe there's more to these scriptures from I Cor.2. I believe we're going to do greater works than even He did, such as the healings, raising the dead, walking on water. God has shown me that He is preparing a people for greater works than the things that Jesus did. He's preparing us by bringing judgment to His church. He must get those things that hinder us from being used of him in a great way out of our lives. We know according to Peter that judgment starts in the house of God first, and I believe that that judgment has begun. We're hearing continuously about ministers being caught up in fraud and adulterous affairs and going through divorces. God is exposing our sins. God's judgment is coming to His house in the form of sickness and disease, through financial set backs and other calmities. As these things happen in our lives, I believe it's because God is bringing judgment to His house in order to prepare us for what he wants to do through us, His church. I've never seen so much sickness as I'm seeing today in the body of Christ. I've never seen so many prophets of God and apostles of God and ministers of the Lord and the righteous in the hospital suffering gravely as there are today. Cancer seems to be running rampant in the body of Christ. Heart problems are hitting the body of Christ like never before. Financial disasters, divorce, dysfunctional families, all in the body of Christ among those who profess to be Christians. I follow southern gospel music and I get the Singing News magazine monthly and generally there's a little paragraph or so of things that have happened or gone wrong and there's maybe another little paragraph of prayer requests for illnesses, deaths and this type of thing; but here lately it seems as though it's a page full of things that are happening among Christian groups that are going around spreading the gospel through music. You're constantly hearing of some group being involved in a bus wreck with severe injuries or deaths. We hear of buses that are catching on fire with the groups losing all their equipment. With sickness among the singers and even death I wonder if His judgment has started among all of us in the body of Christ?
We have to understand something about God, He is getting ready to do this new thing and He cannot and will not do it through unclean vessels. We must understand that as Christians God has his banner around us. We are covered by the blood of Christ. He is Jehovah Nissi, our banner. What happens is,as it was with Job, Satan went before God and asked permission to come against Job. He said,"You let me try him," and God said, "You can do whatever you wish but don't kill him," and God lifted his banner of protection off Job. Satan accused God of protecting Job and if He would lift the banner from around Job he would succomb to Satan's attacks. So God lifted his banner of protection off Job allowing Satan to come in and do everything but kill Job to test his faith. It was Jesus who told Peter that Satan had asked permission to sift him. As God had to lift his banner of protection off Peter in order for Satan to attack and to sift him, so it is with the saints. When we're going through this world and we have sin in our lives, or we have unrighteousness in our lives,or we have things that defile us in our lives, God lifts his banner off us and allows the enemy to come in to attack us. He's trying to get our attention. He doesn't want us to have cancer, or any other sickness, but if that's what it takes for us to cry out to God for forgiveness of our sins then He will allow it. God is wanting to get all of the defilement out of the body of Christ. He is wanting to get all of the sin out of the camp, the church, that he may raise us up in these last days to do great things, this "new thing" of God.
God is getting ready to do this new thing. He's preparing to do it and in order to do it he must clean up his vessels. He needs vessels of honor. He's not going to do it through the unclean, the impure, the sinful, the complacent, those who are playing games with Him. He's looking for the righteous seed that He can use for His glory. He is preparing us for greatness, we must understand this; but first he must cleanse us. God will reach out to us by His Spirit, through His Word, through a sermon, or whatever means necessary to get us to change. If we do not yield to His correction then He will withdraw His protection from us, allowing Satan to attack us. Either we will submit to his cleansing or face the consequences which is His banner being lifted. With His protection gone the enemy is allowed free access to us and to our families. To our finances. To our jobs. We must understand this, that in these last days God is wanting to do great things and He is going to do it through great people who have prayed the price. Who have died to themselves and allowing God to rise up in them to accomplish His plan for the end-times church. This is not a time to play religious games with God--He doesn't have time for games. If we always insist on doing things our way, if we keep on thinking that God is going to overlook all of our imperfections and our sins and use us anyway, we're only kidding ourselves. God is about to do a new thing and He's preparing each of us that we may be vessels of honor to be used in these last days to do the supernatural,the great things of God. But first we must be clean.
I suggest, get alone until you are no longer alone. Seeking God's face until He reveals to you the areas of your life that are unclean. The areas that need judgment. The areas that need to come under the blood so that we can be clean vessels ready for his use, well prepared for greatness.
Monday, October 18, 2010
END TIME STUDY--PT. 14
We will now continue our look at the vision given to Daniel in Daniel chapter 7. In this vision you are seeing not only the near future but all the way to the end of the history of mankind and judgment day. Daniel sees "the Ancient Of Days" seated on His throne as in judgment. All other thrones and kingdoms have been defeated and the Ancient of Days sits on His supreme throne as King of kings. His glory gives Him the appearance of having hair white as wool meaning He has an aura all around Him that is so bright that everything about Him is illuminated as pure white and glowing. This is the same image that John saw in Revelation 1:12-17 when he saw Jesus the Christ in all his glory.
In verse 11 Daniel sees what John saw in Revelation 19:17-21, that being, the Anti-christ, who speaks with "pompous words," being destroyed and cast into the lake of fire. With the world leader, the Anti-christ, slain and the remaining world leaders, "the beast," have all their power taken from them, yet their "lives were prolonged." They remain to be used to continue the deceit of Satan on earth since he is bound for a 1000 years (Rev. 20:1-3). This begins the thousand year reign of Jesus on earth, which Daniel sees in verses 13 and 14. This part of his vision corresponds with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar where he saw the same thing. "And in the days of the kings, (the toes and the horns),the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed;" (Daniel 2:44). This is the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth after the five kingdoms of the world, which are the four beasts of Daniel 7, or to say the gold, silver, bronze and iron of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, including the 10 toes, are all crushed by the "stone" (Daniel 2:45).
Needless to say this vision left Daniel somewhat perplexed and troubled. He was seeing things that were to take place over two millennium in the future. Though not able to fully comprehend its meaning, Daniel was faithful to record this vision for future generations, especially the last generation which would receive the knowledge to understand this vision. Daniel sees that the final outcome of the history of mankind is for the Saints of God to inherit a Kingdom that is to be forever, eternal. Before the rapture, or the gathering of the Saints, and the return of Christ to set up his millennial reign, the Anti-christ will make war with the saints (vs. 21). Just who are these "Saints" spoken of here? The Aramaic word that is used here is gaddiysh(kad-deesh) meaning holy one, saint. The Hebrew derivative is gadash (kaw-dash) meaning to be clean, consecrated and dedicated to holiness, sanctifying oneself wholly. The Anti-christ will not be wasting his time and efforts on the lukewarm, compromising, religious "Christian." He will be waging war with the blood-bought, holy, dead-to-themselves Saints of God! Even the religiously correct will believe themselves to be doing the will of God when they speak out against the true saints; when they betray them and turn them in to the government officials; when they persecute them; etc. In these last days those calling themselves "Christians" will be the very ones that Satan will deceive into persecuting the true saints.
The reason why the true saint has been labeled a hate-monger, a Bible-thumping fanatic, a bigot, as well as other choice words of hate is because they believe in the absolute truths found in God's word. The world, including a vast majority of so-called "Christian" churches, do not want to be held accountable to a Bible that states absolute wrongs and rights. The true saint not only believes in the demands of the absolutes of God's word, they proclaim them to the world and most of all they live them. I believe that this is the number one reason why laws have been passed to silence the church. Her prayers are no longer allowed in the public arena nor is her Bible. The only religion not tolerated in the United States is true Christianity. This is proof that Christianity is of God otherwise it would be tolerated just as any other religion is tolerated. The Saints are a constant reminder of God's demand for holiness with no tolerance for compromise so they must be silenced by legislative action, open ridicule and persecution if necessary.
The church is going to experience persecution and atrocities at an ever-increasing rate until midway through the tribulation at which time all out war will then be declared against the Saints. The Jews will escape to Petra for the remaining three and half years of the Great Tribulation while the Saints will be fulfilling the great commission and doing great exploits. (Daniel 11;32).
We shall understand all this better when we return to our study of the Book of Revelation but before we can understand Revelation we must thoroughly comprehend the book of Daniel. Before going on in the study of the end times we should consider, that if Daniel was correct about the four kingdoms through his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, as well as his own visions, then the rest of his writings must also be true and are soon to come the past.
In verse 11 Daniel sees what John saw in Revelation 19:17-21, that being, the Anti-christ, who speaks with "pompous words," being destroyed and cast into the lake of fire. With the world leader, the Anti-christ, slain and the remaining world leaders, "the beast," have all their power taken from them, yet their "lives were prolonged." They remain to be used to continue the deceit of Satan on earth since he is bound for a 1000 years (Rev. 20:1-3). This begins the thousand year reign of Jesus on earth, which Daniel sees in verses 13 and 14. This part of his vision corresponds with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar where he saw the same thing. "And in the days of the kings, (the toes and the horns),the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed;" (Daniel 2:44). This is the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth after the five kingdoms of the world, which are the four beasts of Daniel 7, or to say the gold, silver, bronze and iron of Nebuchadnezzar's statue, including the 10 toes, are all crushed by the "stone" (Daniel 2:45).
Needless to say this vision left Daniel somewhat perplexed and troubled. He was seeing things that were to take place over two millennium in the future. Though not able to fully comprehend its meaning, Daniel was faithful to record this vision for future generations, especially the last generation which would receive the knowledge to understand this vision. Daniel sees that the final outcome of the history of mankind is for the Saints of God to inherit a Kingdom that is to be forever, eternal. Before the rapture, or the gathering of the Saints, and the return of Christ to set up his millennial reign, the Anti-christ will make war with the saints (vs. 21). Just who are these "Saints" spoken of here? The Aramaic word that is used here is gaddiysh(kad-deesh) meaning holy one, saint. The Hebrew derivative is gadash (kaw-dash) meaning to be clean, consecrated and dedicated to holiness, sanctifying oneself wholly. The Anti-christ will not be wasting his time and efforts on the lukewarm, compromising, religious "Christian." He will be waging war with the blood-bought, holy, dead-to-themselves Saints of God! Even the religiously correct will believe themselves to be doing the will of God when they speak out against the true saints; when they betray them and turn them in to the government officials; when they persecute them; etc. In these last days those calling themselves "Christians" will be the very ones that Satan will deceive into persecuting the true saints.
The reason why the true saint has been labeled a hate-monger, a Bible-thumping fanatic, a bigot, as well as other choice words of hate is because they believe in the absolute truths found in God's word. The world, including a vast majority of so-called "Christian" churches, do not want to be held accountable to a Bible that states absolute wrongs and rights. The true saint not only believes in the demands of the absolutes of God's word, they proclaim them to the world and most of all they live them. I believe that this is the number one reason why laws have been passed to silence the church. Her prayers are no longer allowed in the public arena nor is her Bible. The only religion not tolerated in the United States is true Christianity. This is proof that Christianity is of God otherwise it would be tolerated just as any other religion is tolerated. The Saints are a constant reminder of God's demand for holiness with no tolerance for compromise so they must be silenced by legislative action, open ridicule and persecution if necessary.
The church is going to experience persecution and atrocities at an ever-increasing rate until midway through the tribulation at which time all out war will then be declared against the Saints. The Jews will escape to Petra for the remaining three and half years of the Great Tribulation while the Saints will be fulfilling the great commission and doing great exploits. (Daniel 11;32).
We shall understand all this better when we return to our study of the Book of Revelation but before we can understand Revelation we must thoroughly comprehend the book of Daniel. Before going on in the study of the end times we should consider, that if Daniel was correct about the four kingdoms through his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, as well as his own visions, then the rest of his writings must also be true and are soon to come the past.
Monday, October 11, 2010
END TIME STUDY--PT. 13
I want us now to return to our study of the book of Daniel. The next event pertaining to our study is found in Daniel chapter seven were Daniel is given a vision of four beasts. Approximately fifty some years have been passed since Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream and now he is is around 65 years old as God reveals more end time events to him. This dream given to Daniel further clarifies the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel had interpreted in chapter two.
Daniel sees four great beasts which are to be interpreted the same as the four parts of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had seen, that being the head of gold, the breast of silver, the belly of bronze and the legs of iron with their feet made of iron and clay representing four kingdoms or empires. Daniel sees these four beast coming forth from the sea. This isn't to be taken literally as a sea of water, but figuratively as in "the sea of humanity." Verse seventeen states that these four great beasts, or four Kings, will rise "out of the earth," again this being figuratively used to express the fact that these four beasts will arise from humanity. They will be kingdoms or empires made up of humans with a king or ruler over them.
The first beast appears as a lion with the wings of eagles. When we think of a lion we picture a large male lion with a great mane. He is viewed as the king of beasts with great courage. Yet this great lion has wings like an eagle and, like viewing an eagle, we picture the wings outstretched as the eagle soars high above the earth. As we mix together our views of a lion and eagle we see the king of beasts soaring high above the earth with all his domain below him. He is ruler supreme. In this dream the lion represents Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold, who was declared to be, "king of kings," by Daniel (2:37). He was supreme ruler of his empire, thus represented by a lion, Joel 1:6,7 refers to this lion. Also, the lion with wings was the national symbol of Babylon.
Daniel watches as the wings of this lion are plucked off. In chapter four Daniel tells of how Nebuchadnezzar's pride caused God to bring him down. He literally lost his mind and grazed with the oxen for seven years eating grass. But then God "lifted him up from the earth" by restoring his sanity and giving him the heart of a man whereby he would "stand on two feet like a man" which caused him to have a new appreciation for the power of God.
The next beast and Daniel sees is that of a bear (v.5). The bear is comparable to the silver breast and arms of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. As silver is of lesser value than gold so the bear is not as regal as a lion and an eagle. Therefore it represents a lesser kingdom than that which is conquered. However, its size is greater, as a bear is larger than a lion, and it will rise up and conquer the Chaldean Empire (Babylon). This bear represents the Medo-Persian Empire, the Medes being more prominent than the Persians, thus the lopsided bear, up on one side. This bear is seen as having "three ribs in its mouth between its teeth." These three ribs represent the three greatest conquests of the Medo-Persian Empire. Lydia in 546 BC; Babylon in 539 BC and Egypt in 525 BC.
The third beast seen by Daniel is that of a leopard (v.6). This symbolizes a lone king, for the leopard hunts alone. It moves swiftly symbolized by the "four wings." This beast represents Alexander the Great, the Grecian Empire which is the belly and thighs of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. This beast will move swiftly in attacking and conquering its enemies. It's four heads indicates that four rulers will come from this kingdom.
Then Daniel sees a fourth beast who is more terrifying than all the others put together (v.7). This beast has "iron teeth" which coincide with the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar's statue symbolizing the fourth kingdom which would be the Roman Empire. This Empire would control all of central Italy by 338 BC then in 63 BC Pompey would conquer the holy land. In 70 A.D. the Roman general Vespasian ordered his son Titus to destroy Jerusalem. By 284 A.D. the Roman empire would be divided East and West. The last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, would be dethroned in 476 A.D. The Roman empire was the last great power on the earth seen by Daniel and out of it would come "ten horns," or ten nations which would form the ten regions of the modern world. These ten nations would be ruled by ten kings or rulers with some likened it to iron and others likened to clay (ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's statue), some strong while others would be seen as weak leaders.
I believe that all of this vision has been completed up to this point. The Babylonian Empire, the lion; the Medo-Persian Empire, the bear; the Grecian Empire, the Leopard; as well as the Roman Empire, with iron teeth, have all come and gone. The ten horns or nations are currently in place. Many have believed that these ten horns represent ten nations of the revived Roman Empire from which the Anti-christ, the "little horn," shall arise, but may I give you another interpretation of this portion of Scripture to challenge your thinking?
It was Daniel himself who said that knowledge would increase in the end (12:4). The body of Christ is now receiving revelation knowledge into the word of God and the times and seasons of the end as never before. We've come to understand the role that the Illuminati, Freemasonry, the Federal Reserve and other elitist groups are playing in setting the stage for the reign of Anti-christ. I believe that the "ten horns" and "ten toes of iron and clay" are referencing ten powerfully rich people. These are the ones who are the powers behind our world governments, especially the United States, and the only allegiance they have is to themselves and their quest for world domination. We all know that money is power and these ten will be the wealthiest of all.
When the Scriptures speak of empires and nations (beasts), they were for specific periods in what is now history. But when Jesus spoke of nations rising against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms (Matthew 24:7), He wasn't speaking of countries but ethnic and religious groups. The Greek for nation is "ethnos" meaning a people. Paul uses the word to describe a whole race of mankind (Acts 17:26) Jesus meant that ethnic and religious groups would rise up against one another. I will cover this more in depth when we look at Matthew chapter twenty-four later in this study.
I believe these ten powerful people, the ten horns and toes, will select a leader to rule their New World Order. He is to be their puppet and they are to pull all the strings necessary to gain world domination. Only one problem, this leader will be none other than the Anti-christ. He is the little horn of Daniel 7:8. As he becomes the savior of the world economy and brings peace by the use of "pompous words," he will eliminate, or have eliminated, three of the horns or world leaders of this elite group. These are toes of clay, weak and easily overpowered. Once he comes to full power he will no longer need anyone in order to rule the world government.
May I interject here that I personally believe that the Anti-christ is alive and well right now. Study the Scriptures and prepare yourself for the greatest hour of the church.
Daniel sees four great beasts which are to be interpreted the same as the four parts of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had seen, that being the head of gold, the breast of silver, the belly of bronze and the legs of iron with their feet made of iron and clay representing four kingdoms or empires. Daniel sees these four beast coming forth from the sea. This isn't to be taken literally as a sea of water, but figuratively as in "the sea of humanity." Verse seventeen states that these four great beasts, or four Kings, will rise "out of the earth," again this being figuratively used to express the fact that these four beasts will arise from humanity. They will be kingdoms or empires made up of humans with a king or ruler over them.
The first beast appears as a lion with the wings of eagles. When we think of a lion we picture a large male lion with a great mane. He is viewed as the king of beasts with great courage. Yet this great lion has wings like an eagle and, like viewing an eagle, we picture the wings outstretched as the eagle soars high above the earth. As we mix together our views of a lion and eagle we see the king of beasts soaring high above the earth with all his domain below him. He is ruler supreme. In this dream the lion represents Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold, who was declared to be, "king of kings," by Daniel (2:37). He was supreme ruler of his empire, thus represented by a lion, Joel 1:6,7 refers to this lion. Also, the lion with wings was the national symbol of Babylon.
Daniel watches as the wings of this lion are plucked off. In chapter four Daniel tells of how Nebuchadnezzar's pride caused God to bring him down. He literally lost his mind and grazed with the oxen for seven years eating grass. But then God "lifted him up from the earth" by restoring his sanity and giving him the heart of a man whereby he would "stand on two feet like a man" which caused him to have a new appreciation for the power of God.
The next beast and Daniel sees is that of a bear (v.5). The bear is comparable to the silver breast and arms of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. As silver is of lesser value than gold so the bear is not as regal as a lion and an eagle. Therefore it represents a lesser kingdom than that which is conquered. However, its size is greater, as a bear is larger than a lion, and it will rise up and conquer the Chaldean Empire (Babylon). This bear represents the Medo-Persian Empire, the Medes being more prominent than the Persians, thus the lopsided bear, up on one side. This bear is seen as having "three ribs in its mouth between its teeth." These three ribs represent the three greatest conquests of the Medo-Persian Empire. Lydia in 546 BC; Babylon in 539 BC and Egypt in 525 BC.
The third beast seen by Daniel is that of a leopard (v.6). This symbolizes a lone king, for the leopard hunts alone. It moves swiftly symbolized by the "four wings." This beast represents Alexander the Great, the Grecian Empire which is the belly and thighs of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. This beast will move swiftly in attacking and conquering its enemies. It's four heads indicates that four rulers will come from this kingdom.
Then Daniel sees a fourth beast who is more terrifying than all the others put together (v.7). This beast has "iron teeth" which coincide with the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar's statue symbolizing the fourth kingdom which would be the Roman Empire. This Empire would control all of central Italy by 338 BC then in 63 BC Pompey would conquer the holy land. In 70 A.D. the Roman general Vespasian ordered his son Titus to destroy Jerusalem. By 284 A.D. the Roman empire would be divided East and West. The last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, would be dethroned in 476 A.D. The Roman empire was the last great power on the earth seen by Daniel and out of it would come "ten horns," or ten nations which would form the ten regions of the modern world. These ten nations would be ruled by ten kings or rulers with some likened it to iron and others likened to clay (ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's statue), some strong while others would be seen as weak leaders.
I believe that all of this vision has been completed up to this point. The Babylonian Empire, the lion; the Medo-Persian Empire, the bear; the Grecian Empire, the Leopard; as well as the Roman Empire, with iron teeth, have all come and gone. The ten horns or nations are currently in place. Many have believed that these ten horns represent ten nations of the revived Roman Empire from which the Anti-christ, the "little horn," shall arise, but may I give you another interpretation of this portion of Scripture to challenge your thinking?
It was Daniel himself who said that knowledge would increase in the end (12:4). The body of Christ is now receiving revelation knowledge into the word of God and the times and seasons of the end as never before. We've come to understand the role that the Illuminati, Freemasonry, the Federal Reserve and other elitist groups are playing in setting the stage for the reign of Anti-christ. I believe that the "ten horns" and "ten toes of iron and clay" are referencing ten powerfully rich people. These are the ones who are the powers behind our world governments, especially the United States, and the only allegiance they have is to themselves and their quest for world domination. We all know that money is power and these ten will be the wealthiest of all.
When the Scriptures speak of empires and nations (beasts), they were for specific periods in what is now history. But when Jesus spoke of nations rising against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms (Matthew 24:7), He wasn't speaking of countries but ethnic and religious groups. The Greek for nation is "ethnos" meaning a people. Paul uses the word to describe a whole race of mankind (Acts 17:26) Jesus meant that ethnic and religious groups would rise up against one another. I will cover this more in depth when we look at Matthew chapter twenty-four later in this study.
I believe these ten powerful people, the ten horns and toes, will select a leader to rule their New World Order. He is to be their puppet and they are to pull all the strings necessary to gain world domination. Only one problem, this leader will be none other than the Anti-christ. He is the little horn of Daniel 7:8. As he becomes the savior of the world economy and brings peace by the use of "pompous words," he will eliminate, or have eliminated, three of the horns or world leaders of this elite group. These are toes of clay, weak and easily overpowered. Once he comes to full power he will no longer need anyone in order to rule the world government.
May I interject here that I personally believe that the Anti-christ is alive and well right now. Study the Scriptures and prepare yourself for the greatest hour of the church.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Pray for Our President
I must deviate from our end-time study in order to share with you a burden that God has put into my heart.
Like so many others I too have been guilty of bashing our president. True, there are good reasons to be upset with our president for the many bad decisions that have been made that have nearly crippled our nation. He seems to be anti-Christian with his lack of support for our National Day of Prayer, his support of gay issues, his stance on abortion, etc., etc. Yet, we are not admonished to bash,disagree with, argue with or ridicule our leaders but to pray for them. After all it is God who "removes kings and raises up kings."(Dan.2:21)
As I was viewing some pictures of President Obama in his teen and young adult years, I was drawn to those who were in the pictures with him. At a very early point in his life it would appear that he came under the influence of some very radical anti-America people and groups. These helped to mold and shape Barack Obama's domestic and world views. It would appear that he was brainwashed into this radically liberal mindset. He was groomed to became the puppet of these groups. He then was brought under the influence of a radical religious leader for twenty some years. A religious leader who spews hatred to stir up racial bigotry. This formed his ideas of Christianity. Now he sees and hears those professing Jesus as their Lord gossiping about their president as well as not exampling the love of Jesus. He may have never really seen the real Jesus Christ in the lives of those professing His name. He is bewildered about Christianity and what he sees the church exampling isn't very appealing. He needs to see the real life-changing Jesus at work in the lives of those professing Jesus.
As I viewed one particular picture of our president's college years my heart began to ache for him. God showed me the victim of years of radical influence. I saw Barack as a mentally abused boy. He had no idea how he had been so deceived by these purveyors of hatred. Those bent on the destruction of this nation. And now they have deceived a nation into making their puppet our president.
I believe God is showing me that if the saints will pray for our president to be saved, he will be saved. The scales of radical liberalism will be removed from his eyes and he will see the truth, which will set him free from the puppet strings of the radical haters of America. God would then use Barack Obama to expose the agenda of these radical groups, and he would become a great asset to the cause of Christ in these last days.
So, what do we do? Instead of looking for every opportunity to bash our president why don't we carry a burden for his soul and that of his family? LET'S PRAY FOR OUR PRESIDENT.
Like so many others I too have been guilty of bashing our president. True, there are good reasons to be upset with our president for the many bad decisions that have been made that have nearly crippled our nation. He seems to be anti-Christian with his lack of support for our National Day of Prayer, his support of gay issues, his stance on abortion, etc., etc. Yet, we are not admonished to bash,disagree with, argue with or ridicule our leaders but to pray for them. After all it is God who "removes kings and raises up kings."(Dan.2:21)
As I was viewing some pictures of President Obama in his teen and young adult years, I was drawn to those who were in the pictures with him. At a very early point in his life it would appear that he came under the influence of some very radical anti-America people and groups. These helped to mold and shape Barack Obama's domestic and world views. It would appear that he was brainwashed into this radically liberal mindset. He was groomed to became the puppet of these groups. He then was brought under the influence of a radical religious leader for twenty some years. A religious leader who spews hatred to stir up racial bigotry. This formed his ideas of Christianity. Now he sees and hears those professing Jesus as their Lord gossiping about their president as well as not exampling the love of Jesus. He may have never really seen the real Jesus Christ in the lives of those professing His name. He is bewildered about Christianity and what he sees the church exampling isn't very appealing. He needs to see the real life-changing Jesus at work in the lives of those professing Jesus.
As I viewed one particular picture of our president's college years my heart began to ache for him. God showed me the victim of years of radical influence. I saw Barack as a mentally abused boy. He had no idea how he had been so deceived by these purveyors of hatred. Those bent on the destruction of this nation. And now they have deceived a nation into making their puppet our president.
I believe God is showing me that if the saints will pray for our president to be saved, he will be saved. The scales of radical liberalism will be removed from his eyes and he will see the truth, which will set him free from the puppet strings of the radical haters of America. God would then use Barack Obama to expose the agenda of these radical groups, and he would become a great asset to the cause of Christ in these last days.
So, what do we do? Instead of looking for every opportunity to bash our president why don't we carry a burden for his soul and that of his family? LET'S PRAY FOR OUR PRESIDENT.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
End Time Study--Pt.12
Before we can fully understand the Revelation that John records, we must go back and see what Daniel and others wrote about the end-time events that are summed up in the Book of Revelation. We shall begin with the Book of Daniel . When one understands the Book of Daniel all other scriptures pertaining to the end times, including Revelation, are made clear.
A brief introduction to the Book of Daniel opens with the beginning of the Babylonian captivity where Daniel remains there for all of the seventy years of captivity. Nebuchadnezzar, the king, ordered all the young Jewish males of royal families and nobility to be trained to serve the king as counselors. Daniel along with three of his companians Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego), were between the ages of twelve and sixteen when they were taken into captivity. They were taught the Chaldean language as well as Aramaic as well as the customs of their captors. Their training took place in the first three years of their captivity. They were given their Babylonian names and at the ages of fifteen through nineteen they became advisors to the king. When these four gave the king advice he found it to be ten times better than all the magicians, wise men, counselors, sorcerers and astrologers combined. (Dan.1:20)
It is in chapter two of the Book of Daniel that we get our first view of the end. Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and no one could interpret it. Although the king threatens the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and wise men of the kingdom with a brutal death (cut to pieces) if they were unable to discern the dream and give it an interpretation. The king ordered all the wise men (advisors) to be put to death including Daniel and his three companions. The king felt an urgency because the Babylonian gods were limited to a short time or season for the interpretation of the dreams. Daniel and his three companions sought God's mercy to reveal the dream, along with its interpretation, to them. In a night vision God reveals the dream and its meaning to Daniel.
Daniel goes before the king and when asked if he can tell the dream and its interpretation, he responded by saying, "The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days." (Dan.2:27,28). As Daniel makes known the king's dream he describes a large statue which begins with a head of gold, followed by a chest and arms of silver, then a belly and thighs of bronze, with the final parts of the statue being legs of iron and feet made of partially iron and clay. From the head down the metals get progressively harder. From soft gold down to very hard iron.
These four metals of the statue represent four kingdoms with each kingdom becoming stronger than the previous one. A fifth kingdom of iron and clay toes will be a revision of the fourth kingdom or a group of ten leaders. As each kingdom rises to power it will possesses a stronger military force than the preceeding kingdom until the final kingdom, which will possess weapons of mass destruction. Mankind has gone from the weak weapons of swords and spears to smart bombs, guided missiles, thermonuclear devices and others capable of rendering all living creatures extinct. It will be during this time of the threat of annihilation that the last kingdom will rise which will spawn the anti-christ.
The first kingdom (head of gold) was the Babylonian Empire which was in power during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The second kingdom (chest and arms of silver) was the Medo-Persian Empire. The third kingdom (belly and thighs of bronze) was the Grecian Empire. The fourth kingdom (legs of iron) was the Roman Empire. With the fifth and final kingdom of man (feet of iron and clay) being the strongest. It will supersede all other kingdoms of man. From this kingdom shall come the ten toes or to say ten kings or rulers. By being part iron and part clay they will not mix, thus the kingdom shall be divided. This will be the last kingdom of man before the Stone, not cut out by hands, will come and crush the kingdoms of man. "Jesus said to them,'Have you never read in the scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone?'"(Matt.21:42). These ten toes or rulers will attempt to adhere one to another through mingling "with the seed of man," but will fail. This "seed of man" is human effort attempting to rule the world through diplomacy and treaties that are designed to bring world peace. These are the very tactics that the anti-christ will use in deceiving Israel to enter a seven-year peace treaty. I believe that we are very close to witnessing this historical event.
We must understand the symbolisms of this statue in order to fully understand the Book of Revelation and the end times. In fact, without a thorough knowledge of Daniel, one would be hard pressed to fully comprehend the symbolisms found in the Book of Revelation. For this reason we must understand these ten toes. It will be from these that the anti-christ will rise to power.
Through Nebuchadnezzar's statue we see the history of mankind from 600 B.C. down through the present day and to the end of the history of mankind. We are extremely close to seeing these end-time events unfold before our very eyes. So, look up for your redemption draws nigh. Jesus,our Redeemer,is about to come back to earth and crush all the kingdoms of man (the statue) and establish His kingdom on earth for a thousand years. Without the Book of Daniel we cannot discern the world events that lead us to know the season of Jesus' return. For this reason we must look at Daniel's dreams and visions.
A brief introduction to the Book of Daniel opens with the beginning of the Babylonian captivity where Daniel remains there for all of the seventy years of captivity. Nebuchadnezzar, the king, ordered all the young Jewish males of royal families and nobility to be trained to serve the king as counselors. Daniel along with three of his companians Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego), were between the ages of twelve and sixteen when they were taken into captivity. They were taught the Chaldean language as well as Aramaic as well as the customs of their captors. Their training took place in the first three years of their captivity. They were given their Babylonian names and at the ages of fifteen through nineteen they became advisors to the king. When these four gave the king advice he found it to be ten times better than all the magicians, wise men, counselors, sorcerers and astrologers combined. (Dan.1:20)
It is in chapter two of the Book of Daniel that we get our first view of the end. Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and no one could interpret it. Although the king threatens the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and wise men of the kingdom with a brutal death (cut to pieces) if they were unable to discern the dream and give it an interpretation. The king ordered all the wise men (advisors) to be put to death including Daniel and his three companions. The king felt an urgency because the Babylonian gods were limited to a short time or season for the interpretation of the dreams. Daniel and his three companions sought God's mercy to reveal the dream, along with its interpretation, to them. In a night vision God reveals the dream and its meaning to Daniel.
Daniel goes before the king and when asked if he can tell the dream and its interpretation, he responded by saying, "The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days." (Dan.2:27,28). As Daniel makes known the king's dream he describes a large statue which begins with a head of gold, followed by a chest and arms of silver, then a belly and thighs of bronze, with the final parts of the statue being legs of iron and feet made of partially iron and clay. From the head down the metals get progressively harder. From soft gold down to very hard iron.
These four metals of the statue represent four kingdoms with each kingdom becoming stronger than the previous one. A fifth kingdom of iron and clay toes will be a revision of the fourth kingdom or a group of ten leaders. As each kingdom rises to power it will possesses a stronger military force than the preceeding kingdom until the final kingdom, which will possess weapons of mass destruction. Mankind has gone from the weak weapons of swords and spears to smart bombs, guided missiles, thermonuclear devices and others capable of rendering all living creatures extinct. It will be during this time of the threat of annihilation that the last kingdom will rise which will spawn the anti-christ.
The first kingdom (head of gold) was the Babylonian Empire which was in power during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The second kingdom (chest and arms of silver) was the Medo-Persian Empire. The third kingdom (belly and thighs of bronze) was the Grecian Empire. The fourth kingdom (legs of iron) was the Roman Empire. With the fifth and final kingdom of man (feet of iron and clay) being the strongest. It will supersede all other kingdoms of man. From this kingdom shall come the ten toes or to say ten kings or rulers. By being part iron and part clay they will not mix, thus the kingdom shall be divided. This will be the last kingdom of man before the Stone, not cut out by hands, will come and crush the kingdoms of man. "Jesus said to them,'Have you never read in the scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone?'"(Matt.21:42). These ten toes or rulers will attempt to adhere one to another through mingling "with the seed of man," but will fail. This "seed of man" is human effort attempting to rule the world through diplomacy and treaties that are designed to bring world peace. These are the very tactics that the anti-christ will use in deceiving Israel to enter a seven-year peace treaty. I believe that we are very close to witnessing this historical event.
We must understand the symbolisms of this statue in order to fully understand the Book of Revelation and the end times. In fact, without a thorough knowledge of Daniel, one would be hard pressed to fully comprehend the symbolisms found in the Book of Revelation. For this reason we must understand these ten toes. It will be from these that the anti-christ will rise to power.
Through Nebuchadnezzar's statue we see the history of mankind from 600 B.C. down through the present day and to the end of the history of mankind. We are extremely close to seeing these end-time events unfold before our very eyes. So, look up for your redemption draws nigh. Jesus,our Redeemer,is about to come back to earth and crush all the kingdoms of man (the statue) and establish His kingdom on earth for a thousand years. Without the Book of Daniel we cannot discern the world events that lead us to know the season of Jesus' return. For this reason we must look at Daniel's dreams and visions.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
End Time Study--Pt.11
Having seen the twenty-four elders around the throne of God, John now notices that there are seven Spirits also around the throne as well. The number seven, meaning complete or finished, shows us that the fulness of the Holy Spirit is present with God. John sees the vastness of heaven as a sea of glass. He then gazes upon four living creatures who appear to be “full of eyes.” These represent the universal watchfulness from God’s throne, that these eyes see towards God and towards His creation. They are ever seeing. Nothing can be hidden from them. Thus, God sees all and knows all. These seven creatures symbolize the four divisions of the tribes of Israel around the earthly tabernacle.
The “lion” represents Judah which occuppied the land along the east side of the tabernacle along with Issachar and Zebulun. The lion represents government administration. It is God who sets kings and governmental leaders. The lion also is the king of the beast. This signifies God’s dominion and authority. The lion shows that He who sits on the throne is the ruler of all and that His dominion is absolute and complete.
The “calf”, i.e. ox, bullock or heifer, was the emblem of Ephraim who occupied the land west of the tabernacle along with Manasseh and Benjamin. It represents firmness, endurance and strength, meaning He who sits upon the throne is firm, strong, and has stability.
The third creature was like the face of a man. This was the standard of Reuben who shared the land to the south of the tabernacle with the tribes of Simeon and Gad. “Face of man” denotes intelligence which is what distinguishes man from all other creations. He who sits upon the throne conducts His government with intelligence and wisdom.
The “flying eagle” is the emblem of Dan to the north of the tabernacle along with Asher and Naphtali. The eagle is known for its speed, power and ability to soar to great elevations. This shows that He who sits on the throne carries out His government and judgements quickly. His will is executed swiftly. He rules with power and is high and lifted up. The eagle also shows God’s protection of His own. “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bare you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself.” (Ex.19:4). “Hide me under the shadow of Your wings.”(Ps.17:8). “As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him.”(Deut.32:11,12).
Each of these creatures have six wings. Isaiah in his writings (Is.6:2) saw the seraphim which had six wings. Two wings covered their face denoting profound reverence for God. Two wings covered their feet, their lower parts, which denoted great modesty. And two wings with which to fly showing their quickness in executing the command of God.
These creatures cry out continually, “Holy, holy, holy—,” meaning separate from all others, completely pure. The first thing John encounters in heaven is the holiness of God which is expected of all who call themselves by His name. “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”(Lev.11:44).Even the twenty-four elders recognize God’s supremeness as they cast their crowns at His feet as though saying, “Our crowns are meaningless, for you alone reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” He is worthy of all our praise and worship. The highest praise that we can offer Him is living lives that represent His holiness, righteousness and purity to a world in rebellion, sin and darkness.
John gets his first glimpse of heaven and beholds the total holiness of God and His throne. This sets the stage for John to receive the complete Revelation. He had to fully understand God’s omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience before he could comprehend what he was about to receive, the conclusion of the history of man.
Friday, September 3, 2010
End Time Study--Pt.10
Having finished with our look at the seven churches of Revelation, let's now turn to chapter four of the Book of Revelation. Please read chapter four before continuing on with this study.
John indeed was a highly favored man in that he not only receives the Revelation of Jesus, but that he also gets to see Him in His glory. He receives the revelation of the things that Daniel saw centuries before,i.e., the conclusion of the history of mankind. The Book of Revelation is the continuation and fulfillment of the visions of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great statue is now down to the base of the statue, that being the feet of clay and iron. John now sees the rest of the king's dream and its fulfillment.
Having received the letters for the seven churches where Jesus is speaking to the believers, John is now ready to literally be transferred into the future to see the end times in which we now live. Before showing John what is to befall the world at the end, Jesus addresses the churches. Before judgement can begin in the world, it first must begin in the church (I Peter 4:17) so that the bride may be not just ready for the tribulation to come but made ready for the appearing of the Bridegroom. The church must be equipped for the Great Tribulation in order to persevere to the end (Matt.24:13). For this purpose Jesus gives John the Revelation of the conclusion of mankind.
After addressing the issues confronting the end-time church. Jesus now gives John his first glimpse of heaven beginning in chapter four of the Revelation. This glimpse of heaven begins with the words, "After these things." After seeing the condition of the churches, John was then permitted to see the future of the churches. He sees a door in heaven (not to heaven) which is the door to the heavenly tabernacle where God sets on His throne. John is addressed by a mighty voice that beckons him to come up to heaven and enter the door. He is then caught up in the Spirit to the very throne of God where "One" sits. Only "One"? where's the triune Godhead?
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! "(Duet.6:4). "I and My Father are one"(John 1o:30). "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one" (I John 5:7). The Holy Spirit and the Son are in God, who is but one God. The Holy Spirit and the Son are sent out from God.
I will not elaborate on the trinity or the description of heaven that John saw for to write a thorough exposition of these verses, as well as all the others to be covered in this study, would take volumes. I want to stick to the thesis of this Bible study which is proving that the church will go through the majority of the Great Tribulation and thus equipping the saints to persevere to the end. Though I must elaborate on verse four of chapter four in order for us to understand who is being referred to throughout the Book of Revelation when the twenty-four elders are mentioned.
The twenty-four elders are the representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel (the old covenant) and the twelve apostles (the new covenant). These represent the Old and New Testament saints, those before Christ and those after Him. This concept is represented in the construction of the New Jerusalem. "Also she had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and twelve angels (i.e. "messengers" Rev.1:20) at the gates, and names written of them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel" (Rev.21:12, parenthesis added). "Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rev.21:14). Paul had a revelation of this concept when he wrote that the household of God is, "...Built on the foundation of the apostles (new covenant) and prophets (old covenant), Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone,( this Cornerstone, Jesus, became the Bridge between the Old and New Covenants), in whom the whole building being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit"(Eph.2:20-22, parenthesis added). As Paul was referring to the temple of God on earth, he was patterning it after the New Jerusalem, "...Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev.21:2). As we build our temples (our bodies) upon the teachings of the apostles and prophets with Jesus as the Cornerstone, or to say the chief part or center of our lives, we become the holy temple and dwelling place of God, in the Spirit, on the earth. Because of the significance of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles they are represented in heaven sitting on thrones, a sign of royalty, and crowns upon their heads, signifying positions of authority.
John indeed was a highly favored man in that he not only receives the Revelation of Jesus, but that he also gets to see Him in His glory. He receives the revelation of the things that Daniel saw centuries before,i.e., the conclusion of the history of mankind. The Book of Revelation is the continuation and fulfillment of the visions of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great statue is now down to the base of the statue, that being the feet of clay and iron. John now sees the rest of the king's dream and its fulfillment.
Having received the letters for the seven churches where Jesus is speaking to the believers, John is now ready to literally be transferred into the future to see the end times in which we now live. Before showing John what is to befall the world at the end, Jesus addresses the churches. Before judgement can begin in the world, it first must begin in the church (I Peter 4:17) so that the bride may be not just ready for the tribulation to come but made ready for the appearing of the Bridegroom. The church must be equipped for the Great Tribulation in order to persevere to the end (Matt.24:13). For this purpose Jesus gives John the Revelation of the conclusion of mankind.
After addressing the issues confronting the end-time church. Jesus now gives John his first glimpse of heaven beginning in chapter four of the Revelation. This glimpse of heaven begins with the words, "After these things." After seeing the condition of the churches, John was then permitted to see the future of the churches. He sees a door in heaven (not to heaven) which is the door to the heavenly tabernacle where God sets on His throne. John is addressed by a mighty voice that beckons him to come up to heaven and enter the door. He is then caught up in the Spirit to the very throne of God where "One" sits. Only "One"? where's the triune Godhead?
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! "(Duet.6:4). "I and My Father are one"(John 1o:30). "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one" (I John 5:7). The Holy Spirit and the Son are in God, who is but one God. The Holy Spirit and the Son are sent out from God.
I will not elaborate on the trinity or the description of heaven that John saw for to write a thorough exposition of these verses, as well as all the others to be covered in this study, would take volumes. I want to stick to the thesis of this Bible study which is proving that the church will go through the majority of the Great Tribulation and thus equipping the saints to persevere to the end. Though I must elaborate on verse four of chapter four in order for us to understand who is being referred to throughout the Book of Revelation when the twenty-four elders are mentioned.
The twenty-four elders are the representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel (the old covenant) and the twelve apostles (the new covenant). These represent the Old and New Testament saints, those before Christ and those after Him. This concept is represented in the construction of the New Jerusalem. "Also she had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and twelve angels (i.e. "messengers" Rev.1:20) at the gates, and names written of them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel" (Rev.21:12, parenthesis added). "Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (Rev.21:14). Paul had a revelation of this concept when he wrote that the household of God is, "...Built on the foundation of the apostles (new covenant) and prophets (old covenant), Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone,( this Cornerstone, Jesus, became the Bridge between the Old and New Covenants), in whom the whole building being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit"(Eph.2:20-22, parenthesis added). As Paul was referring to the temple of God on earth, he was patterning it after the New Jerusalem, "...Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev.21:2). As we build our temples (our bodies) upon the teachings of the apostles and prophets with Jesus as the Cornerstone, or to say the chief part or center of our lives, we become the holy temple and dwelling place of God, in the Spirit, on the earth. Because of the significance of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles they are represented in heaven sitting on thrones, a sign of royalty, and crowns upon their heads, signifying positions of authority.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
End Time Study--Pt.9
With our having looked at the seven churches of Revelation, just what will the end-time church look like just prior to the tribulation? It will be like the Ephesian church in that it will have lost its first love. Jesus will no longer have the number one spot in the hearts of the average church attendee. Most of the pulpits will have had lost the true lamp stands (preachers bearing the light of Jesus) and will have the new age ministers of the people-friendly compromise standing in their place ministering their agendas and programs.
The pre-tribulation church will be a compromising church like the church at Pergamos. A church where each of its members will be encouraged to live the life that they feel comfortable with without regard for the demands of the Word of God for holiness. Each will be allowed to formulate their own doctrines and plans of salvation as long as it is loosely supported by scripture. This church will see nothing wrong with sexual immorality or fornication. The church's stance will be that as long as a person doesn't feel any condemnation then the lifestyle in which they are indulging in isn't sin regardless if the scriptures condemn it.
Like the church in Thyatira, the pre-tribulation church will be a corrupt church. Again, sexual immorality is listed in the Thyatira church and sexual immorality will prevail (as it is prevailing right now) in the end-time church. All one must do is read the reports of the fallen ministers world-wide to see the validity of this sin in the church. Also, this end-time church will be allowing false prophets and teachers to fill her pulpits. Many ministers and parishioners alike will be lead astray by false "words" of prophecy. The church toward the beginning of the tribulation will have a strong Jezebel spirit (spirit of manipulation) prevailing in it whether operating in the pulpit or pew it will be a stronghold in the end-time church.
Just as the church in Sardis was near a total spiritual death so will be the pre-tribulation church. Although the church appears to be alive and well on the outside, inside it is spiritually dead. For many of the churches the Spirit has long since departed. The church possesses a form of godliness but it denies the power that transforms and brings spiritual life. Its a church that has become lukewarm and complacent, just like the Laodicean church. She will be blind to her wretched spiritual condition. But once the persecutions and trials begin to afflict the end-time church she will be like the churches of Smyrna and Philidelphia.
The church will become a strong overcoming church. She will be the remnant church that Daniel spoke of when he said that the saints would be doing exploits in the midst of persecution and trials. This church will not compromise the Word. It will not be filled with a spirit of fear but will have a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind (II Tim.1:7), a church flowing in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22,23) and the manifestations of the Spirit (I Cor.12:8-10). It is persecution and tribulation that will purge the church and cause her to become the glorious church without spot or wrinkle, made ready as a chaste bride ready for the Bridegroom to come and take her to His home.
The church cannot be raptured until she has been purged, cleansed and made a virgin, pure and innocent. This is what the tribulation will achieve, it will test and prove the saints for bridal acceptance.
As we look at the church today, as a whole, I believe we can honesty conclude that we are in the last of the last days. Let's get ready to meet our Bridegroom!
The pre-tribulation church will be a compromising church like the church at Pergamos. A church where each of its members will be encouraged to live the life that they feel comfortable with without regard for the demands of the Word of God for holiness. Each will be allowed to formulate their own doctrines and plans of salvation as long as it is loosely supported by scripture. This church will see nothing wrong with sexual immorality or fornication. The church's stance will be that as long as a person doesn't feel any condemnation then the lifestyle in which they are indulging in isn't sin regardless if the scriptures condemn it.
Like the church in Thyatira, the pre-tribulation church will be a corrupt church. Again, sexual immorality is listed in the Thyatira church and sexual immorality will prevail (as it is prevailing right now) in the end-time church. All one must do is read the reports of the fallen ministers world-wide to see the validity of this sin in the church. Also, this end-time church will be allowing false prophets and teachers to fill her pulpits. Many ministers and parishioners alike will be lead astray by false "words" of prophecy. The church toward the beginning of the tribulation will have a strong Jezebel spirit (spirit of manipulation) prevailing in it whether operating in the pulpit or pew it will be a stronghold in the end-time church.
Just as the church in Sardis was near a total spiritual death so will be the pre-tribulation church. Although the church appears to be alive and well on the outside, inside it is spiritually dead. For many of the churches the Spirit has long since departed. The church possesses a form of godliness but it denies the power that transforms and brings spiritual life. Its a church that has become lukewarm and complacent, just like the Laodicean church. She will be blind to her wretched spiritual condition. But once the persecutions and trials begin to afflict the end-time church she will be like the churches of Smyrna and Philidelphia.
The church will become a strong overcoming church. She will be the remnant church that Daniel spoke of when he said that the saints would be doing exploits in the midst of persecution and trials. This church will not compromise the Word. It will not be filled with a spirit of fear but will have a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind (II Tim.1:7), a church flowing in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22,23) and the manifestations of the Spirit (I Cor.12:8-10). It is persecution and tribulation that will purge the church and cause her to become the glorious church without spot or wrinkle, made ready as a chaste bride ready for the Bridegroom to come and take her to His home.
The church cannot be raptured until she has been purged, cleansed and made a virgin, pure and innocent. This is what the tribulation will achieve, it will test and prove the saints for bridal acceptance.
As we look at the church today, as a whole, I believe we can honesty conclude that we are in the last of the last days. Let's get ready to meet our Bridegroom!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
End Time Study--Pt.8
Jesus concludes His letters to the churches by addressing His last letter to the church of the Laodiceans, the lukewarm church (Rev.3:14-22). Verses fourteen through twenty-two of chapter three are probably the most used and preached scriptures from the Book of Revelation. To this church Jesus has no cause to commend them. Viewed from the outside this church appeared prosperous and powerful, but Jesus looks at the heart of those in this church.
Jesus begins by accusing them of being neither hot nor cold. As to say that they were neither heathens nor Christians. Neither good or evil. Neither lead away by false doctrine nor thoroughly addicted to that which is true. They were listless and indifferent and seemed to care little whether heathenism or Christianity prevailed. Though they felt little zeal either for the salvation of their own souls or that of others, yet they had such a general conviction of the truth and importance of Christianity that they could not readily give it up. They had become complacent. They had not fallen from belief in Jesus to an icy opposition to Him, nor have they become inflamed with heretical zeal. They were just drifting along spiritually, not being driven by a love for Christ.
We could, without a doubt, write volumes comparing the Laodiceans to the modern church. The end-time church, for the most part, has fallen into such a spiritual stupor that it makes the church of the Laodiceans appear to be ablaze for Jesus. It is as though the church today has found a balance between being a heathen and a Christian. The church has learned how to walk the fence between Christianity and worldliness without falling totally into one or the other. From the outside the church appears prosperous and powerful while all the time it has in reality no resemblance to the true church that Jesus birthed on Calvary's hill. The church today isn't in love with the absolute truths found in God's Word. They are easily lead astray because of their lack of the knowledge of God's Word. It seems that nearly every "Christian" has their own plan of salvation worked out based on "their" understanding of a few scriptures generally out of context. They seem to care less about social trends, whether they are sinful or not, as long as they don't interfere with their lives. As long as they are unencumbered in their pursuit of life they could care less if heathenism or Christianity controls the world around them.
They appear to have no joy in their salvation nor could they care less about the salvation of others. They have a que-sera-sera attitude about spiritual things. They can take them or leave them. Just drifting through life. Just putting in their time with little or no concern about spiritual things. They believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour and that's all that matters to them. They ignore the pleas and the demands for holiness found in God's Word. They plan on getting into eternity with God by pleading ignorance of His Word, just by the skin of their teeth (and we all know that there's no skin on our teeth). Today the church is looking for fire insurance that cost little or nothing at all. We want just enough religion to escape hell with as little requirements as possible. Thus we now have "people friendly" churches full of friendly deceived people racing head long towards a Satan's hell while all the time believing they are saved.
The lukewarm church! No zeal for God! No zeal for lost souls! No fire of the Holy Ghost burning in their hearts! No love for the scriptures! No real love one for the other! Indifferent! Complacent! Spiritually dead! Lukewarm!!
But Jesus says that He wishes that we were either hot or cold. He wishes that the church today would be decided, adopt some part or the other and be in earnest attachment to it. Like the Laodeceans, the church today is too good for hell and yet too evil for heaven. Anything would be better than this condition. Where love is professed, but where it doesn't exist. Where vows have been assumed which are not fulfilled. I believe Jesus is saying here that it is easier to deal with a cold sinner than a lukewarm, insincere hypocrite.
The church today is divided over such issues as abortion, gay marriages, ordaining homosexuals, holiness, righteousness, purity, etc., etc. We even have so called ministers fighting for the myth of separation of church and state by taking legal actions against churches and ministers who get involved in or try to influence the political arena. We claim to be Christians while supporting political candidates and parties that support abortions, gay rights and gay marriages and want to silence the evangelical messages of the truth.
The "church" has become so worldly that it cannot be distinguished from the world. We have lost our savor as the salt of the earth (Matt.5:13). We no longer resemble the church that was established on the Day of Pentecost; that is, one full of fire and power. We have cooled off in our spirits and have accepted the watered down compromised gospel of today. We are, at best, lukewarm.
I truly do believe that God is about to bring judgment to His house (I Peter 4:17-18). It will come in the form of persecutions, trial and temptations. Many in our pulpits, and pews alike, have succumbed to the temptations of lust, perversion and fraud revealing what is in the hearts of those who compromised holiness. As God turns up the fire of His jealous anger toward the church, the treasures of the heart will be revealed. It is much like when bad things happen to good people. Man judges us by our external appearances and attitudes, God judges our hearts. It is when bad things come our way that our hearts are revealed. God allows bad things to come into our lives so that we can see what He sees, our hearts. It would be like someone insulting us, or intimating us, and we become angry and hostile. God allowed this so that we may see what is in our heart. We may think that we have conquered our violent temper but when placed in the right situation we become violently angry. This allows us to see what God wants us to surrender in order for Him to be able to use us for His purposes. If we do not conquer the sin in our hearts then He will spew us out--cast us off.
Lukewarmness (hypocrisy) makes Jesus sick at His stomach. The undedicated, indifferent, uncommitted "Christian" will be cast out of Jesus' presence with great disgust. The end time church is about to undergo an extreme makeover. Once the church has been exposed to the refiners fire and the fuller's soap (Mal.3:2-3) of persecution (God's judgment) then what will remain will be the glorious church without spot or wrinkle. This will be God's way of purging His church. All of this is designed to equip the saints for the Great Tribulation and the great end-time harvest of souls.
The church today thinks that it is spiritually rich and has no need of anything else. No revelation knowledge. No fresh outpourings of the Holy Ghost. No intervention by God. No need to prepare for tribulation because they think they will be raptured prior to the Great Tribulation. And yet, like the Laodicean church, God sees the church today as being "---wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked."(Rev.3:17). The Laodicean church saw themselves as being in a safe state, perfectly sure of final salvation because they had begun well and had laid the right foundation. They rested in what they had already received and seemed to think that once they were in grace that they would remain in grace no matter what. They didn't even realize their own state, but thought that outward prosperity and religious activity was synonymous with spiritual success. Yet, Jesus saw them differently.
He sees the church today as He did the Laodicean church of John's day. The church, for the most part, is wretched, meaning afflicted as slaves--slaves to this world and its mindset. The church thinks like the world and conducts itself as the world conducts its business. We have become so worldly that we don't recognize how far we have fallen from holiness and righteousness. We are miserable in the state that we are in, meaning that we are to be pitied. We don't even realize that the Spirit has departed from most of our churches, which leaves us poor, spiritually. We have become rich, successful and growing and yet we are in spiritual poverty. We are poor in power, righteousness, holiness, purity and influence. All of this because we have become spiritually blind. We are unable to see our miserable condition. We see ourselves as everything the church is to be while Jesus sees us as naked, not clothed in righteousness and purity. Not adorned as a bride for her wedding. And as with the Laodicean church, Jesus counsels the church today,"---to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich---" (spiritually).
May I interject a personal note here? I do not want you to believe that I think that all churches fall into the categories as the seven churches of Revelation. I believe that there are many churches who are still pursuing God and His will for their lives and the life of the church. I believe that there are many ministers who are called and set by God who are right in the center of His will. To these churches and ministers I say, "Bless you! Keep up the good work!" Most of these churches and ministers are in obscurity but God is about to bring them to the forefront.
Jesus is verbalizing here in verse 18, "O fallen and deceived souls, hear Me. Your case is not hopeless. Come back to Me and receive of Me, without cost, without price, faith that shall stand in every trial. Pure. Just like gold that has had the fire applied and the dross removed. A pure religion. A pure relationship with God the Father. A faith that has been tried and tested by fire and approved of by Me. I'll clothe you in the garments of holiness and purity to cover the nakedness of your spiritual poverty. Pray, therefore, that you may receive the enlightening influence of My Spirit that you may be convinced of your true state and see where your help lies."
Jesus stands ready to come to His lukewarm church and revive her. But first He must purge her with fire. He must chasten her for He cannot and will not tolerate self-righteousness. Where we compare ourselves one to the other and not to the Word of God and declare ourselves okay, righteous. He is sick to His stomach of people professing Him and not following Him. Those claiming heaven when the church is probably the closest they will ever get to heaven. Jesus demands honesty. He wants us to look within ourselves and measure our Christianity by His Word. Jesus is raising up a remnant in these last days who are totally dead to themselves and alive in Christ. He is preparing a Bride. He is about to cast off all the religious flirts and come back to marry a Glorious Bride without spot or wrinkle. Those who are zealous and have repented of their lukewarm state (vs.19).
Although verse twenty has often been used as an evangelism tool to win the lost to Jesus, it isn't spoken to sinners but to the lukewarm believers. Jesus is declaring here that He is patiently standing at the door of the lukewarm church--the lukewarm believers heart. He knocks with mercy, grace, reproofs, exhortations and even judgments to encourage "believers" to repent and turn back to Him. He lifts up His voice loud and strong through His Word, His Spirit and His servants, the preachers, beckoning the lukewarm believer to let Him back into his heart.
When we first come to Jesus in repentance He enters our hearts, but once inside He begins to reveal His requirements for the death of the flesh, a life of holiness and our being set apart for His will and glory. This is where we begin to cool off in our "new-born" feeling and leave Jesus standing in the foyer of our lives not wanting Him to roam the rooms of our hearts and lives. Being rejected as Lord of our lives, He departs and begins knocking at the door of our lukewarm hearts desiring to be invited back into our hearts and lives. It's in our hearts where He can manifest Himself, heal our broken relationship with the Father, pardon all our iniquities, commune with us and feed us the Bread of Life.
Jesus concludes this final letter by admonishing the church to rise above the lukewarmness and the complacency that it had fallen into and He would grant it a place in eternity with Himself on His throne. There is but one throne in eternity and Jesus is offering to the worst church of all, the lukewarm church, the reward of sharing it with Himself. This church of complacency. This church with a profession but no experience. This church of lukewarmness. This church of the greatest sin is offered the greatest reward to be heirs and joint heirs to Jesus' throne. Jesus is telling the lukewarm church of the Laodiceans, as well as the end-time complacent church, that just as He overcame this world and the power of the tempter and received a throne in eternity, that those who overcome the same and their lukewarm complacency shall receive the same reward, His throne.
Jesus begins by accusing them of being neither hot nor cold. As to say that they were neither heathens nor Christians. Neither good or evil. Neither lead away by false doctrine nor thoroughly addicted to that which is true. They were listless and indifferent and seemed to care little whether heathenism or Christianity prevailed. Though they felt little zeal either for the salvation of their own souls or that of others, yet they had such a general conviction of the truth and importance of Christianity that they could not readily give it up. They had become complacent. They had not fallen from belief in Jesus to an icy opposition to Him, nor have they become inflamed with heretical zeal. They were just drifting along spiritually, not being driven by a love for Christ.
We could, without a doubt, write volumes comparing the Laodiceans to the modern church. The end-time church, for the most part, has fallen into such a spiritual stupor that it makes the church of the Laodiceans appear to be ablaze for Jesus. It is as though the church today has found a balance between being a heathen and a Christian. The church has learned how to walk the fence between Christianity and worldliness without falling totally into one or the other. From the outside the church appears prosperous and powerful while all the time it has in reality no resemblance to the true church that Jesus birthed on Calvary's hill. The church today isn't in love with the absolute truths found in God's Word. They are easily lead astray because of their lack of the knowledge of God's Word. It seems that nearly every "Christian" has their own plan of salvation worked out based on "their" understanding of a few scriptures generally out of context. They seem to care less about social trends, whether they are sinful or not, as long as they don't interfere with their lives. As long as they are unencumbered in their pursuit of life they could care less if heathenism or Christianity controls the world around them.
They appear to have no joy in their salvation nor could they care less about the salvation of others. They have a que-sera-sera attitude about spiritual things. They can take them or leave them. Just drifting through life. Just putting in their time with little or no concern about spiritual things. They believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour and that's all that matters to them. They ignore the pleas and the demands for holiness found in God's Word. They plan on getting into eternity with God by pleading ignorance of His Word, just by the skin of their teeth (and we all know that there's no skin on our teeth). Today the church is looking for fire insurance that cost little or nothing at all. We want just enough religion to escape hell with as little requirements as possible. Thus we now have "people friendly" churches full of friendly deceived people racing head long towards a Satan's hell while all the time believing they are saved.
The lukewarm church! No zeal for God! No zeal for lost souls! No fire of the Holy Ghost burning in their hearts! No love for the scriptures! No real love one for the other! Indifferent! Complacent! Spiritually dead! Lukewarm!!
But Jesus says that He wishes that we were either hot or cold. He wishes that the church today would be decided, adopt some part or the other and be in earnest attachment to it. Like the Laodeceans, the church today is too good for hell and yet too evil for heaven. Anything would be better than this condition. Where love is professed, but where it doesn't exist. Where vows have been assumed which are not fulfilled. I believe Jesus is saying here that it is easier to deal with a cold sinner than a lukewarm, insincere hypocrite.
The church today is divided over such issues as abortion, gay marriages, ordaining homosexuals, holiness, righteousness, purity, etc., etc. We even have so called ministers fighting for the myth of separation of church and state by taking legal actions against churches and ministers who get involved in or try to influence the political arena. We claim to be Christians while supporting political candidates and parties that support abortions, gay rights and gay marriages and want to silence the evangelical messages of the truth.
The "church" has become so worldly that it cannot be distinguished from the world. We have lost our savor as the salt of the earth (Matt.5:13). We no longer resemble the church that was established on the Day of Pentecost; that is, one full of fire and power. We have cooled off in our spirits and have accepted the watered down compromised gospel of today. We are, at best, lukewarm.
I truly do believe that God is about to bring judgment to His house (I Peter 4:17-18). It will come in the form of persecutions, trial and temptations. Many in our pulpits, and pews alike, have succumbed to the temptations of lust, perversion and fraud revealing what is in the hearts of those who compromised holiness. As God turns up the fire of His jealous anger toward the church, the treasures of the heart will be revealed. It is much like when bad things happen to good people. Man judges us by our external appearances and attitudes, God judges our hearts. It is when bad things come our way that our hearts are revealed. God allows bad things to come into our lives so that we can see what He sees, our hearts. It would be like someone insulting us, or intimating us, and we become angry and hostile. God allowed this so that we may see what is in our heart. We may think that we have conquered our violent temper but when placed in the right situation we become violently angry. This allows us to see what God wants us to surrender in order for Him to be able to use us for His purposes. If we do not conquer the sin in our hearts then He will spew us out--cast us off.
Lukewarmness (hypocrisy) makes Jesus sick at His stomach. The undedicated, indifferent, uncommitted "Christian" will be cast out of Jesus' presence with great disgust. The end time church is about to undergo an extreme makeover. Once the church has been exposed to the refiners fire and the fuller's soap (Mal.3:2-3) of persecution (God's judgment) then what will remain will be the glorious church without spot or wrinkle. This will be God's way of purging His church. All of this is designed to equip the saints for the Great Tribulation and the great end-time harvest of souls.
The church today thinks that it is spiritually rich and has no need of anything else. No revelation knowledge. No fresh outpourings of the Holy Ghost. No intervention by God. No need to prepare for tribulation because they think they will be raptured prior to the Great Tribulation. And yet, like the Laodicean church, God sees the church today as being "---wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked."(Rev.3:17). The Laodicean church saw themselves as being in a safe state, perfectly sure of final salvation because they had begun well and had laid the right foundation. They rested in what they had already received and seemed to think that once they were in grace that they would remain in grace no matter what. They didn't even realize their own state, but thought that outward prosperity and religious activity was synonymous with spiritual success. Yet, Jesus saw them differently.
He sees the church today as He did the Laodicean church of John's day. The church, for the most part, is wretched, meaning afflicted as slaves--slaves to this world and its mindset. The church thinks like the world and conducts itself as the world conducts its business. We have become so worldly that we don't recognize how far we have fallen from holiness and righteousness. We are miserable in the state that we are in, meaning that we are to be pitied. We don't even realize that the Spirit has departed from most of our churches, which leaves us poor, spiritually. We have become rich, successful and growing and yet we are in spiritual poverty. We are poor in power, righteousness, holiness, purity and influence. All of this because we have become spiritually blind. We are unable to see our miserable condition. We see ourselves as everything the church is to be while Jesus sees us as naked, not clothed in righteousness and purity. Not adorned as a bride for her wedding. And as with the Laodicean church, Jesus counsels the church today,"---to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich---" (spiritually).
May I interject a personal note here? I do not want you to believe that I think that all churches fall into the categories as the seven churches of Revelation. I believe that there are many churches who are still pursuing God and His will for their lives and the life of the church. I believe that there are many ministers who are called and set by God who are right in the center of His will. To these churches and ministers I say, "Bless you! Keep up the good work!" Most of these churches and ministers are in obscurity but God is about to bring them to the forefront.
Jesus is verbalizing here in verse 18, "O fallen and deceived souls, hear Me. Your case is not hopeless. Come back to Me and receive of Me, without cost, without price, faith that shall stand in every trial. Pure. Just like gold that has had the fire applied and the dross removed. A pure religion. A pure relationship with God the Father. A faith that has been tried and tested by fire and approved of by Me. I'll clothe you in the garments of holiness and purity to cover the nakedness of your spiritual poverty. Pray, therefore, that you may receive the enlightening influence of My Spirit that you may be convinced of your true state and see where your help lies."
Jesus stands ready to come to His lukewarm church and revive her. But first He must purge her with fire. He must chasten her for He cannot and will not tolerate self-righteousness. Where we compare ourselves one to the other and not to the Word of God and declare ourselves okay, righteous. He is sick to His stomach of people professing Him and not following Him. Those claiming heaven when the church is probably the closest they will ever get to heaven. Jesus demands honesty. He wants us to look within ourselves and measure our Christianity by His Word. Jesus is raising up a remnant in these last days who are totally dead to themselves and alive in Christ. He is preparing a Bride. He is about to cast off all the religious flirts and come back to marry a Glorious Bride without spot or wrinkle. Those who are zealous and have repented of their lukewarm state (vs.19).
Although verse twenty has often been used as an evangelism tool to win the lost to Jesus, it isn't spoken to sinners but to the lukewarm believers. Jesus is declaring here that He is patiently standing at the door of the lukewarm church--the lukewarm believers heart. He knocks with mercy, grace, reproofs, exhortations and even judgments to encourage "believers" to repent and turn back to Him. He lifts up His voice loud and strong through His Word, His Spirit and His servants, the preachers, beckoning the lukewarm believer to let Him back into his heart.
When we first come to Jesus in repentance He enters our hearts, but once inside He begins to reveal His requirements for the death of the flesh, a life of holiness and our being set apart for His will and glory. This is where we begin to cool off in our "new-born" feeling and leave Jesus standing in the foyer of our lives not wanting Him to roam the rooms of our hearts and lives. Being rejected as Lord of our lives, He departs and begins knocking at the door of our lukewarm hearts desiring to be invited back into our hearts and lives. It's in our hearts where He can manifest Himself, heal our broken relationship with the Father, pardon all our iniquities, commune with us and feed us the Bread of Life.
Jesus concludes this final letter by admonishing the church to rise above the lukewarmness and the complacency that it had fallen into and He would grant it a place in eternity with Himself on His throne. There is but one throne in eternity and Jesus is offering to the worst church of all, the lukewarm church, the reward of sharing it with Himself. This church of complacency. This church with a profession but no experience. This church of lukewarmness. This church of the greatest sin is offered the greatest reward to be heirs and joint heirs to Jesus' throne. Jesus is telling the lukewarm church of the Laodiceans, as well as the end-time complacent church, that just as He overcame this world and the power of the tempter and received a throne in eternity, that those who overcome the same and their lukewarm complacency shall receive the same reward, His throne.
Friday, August 6, 2010
End Time Study--Pt.7
This week we will be looking at the faithful church of Philadelphia (Rev.3:7-13). This letter is to the end-time church that will be found faithful to God and walking in brotherly love. This remnant church will be found walking in the power of God that overcomes this world. God will open doors to this church in order to proclaim and diffuse His word. Even the adversaries of God and the church will not be able to stop this faithful church. Jesus is saying here that He guarantees the faithful end-time church will have ample opportunity to testify of Him. Even though this church will lack political power and may be few in number, ("---for you have little strength---" vs.8),it will still be doing great exploits (Dan.11:32). This church will be obedient to the Word of God and will not deny His name by lifestyles that deny His deity or lordship of their lives.
To the first century Philadelphian church Jesus compares the disingenuous Jews to the synagogue of Satan, those who possessed a profession of faith without possessing the walk of faith. This was the religious Jew not the Jew who knew Jehovah intimately. Jesus tells this church that these hypocrites would soon come to worship with the true church because they would see God's favor on the church. Some of those who would not acknowledge Jesus as Saviour would soon bow the knee to confess Him as Messiah. Because of God's presence, favor and glory being among these christian believers, many would have to admit that this was a true move of God and worthy of acceptance. They would recognize God's love for these followers of Jesus Christ.
The end-time Philadelphian faithful church will experience much of the same things. There will be many who profess to be Christians while all the time they have no relationship with Jesus. It will be those having a form of godliness while dening the power thereof. These will have great pride in their religion and denominations. These are the ones who "---are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness"(Matt.23:27,28). But even many of these will come to worship God with the faithful remnant church.
As the church enters the Great Tribulation and the true christian faith is labeled religiously incorrect, there will be many who will rise up against the true church, most of which will be the religiously correct churches. Just as Jesus and His followers were hated by the religious Jews, so it will be in the last days church. The church will be made out to be a stumbling block to world peace and prosperity. The church will be called hate-mongers, bigots, narrow-minded, haters of peace, etc., (wait, this is already being done). All of the world's woes will be blamed on the true church, there will be an outcry from humanity to silence the church. To kill a christian will be seen as an act of heroism. Just as Saul of Tarsus (Paul) was seen as a hero by the Jewish leadership for his persecution of the followers of Jesus before his conversion, so it will be in the last days. The "christians", along with other religionists, will persecute the true church believing themselves to be doing God's will. The political systems of the world will applaud this attempt to silence the church, or at least they will look the other way while the true church is being persecuted.
Yet in the midst of all this persecution and hatred toward the faithful church there shall come a great harvest of souls. God will be showing great favor to His church and working signs, wonders and miracles through this true church. Because of His glory being beheld (Is.60:1-4), many will come to Jesus for salvation. Many who thought themselves to be a christian but weren't will come into a father-child relationship with Jehovah through Jesus Christ. The church's greatest hour is yet before her.
Verse ten of chapter three pertains to the church going through the Tribulation that shall come upon the world, but Jesus gives the church a promise of His protection. Because the true church has, with patience, kept the words of Jesus, even while enduring trial, testing and persecution, He will give them His strength to persevere to the end. We must understand that the Great Tribulation is designed, among other things, to test and prove the true followers of Jesus. As the end-time events of disasters, earthquakes, famines, persecutions, etc., come upon the world it will be a means by which God will separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares. Only those who have their total trust in God will survive. The true character of people will be seen. It will be the strength and faith of the Christians that will cause many to believe. The true follower of Christ will be seen as a pillar of strength while the world is full of chaos. Those who have been taught and believe that the Christians are to be raptured before the Great Tirbulation begins will be among the many that will "fall away" from the faith (II Thes.2:3). They will see Christianity as a hoax, a lie, because they were told that, as Christians, they would not have to endure the Tribulation. Pre-trib rapture implies that the Bride, the church, is better than the Groom, Jesus. She doesn't have to be tested as Jesus was in the wilderness, as well as in the Garden of Gethsemane. She doesn't have to suffer to prove her love for the Groom as Jesus proved His love for the Bride through His suffering. Pre-trib theology suggests that the church is too privileged and spoiled to have to suffer. But when we see the Anti-Christ come to power and the judgement of God begin, only those who have been equipped with the full counsel of God's Word will persevere to the end. These are the ones that will be doing great exploits, signs, miracles and wonders.
All we must do (according to verse 11) is to hold fast to the sound doctrine of God's Word. The Word of God in us and our faith in God is what will cause us to stand as pillars of strength while the world is being shaken by God (Heb.12:25-29). As we overcome this world and the temptation to quit while going through the Tribulation, He will grant us to become as the pillars of the temple. The pillars in the Jewish temple were highly ornamented to give the temple beauty. As overcomers, the saints shall be adorned with robes of righteousness, crowns of life and a new name making them to appear as the pillars of the temple. Part of the priests' garments was a nameplate on their foreheads with "Kodesh-Laihovah" written on it meaning "Holiness unto the Lord." We, as a royal priesthood, shall bare the name "Holiness unto the Lord" upon us as well as "New Jerusalem." This labels the saint as belonging to the Holy One of New Jerusalem. Like the title,"Jesus of Nazareth" or "Joseph of Arimathea," we shall be called by a new name indicating to whom we belong as well as our home, New Jerusalem.
What a reward! By holding fast to the Word of God and persevering to the end, the saint of God shall receive eternity with the Light of the world in a New Jerusalem. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."(Rom.8:18)
To the first century Philadelphian church Jesus compares the disingenuous Jews to the synagogue of Satan, those who possessed a profession of faith without possessing the walk of faith. This was the religious Jew not the Jew who knew Jehovah intimately. Jesus tells this church that these hypocrites would soon come to worship with the true church because they would see God's favor on the church. Some of those who would not acknowledge Jesus as Saviour would soon bow the knee to confess Him as Messiah. Because of God's presence, favor and glory being among these christian believers, many would have to admit that this was a true move of God and worthy of acceptance. They would recognize God's love for these followers of Jesus Christ.
The end-time Philadelphian faithful church will experience much of the same things. There will be many who profess to be Christians while all the time they have no relationship with Jesus. It will be those having a form of godliness while dening the power thereof. These will have great pride in their religion and denominations. These are the ones who "---are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness"(Matt.23:27,28). But even many of these will come to worship God with the faithful remnant church.
As the church enters the Great Tribulation and the true christian faith is labeled religiously incorrect, there will be many who will rise up against the true church, most of which will be the religiously correct churches. Just as Jesus and His followers were hated by the religious Jews, so it will be in the last days church. The church will be made out to be a stumbling block to world peace and prosperity. The church will be called hate-mongers, bigots, narrow-minded, haters of peace, etc., (wait, this is already being done). All of the world's woes will be blamed on the true church, there will be an outcry from humanity to silence the church. To kill a christian will be seen as an act of heroism. Just as Saul of Tarsus (Paul) was seen as a hero by the Jewish leadership for his persecution of the followers of Jesus before his conversion, so it will be in the last days. The "christians", along with other religionists, will persecute the true church believing themselves to be doing God's will. The political systems of the world will applaud this attempt to silence the church, or at least they will look the other way while the true church is being persecuted.
Yet in the midst of all this persecution and hatred toward the faithful church there shall come a great harvest of souls. God will be showing great favor to His church and working signs, wonders and miracles through this true church. Because of His glory being beheld (Is.60:1-4), many will come to Jesus for salvation. Many who thought themselves to be a christian but weren't will come into a father-child relationship with Jehovah through Jesus Christ. The church's greatest hour is yet before her.
Verse ten of chapter three pertains to the church going through the Tribulation that shall come upon the world, but Jesus gives the church a promise of His protection. Because the true church has, with patience, kept the words of Jesus, even while enduring trial, testing and persecution, He will give them His strength to persevere to the end. We must understand that the Great Tribulation is designed, among other things, to test and prove the true followers of Jesus. As the end-time events of disasters, earthquakes, famines, persecutions, etc., come upon the world it will be a means by which God will separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares. Only those who have their total trust in God will survive. The true character of people will be seen. It will be the strength and faith of the Christians that will cause many to believe. The true follower of Christ will be seen as a pillar of strength while the world is full of chaos. Those who have been taught and believe that the Christians are to be raptured before the Great Tirbulation begins will be among the many that will "fall away" from the faith (II Thes.2:3). They will see Christianity as a hoax, a lie, because they were told that, as Christians, they would not have to endure the Tribulation. Pre-trib rapture implies that the Bride, the church, is better than the Groom, Jesus. She doesn't have to be tested as Jesus was in the wilderness, as well as in the Garden of Gethsemane. She doesn't have to suffer to prove her love for the Groom as Jesus proved His love for the Bride through His suffering. Pre-trib theology suggests that the church is too privileged and spoiled to have to suffer. But when we see the Anti-Christ come to power and the judgement of God begin, only those who have been equipped with the full counsel of God's Word will persevere to the end. These are the ones that will be doing great exploits, signs, miracles and wonders.
All we must do (according to verse 11) is to hold fast to the sound doctrine of God's Word. The Word of God in us and our faith in God is what will cause us to stand as pillars of strength while the world is being shaken by God (Heb.12:25-29). As we overcome this world and the temptation to quit while going through the Tribulation, He will grant us to become as the pillars of the temple. The pillars in the Jewish temple were highly ornamented to give the temple beauty. As overcomers, the saints shall be adorned with robes of righteousness, crowns of life and a new name making them to appear as the pillars of the temple. Part of the priests' garments was a nameplate on their foreheads with "Kodesh-Laihovah" written on it meaning "Holiness unto the Lord." We, as a royal priesthood, shall bare the name "Holiness unto the Lord" upon us as well as "New Jerusalem." This labels the saint as belonging to the Holy One of New Jerusalem. Like the title,"Jesus of Nazareth" or "Joseph of Arimathea," we shall be called by a new name indicating to whom we belong as well as our home, New Jerusalem.
What a reward! By holding fast to the Word of God and persevering to the end, the saint of God shall receive eternity with the Light of the world in a New Jerusalem. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."(Rom.8:18)
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