The time is near
Category: prophecy
Does submitting to governing authorities mean ones like ISIS or Obama?
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1)
That can’t mean submit to … Obama, could it? I can’t stand Obama [Nero, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi, Herod, Pharaoh, Nimrod, Saddam Hussein, Mao Tse-Tung, Genghis Khan, Stalin, Nebuchadnezzar, Vlad Tepes…]
Why yes. Yes it does.
Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:2)
The events taking place with ISIS in the old Assyria region of Nineveh/Mosul, Babylon/Baghdad are truly horrific.
Babylon is home to the deepest, longest lasting origin of evil on earth. (Genesis 11:4, Revelation 17:18), Babylon was first in evil religion and it will be the last. The angel of the Prince of the kingdom of Persia was strong enough to prevent the angel dispatched from God in reaching earth to bring the message to Daniel. (Daniel 10:13). That’s a strong, evil angel.
Nineveh was so evil God threatened to wipe it out, and eventually He did, so thoroughly that the city wasn’t even discovered until the mid-1800s! This area of the world is so evil that Revelation 9:14-15 says there are four evil angels bound in the Euphrates River who will be released during the Tribulation. When they are, they will immediately kill a third of mankind!
That ISIS is spawned from that area of the world is no surprise. That they are so vicious is also no surprise. Every man has that evil in him, the potential for it exists in all of us. While not all of us are as bad as we can be, the evil in us does run deep and some leaders are deeply evil. They are NOT an anomaly.
In addition, the area between Iran-Iraq-Syria (Assyria) has always had an evil government. Cain built a city (Genesis 4:17) and Nimrod was first dictator in the world, in addition, he founded Babylon, the very symbol for deceit, evil, and rebellion. (Genesis 10:8-10). The very first man-made government mentioned in the bible had a dictator and a false religion! In that same spot that there is still such evil happening!
From that perspective, the evil in the governments of the land of Assyria should not surprise us. Compared to ISIS, which is not just a terror group but a government, maybe old Saddam Hussein is looking kind of good right now! (in comparison)
So what good can some from submitting to such evil? Did God really mean to submit to governments like that? Who kill children and suspend the rule of law and torture and oppress?
Yes.
God makes good come out of it.
Like this:
In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them.
And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” (Isaiah 19:19-25)
In the Millennium kingdom, God will BLESS them! They will convert and worship the one True God! There is no higher good than that! What good can possibly come from ISIS terrorists chopping off heads? That area of the world will be personally blessed by the LORD!
I love this prophecy so much. It brings tears to my eyes every time. They are the only three nations mentioned for such blessings. I also love the verse because it says, Assyria, Egypt and Israel will be blessed and the verse explains why. Egypt is His people, they hosted & protected His Son. (Hosea 11:1)
Assyria, the area ISIS is brutalizing, …Gill’s Exposition says of the prophecy regarding Assyria,
“Assyria the work of my hands; not as creatures only, but new creatures, having the good work of grace wrought in their hearts, of which God is the author; and therefore are called his workmanship, Ephesians 2:10 and who must be blessed, because, by this work of grace upon them, they appear to be the chosen of God, and precious, to be his children, and dear unto him, whom he will not forsake, and who are formed for himself, and for heaven, and happiness:”
The ISIS peoples, will be His children? Yes!
We have the advantage of knowing this great work of God is ahead, no matter how many dams are booby trapped, no matter how many heads are chopped off, no matter how many children are killed. God has a purpose, and we know what it is.
What a blessing to know the future. What a blessing to know their future redemption. What a blessing to know His holiness, even in wrath, then He will save.
It’s terrible what is happening now in and around Iraq, but the worse things get the better things will be later, because God will show Himself holy and righteous and merciful to Egypt, Israel and Assyria.
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| Patriarch (a parallel position to Pope) Anton II of Georgia |
Let’s say that there are Christians in the Middle East. Many of the people who are called “Christians” are not- they are Eastern Orthodox. EO is a mirror of Catholicism, so if they adhere to the doctrines of EO they are not real Christians.
But for the sake of argument, let’s say there are some, because there probably are.
Let’s say that they decide for their own self, that though the bible says to subject themselves to ruling authorities, they say, “ISIS is killing children. That’s heinous. I will not pay jizya taxes which will support that government, in any way. I will wait for a better government and I will pay taxes then.”
But, that is the short view. God has the long view. He said to store up treasures in heaven. As a citizen of heaven, I want to invest in heaven. In the essay above I’d shared the Isaiah 19 passage, in which God says He will bless Assyria, Egypt, and Israel.
In subjecting myself to the ruling authorities on earth (as long as I’m not denying Christ and converting to Islam), I am investing in His blessed government that is to come. I am trusting the LORD to fulfill His promise to bring peace in Assyria, conversion in Assyrian hearts, and the Good ruling authority- Jesus.
The short view is selfish and myopic. Who am I to say, rebel against this government because they’re bad? They’re ALL bad! There is none Good except Jesus! But in following the bible and subjecting myself to ruling governments, whether they be Queen Elizabeth or ISIS, or Saddam Hussein or George Washington, I am simply waiting for the REAL government to come, investing in it, and storing up treasure. No, I don’t want my taxes to go toward the bad things that are happening in the US nor in Iraq, but God will take care of the leaders who deal falsely. My taxes, my submission, my Christian participation, is an investment as a shareholder of the great government to come.
The long view. It’s important.
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Further reading
What is the significance of the Babylonian Empire in biblical history?”
The enduring comfort of prophecy
God said in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Adam in Genesis 3:20, “…named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. (NIV)
Jesus tells us things in advance for many reasons. (to foretell). One reason is so that we may be on guard, be warned. (Matthew 24:25). Another is to show His holiness at judgment. (Ezekiel 2:5).
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| “Eye of God” Helix nebula, source Hubble Telescope |
Prophetic declarations of future events also serve to comfort. Adam seemed to be comforted by God’s promise of a future redeemer. Perhaps Adam wondered as they faced God, if He would smite them on the spot. Instead, Adam clung to the knowledge that there would be offspring. Adam was so trusting in God’s word that Adam named his wife Eve, “because she would be the mother of all the living”. Bearing a son was still in the future, (Genesis 4:1), so Adam took comfort in God’s forthtelling, clung to His word, and took action because of it it.
We don’t have new prophecies today that forthtell new information because the canon is closed, but we still are built up when a person reiterates them, and preaches truth, called prophesying. This includes referring to prophecies, as well as the bible’s poetry,truths, doctrines, and history.
On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. (1 Corinthians 14:3). In this case prophesying means forthtelling.
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| Helix Nebula a different view, NASA |
God told the first prophecy in the bible, in Genesis 3:15. Adam re-iterated that prophesy in Genesis 3:20. But who was the bible’s first human prophet? Enoch.
Enoch was the 7th person born from Adam.
Genealogy from Adam, Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth. (1 Chronicles 1:1-4)
Enoch lived prior to the Flood. At the Institute for Creation Research, Dr. John Morris writes,
One of the favorite characters in the Old Testament is Methuselah, who lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27), longer than anyone else recorded. His father was Enoch, of whom it is said he “walked with God” (5:24) but who was taken to heaven without dying at 365 years. Methuselah’s son Lamech died a few years before the Flood at 777 years (5:31) after bearing Noah.
When Methuselah was born, his godly father must have prophetically known of coming things for his son’s name means “when he dies, judgment,” and interestingly enough, Methuselah died in the same year God judged the sinful world with the great Flood of Noah’s day.
God took Enoch alive in a snatching away that is a typology of the rapture. Enoch was taken in Genesis 5:24. (Hebrews 11:5)
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| William Blake’s only known lithograph (lithography was rather new and experimental in 1807), illustrating Genesis 5:24 “Enoch walked with God; then was no more, because God took him away”.) |
Genesis 5 records a genealogy. The repetitive language forms a pattern … until you get to Enoch
Genesis 5:5, “Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:8, “Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:11, “Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:14, “Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:17, “Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:20, “Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.”
Genesis 5:23, “Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.”
Genesis 5:24, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”
Who didn’t die?
“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5)
Before Enoch was taken up, Enoch prophesied. His prophecy is recorded in Jude.
“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 1:14-15)
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| CC, Wikipedia |
This is an extremely precious prophecy. It is an heirloom seed. Why? the Flood.
FLOOD
Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. (Genesis 7:6-7)
Enoch’s prophecy was given before the Flood. Everyone on earth died. After the Flood, only 8 people knew the prophecy. For Jude to record it, it means the prophecy was carried through the Flood in the heart and mind of Noah and his family.
What comfort it must have been for Noah to have heard Enoch prophesy before the Flood that the Lord will return with ten thousand of His holy ones to execute judgment. What torture it must have been for righteous Noah, (Genesis 6:9), one of the three declared most righteous men on earth, (Ezekiel 14:14) to live among such evil. Enoch’s prophecy was a light and a pure hope amid the darkest days on earth!
When the waters receded and the family emerged onto a new earth, one where continents were split and only mud existed, Noah knew the prophecy. He told the prophecy. It was told and retold, until it became ingrained in the tradition of the Jews. Jude knew it, and the Holy Spirit inspired Jude to mention it. Though Enoch’s prophecy is not recorded by Enoch in the bible, it is recorded by Jude.
In these dark days, prophecy performs the same function. The Lord WILL RETURN to execute judgment and vindicate His holy name! While we do not take delight in the death of the ungodly, we do delight in knowing Jesus will rectify all wrongs, judge the wicked, and institute peace on earth. This is ultimate comfort. The ark carried 8 precious souls. It carried every kind of animal. And it carried with it the knowledge of the One True God, and His promises to all generations: holiness in the end.
Digital tattoos and advanced phone technology advertised by Motorola
In Revelation 13 we read that the Beast (Antichrist) will cause all people on earth to have a mark on their forehead or hand, that is a mark of worship of him.. The bait-and-switch to entice or force people to accept the mark will be that they cannot buy or sell if they do not have it. However, if they take the mark, they are declaring their allegiance with satan, and God’s wrath will be forever on them. That is why the true Christians who convert after the rapture will not accept the mark. Their allegiance and worship is to Jesus. They will pay a heavy price for their stand, they will either starve or be martyred.
What this means is, during a time of war and chaos, the antichrist will have such control over the world that he can institute an infrastructure so penetrating that all the billions of people remaining on planet earth can be tracked.
Until recently we knew by faith that this will happen, but it was very hard to envision. The computer technology and scientific advances to allow this to happen did not exist. Now they do, and not only that, they’re being used in exactly the way it will eventually be intended to be used, as the mark of the Beast.
In the following story we read that both the technology and the science is not just theory but in active use. The science to create a small tattoo mark on a person’s body that is connected to the technology is also being advertised. I am NOT saying that this is the mark. I am saying, that as a 53 year old woman who remembers the adults in her life remarking about the wonder of the new invention called ‘bar codes,’ that the advance of technology within half a generation is consistent with the rapidly increasing birth pangs we read about that will fulfill the eventual end.
I am in awe of Jesus who sustains the universe by the power of His word.
Now You Can Unlock Your Moto X with a Digital Tattoo
Last year at the All Things D “D11” conference, Regina Dugan talked about new digital tattoo technology that would make it easier to unlock your phone. Now the moment is here: We’re excited to see this new technology brought to life for Moto X by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group and VivaLnk Inc. Made of super thin, flexible materials, based on VivaLnk’s eSkinTM technology, each digital tattoo is designed to unlock your phone with just a touch of your Moto X to the tattoo, no passwords required. The nickel-sized tattoo is adhesive, lasts for five days, and is made to stay on through showering, swimming, and vigorous activities like jogging. And it’s beautiful—with a shimmering, intricate design. It’s another step in making it easier to unlock your phone on the go and keep your personal information safe. An average user takes 2.3 seconds to unlock their phone and does this about 39 times a day—a process that some people find so inconvenient that they do not lock their phones at all. Using NFC technology, digital tattoos make it faster to safely unlock your phone anywhere without having to enter a password
Can you see the dots connecting? No? Here is a photo:
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| Source |
A good rapture clip to watch
Here is a clip from the movie Jerusalem Countdown, released in 2012. The movie was from a book written by Pastor John Hagee. I haven’t seen the movie and I make no statement or claim about Hagee because this essay is not a discussion about the book, the movie, or the pastor. It is not a discussion about whether there IS a rapture, nor is it a discussion about the timing of the rapture.
I’m focusing here on the visuals of the rapture as presented below in a 3-minute movie clip.
At some point, the LORD will declare the Age of Grace closed, for He will have gathered the quota of people He has grafted-in to Himself (Romans 11:25). This will be the signal that the pause put in place for many years in God’s working with the Jews, will resume. That pause was initiated 7 years before the close of the age of Law. (Daniel 9:24-27). God did this because the Jews, who were given charge to make God known in the world, failed to do this, and they rejected Him as their Messiah when He came in His incarnation. (Romans 11:11, all of Romans 9). So He began gathering a Gentile people to Himself and charged them with the task. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). When the grafting-in is done, the Age of Grace is done.
Here are the two most clear verses related to the joy that awaits the persevering Christian, also known as the rapture. The joy comes from knowing that the rapture is an event, it will happen, and there is no judgment connected with this event for any Christian. Christians can look forward to it in hope and blessing.
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:21-52)
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
In 2008, there used to be many more rapture clips on Youtube. Just as there are amateur film-makers publishing clips related to their favorite secular subject, there are amateur Christian film-makers publishing clips of their favorite subjects, too. Capturing the joy, fear, mystery, and wonder of the moment of the rapture is a favorite among many people. We will not be here to see that moment, but we are fascinated with the instant that heaven and earth collide. What will it look like? What will it sound like? Will there be many people found to be Christian who will go? Will few found to be Christian and are called home? What about the graves?
But for some reason the rapture clips are fewer in number than they used to be. Fortunately one thing Youtube is good for is you can always find a cheesy 70s or 80s rapture or Tribulation movie. Thirty and forty years ago, eschatology was a more mainstream Christian doctrine. It was talked about, preached, and there were books and movies made. I know that books like ‘88 Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1988′ blighted the cause, but still, with all the wrongheaded stuff, there was right-headed stuff too. Now there’s no stuff. Either there’s either a big yawn, or a black hole where eschatology used to be.
I watched part of one of the rapture movies the other day on Youtube, it was excruciatingly cheesy and awful, but I did like the witnessing parts of it. It obviously had come out of the 1970s Jesus Movement. It preached rapture from Matthew 24, which is incorrect. However it was earnest. As I said, the parts where the witnessing happens was enjoyable. A key to the witnessing was the inclusion of eschatology, something you don’t see today. There was no “God has a plan for your life” but “Jesus wants you to be ready for your next life.” I think we are cheesier now in the way we witness, and totally wrong-headed about failing to speak of the future prophecies and the Second Coming of Christ. Paul was with the Thessalonians only three weeks, and he taught them about the rapture right away.
Anyway, the movie I watched part of was called “A Thief In the Night” series, and I think there are several movies in the sequence. However, movies like that were so low budget, they couldn’t afford to show the impact of the rapture, lol. This clip does.
In most rapture movies, the event is invisible. During the instant of the rapture, and the few moments after the rapture, there is no noise, no impact on land or sky, and nothing to indicate people have been taken except a pile of clothes left behind. People look adoringly at a husband, go in the kitchen to get him some coffee, and return to see an empty chair and a wedding ring on the table.
In the clip above, there is a light in the sky, a parting of the clouds, a rumble in the air and on the earth, and blazing light for a moment as souls are taken.
After the sky snaps shut, there are some clothes drifting down from above, lol. Then the cars start crashing and a helicopter falls from the sky. The chaos begins.
I think the above depiction is closer to the way it will be. I’m not sure, of course, no one is, aside from what is declared in the verses of holy scripture. But the verses themselves do offer some clues, and other verses do also. In the 1 Corinthians verse, we read
–the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command,
–with the voice of an archangel,
–and with the sound of the trumpet of God
Many rapture movies present the rapture as happening silently, or if there is noise, only the Christians will hear it. Yet the rapture will be an unprecedented global event, affecting every person on the planet. Will no one hear the trumpet? Will only Christians hear the cry? What were the circumstances when other cries from heaven occurred in the bible? Were they undetectable to bystanders? No.
There’s the scene on the road to Damascus. Jesus in heaven broke through the veil separating heaven and earth, and spoke to Paul. Paul heard Him clearly and conversed with Jesus. (Acts 9:4). The men who were with Saul/Paul heard the voice, too.
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. (Acts 9:7)
Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. (Acts 22:9)
In John 12:29-30, Jesus is explaining that He must die. Jesus praises the Father, and the Father answers from heaven-
“Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
In Daniel, when the angel appeared to him and gave the vision, Daniel wrote later, “I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.” (Daniel 10:7 cf. Luke 2:9)
It seems from these examples that when a voice from heaven speaks to someone on the ground, those on the ground hear it, or some reverberation of it. It seems that when a connection is made from heaven to earth, people sense and know that something supernatural is happening (they usually express fear or terror). I think when Jesus cries out and the trumpet sounds, people will hear a rumble or thunder. I think they will see a light. I think it very likely may be as it was shown in the clip. Food for thought, idly. We won’t know until it happens of course. And I believe that moment is near.
Please enjoy an exposition of the rapture from Thessalonians, Corinthians, and John, by John MacArthur.
Here is a good verse to ponder as you watch, and think about the perfections of our glorious Savior
Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)
The rapture is when He takes His bride up to glory with Him. Encourage one another with these words.
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Further Reading:
Spurgeon devotional: Purity of Heart and Life
The Great Apostasy is not the general apostasy we’re experiencing now
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| Wiki CC. Photographer: Irving Rusinow. Alabama |
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
Paul is talking to the Thessalonians about the order of events leading to the revealing of the antichrist, which will happen in the Great Tribulation. He is speaking of a specific event, “the apostasy” which is the antichrist standing in the temple and declaring himself God.
General apostasy has always been in existence and always will be. GotQuestions defines apostasy in two ways,
(1) a falling away from key and true doctrines of the Bible into heretical teachings that proclaim to be “the real” Christian doctrine, and (2) a complete renunciation of the Christian faith, which results in a full abandonment of Christ.
Even while Jesus lived, and while the apostles worked, there were apostates. Judas was apostate. He could be seen as the apostate type #2. His apostasy had been well hidden but he defected in the end and the rebellion hidden in his heart became clear. In another case of mass apostasy, when Jesus began to teach hard things, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” (John 6:66).
After Jesus’ ascension there were apostates, too. Demas was an apostate. He could be seen as the apostate type #1. In Philemon 1:4 Paul called Demas a ‘fellow worker’. By 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul said Demas loved the world and had departed.
So THE apostasy in Thessalonians’ Great Tribulation times is not the same as general apostasy now. However, Jesus said the time of the end (ascension to rapture) will be as birth pangs, and birth pangs get worse as time goes on. Paul taught that evil men and seducers will grow from bad to worse. (2 Timothy 3:13). John MacArthur said last week, “Cultural Christianity is dying at warp speed”. In 2006 he preached of Americans-
We’ve rejected God. He gave us revelation, we rejected it. We rationalize it and call ourselves an elite educated advanced culture and we invent religion as if it’s an indicator of how high we have ascended when the fact of the matter is we’re going down at warp speed. We have abandoned God and God has returned the favor.
So as the birth pangs grow and the world succumbs to evil, even general apostasy is getting worse. Jesus warned that even churches could have apostates in them, (Matthew 13:26), and that whole churches would be apostate, as seen in the following Revelation verse.
Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, Behold! I stand at the door and knock. (Revelation 3:20). The verse was an actual warning, to an actual church at Laodicea which had become a cultural, Jesus-less church. The verse is also a warning for us today. There are congregations (local “churches”) where Jesus isn’t inside it at all. MacArthur on Laodicea
This is an unsaved church. In fact, if there were any believers in this church they aren’t even referred to in the letter at all. It is a church that is characterized by lukewarmness which becomes a metaphor for being non-saved people. Laodicea has the grim distinction of being among all seven letters the only one in which Christ has nothing good to say. It is unmitigated, unspared condemnation. There is in this church apparently absolutely no redeeming feature. This is the unsaved, unregenerate false church.
How could it be that churches exist where there are no believers at all? This is the point of today’s essay. There are. Believe it. More and more churches and whole denominations are showing themselves apostate.
In Charisma News last week, Jennifer LeClaire wrote,
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| Wiki CC, photographer: ForestWander. West VA. |
Apostasy Rising: 4 Denominations In Less Than a Week Defy God’s Word
The UCC, [United Church of Christ] which considers itself a mainline Protestant denomination—claiming over 1 million members and about 5,200 congregations in the U.S.—proudly announced it will serve as a major sponsor of the Gay Games. The UCC will now go down in Christian history as the first major denomination to sponsor the homosexual Olympics when the games roll into Cleveland, Ohio, in August.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) last week voted to allow its ministers to perform gay weddings in states where it’s legal. On Tuesday, Methodist Pastor Frank Schaefer, who was defrocked for officiating his son’s gay wedding, was fully reinstated and the Moravians voted to ordain gay clergy. My research shows there’s a long and growing list of gay-affirming denominations, including the Affirming Pentecostal Church International.
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There comes a tipping point where the weight of apostasy drowns all those who are in the church. I thought this next article was interesting, reporting on the collapse of the middle class pastor
Higher Calling, Lower Wages: The Vanishing of the Middle-Class Clergy
Barringer’s story is becoming increasingly typical as Protestant churches nationwide cut back on full-time, salaried positions. Consequently, many new pastors either ask friends and family for donations (a time-honored clerical tradition) or take on other jobs. Working two jobs has become so common for clergy members, in fact, that churches and seminaries have a euphemistic term for it: bi-vocational ministry. Working multiple jobs is nothing new to pastors of small, rural congregations. But many of those pastors never went to seminary and never expected to have a full-time ministerial job in the first place. What’s new is the across-the-board increase in bi-vocational ministry in Protestant denominations both large and small, which has effectively shut down one pathway to a stable—if humble—middle-class career.
[Side note: seminary training does help & is important]
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place– unless you repent. (Revelation 2:5)
The removing of the church’s lampstand meant Christ’s Spirit would depart and leave them on their own, which in turn would result in them being as Laodicea (Laodicea means “men’s opinions ruling in place of God”). Loyalty to Christ can and often is replaced by loyalty to an organization, a church, and its leaders, substituting new rules and interpretations for Biblical truths. (Let Us Reason)
Let Us Reason continues on the apostasy seen in the Laodicean church:
In modern times this falling away had started in liberal seminaries who sent teachers out to unsuspecting pulpits teaching their liberal ideas– those who promote homosexuality, who ordain people that deny the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth and the essentials of the faith.
Then the new age movement began to emerge and infiltrate the Church with kingdom dominion theology and placing subjective experience over the authority of the objective Word of God. Then the homosexual movement came through the Episcopal church along with feminists who disdain God as father. Now this apostasy has become something so widespread it encompasses most things that are considered sacred. Affecting almost all denominations to some degree. Doctrines are distorted and abandoned, controlling shepherds are in charge, teaching coveting, wealth and perfect health as God’s will to all. They approve of divorce and accept homosexuality.
Warp speed…
The apostasy of professing Christianity has increased with a momentum that is stunning to those watching its growth. It has gone off the Richter scale. In the absence of the lampstand (the presence of Christ), devils have stepped in and taken over in many churches. This falling away has certainly begun and is picking up momentum each year, month, and week. Whole movements have arisen that draw huge crowds by catering to the natural mans desires and prey on his propensity of being deceived by the supernatural. They are being offered the very things Christ refused and warned against in his teachings.
THE Apostasy discussed in Thessalonians will be one, stunning and undeniable event. We’re not there. General apostasy IS rising however. Many a church member awake one day to look around the pews, and bemoan that they hardly know any people anymore, their church doesn’t look like it once did, and it teaches unrecognizable doctrines. The choir disappeared and instead there is an ever growing praise band. Hymns drifted away and we now stand around uncomfortably and look at a screen while a few people sing doctrine-less contemporary songs. The preacher teaches gospel-lite, or worse, prosperity gospel. Sometimes he seems to be preaching rightly but the sermons in fact are all plagiarized. Sometimes he is a she.
Apostasy is an interior thing. It is in the heart and we can’t see it right away, most times. Apostasy that looks like this:
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| Source NASA |
Is really this-
How does it happen? Incrementally. Satan takes an inch at a time. (Hebrews 2:1). He is patient, relentless and laser-focused. This means we have to guard each and every move away from the center line of the narrow road. We have to deal with each and every incremental move. And yet we should display the discernment to know which battles to pick and when, and how to raise them. This is not because there are some battles best left alone, no. It’s because the Holy Spirit has some people working on some battles and other people working on others.
The bible also says to treat our leaders with respect and double honor, and not to exalt ourselves nor think of ourselves more highly than we ought. It’s a delicate balancing act, discernment.
Too often, people say, ‘well that’s too small, too petty. I’ll let it go’. But you have given the camel a nose-hold under the tent. The pew member sitting next to you carrying a Jesus Calling book…the woman in your Sunday School class who watches Joel Osteen, the deacon who doesn’t think occasional porn harms anybody, the teenager living with her boyfriend or girlfriend, the brother in the men’s group who wants a divorce…all these need to be addressed.
In the classic novel Watership Down, the rabbit motto was “One cloud feels lonely.”
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| EPrata photo |
Soon, one cloud becomes this:
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| EPrata photo |
Do you think satan will let one apostasy alone when he can have two? Do you think he will let two apostasies alone when he can have four? Before you know it, the sky has been obliterated and there are so many clouds you don’t know where one ends and another begins. It gets dark real fast.
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So far we have distinguished the prophesied coming event of The Apostasy from the ongoing General Apostasy of the Church Age. We have seen that apostasy in general is rising. We have looked at the general apostasy’s increased speed among the global churches here on earth.
But as with all things about Jesus, there is always hope. His church will never fail! The gates of hell will not prevail against it! Mathew 16:18). though there may be more churches that are Laodicean than Philadelphian, there are Philadelphian churches in the world. The church at Philadelphia was one of only two churches in Revelation not to receive one word of condemnation! (Rev 2:8-11, and Rev. 3:7-13).
Jesus has a pure Bride and she will never be spotted. A true believer can never go astray permanently. He has us in His hand. His work on the cross atoned for our sin, and we are washed in His blood and have received His righteousness. He has made us His children!
Though it may seem dim and dark in your corner of the world, Jesus did commend the church at Smyrna for persevering in persecution, tribulation and poverty. There are true believers in the world who are not apostasizing, who keep His word and do not deny His name (Rev 3:10). We look forward to the glorious day when He calls us home, either by rapture or resurrection, and we meet Him in the air, a purified Bride He has made worthy.
Meanwhile, pray for fellow believers that they do not apostasize. Encourage! Edify! Study the word so that you will have a good word to share with a fainting brother. There is nothing like the word of God to revive a failing heart. His peace prevails, always.
[UPDATE: Woman tested negative for Ebola] News Briefs: Woman de-planes at London Gatwick & dies of Ebola; Priscilla Shirer & Beth Moore in Kendrick Brothers’ new movie; Platt; "You Twit Face"
[UPDATE]
The BBC is reporting the following this afternoon
The Department for Health said the test on the elderly woman, who landed at Gatwick Airport, came back negative on Sunday afternoon. … “The correct procedures were followed to confirm there was no reason to quarantine the airplane, the passengers or staff. PHE can confirm there was no public health risk around the sad death of this individual.”
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Some news briefs for you-
Ebola terror at Gatwick as passenger collapses and dies getting off Sierra Leone flight
Staff tell of fears as jet from Africa is quarantined after the death of passenger who was ‘sweating and vomiting’ before she collapsed
Airport staff tonight told of their fears of an Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick. Workers said they were terrified the virus could spread globally through the busy international hub from the West African country which is in the grip of the deadly epidemic. The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board. She died in hospital on Saturday. Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone. A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February. Tests were carried out to see if the woman had disease. The plane was quarantined as officials desperately tried to trace everyone who had been in contact with the woman. Airport workers faced an anxious wait to see if the woman had Ebola. One said: “Everyone’s just petrified. “We’ve all seen how many people have died from Ebola, especially in Sierra Leone, and it’s terrifying.”
Yes, its terrifying. Imagine how much more terrifying it will be when billions are dying at once, as Revelation 6:7-8 and Revelation 9:15 and Luke 21:11 tell us. The door to heaven is open to all right now during this Age of Grace. Repent and turn to Jesus as Savior.
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The Kendrick Brothers finish making their fifth movie. The Albany GA brothers are known for Christian movies Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and Courageous. Their fifth movie is reportedly about prayer, and includes Priscilla Shirer in a large role and Beth Moore in a cameo role. I dont’ ant to jump to any conclusions, because the Kendrick Brothers have a solid grounding in doctrine and their previous movies have been good. However, the combination of the subject of prayer and the inclusion of two women noted for un-orthodoxy in this subject, does not bode well. Both Shirer and Moore engage in and promote contemplative prayer. Further, Moore is known for having unbiblical visions and hearing the voice of God audibly, and explains during her “bible lessons” that this is or should be normal activity for all Christians. Perhaps Moore’s smaller role means that any negative impact on the movies direction would be minimal. However it is also true that we should “not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:53.) In laymen’s term,s when the glove drops in the mud, the mud doesn’t get glovey.
My hope and prayer is that the movie will still be doctrinally solid. When it is released in a few months, please be discerning about it. Here is an essay with more information about Priscilla Shirer.
Here is the press release of information about the Kendricks’ new as yet untitled movie:
Kendrick Brothers Wrap Filming on Anticipated Fifth Movie
CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 29, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ — Alex and Stephen Kendrick–creators of hit faith films FIREPROOF and COURAGEOUS–have just wrapped principal photography on their anticipated fifth movie–a family drama with humor and heart focused on the power of prayer and its primary role in the Christian life…. The film features New York Times best-selling author and Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer in her film debut. “I’m honored to be working with the Kendricks, and to be part of a story that encourages people to pray,” Shirer said. “Prayer is the most powerful weapon the church has to unlock the activity of heaven on earth.”… “It’s time for fierceness in prayer, and I cannot think of a more crucial message for a movie to convey,” Moore said. “God waits to see a generation that will take Him at His Word. Let’s be that generation.”
I have a peeve about teachers claiming that ‘we are the generation’ to finally get it right. Has no other generation in 6000 years ever taken God at His word? Apparently not, according to Moore. How narcissistic. As if God hasn’t used every generation to further His will and plan. If I may be allowed to echo the words of the eminent Dr Craig of the long-departed television drama St. Elsewhere,
“Oh for crying out loud.“
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A good word from Pastor David Platt:
Twitter wisdom, and apparently from an 11-year-old no less: @JonathanDLeeman:
A friend’s 11 year old boy: they should combine YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook and call it You Twit Face.
I deactivated my Facebook account. The constant drama, me-orientation, superficiality, time-wasters, temptation to sin, and false doctrine abounding finally got to me. And you know what? I haven’t missed it.
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If you’re struggling financially, living in an urban ghetto, a third world nation, your car, or just barely hanging on, I leave this verse with you-
Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? (James 2:5)
Ebola outbreak in W. Africa causing panic, out of control in some areas
There is a monster Ebola outbreak in Africa right now. Liberia is especially affected. Ebola is a deadly virus that causes a mortality rate of up to 90%. CBS News posted this morning,
The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has surpassed 700, according to the World Health Organization. It’s the deadliest outbreak ever recorded. U.S. health officials are warning Americans not to travel to the three countries hit by the outbreak: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Amid fears that air travelers could spread Ebola to other countries, many are asking questions about the disease and how it is transmitted. Here’s what you need to know about Ebola. The information comes from WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I posted some of the CBS News information about Ebola below, and of course, please click on the link above to find out more. The fears related to travel come on the heels of a scare from a few days ago. The Washington Post’s choice of headline added to the scare. They wrote: This is the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Here’s why you should be worried.
What’s particularly scary, though, was the recent death of a Liberian man in Lagos, the bustling coastal mega-city in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. The man, a consultant for the Liberian government, had traveled from Liberia through an airport in Lome, the capital of Togo, before arriving in Nigeria. The hospital where he died is under lockdown, and the WHO has sent teams to Togo and Nigeria. (source)
That incident sparked headlines like this,
Ebola only a plane ride away from USA
The growing Ebola outbreak in West Africa serves as a grim reminder that deadly viruses are only a plane ride away from the USA, health experts say.
What is Ebola? Back to the CBS News article,
Ebola virus disease, sometimes known as EVD, is a highly infectious, usually fatal virus that leads to flu-like symptoms and severe internal bleeding. Just how deadly is Ebola? The survival rate is very low. Somewhere between 60 percent and 90 percent of the people who develop Ebola will die.
Of the 1200 or so cases reported in Africa, over 700 have died. That is a 60% mortality rate.
The severe internal bleeding mentioned in the CBS News article as one of the final symptoms of Ebola is caused by hemorrhagic fever. About half the cases don’t result in hemorrhagic fever, but of the half that do, the end is truly horrific. The bleeding is severe because the patient’s insides are melting.
The onset is just like regular flu and is often mistaken for that. The severity of the disease doesn’t make itself apparent at initial onset. Worse, the incubation period is from 2 to 21 days, meaning that up to three weeks can pass before a person comes down with symptoms. Meanwhile, he could have flown from country to country.
The good news is that it isn’t spread through the air. You can’t catch it like you catch a cold, after someone next to you sneezes. Though it is highly contagious, it is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids, like blood. Health care workers are especially at-risk. American’s Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol of Samaritan’s Purse contracted Ebola while on scene but are stable. Dr. Samuel Brisbane, one of Liberia’s most high-profile doctors, died from Ebola this week.
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| Guinea: With no vaccine and no treatment for Ebola, MSF’s priority is to isolate cases as quickly as possible. Isolation teams are obliged to work in ‘hazmat’ suits. Photo Luis Encinas/MSF (March 2014) |
This outbreak won’t be considered over until there are no new confirmed cases for 42 days.
To halt the spread, Liberia had in the early days restricted public gatherings such as marches and demonstrations. However, with the rapid spread, Liberia this week took the additional dramatic move to shut its schools and close its borders. This should give some indication of how serious the situation is.
Untreated or not caught early, the mortality rate is 90%, but this outbreak was jumped on by doctors immediately and measures were taken, this is why the mortality rate is at 60%. This is still a very high mortality rate.
By comparison, in the so-called “Mother of All Pandemics” the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918-1919, Wikipedia reports,
The global mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but an estimated 10% to 20% of those who were infected died. With about a third of the world population infected, this case-fatality ratio means 3% to 6% of the entire global population died. Influenza may have killed as many as 25 million people in its first 25 weeks. Older estimates say it killed 40–50 million people, while current estimates say 50–100 million people worldwide were killed.
This pandemic has been described as “the greatest medical holocaust in history” and may have killed more people than the Black Death. It is said that this flu killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century.
Officials are concerned, obviously, with the current Ebola outbreak because the mortality rate compared to the Spanish Influenza pandemic is so much higher. The population one hundred years later is also much more mobile. As the previously referred to article suggests, Ebola could be a mere plane ride away.
Thus, despite the measures taken socially and medically, Jake Tapper reports today,
Liberian President: There are dead bodies all over
Denial and fear turning to panic.
“President: This is serious… very nearing a catastrophe“
The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that initially people in Liberia, one of the three nations affected, didn’t believe in the gravity of the situation. “They thought it was a scam,” she said. Now, some weeks later, “They are seeing dead bodies all over the place” and they understand the seriousness. Unfortunately, the President said, they are panicking, and are fleeing places where Ebola has broken out, making quarantine difficult. It also makes it more difficult to track who they came into contact with, President Sirleaf said.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that,
The outbreak of the extraordinarily lethal Ebola virus has worsened in West Africa, with the contagion showing no sign of coming under control, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday to warn Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A patient who was infected with the virus in Africa is expected to be treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta within several days, the university said in a statement Thursday. The patient, his or her identity undisclosed, will be treated at a special containment unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat people exposed to serious infectious diseases. … It would be the first time a patient infected with Ebola has been treated in the United States, according to a CDC spokeswoman.
One can immediately see how and why the verses prophesying a third of the world killed by disease can easily come to pass.
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8)
John MacArthur has preached that the killing by wild beasts likely will include pestilential rats carrying pestilential fleas.
There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:11)
I emphasize that this Ebola outbreak is NOT a fulfillment of either of those prophetic verses. I am reporting on a current event, with facts. I will also make note as to how and why the pestilential outbreaks during the Tribulation can easily kill a third and a fourth of the nations.
By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. (Revelation 9:18)
Did military medical doctors know in January 1918 at Ft. Riley Kansas that the few men who turned up sick would be the first patients of a wave of influenza outbreaks that would circle every corner of the globe? No. But they did have some inkling of the virulence of the outbreak.
In the United States, the disease was first observed in Haskell County, Kansas, in January 1918, prompting local doctor Loring Miner to warn the U.S. Public Health Service’s academic journal. On 4 March 1918, company cook Albert Gitchell reported sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. By noon on 11 March 1918, over 100 soldiers were in the hospital. Within days, 522 men at the camp had reported sick. By 11 March 1918 the virus had reached Queens, New York. (Source)
And that was in 1918, without passenger air travel.
We never know if the outbreak we are watching is the one that will lead to the pestilential outbreaks note in scripture. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa could die out without ever escaping that continent. Or it could be THE one. Last night Liberian officials admitted the outbreak is above their control.
In Revelation 6 when the fourth horse carrying death and Hades rides, it is written that a fourth of the world will die. Let’s put that to some hard numbers. The world population is currently 7 billion. A fourth of that is one billion seven hundred fifty million dead.
The remaining population would be five billion two hundred fifty million. However, many of those will die in wars, or by beasts, or secondary causes like simply being petrified. (Luke 21:26). But say when the Revelation 9 verse comes true, and a third of the 5B are killed, that will be another 1.3 billion people dead.
Imagine billions upon billions laying around dead. The Liberian President’s words, “there are bodies everywhere” would have little meaning by comparison. People living in those days will wish for the days when only a few hundred had died, if they are not killed before hand.
Whether the plague is now or it is future, it will happen. All those living on the earth who are left behind after the rapture will see these things come to pass. It will happen, and it will be a horror beyond any imagining. Jesus said it will be the worst time on earth that ever was…and this includes the Flood. (Matthew 24:21).
If you believe in Jesus and repent of your sins, you will be saved. Repent means to be sorry for the things you have done that go against God (and all people have sinned fallen short of pleasing Him, Romans 3:23 says). All means all. All means you.
But if you have faith in Jesus and repent, He will take you up in the air when He calls for His bride. This is the rapture. Jesus will call His believers up to Him and award us, (2 Corinthians 5:10). This ceremony is known as the Bema Seat. While this ceremony is happening in heaven with Jesus and the believers, His Bride, on earth the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse described in Revelation 6 will ride. The Fourth Horseman is the horse of death and Hades. All those who had failed to believe in Jesus will be subject to their power. Those who die not believing in Christ will go to Hades, AKA hell. Many will come to faith in the Tribulation, but the potential for death and an eternity in hell at that time is high. Do not risk it. Believe now.
The glory of the LORD is that at the end of all things, He will throw Death and Hades into the Lake of Fire!
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. (Revelation 20:14)
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16.33)
“The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:7)
In Jesus YOU are an overcomer, too!
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| © Copyright Doug Lee and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence |
River in China runs blood red
In 2012 there was a spate of bodies of water turning blood red, and interest in the phenomenon was high.
February 2012: Beirut River runs red. (a factory had illegally dumped red dye.)
August 2012: A lake in France turned red. (“Scientists say the blood red lakes in southern France are actually a natural phenomenon. Camargue, France is a river delta where the Rhône meets the sea. The picturesque area is home to numerous salt flats, and it is this concentration of salt that will occasionally stain red the region’s normally blue water.”)
September 2012: Yangze River in China runs red (“officials have no idea why, or officials say it may have been caused by recent floods stirring up silt upstream. The Environmental Protection Bureau is also looking into potential industrial pollution or sewage breaches.”)
The other day a river in China turned red and interest is again high. I can only guess this is because Revelation says that rivers shall run with blood.
The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. (Revelation 16:4).
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| Source |
River In China Mysteriously Turns Bloody Red Overnight
Residents in Zhejiang province said the river looked normal at 5 a.m. Beijing time on Thursday morning. Within an hour, the entire river turned crimson. Residents also said a strange smell wafted through the air. … Inspectors from the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau said they have not found the cause of the incident, although water samples seem to indicate the suspicious color was a result of illegal dumping in the river…. “We suspect that somebody dumped artificial coloring in the water because he thought the typhoon yesterday would cause heavy rain, and nobody would notice [the color],” Jianfeng Xiao, Chief of the bureau told China News. “It turned out there wasn’t heavy rainfall yesterday, so the evidence is left behind,” Xiao said. Xiao said there is a paper manufacturer, a food coloring company and clothing-maker a long the river.
Cases like these are usually due to illegal dumping.
But whenever something like this happens, hits on the blog go way up. On the one hand, I’m glad that people are so interested in prophecy! The bible speaks of future things almost a third of the time.
Fully 17 of the Old Testament’s 39 books are classified as prophetic: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. All of the other 22 books are also filled with prophecy. Source
It’s a significant topic and one that is definitely worthy of study and attention. On the other hand though, too many people are willing to proclaim it a sign, and overlook the obvious.
For example, a river turning red is NOT a fulfillment of Revelation 16:4, because we have not been in the Tribulation for ten chapters. We are not in the Tribulation now, and none of the other signs have happened.
Even in Revelation 8:10 which prophesies a third of the rivers on earth turning to blood, happen because of a star falling from heaven.
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. (Revelation 8:10)
And at that time, also a third of the seas will turn to blood as well. One cannot pick and choose which prophesies are fulfilled. Either it happens the way the bible says, or it is not a prophecy. It’s some food coloring manufacturer dumping dye.
Secondly when it does happen, a third of all the earth’s rivers will turn to blood. And the verse says what it says, the waters will become blood. Not salt making it look like blood, not illegally dumped dye, not silt from a typhoon, but actual blood.
I’m so grateful that people become so interested in biblical prophecy when these strange things happen. I’m personally fascinated with the sky sounds of the apocalypse, myself. Others are fascinated with the large bird and fish die-offs that had occurred a few years ago. Yet it’s our responsibility to rightly teach how to study prophecy, and not become hand-wringing, pickers and chooser bell ringers when they happen.
The most important thing is to always point to the certainty and safety of life in Christ. Once we repent and are justified by faith in Jesus as Resurrected Savior, He will always hold us in His hand. We become legal heirs and sons of God. Our life changes from one of despair to one of hope and joy. Our future is also spoken of. It does not include rivers running with blood or fish die-offs or starvation or other prophetic wrathful things. Our future is one of hopeful prophecy, like this:
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:6-12)
Or this prophecy:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ (Revelation 23:7)
Or this:
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)
So when you come across someone who is interested in a strange phenomena, and connects it with bits of prophecy they have heard, teach them the true prophecy from the bible, show them why it can’t be happening now. Connect their interest in prophecy with Jesus and His Gospel. It is one reason He gave us prophecy, to warn of judgements to come for the ungodly- and ultimately to educate about the One who spoke it, Jesus Christ.
Common ground with false teachers doesn’t exist
These are brief excerpts from a tremendous sermon by John MacArthur in 2012 called
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| Creative Commons, source |
And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. (Jeremiah 14:14-15)
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.'” …“I did not send the prophets, (Jeremiah 23:16-17, 21)
John MacArthur: You think that’s gone away? That hasn’t gone away.
False teachers are described graphically in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament like this:
The description of them goes like this, “They are leaven. They are whited tombs, whited walls, graves concealed, broken pots covered with silver, tares, wolves in sheep’s clothing, wells without water, they are presumptuous, natural brute beasts to be taken and destroyed, they are filth spots and scabs, immoral, covetous, cursed children, clouds in a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever, deluded dreamers who defile the flesh, spots on your love feasts, clouds without water, trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness. They are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, their mouths speaking great swelling words, cloaks over sin, sensual and without the Holy Spirit.” (source)
That’s a sad state. That’s counterfeit religious authority. Why would you be looking for common ground with them?
The answer is obvious. Common ground with false teachers doesn’t exist.
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| Clerical collar on a table in a pub. CC. Source |
Listen to the entire sermon. It’s good.
the-end-time.org 