One Step Closer

 

“Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord GOD. “This is the day of which I have spoken.       Ezekiel 39:8  NKJV

 

Today I thought I would repost the very first article from this year for the simple reason that it was written the week of an assassination in Iran, much like what happened this past week.  The Word of God is very clear about the role that Iran plays in the future of the Middle East, especially as an agent provocateur.  One day, very soon in my opinion, they will respond in such a way as to put in motion the events which lead directly to the beginning of the tribulation.  I find it hard to believe that it has been almost a year since this was written, and so much has happened.  Yet the one result of this past year that we can all rejoice over is the fact that many are coming to know the Lord in these troubling times. 

 

January 5, 2020

 

I find it sad, yet understandable, that so many believers are disappointed to the point of becoming skeptical about prophecy simply because of the fact that the Church is still here.  While I certainly will admit to being disappointed to still be here, it goes without saying that the Word of God can, not only help, but answer many of our questions in regards to the prophecy of our future day of destiny meeting with Jesus in the air.

 

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.   Matthew 24:32-35  NKJV

 

As we talked about last week, I, and many others, am convinced we are the generation which will see these things come to pass. Is there more to come?  As I often say, Jesus would not have told us to watch if He had no plan to show us the signs of His return. Yet I for one am predicting nothing other than what God said in this passage; learn, watch, and trust.  God’s words will always come to pass for He does not lie.  We have His promises of what will be and what will come, and we can trust Him implicitly for the simple reason of so much He has prophesied in the past has already been fulfilled.  How hard can it be to trust in the future when the past occurred just as He foretold?

 

“Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it. “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, Who are far from righteousness: I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory.”     Isaiah 46:9-13  NKJV

 

As you might expect, the first response by Iran to the assassination which occurred this past week was to threaten Israel as well as the United States, specifically Tel Aviv. As our ally in the Middle East, Israel becomes the target of those who wish to do us harm, and as we have just seen, they are definitely in the crosshairs.  While most scholars agree that the attempted invasion of Israel revealed to us by Ezekiel the prophet found in chapters 38-39 of his book occurs before the seven year tribulation period, it also should be noted that other events precede that as well.   A point to consider is that in a war of this magnitude, you must have some point of justification or "casus belli" that will carry weight in the eyes of the world, or you run the risk of alienating yourself, and more than likely inviting some sort of response such as sanctions, economic and political isolation, or possibly a military intervention. We have seen in the last three wars against Israel that no single country has ever acted alone, but always part of a coalition of Arab states A very important fact in Ezekiel’s prophecy is that although Magog is the aggressor, Persia/Iran, listed second, is the provocateur.

 

“Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, “and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.”   Ezekiel 38:2-4  NKJV

 

So what comes next?  Specifically, I have no idea but whatever it is, it will lead directly to the fulfillment of the prophecies given to us by God in His Word. Generally, I will begin to talk about a possible roadmap next week, and share my thoughts on what we need to be watching for. I am convinced that any believer familiar with Biblical prophecy can see and understand the times in which we find ourselves today.  The signs are all around us that point to the fulfillment of prophecy in our immediate future, including the rapture of the Church that we have all been waiting for.  While it may be disappointing to see these things happen without hearing the trumpet blow and the voice calling us upwards, we still have God’s promise that it will be done.  How I personally deal with disappointment is to continually read the promises we have in His words to us that while we may not know the day, He has said it will be done.

 

“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, Since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, Let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’ ”   Isaiah 44:6-8  NKJV

 

Every week we are treated to more and more signs that our deliverance is close at hand.  If you have never made the decision to accept the gift of eternal life offered by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ I urge you to do it today.  Simply tell God you accept His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and turn your life over to His control.

 

Father, I know I am a sinner in need of salvation. I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin, and I ask you now to forgive me of my sins. I want to receive your gift of salvation so please come into my heart and help me to live and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, Amen.

 

Keep watching.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-blames-israel-for-fakhrizadehs-death-so-now-what-650592

Gone Stale?

 

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”  Matthew 5:13  NKJV

Lately it seems that it is almost a daily occurrence that we read or hear of new “restrictions” being forced upon the public in the effort to somehow contain the spread of the virus which has had such a dramatic effect on the world we live in.  One of the things I have noticed happening at the same time we all have been struggling with this pandemic is the increasing attacks on the Church, the body of Christ.  Now I am certainly not the only one to notice, and in the past few weeks I have read numerous articles and commentaries by different authors commenting on the persecution we are beginning to face and how we should respond to it.

As I talked with God about the “coincidence” of the growing animosity towards believers occurring during a time where you would think the message of Christ would be welcomed, He reminded me of the bigger picture by pointing out something I was forgetting to take into account, and that is the author of this current crisis.  The struggle between good and evil has been going on since the Garden of Eden.  The Word of God makes it plain that Satan has a plan to destroy God’s creation any way he can, and what we are witnessing now is simply another step in that direction.  The only thing standing in his way is the Church, the body of Christ, indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit acting to restrain the powers of darkness.

That said, it follows that believers will come under attack and suffer persecution because if we do our job, and allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, the evil plan will come to nothing.  The Church stands in the way of where Satan wants to take this world and it follows that he will try most anything to try and remove the obstacle which is the Church. The question we must ask ourselves, however, is if it’s possible he is succeeding by using the current crisis to produce a side effect of persecution which renders the Church weaker and unable to restrain as effectively as it was intended to do?

Most scholars agree that the restrainer that Paul mentions is the Holy Spirit, sent to indwell believers on the first Pentecost after Jesus’ ascension.  While most would agree that it is the Spirit who restrains, many fail to realize that it is the Church, those of us who have chosen to believe, that the Spirit uses to restrain evil in this world.  So it follows that if the Church can be rendered weak and ineffectual, evil will increase.  The following is just an excerpt from an article on the restrainer written by Jack Kelley. 

Who is the Restrainer?  A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

The Holy Spirit

That leaves the Holy Spirit Himself and there happens to be Biblical precedent for both His restraining influence and His abrupt withdrawal before a world wide judgment. In support of His restraining influence, John 16:8 has the Lord saying the role of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, and righteousness, and judgment. Notice the Lord didn’t say He would convict only believers, but the world, believers or not. The Greek word John used there is “kosmos”, which means the whole world.

Just as everyone intuitively knows there’s a God (Romans 1:18-20), everyone intuitively knows right from wrong. Paul said even those who don’t have the law will do things the law requires by nature because the requirements of the law are written on our hearts, and our consciences will accuse or defend our actions accordingly (Romans 2:14-15). I believe the “guilty conscience” that even unbelievers experience when they do wrong is the Holy Spirit convicting them in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Throughout the Church Age this conviction has been a major restraining force against evil in the world.

In 1 Tim. 4:1-2 Paul wrote,  “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (In Paul’s time applying a fire-heated piece of metal to a wound was an accepted way to help stop the bleeding and close the wound. It’s called cauterization, an extremely painful process that left a hideous scar.)

This tells us the current trend of making good appear to be evil and vice versa is a sign that the end is near. Hypocritical liars from inside and outside the church have been causing a gigantic paradigm shift in the world. They intuitively know the things they are trying to teach us are wrong and the conviction of the Holy Spirit has wounded their consciences. By repeatedly suppressing the guilt they feel they’ve effectively “cauterized” their consciences to close the wound. This has left their consciences hideously scarred, but allows them to continue spreading their lies without feeling the guilt.

In the process they’ve also destroyed their powers of discernment which means that each succeeding lie is easier to accept and repeat than the one before it.  We’ve seen the proof of this as things our parents’ generation would have abhorred are now being celebrated in ours.

As for the Holy Spirit being temporarily taken out of the way, Genesis 6:1-3 tells of the time before the Great Flood when certain angels rebelled against God, exchanged their angelic form for human form and began having children with human women. Genesis 6:4 calls these children the Nephilim. They apparently had incredible skills and abilities and eventually led the whole world astray. Before long the entire creation had been irreparably corrupted.

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3)

Noah and his family had not been genetically corrupted by this hybrid invasion. The Lord commissioned him and his sons to build an ark to preserve themselves, their wives, and selected animals and 120 years after His pronouncement He destroyed the whole world in the Great Flood.

The Hebrew word translated “contend” in Genesis 6:3 means “to act as a judge”. In other words the role of the Holy Spirit in pre-flood times was to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, and righteousness, and judgment just like He’s doing in our time (John 16:8). And before the flood God said there would come a time when His Spirit would step aside and allow a time of judgment to proceed, just like Paul said the restrainer would do at the end of the age.

So The Holy Spirit has been holding back the secret power of lawlessness and will continue to do so until He is taken out of the way. All things considered, I believe the Bible makes a compelling case in support of the Holy Spirit being the restrainer Paul spoke of in 2nd Thessalonians. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah 09-14-13.

https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/restrainer/

The Holy Spirit, using the Church to wield His sword, has been restraining since the beginning of the Church age.  But the combination of false doctrine being taught along with the persecution and hatred many are feeling right could have the result of the Church's "salt" going stale. Just as in the days of Noah, there will come a time when the Holy Spirit will be taken away along with the Church and this world will once again suffer the judgment of a vengeful God.  Is it possible one of the reasons that happens is that the Church becomes weak and ineffective? I think a case could be made that we are rapidly approaching that time for many reasons, but the situation the Church finds itself in right now leads me to believe it is right around the corner.

While this might well be the case for the Chuch as a whole, individuals can still choose to be a light in these times of darkness and serve the Lord as He desires us to do.  Allow the power of the Holy Spirit which lives inside each of us to do God's will and refuse to be discouraged or distracted from the work we were put here to do.

"Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing."  Matthew 24:36. NKJV

Keep watching.

Hold Fast

 

“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”  Revelation 3:11  NKJV

 

If you are a watcher like I am, I am reasonably certain that you have looked at the state of this world, the state of this country, and without a doubt the events of the past couple of weeks and wondered why in heaven’s name are we still here?  The internet was and is full of predictions of our deliverance from this world yet here we are, still waiting for our call to come home. Something I learned as a small child and something I am equally sure most of you have learned by now is that the greater your expectations are, the more disappointed you are when it doesn’t come to pass.  As believers, our hope and expectation is in the Lord and the rapture of the Church to be with Him forever in our heavenly home.  Yet although the signs seem to indicate the end is near, the Church is still here. 

 

This passage from the book of Revelation has always served as a warning to me personally, as teaching about eschatology produces in me a desire and expectation that others might not share.  The fact that we are told to “hold fast” obviously implies that at some point in time it will be a struggle to do so. As I thought about this, it occurred to me that there are three steps leading downward we need to avoid at all costs, and by understanding what they are we can begin to maintain our perspective and better cope with the situation we find ourselves in as we wait patiently for our Lord.  It would appear to me that Paul might have been dealing with this in his letter to the church at Philippi, and his advice to them certainly seems to me to provide us some help while struggling with our feelings as we watch and wait.

 

Disappointment

 

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”    Philippians 3:20-21  NKJV

 

Paul’s first reminder to the church is that we have a promise from God that Jesus will return to take us to heaven, the place prepared for us to live for eternity with Him.  When we accepted His gift of eternal life, we became citizens of heaven and although we may be living on this earth right now, it is but temporary and we have a promise from God Himself that we need to remind ourselves of daily in order to avoid the disappointment which can come from our having to wait.  This earth is not our home, and we need to focus on His promise rather than the disappointment of still being here.

 

Discouragement

 

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”    Philippians 4:4-7  NKJV

 

Have you found yourself becoming discouraged by having to wait so long for our deliverance from this world?  Have you considered that discouragement is one of Satan’s best weapons against believers who choose to watch for Christ’s return?  Disappointment, if left unchecked, leads directly to discouragement.  Have you ever noticed that inside of the word discouragement is the word courage? One of the first things that can happen to a discouraged believer is losing the courage to speak of what he or she believes in.  Paul says to rejoice always!  Have you talked with God about your struggles?  Have you told Him you are disappointed and discouraged?  Paul says if we do, His peace will surround us and help us guard against this downward spiral.

 

Despair

 

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”    Philippians 4:8-9  NKJV

 

To me, despair is the bottom of the emotional hole Satan wants all of us to fall into.  Despair is a total lack of hope, and it is a result of focusing solely on the negative, and ignoring all of the positive promises of God that are available to us as believers.  Paul says here to meditate, the Greek word for number, all the things God has done and promised to do for us.  To combat despair, believers need to number the many blessings we do have, and the future blessings we have been promised which will help us regain the trust that we will receive that which has yet to be given. 

 

I mentioned that there were a few failed predictions this past year, and to be truthful, I think I can safely say that this year will also give rise to many failed predictions.  As believers, we need to be especially careful to focus solely on what the Word of God says, rather than what man might say based on his own dreams or calculations. The fact that we are warned to “hold fast” is both a command and a warning that the time will come when we will lose heart and begin to doubt the promises we have been given.  God has not only foreseen what is happening right now, but also orchestrated events to bring the world to this point.  The simple fact that the Church is still here tells us that we also have a job to do as part of God’s master plan.

 

I’m would not be surprised to find that Noah experienced his share of doubt and disappointment in the last few months before God’s call to enter the ark.  Knowing it was close to being finished yet having to wait and endure the mocking of unbelievers all around him certainly sounds familiar considering the times we find ourselves living in today.  I’m willing to bet he had to endure persecution and threats of violence to both himself and his family just as many believers are lately. While Noah may have seen the ark nearing completion, when he heard God call for him to enter I have no doubt he was surprised. 

 

There is no doubt in my mind that the Church today finds itself in the very same position Noah was at just before God made the call to enter the ark.  Yet God made a promise to Noah and He has made one to us as well.  The Church must “hold fast” as we finish the work we were created to do and wait for God to tell His Son, Jesus Christ, to bring us home.

 

Keep watching.