Friday, June 13, 2014

Be Strong!

In the movie, "Australia", starring Nicole Kidman, there's a part where her unofficially adopted son is being taken away from her to a Catholic mission. They cry out for each other and he implores her not to let them take him away. When she sees there is nothing she can do to prevent it, she tells him,

"You be brave."

Somehow, just hearing those words is all it takes. Just focusing on being brave can turn the entire situation around. Yes, there are still trials and tests, but it seems your focus has changed from feeling sorry for yourself to helping others around you.

Brothers and sisters, I believe that this is the hour when we need to be brave.

Daniel 11:32 says, "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits."

Not only will the people who know their God be strong, but we will be doing exploits! Picture that!
That's a picture of God's people being anointed in the power and boldness of the Holy Spirit! "For without Him, we can do nothing!"

The Tribulation will open the curtains on the stage of a demonstration of the power and love of God as a witness to all nations. Now's the time to prepare by memorizing our lines from the Word of God.

Over and over in the Word of God, God Himself tells us just like Lady Ashley in "Australia",

"BE BRAVE."

Why should we be brave? How can we be brave?

Because God is with us! Not only is He with us, but He won't fail us or leave us alone. That's why!

Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not nor be afraid of them! for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

Monday, May 5, 2014

The Beasty

It came to my attention recently that the word "Antichrist" does not appear in the book of Revelation. That is, at least not in the King James version. You can find it in I John chapter 4, verse 3:

"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

In Revelation, we hear about THE BEAST. At risk of repeating myself, may I suggest we look at Revelation 13 again? Verses 1 through 7 give you a good description of the "Antichrist" or Beasty.

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

(I think we can safely assume that the ten crowns represent nations. That would mean that at the time when this beast rises out of the sea, there are ten nations involved. In fact, he is a part of them.)

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

He himself is like a leopard. (Fast. Sleek.) His feet are the feet of a bear (Russia?) and his mouth as the mouth of a lion (UK? Maybe he speaks English?) and the dragon gave him his power and authority (Could the dragon be China? Or maybe just the Devil?) Your guess is as good as mine. I think we'll have a better idea when we see who the Beast is.

I believe he will be embodied in a MAN. A human being. Why? Because he can speak. And, apparently, he has a lot to say...

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

One of his heads will be wounded unto death. Hmmm... could it be the economy of one of his heads? Or, could it be the downfall of one of the nations that he is so attached to? It seems as though it's not talking about the Beast's head but "one of his heads". And, the healing is amazing. It's a miracle.

4 And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

So, this is a big mistake. We should not worship the Devil or the Beast. I think that's clear. Don't fall for the miraculous recovery of the head that gets healed. Don't be duped into falling down and worshiping the Devil, no matter how great he may appear.

This is the major problem of God's children all throughout the Old Testament. Idol worship. Not good.

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

So, this guy has a big mouth. He's convincing. He's articulate. (I have to say here that that was my first impression of Obama. But, I'm not saying he's the Beast. I'm also not saying he isn't.)

FORTY AND TWO MONTHS.

He will "continue" (continue to persecute Christians/believers) for forty and two months. How many years is that?

Three and a half years.

Note: The "Tribulation" does not last for 7 years as some have said. It lasts for 3 1/2 years. It begins when the "covenant" is broken midway through the last 7 years of man's history on the earth as we know it.

The other thing is that the earth is not suddenly going to disappear at the end of the seven years. The SAINTS will go UP and in that sense "disappear" but the earth will remain for the next great battle, etc.

It will be the end of the world as we know it. There will be a great change. But, God's not going to destroy the physical earth. (That's another story.)

6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

Ooh. Words are real things. Careful what you say.

Remember in the first chapter of John, Jesus IS the Word. Well, the Devil uses his words, too. He's a liar.

7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

WE are the saints. Look no further. Look in the mirror. If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Messiah, then you are one of the saints of God. He makes saints out of believers like you and me. Can you receive it? Who "canonizes" people?

Not man! Only God can canonize someone. Just because a Bishop or Pope says someone is a saint, doesn't necessarily make it so. That's up to God and whether or not that person is covered in the blood. Right?

If you are washed in the blood of the Lamb, you are one of His saints. Did you know that?

Ok, so it says it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, BUT, does he? Does the Beast overcome us? NO. Maybe in HIS mind he thinks he's overcoming us. What a JOKE. NOT!

No, we overcome HIM!

(Revelation 15:2 "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had GOTTEN THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST, and over his image and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God."

Revelation 12:11 "And they OVERCAME HIM (the Devil and Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.")

That's not to say that all of our senses won't tell us that we are the losers and that the Beast is the victor. It will look like that physically. But, the power of God will rise up on the inside. That's where the real battle takes place. In the hearts and minds of human beings.

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is IN you."













Sunday, May 4, 2014

The Fear of God

Psalm 19:9 says "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever..."

Like a kind father, God wants His children to have a clean fear of Him. That does not mean we should be afraid of Him. (Unless, of course, we know we are purposely doing something we know He does not want us to do!) But, like a child, we should know that He knows best. He knows what is best for us and He knows what the best choices are.

I heard a pastor say that fearing God is being afraid to get out of God's presence.

I believe that. I think, more and more, as you get to know Jesus, you will hate leaving that quiet place where you can spend time alone with God. And, sometimes it's difficult to find a balance between spending quality time with God and going out into the world to make connections with people.

Still, we know that God wants us to get out and about because He said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

That seems to mean that we are supposed to treat others the way we would treat God and that our relationship with God should carry over into our relationships with others...

But, what I wanted to point out here is that the fear of God is what is going to SAVE us during times of trials, persecutions, imprisonment and martyrdom.

Now, I know, we don't like to talk about martyrdom. But, I'm just saying, the fear of God is the KEY.

Fearing God means talking to God, talking to Jesus. Right? AND listening. So, fearing God is the key to a healthy relationship with Jesus/God/the Holy Spirit (and these three are One).

Monday, April 7, 2014

Personality of the Antichrist

In the eleventh chapter of Daniel, there are prophecies concerning the history of the world. Since I'm not a great history buff like some, I can't explain most of what goes before verse 21. (However, I'll look into history in the meantime.) But, here is where the Antichrist appears in Daniel 11:

21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

In other scripture, the Antichrist is described as coming in "peaceably". (His is also vile. Yikes.)

22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.

23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

He shall work deceitfully. Don't believe a word this guy says! He is the opposite of Jesus Christ and we know that Jesus is "The Truth". What would "a small people" mean? Are the people short? Or, are they a country that's not recognized internationally as being very important?

24 He shall enter peaceably (there's that word again) even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

He's going to spoil the fattest places and share it! Like a Robbin Hood or something. And he's going to predict his own future and tell people how he's going to conquer.

25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.

Who is the king of the south? (My guess is that this is talking about Israel. But there are other verses in the Bible to explain this. Right now we're concentrating on the personality of the Antichrist.)

26 Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.

27 And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.

There's going to be a lot of lying going on. We need to have a lot of discernment these days.

28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits and return to his own land.

The holy covenant is the agreement that has been confirmed "with many" by the Antichrist himself. But, it seems like the covenant is cramping his style and he wants to break it.

29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.

30 For the ships of Chittim (Cyprus and possibly also other islands in the Mediterranean Sea) shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

So, the Antichrist will take away the "daily sacrifice" which I assume is the sacrifice that the Jews will be making in their newly built temple in Jerusalem. And he will place the "abomination that maketh desolate". That sounds pretty bad. Of course, we Christians will not be bowing down to worship this idol and that's where all the trouble comes in.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Power! Protection! Provision!

I want to share an eye-opener I experienced the other day while reading Revelation 7. (I have been in the book of Revelation a LOT lately and I think that is a normal response to what is going on on the earth today!)

Revelation 7, verse 2: "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel."

And what came to me was this: "This is not a physical army. That is, it has nothing to do with physical blood lines. It has nothing to do with the physical children of Israel. It has everything to do with those who are born again in the spirit of Christ. Even Jews who receive Jesus will NOT remain a part of their natural blood ties regarding this sealing. Even if they could possibly know which son of Israel they hailed from, it doesn't matter.

(The Jews have now been thoroughly intermingled with other races to the point that a Jew could have two or three sons of Israel as a forefather. Am I right? I mean, how could you even trace your bloodline back all that way?)

So, now, what happened is this (I believe): when we receive Jesus, we are grafted into the tree, just like Paul said in Romans 11. We become connected to the faith of Abraham and Israel and part of their fruit!

Romans 11:24 "For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?"

So, although it is more natural for a Jew to receive and believe in Jesus, especially since Jesus came to the Jews first as their prophesied Messiah, I believe they still need to be grafted in!

In other words, what I'm saying is that I believe the 144,000 will be born-again believers like YOU and ME! We are already sons of Israel of what tribe, maybe God can show us if we ask Him!

Wow!

So, there you go. Take it or leave it. It's up to you. You don't have to believe it.

Personally, I do not believe for one second that the 144,000 will be all Jews. Nope. The 144,000 are Spirit-filled, Christ-believing, on-fire, full-of-faith, full-of-the-Word, Warriors of the Faith who are already out there fighting for Jesus and lost souls!

THE SERVANTS OF OUR GOD!

Those who are already out there serving God, winning souls, testifying and preaching the Gospel who are serving God will be sealed to protect them so they can CONTINUE winning souls, preaching the Gospel and teaching others how to survive WITHOUT RECEIVING THE MARK OF THE BEAST!

So, what are you doing for Jesus TODAY?

Are we getting ourselves positioned to receive the SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD? So that we can continue to be a witness and a blessing to others who are new believers?