Beware the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Not everyone that preaches the gospel is telling you the entire truth. In the Bible we are warned of false prophets and false teachers that are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

¹⁵ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:15

These people are pretending to be Bible preachers and teachers but in reality they are teaching lies.  Many people believe the lies that they hear…why? The reason is that these false preachers do teach some truth, and when you listen to them you recognize the truth that they are teaching and you believe that they are true preachers. This is where the deception comes in, since they preached something true that you recognized as truth, when they preach something that is not true you are conditioned to believe that it must be true. You may not recognize this untruth that they are teaching you but since they have taught you something that you knew to be true already you may assume that what they are teaching is a verse that you are not as familiar with. Before long this “lie” will become truth to you. It is not hard to deceive people, all you need to do is make sure that 90% of what you teach is true and then slip the lies in the other 10%. Most people will easily believe the lies because of the trust that has been built with the actual true 90%.

How can you tell which teachers are false? Well the first thing that you need to do is make sure that you are reading your Bible and are familiar with it. This way, when you hear someone teach something you will be able to tell whether it is true or not. If you are not familiar with a teaching the best thing to do is to go to your Bible and look it up for yourself. Now, just because a preacher makes a mistake, it does not mean that they are false. They are human and they do make mistakes, but this would be a sign for me to keep a closer ear on what they are teaching. You may also want to speak to your preacher and confront them in love on the mistake they made. If someone is a true Christian, they will be happy to discuss any mistakes that they have made and are willing to be corrected. A false preacher will not answer you and will not allow you to correct him.

It is not only preachers that may be false prophets, there is an entire YouTube community of “truthers” that use their channels to point out ways that society is trying to pull you away from God. Many of these channels are very good and helpful in opening your eyes to what is going on around you. But, in a similar way, you need to be careful about what they teach and what they say. Make sure that you take it to the Bible and let it prove the truth of what they are saying. There is one channel in particular that I used to listen to, much of what he said was true, but there were items that I disagreed with biblically. This person claimed that he was a new Christian so was still learning and welcomed correction and conversation. I found out that this was a lie. This person discussed something specific that I knew to be false, I remembered him saying that he welcomed correction and conversation, so I sent him a message and corrected what he had taught with Bible verses to back up my truth. He never responded to my message and as time has gone on, I have heard the same thing from others as well. Then I noticed other Youtubers started distancing themselves from this person and even speaking out against him. I stopped watching this persons videos, but recently I saw a few videos uploaded by this person explaining away some trouble they had gotten into; drinking and partying and being arrested for drug possession. Then this verse came to mind:

¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:16-20

From what I am seeing, this person has no good fruit. For all their claims of being a changed person and for someone that has made all these YouTube channels about living a godly life this person really fell fast. If it had been just one mistake, it would be ok. You could chalk it up to being human, everyone makes mistakes, but this person has been doing these things over and over and then asking forgiveness. The truth is the fruit is bad. So when you take everything and put it together the only thing that I can see is that this person is a false teacher that tried to fool many people, but now his true colors are coming out.

• Teaches things that are untrue
• Does not allow correction
• Continues to do things that he did before becoming a Christian
• Being a hypocrite and talking about how he no longer does the things he used to and then being caught doing them
• Having other people that know him well come forth and telling the truth about him

 

Keep in mind that we are close to the end times that Jesus spoke about. Things are only going to get worse and there are more and more false teachers out there trying to fool the masses. Be very careful what you believe, always take it back to the Bible and make sure that it is correct.

¹¹ And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

¹² And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

¹³ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Matthew 24:11-14

 

We are seeing more and more false teachers arise and preach a false gospel. They preach what itching ears want to hear, not the truth of the Bible.

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3

Just look at how many people follow false preachers like Joel Osteen, he preaches all about what you can get from God, a prosperity Bible. Osteen would be fine if he was a motivational speaker, but since he claims to be a pastor he is responsible for the people that follow him. There is very little that is biblical that is even preached by Osteen, when he was on the Larry King show he basically denied what the Bible teaches.

⁶ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

Jesus was pretty clear in this verse, yet when Larry King starts asking Osteen about other religions he would not take a stand on a verse that he says he believes. Osteen will not take a stand on anything that could offend anyone. He avoided every topic that could be controversial. He does not know the Bible and actually gets what little he preaches from it wrong many times. He is not even a real pastor, he never went to seminary, he was just ordained a pastor, and he actually dropped out of college after one semester. His wife made a statement that we do not obey God for God, we do it for ourselves; God is happy when we are happy. When you come to church to worship God, you are not doing it for God; you are doing it for yourself. She is a heretic and a false teacher. The Osteen’s have turned their church into a New Age worship center, they do not teach the Bible, they teach their own twisted version of a bible where God will give you things to make you happy. How many people are the Osteen’s leading to hell with their false gospel? I will be praying that these people open their eyes and see the truth.

Warning Against Dividing Israel

² I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.  Joel 3:2

 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

² And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

³ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3

The Bible is clear that any nation that takes part in the dividing of Israel will receive judgment. Yet that is exactly what the United States among other nations is trying to get Israel to do once again. In the last 20 years George Bush senior, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and now Barack Obama have all pressured Israel to either reduce her borders or go to a two-state solution with Palestine. Each time that this country has tried to change the borders of Israel this country has had judgment fall on it.

Let’s start with George H.W. Bush and his stance on Israel. In 1991, Israel asked the U.S. to guarantee $10 billion in loans that they wanted to use to expand West Bank settlements. Bush called the settlements “an obstacle to peace”, and he denounced the Israeli West Bank settlement. The Jews consider this as the great betrayal and this stance may have been the cause of Bush’s loss of the election. This took place on September 12th, 1991 and the judgment followed not soon after, on October 1st, 1991 a “perfect storm” hit the North Atlantic. You will all remember the movie which chronicled the loss of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat that was lost in this storm. This was an extremely rare weather pattern that combined an extratropical cyclone, a blizzard and a gulf low system. What you may not know is that this storm shattered records as one of the worst storms that caused the most damage at more than $63 million. Something else that you might not know, the Bush compound on Walker’s Point in southern Maine had massive damage from this storm, losses between $300-$400,000. Coincidence? Maybe, but maybe not…I think this was a direct judgment.

Next on the list is Bill Clinton, let’s see where he stood on Israel. While Clinton did not directly stand against Israel. he did try to broker a peace between Israel and Palestine in the 1993 Oslo Accords. One of the stipulations of the accord was the agreement of Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza strip and the West Bank. In 2000 Clinton once more tried to resurrect the peace talks but talks fell through over the issue of control of Jerusalem. On January 17th, 1994 the Northridge earthquake occurred in Los Angeles, California. A 6.7 earthquake that caused 57 deaths, 5000 injuries and more than $20 billion in damage. At this time it moved to the top of the list as the most costly U.S. disaster. I think the United States was judged because we tried to divide Israel but Clinton was not because he was not against Israel.

Third is George W. Bush, is his stance the same as his father’s?I think George W. learned a lesson from the debacle his father made in his stance on Israel. Bush allied himself closely with Israel but he still desired a peace process and proclaimed his desire for a Palestinian state to be created before 2005. He outlined a “road map for peace” with concessions on both sides. So, Bush wanted a two-state solution for the area by 2005….now what happened in 2005? On August 29th, a category 3 hurricane slammed ashore in Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina caused 1833 deaths and cost over $108 billion in  damages. This is still the costliest disaster in U.S. history.

It is amazing that every time a president tries to divide the land of Israel a massive disaster strikes the United States. Each time the disaster is worse and the damage is more extensive.

Now we get to our final President, Barak Obama and his stance on Israel. There has never been a worse relationship than this president and Israel. Obama has thrown our country’s relationship with Israel away to cater to our enemies. Obama signed a nuclear deal with Iran, against the people of the U.S.’s wishes, but that is nothing new to this president. He regularly disregards any law that he does not like. Obama is also pressuring Israel to accept a two-state solution with Palestine, and has even threatened Israel if they did not comply. He threatened to withdraw diplomatic U.S. support for Israel at the U.N. and even supporting a U.N. security council solution imposing “terms of agreement” on Israel.He also threatened to shoot Israeli planes down if they attempted to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities. Obama refused to listen to Israel’s concerns about Iran destroying them once they had nuclear weapons. This administration has made it clear that is does not stand with Israel and will force a two-state solution if Israel does not agree.

What does that mean for the United States? I am anticipating a disaster even larger and more costly than Hurricane Katrina. There are several possibilities that have been in the news lately. The first is a 9.0 or larger earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction zone, the loss of life and damage would be catastrophic. FEMA predicts that everything west of the   I-5 freeway would be destroyed and who knows how much damage the resulting tsunami would cause. It would not only affect the U.S. but also every country in the Pacific basin. Another possibility is a large magnitude earthquake in the San Francisco area or the southern California area, both areas are densely populated and even though the earthquake would not be as high a magnitude, it would still cause catastrophic damage. The initial quake could even set off lesser quakes that continue the spread of the damage. Then there is the Yellowstone Volcano which is overdue for an eruption, that would not only kill many people and cause extensive damage but would destroy the food supply and send the world into an ice age. Then there is the possibility of an asteroid hitting around Puerto Rico which has been talked about by many people. That impact would destroy the area where it touches down and send a massive tsunami all across the Atlantic basin, flooding the entire east coast of the U.S. and much of low-lying areas of Africa, Europe and South America. Now what I think may be the best guess and it would make sense would be a massive earthquake on the New Madrid fault line that runs up the center of the United States. If we divide Israel how appropriate that the U.S. is divided in half literally. This fault is 150 miles long and runs through five states and threatens two others; from Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The last time this fault erupted was in 1811 and 1812 and caused four of the largest earthquakes in U.S. history. At the time of the quake the area was sparsely populated and the real cost of the damage was not known. Records show sand blows throughout the area and the Mississippi river actually ran backwards for a time. The quake even rang church bells as far away as Boston. According to the Mid-America Earthquake Center at the University of Illinois they predict that a 7.7 earthquake would cause 715000 damaged buildings, 3500 damaged bridges, millions without water and electricity, 86000 casualties and 3500 fatalities, $300 billion in losses, 730000 people permanently displaced. Structures, Dams, Levees, Utilities, Transportation networks would all be damaged or destroyed.  The damage would far outstrip Hurricane Katrina and make this the worst disaster in U.S. history.

Whichever of these happens, or if something completely unexpected occurs, all I know is one way or the other the U.S. will face judgment for trying to divide Israel. And if Obama does force the issue, we will see the worst judgment that I don’t even want to imagine.

If you are not a believer, I would urge you to seek the Lord. Time grows short and biblical prophecy is being fulfilled faster than I could have imagined. If you would like to pray and receive Jesus as your Savior, and I mean that literally, just say a little prayer like this:

God, I am a sinner and I ask your forgiveness, I accept Jesus into my heart and the gift of eternal life. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. Amen.

Don’t think that God could never love you, that you have done too many bad things. God welcomes all who truly want to be forgiven and wipes the slate clean. Your sins are forgiven and He will remember them no more. By Jesus sacrificing His life on the cross you are forgiven, He died so that you can live, you just need to accept this gift of life that He gives you.

For the Jews Still Waiting for their Messiah

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, an authority on Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, has claimed that the arrival of the Jewish Messiah is imminent and that all Jews should practice Aliyah. Aliyah is the Jewish word for “going up” which means immigrating to Israel. The Rabbi has claimed that the Messiah would be arriving very soon and when asked he claimed that it would be at the end of the Sabbatical year the 29th day of Elul which falls on September 12th.

I have a message for those still waiting for the Jewish Messiah, He came over 2,000 years ago in the person of Jesus Christ. Most Jews reject this teaching claiming that their Messiah would never have been crucified, their Messiah was to come and destroy their enemies and establish his eternal kingdom. For those that believe this I would challenge you to look at the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah and then compare Jesus to those prophecies. He fulfilled every single one of the prophecies.

Prophecy	Old Testament Prophecy	New Testament Fulfillment
Messiah Born of a Woman	Genesis 3:15	Galatians 3:16
Born of a Virgin	Isaiah 7:14	Luke 1:26-31
Must be Born in Bethlehem	Michah 5:2	Luke 2:4-6
Must be Born through Seed of Abraham	Genesis 22:18	Matthew 1:1
Line of Isaac	Genesis 17:19	Luke 3:34
Line of Jacob	Numbers 24:17	Matthew 1:2
Must be from Tribe of Judah	Genesis 49:10	Luke 3:33
Heir to King David’s Throne	2 Samuel 7:12-13	Romans 1:3
Messiah’s Throne Eternal	Psalm 45:6-7	Hebrews 1:8-12
Messiah would be called Immanuel	Isaiah 7:14	Matthew 1:23
Messiah Would spend time in Egypt	Hosea 11:1	Matthew 2:14-15
Children would be killed in Messiah’s birthplace	Jeremiah 31:15	Matthew 2:16-18
A Messenger Would Prepare the Way for Messiah	Isaiah 40:3-5	Luke 3:3-6
Messiah Would be Rejected by his own People	Psalm 69:8	John 1:11
Would be a Prophet	Deuteronomy 18:15	Acts 3:20-22
Preceded by Elijah	Malachi 4:5-6	Matthew 11:13-14
Declared Son of God	Psalm 2:7	Matthew 3:16-17
Called a Nazarene	Isaiah 11:1	Matthew 2:23
Would Bring Light to Galilee	Isaiah 9:1-2	Matthew 4:13-16
Would Speak in Parables	Psalm 78:2-4	Matthew 13:10-15
Sent to Heal Brokenhearted	Isaiah 61:1-2	Luke 4:18-19
Priest in Order of Melchizedek	Psalm 110:4	Hebrews 5:5-6
Would be Called King	Psalm 2:6	Matthew 21:16
Would be Betrayed	Psalm 41:9	Luke 22:47-48
Messiah’s Cost of Betrayal Used to Buy a Potter’s Field	Zechariah 11:12-13	Matthew 26:14-16
Messiah Falsely Accused	Psalm 35:11	Mark 14:57-58
silent Before Accusers	Isaiah 53:7	Mark 15:4-5
Spat Upon and Struck	Isaiah 50:6	Matthew 26:67
Hated without Cause	Psalm 35:19	John 15:24-25
Crucified with Criminals	Isaiah 53:12	Matthew 27:34
Given Vinegar to Drink	Psalm 69:21	John 20:25-27
Hands and Feet Pierced	Psalm 22:16	John 20:25-27
Would be Mocked and Ridiculed	Psalm 22:7-8	Luke 23:35
Soldiers Gamble for his garments	Psalm 22:18	Luke 23:34
No Bones Broken	Exodus 12:46	John 19:33-36
Forsaken by God	Psalm 22:1	Matthew 27:46
Pray for his enemies	Psalm 109:4	Luke 23:34
Soldiers would pierce his side	Zechariah 12:10	John 19:34
Messiah would resurrect from death	Psalm 16:10	Matthew 28:2-7
Messiah would ascend to heaven	Psalm 24:7-10	Mark 16:19
Messiah Seated at God’s Right Hand	Psalm 68:18	Mark16:19
Messiah Would be a Sacrifice for Sin	Isaiah 53:5-12	Romans 5:6-8

Now statistically the odds of even two of these events being fulfilled in one person is 1 in 10, and there are more than 300 prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament. The odds of one person fulfilling every one of those prophecies is astronomical, the number would be 84 followed by 131 zeroes, but Jesus DID fulfill every single one of the prophecies. How could that be true unless He was truly the Messiah. I urge my Jewish readers to really study the Messianic prophecies and then study the life of Jesus, you will see that He is your Messiah! I pray that your eyes are opened and that you finally see the truth.  This was God’s plan and it was prophesied in the Old Testament, and the Torah that the Messiah would come but He would be rejected and crucified by His own people. That alone should make you believe that Jesus IS the Messiah.

When is Jesus Coming Back?

As you watch the news you will see how much things have changed in such a short period of time. Everything is completely different than when I was a child, and as I look around now I realize that in just a few years things have changed dramatically. Since 9-11 this country has not been the same, yes, we learned that we are vulnerable but more than that we started to change as a nation. It seems that we let our fears of an attack change who we are, we traded our freedom for more security. There should have been a balance between the two but that balance never happened. We have just gone on and given away more and more of our freedoms. All my life I was never afraid that admitting to being a Christian could cost me my life but we have seen more and more Christians being persecuted all around the world. It is only a matter of time before that persecution reaches the United States. We are already seeing it happening in small doses, especially in the military. Chaplains are facing punishment or removal from the military for speaking about Christianity, the army defines christian ministry as a domestic hate group. Under the Obama administration the military has become harder and harder for Christians to serve in. Soldiers are being told that they could face punishment for being associated with any “hate groups” which includes Evangelical Christians and Catholics. This country was founded on religious freedom and now those freedoms are being taken away.

Another way this country has changed in my lifetime is the destruction of the family unit, when I was growing up there were all sorts of shows on TV that taught valuable moral lessons. There was a family unit and the love they shared helped them to deal with problems that came up in their lives. Look around at the shows on TV now, there are few shows that have a normal family unit and those that do are dysfunctional. Most shows feature kids, teens or young people without the guidance of a family, they get through their problems in other ways. This only promotes the idea that you don’t need a family, it is all about you. And don’t get me started on the selfishness of this generation and their unhealthy obsession with taking “selfies” the ultimate in vanity and self love. Take a look at kids these days, they are glued to their electronics, their conversations are digital, I don’t think even a quarter of them could have a decent conversation off their devices. It is sad.

Of course there is the same sex marriage/equality issue and the abortion issue as well. When I was a child I did not even know what gay was. The first time I heard about it was when I heard about AIDS, it was a completely foreign concept. Now suddenly everyone is gay, they are coming out of the closet in droves. I think a lot of it is nurture rather than nature. Kids and young people are seeing more and more gay characters on TV and in books, it has become “cool” to be gay. More people have come out or decided they were gay since 1997, when Ellen DeGeneres came out on her TV show. Do I hate gay people? No. I have friends that are gay. Do I agree with their choices? No, but the choice is not mine to make, it is theirs. That is why God gave us free will. I love everyone whether their views are the same as mine or completely different. You have to model Jesus, He did not come to earth and hang out with his disciples, He came and hung out with sinners because He loved them and that was who He was trying to reach. As followers of Jesus we should strive to be like Jesus and show love to all.

¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Mark 2:15-17

This is why churches like the Westboro Baptist Church is such a bad example of Jesus love. They are a congregation of hate. They claim that they love God and follow the Bible, but they leave out the most important part, the love that you are supposed to show to your fellow man. They do not have to agree with what everyone does, but they do need to show love. This church is one that is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they claim to be a Christian Church but when you look underneath there is only ugliness and hatred.

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  Matthew 7:15-23

Now for the topic that divides too many of us, abortion. Do I think abortion is wrong? Yes. Abortion is murder, plain and simple. Once the baby is conceived it begins to grow inside the mothers womb, a child is growing inside of the mother and it is depending on the mother to love it and nurture it. When you choose to abort you are being selfish, you are thinking of yourself and what you want rather than the baby. Now there are exceptions to every rule, if the baby threatens the mother’s life then that would be a decision that would have to be made by weighing the facts. If you are not ready to be a mother than you should not have been having sex in the first place, but if you did and have become pregnant then you should carry the baby and give it up for adoption, there are many that can’t have children that would love to take care of the one that you don’t want. You may ask, what if the woman is pregnant because of rape or incest, the pregnancy is not your fault, but it is not the child’s fault either. This is a trickier point, you would still be killing an innocent baby, so when making a decision this is something you should remember. Now those that are Pro-Choice are always saying that it is their body and they should be able to choose what happens to it, who stands up for the life inside of you? You conceived a child through your own actions, whatever you think,  when you choose to abort you are taking the baby’s life. Abortion may be quick and easy for a woman but imagine the baby that is being ripped from your body. In 2012 there were around 1200 babies that survived the abortion procedure and were then left to die. Things have even gone so far that killing newborn babies is being promoted as an after-birth abortion. What will be next, killing them after a few years because you could have aborted them so you should still be able to? Now I don’t hate women that have gotten abortions, I pray for them. I do not agree with the decisions that they made but that does not mean that they are not loved by Jesus, and if I am following Jesus then I love them too.

When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Exodus 21-22-25

In Biblical times, if you caused the death of a baby in the womb and the child has been harmed you would be punished. Each child is a living being even inside the womb, and killing of the child is murder.

You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. Leviticus 18:21

They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Psalm 106:37-38

You may think this has nothing to do with abortion, but what is abortion? It is murder. Who is the one that promotes abortion? Satan. When you kill your child, you are in fact sacrificing it to Satan. You are killing your child so you are not inconvenienced, this is an act of selfishness and murder.

The world is an evil place and it is becoming more evil. People think nothing of killing babies or living in a sinful lifestyle. There is very little love left in the world, people are too self-centered to think of others. How did Jesus describe the time we are living in?

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited,lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. ⁶ They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷ always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. ⁹ But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. 2 Timothy 3:1-9

This verse describes the time we are living in perfectly. People are selfish and proud, people will kill over money. You constantly hear of kids killing their parents or parents killing their partners or their kids. People want to do what they want, they do not want anyone telling them what they can or can’t do. We live in a very selfish, vain society where most people just do what they want not caring who they hurt or any consequences of their actions.

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” ⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains. ⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  Matthew 24:3-14

This is another verse where Jesus describes what it will be like in the end times before He returns. Many will come claiming to be Jesus, that has been happening for years. Many cult leaders have claimed to be the reincarnation or new carnation of Jesus and they have fooled many people. Wars and rumors of wars, well I think this world has had war of one kind or another somewhere on the globe since early days, but now there is the threat of nuclear attack. Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, many other countries already have nuclear weapons. Unlike the Cold War period there is an imminent threat of nuclear war today, there are people who’s ideology is more important to them than the lives of their people.  There will be famines and earthquakes in diverse places, there have been more large earthquakes in the last 50 years than there have ever been. Larger earthquakes are becoming more common and they are occurring in places that have never had any large earthquakes before. Christians will be handed over to be persecuted and killed, we only have to look at the news to see the persecution of Christians all over the world. As you can see, everything that Jesus predicted for the end times has already come true. It is just a matter of time before the end comes.

Now many people say that Jesus said these words thousands of years ago and they still have not come true so how do we know He will ever come back. Jesus gave us the signs to look for before his return, this is the first time in history that everything that was predicted has come true. The ones that make fun of you for believing that Jesus will return are trying to turn you away from following Jesus. Have faith that Jesus will return. He said He would and so He will!

Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  2 Peter 3:3-4

Satan’s Attempt to Corrupt Man’s DNA

Satan wants to corrupt God’s creation, not just morally, that is easy to do. He wants to corrupt God’s creation physically. We are all created in God’s image

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  Genesis 1:27

Satan hates this and he and his followers, the fallen angels (demons) have tried to do everything to change this. Before the great flood the fallen angels slept with human women to corrupt their bloodline. This was the beginning of the nephilim.

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.  Genesis 6:2

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.  Genesis 6:4

The fallen angels and nephilim not only slept with humans but with other species, corrupting the whole earth. God saw the corruption and knew that the only way to get rid of it was to destroy the earth and everything on it.

And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.  Genesis 6:7

Even after the flood there were nephilim as we can see from the occurrences in the Bible when they speak of giants in the land. For instance, when the spies were sent into the land to find out about it most of them returned with stories of giants and how impossible it would be for them to defeat them.

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” ³² And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the giants^[d] (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”  Numbers 13:31-33

⁴ And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.  1 Samuel 17:4

Depending on which definition of a cubit that you use, Goliath was between 7-11 feet tall. Goliath also had brothers that were near in height to him. King Og of Bashan was also said to be from the race of giants. His bed measured over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide.

¹¹ For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.  Deuteronomy 3:11

These giants had settled in the land that God promised the Israelites. God ordered the Israelites to destroy all the people in the land. This was not cruelty on God’s part, it was to destroy the remnants of the nephilim before they could corrupt the Israelites bloodline.

Why would Satan want to corrupt God’s creation? After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God pronounced judgment on the snake (Satan) and the woman’s seed (which is Jesus). Why is the woman’s seed Jesus? When a woman conceives a child it is because a man has fertilized the woman’s seed so the child is considered the child of both the man and the woman. Jesus was conceived by God on a woman, there was no man needed and therefore the child was the seed of the woman.

¹⁴ And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.  Genesis 3:14-15

Satan is trying to do whatever he can to ruin God’s plan. He tried to corrupt our human DNA so that instead of being in God’s image we would become the seed of Satan. This was in hopes of destroying the prophecy that the woman’s seed would cause Satan to lose the battle.

There is much more information in the Book of Enoch. Enoch was the great-grandfather of Noah. There is a lot of debate on whether the Book of Enoch was inspired or just a historical writing. Jesus and the disciples referred to Enoch’s writings in over 100 passages of the New Testament and the early church used the writings to study from.

In fact the nephilim were doing such a good job of breeding with humans and creating more nephilim that human DNA was almost completely destroyed. Not only did nephilim breed with humans but according to the book of Jasher, mentioned in 2 Samuel, they bred humans with animals and crossed animal species. This may be why we have mythology about mermaids, centaurs and other half-human species and these may be the gods that were worshiped by the Egyptians. The nephilim were evil creatures that participated in cannibalism and murder. They were violent creatures that delighted in chaos.

When God saw the wickedness on the earth and He saw the plan that Satan had to wipe out humanity, God had no choice but to wipe everything and everyone out with the flood. The corruption that is mentioned in the Bible is the corruption of DNA.

¹¹ The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

¹² And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.  Genesis 6:11-12

The Bible says that there were giants in those days and after, this could be because on of Noah’s son’s wives had some nephilim DNA.  Considering how far the corruption had spread over the earth it is possible that one of the women had some nephilim DNA in them which would be spread once more over the earth through her offspring. It is thought that it may be Ham’s wife who had the corrupted DNA since the races of giants seem to come from Ham’s line.

⁶ And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

⁷ And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

⁸ And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.

¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

¹¹ Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

¹² And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

¹³ And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

¹⁴ And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

¹⁵ And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth,

¹⁶ And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,

¹⁷ And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

¹⁸ And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.  Genesis 10:6-20

Satan has not given up on his plan to corrupt our DNA. It may be that there are people who have some corrupted DNA from this line. This may be why most people sin so freely and murder without care. Serial killers could be those people who have a higher than normal genetic map to the nephilim.

If there are people with corrupt DNA and God destroyed all life at the flood because of the corruption, how can we be saved? God knew the plan of Satan and He knew that the corruption would return, which is why he told the Israelites to destroy the people who carried the corruption in their genes. All the giants that we hear about in the Bible were destroyed by the Israelites. It could be that the main thread of DNA corruption was destroyed but some genes were still passed on throughout the ages. The corrupt DNA is not as strong or dominant as it was before the flood but I believe that the genes may be recessive. I believe that God may have sent Jesus to die so that we may be cleansed, not only from sin but from corruption.

⁸ He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

² Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

³ Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

⁵ Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  Ephesians 2:2-5

When we accept Jesus gift of eternal life we are made pure, the corruption is removed, just as sin is gone. It is also believed that the Antichrist will come from this corrupt line of DNA, basically he will be Satan’s seed that will stand against Jesus, the seed of the woman. 

Satan has not given up on corrupting the bloodline. His first plan was defeated when God sent the flood. Jesus was born of a pure bloodline which was in line with the prophecy of Satan’s destruction. Satan is determined to win the war against Jesus, but he will ultimately lose. He will not give up without a fight and he wants to take as many people as he can with him.

To understand the methods that Satan is using to pull man away from following God and turning man to follow Satan, you need to look at things from Satan’s point of view. What is the best way to corrupt people and to start them on the path of questioning God and following their own paths? Start when they are children. See my post on Idol Worship for more on that. The next step is electronics, there is a huge push for people to get “chipped” now. This would mean getting a microchip implanted in your body. For me, this is too close to the mark of the beast spoken of in Revelation.

¹⁶ And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

¹⁷ And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

¹⁸ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.  Revelation 13:16-18

Do I know for sure that a microchip will be the Mark of the Beast? No, but I do not want any microchips in my skin. Since the verse does specify “in their right hand, or in their foreheads” it does make sense that it will be something implantable, like a microchip. Anyone that has the Mark of the Beast is doomed to death, there is no changing your mind once you have received it. In ancient times when a servant chooses to serve his master even after his time is up, he is branded.

4“If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone.5“But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ 6then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.…  Exodus 21:4-6

Once a slave bears that mark, they are forever a slave. The mark is a mark of ownership, just as when you choose to take the Mark of the Beast, you are giving ownership of yourself to Satan.

What other ways is Satan trying to get you to follow him? The movies and TV are promoting all kinds of Superheroes. When you see all the amazing things they can do you wish you had those kind of powers too. Now what if there was some kind of                   bio-mechanics that you could have added to your body, similar to plastic surgery except instead of changing your features you would be adding mechanical features to yourself. You could be just like a superhero, part human and part machine…..do you get it….you would no longer be fully human. You would now be a corrupted being. This is only an example of the many ways that Satan is working on to corrupt humanity both morally and physically. In the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples that when he returns the earth will be as corrupt as it was before the flood.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Matthew 24:37

Be wary of the schemes of Satan, he is crafty and is always looking for a subtle way to corrupt you.

Judgment of America

Is America under Judgment? Yes. America has turned its back on God and Israel, we have disobeyed God’s laws and commandments. When did this start? There have always been those that break laws, both God and man’s, but for the most part America stood by Israel and we were a Christian nation.

The real beginning of the moral decline was in the 1960’s. Free love and rampant drugs were only a part of the degeneration of society. Free love is a social movement that rejects marriage. The proponents of this movement stood for having multiple sexual partners outside of marriage and monogamous relationships. This movement made it acceptable and then commonplace to have premarital sex. This opened the door to homosexuality, alternate sexuality and the legalization of abortion. In 1973, Roe v. Wade made getting an abortion legal. Since this decision was passed there have been more than 56 million abortions as of Jan 2014. That is more than 56 million MURDERS.

¹³ “You shall not murder.  Exodus 20:13

The free love movement also led to the rise of homosexuality in America. While it was still an underground movement the amounts of people involved were growing. In the early 1980’s the first emergence of AIDS occurred. It was initially thought to be a gay disease since most of the cases were in gay men. AIDS brought homosexuality into the news and even people who did not know about its existence now did. The event that brought the gay people out of the closet and made it ok to be gay was when Ellen DeGeneres came out on her tv show. Ellen was a comedienne in the 1980’s and she was eventually given her own tv sitcom, Ellen. In 1997 she came out as being a lesbian on the Oprah Winfrey show and then her character on Ellen also came out. This was the first time that an openly gay actor played an openly gay character on prime time tv. This opened the doors to introducing gay characters into all genres of TV. Being gay had just become more acceptable and even become a “cool” thing to be. This paved the way for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) groups to demand legislation and rights such as gay marriage. Same sex marriage is legal in 37 states right now and many other legal battles are being fought  to make it legal in the others.

⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^{[a] 5} and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ Matthew 19:4-5

LSD became the drug of choice in the 1960’s. An entire subculture evolved around the mind altering and mystical effects of the drug leading to the user’s aim to raise their consciousness. psychedelic musicians all promoted the use of this drug like Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. Fans of these and other bands were easily swept into the drug culture. LSD and other drugs became so widespread in the 1960’s that Time Magazine published an article warning of its dangers. Music evolved in this era as well, with the development of the electric guitar the psychedelic music era began. Much of the music industry was influenced by the drug use of the day, most musicians used drugs and they were part of this counter-culture movement. The roots of the rock and roll genre were born in a drug induced haze. That is why you always hear the slogan “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” The counter-culture for these three components all came together in the same era, free love, widespread drug use and the music that develops from them.

In 1962, the court case of Engel v. Vitale removed prayer from public schools as separation of church and state. This ruling allowed for the further removal of prayer in every instance in public schools. Teaching anything from or about the Bible followed closely behind. In 2006, President Obama, in a speech he was making stated that America is not a Christian nation. This is just another nail in the coffin for America.

On June 6, 1966 the church of Satan was created by Anton LaVey. They believe in atheism and materialism and that you are your own god and should do things that please you without moral codes. In the early days most people saw this as evil and something to avoid, but as time has gone on it has become more mainstream. Many black metal bands have made worshiping Satan seem “cool”. And if you follow the news stories there have been many that have carried out murderous rituals in the name of Satan. Somehow in the last few years Satanism is on the rise, it has grown into a popular “religion”. On June 6th, 2006 the church of Satan performed its first public black mass in Los Angeles. The latest event is the creation of a Baphomet statue that Satanists want to place next to the 10 Commandments statue at the Oklahoma courthouse. Since the 10 Commandments statue is allowed to be placed there the Satanists claim that it is only fair that their religion is represented too. This has caused debate between religious leaders and Satanic leaders. In September Satanists held a black mass in Oklahoma, about 50 people attended, but there were hundreds protesting outside. Officials did not stop the mass because it was held on public property.

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^[e]” Matthew 4:8-10

This culture has become too tolerant. We no longer stand up for what is right because we are afraid to hurt someone’s feelings.  Just look at schools, when I was young, if you did not pass your classes you went to summer school and retook the class that you failed or if you failed many subjects, you were left back and had to repeat the grade. Yes, this was humiliating to the student, but it taught them a lesson, work hard and you will succeed. Now no child is left back or goes to summer school, the teachers really can’t fail children because it might hurt their feelings and “scar” them. What is worse to be a little hurt and to learn from the experience or to be moved on in school and you can’t even read. All you need to do it look at facebook, none of these kids can spell and they are so dumb. Many don’t even know any history and forget geography. All they care about is themselves and their little cocoon of life. This is the “selfie” generation…it is all about them. They have become so vain that all they do is take pictures of themselves and post it for others to see. People are more concerned with how they look in their latest selfie than with anything going on in the real world. Technology has also made it so that no one has any real relationships anymore. Go to the local mall and watch the teens, they are all together but they are also miles apart, all caught up in their own cell phones. People are too obsessed with technology than in actual relationships…when was the last time you had a real conversation that was not on technology or interrupted by it.

Is it any wonder that God is trying to wake America up by sending judgments on her? Just look at the things that are happening in this country, the crazy weather, look at the economic crisis and the real unemployment and underemployment numbers. Look at the weather the past few years, we have had more destructive storms that are claimed to be “one of a kind storms”, like Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the second most costly storm in U.S. history.  Hurricane Sandy barreled up the east coast to join with a winter storm, combining to spread snow, flooding, heavy rains and gale force winds along its path. The cost of the storm was $68 billion and 233 lives. Of course we can’t forget the most costly storm, Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The storm cost $108 billion in damages and the loss of 1833 lives. New Orleans has still not completely recovered in some areas. This year the east coast has been hit with winter storm after winter storm, with sub-zero temperatures and massive snowfall amounts. Snowfall for February has broken records in Boston and the month is only half over, they have received 61.5 inches so far, average seasonal snowfall is 43.5 inches. The total amount of snow that Boston has received this season so far is 98.7 inches. The west coast has been under judgment for years, 41% of the state is in extreme drought conditions where a year ago it was only 14%. The governor proclaims this the worst drought California has ever seen.

Disease is another judgment that we are enduring. First it was the AIDS epidemic that caused fear in many and killed many, mostly homosexuals. In the last year we have seen a resurgence in diseases that have long been eradicated. The Measles outbreak began in December 2014 in Disneyland, it has spread to 17 states.  An antibiotic resistant superbug has emerged in UCLA, Ronald Reagan Medical Center, and killed two people and there are 5 confirmed infections. There are almost 200 other patients that could also be infected. Then there is the Ebola epidemic that has spread to the United States via exposure of some doctors and aid workers. The latest epidemic is a typhoid fever outbreak in Enid, Oklahoma, where over a dozen cases have been confirmed by the CDC.

There have also been earthquakes in areas where they have never been before. In 2011 a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck in Virginia, it was felt 300 miles away and damaged the Washington Monument. Oklahoma has seen a major increase in earthquake activity in the past year, they had as many earthquakes as California in 2014. USGS issued an earthquake warning for Oklahoma, the first time it ever issued one for a state east of the Rocky Mountains. Since 2009 the amount of earthquakes have grown dramatically for Oklahoma with numbers in the single digits for years before 2009, then 20 in 2009, 44 in 2010, 62 in 2011, 35 in 2012, 110 in 2013 and 145 in 2014. In January a cluster of earthquakes struck northern Texas. A series of 9 earthquakes from 1.6 to 3.6 magnitude quake struck the Dallas region. Going back into history there had been one earthquake prior to 2008  in 1950. In June of 2014 a 3.4 earthquake struck in Greeley, Colorado, the area has not had an earthquake in 40 years.  These are just some of the areas that have experienced “rare” earthquakes.

¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. Luke 21:11

We are definitely living in the end times, the last generation, no other time in history has been so immoral and defiant against God. We must pray for those in government to turn back to God and repent, and we must pray for those that are not saved that are being fooled and misled by the culture we live in and Satan. God does not want anyone to perish.

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.^[a]  

2 Peter 3:8-10

Pray for this country, pray that we come to repentance, and pray for those that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. We are living in dangerous times and the time is growing shorter and shorter. Be vigilant!

8Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9

Satan’s Deception

If you can’t tell from the stories that you see on the news and the incredible disasters that seem to get worse day by day, we are living in the End times. If you read Bible prophecy you will see that so many things that Jesus talked about are coming true.

³ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all^[a] these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,^[b] and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.  Matthew 24:3-14

This was Jesus’ response when the disciples asked him about the end times and Jesus return.  If you take a look at what Jesus said, doesn’t it sound familiar? The first thing he mentions is that many will come claiming to be Christ, throughout history there have been many people who have claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ. These are just a few of the many: Arnold Potter (1804-1872) a Latter Day Saint leader who claimed that the spirit if Jesus Christ had entered his body. he died trying to ascend to heaven by jumping off a cliff. Krishna Venta (1911-1958) stated that he was Christ and that he led a convoy of rockets from the planet Neophrates, he was suicide bombed by former followers who claimed he mishandled funds and slept with their wives. Jim Jones, the leader of People’s Temple, he claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ, he orchestrated a murder-suicide of the cult in Jonestown in Guyana. Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult who orchestrated a mass suicide to rendezvous with a spaceship he claimed was hiding behind the comet Hale-Bopp. Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shinrikyo declared himself to be Christ and declared that Armageddon was coming and the only survivors would be those that were part of Aum; the group were responsible for the Sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway. David Koresh, the leader of a Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, claimed he was the son of God, during a raid of their compound a fire began that killed 54 adults and 21 children.  Others include Yahweh ben Yahweh, Laszlo Toth, Wayne Bent, Ariffin Mohammed, Mitsuo Matayoshi, Inri Christo, Marina Tsvigun, Sergey Torop, Apollo Quiboloy, Alan John Miller, David Shayler, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, Lightning Deng and many more. These false Christs have risen up all over the world. You would think it is obvious that these people are not Christ, but they manage to deceive many people into following them, even worshiping them.

The second thing Jesus mentions is that there will be wars and rumors of wars. You only have to open any history book to see that the world has perpetually been at war for most of its history. The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of the Roses, the French Revolution, World War I, World War II, Vietnam War, Korean War, Trojan War, Hundred Years War, Napoleonic Wars, Iraq War and the list goes on and on. There will continue to be wars and conflicts until Christ reigns.

The next thing Jesus mentions is that there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. Watch the news, these things are happening now! According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization there are 805 million people, or 1 in 9 people in the world,  that suffer from undernourishment or malnutrition; Most of these people are living in undeveloped countries. Pestilences are disease and once more the undeveloped countries are the hardest hit. There have always been epidemics and pandemics throughout history, we have all heard of the Spanish Influenza pandemic and the Bubonic Plague and the Smallpox epidemic. There have always been diseases that have spread and killed many people and there have been diseases that we have developed vaccines for and the disease is almost eradicated. The diseases in developed countries are usually more under control and the reemergence is usually an isolated case. In undeveloped countries it is harder to get diseases under control since many live remotely and do not get vaccinations. The living conditions also contribute to the spread of the disease, bad water and poor hygiene are also contributors. HIV/AIDS affects millions worldwide but 68% of all infected people live in the Sub Saharan region of Africa. The World Health Organization has been working to educate the people in the area about the risks and how to avoid contracting the disease and managing the disease for those that have it. AIDS is a relatively new disease that originated in the Congo region of Africa in the early 1900’s and has killed millions of people globally. Ebola is another disease that is relatively new, the first case was in 1976 in sub Saharan Africa. The disease was limited to Africa for all outbreaks until 2014. The recent outbreak began in Guinea in West Africa, the disease spread to nearby Liberia and Sierra Leone, health professionals and aid workers that were treating the sick have traveled back to their home countries before realizing that they were infected with the disease; the infected aid workers were from the U.K., United States and Spain. Other aid workers have also been infected and brought the disease to their countries as well, including Germany, France, and Switzerland. Most nations institute a quarantine for any people who are travelling from the affected areas. The plague….it seems like it is a medieval disease that belongs in the history books…in August of 2014 there was an outbreak of the plague in Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa. Since November there have been 40 deaths as a result of this disease. The latest outbreak is the measles, a disease that was thought to have been eradicated in the United States. An outbreak in the Philippines is thought to be behind the reemergence of the disease in the United States. The outbreak started at Disneyland in California and have spread to 17 states. As Jesus foretold, pestilences are rampant all over the world, even diseases that were supposed to be eradicated are now reemerging.

Jesus also speaks about earthquakes in divers places. The number of large magnitude earthquakes around the world has been increasing from the time that we were able to register the magnitude of the quakes. I broke up the earthquake records into periods of 38 years and this is the amount of earthquakes recorded of 7.0 and greater magnitude for the time periods. This information is according to the USGS.

1863-1900          12 (this was the beginning of the period of recording magnitude, the numbers are probably not too accurate)

1901-1938          303

1939-1976          466

1977-2014          604

As you can see, the amount of earthquakes recorded with a magnitude of 7.0 and higher has increased for each period.  There are large magnitude earthquakes of 6.0 and greater almost every week, I would say that the number of large earthquakes is definitely growing.

These signs are just the beginning of the birth pangs, anyone that has given birth knows that once the contractions start they just get stronger and closer together until the baby is born. It is the same with these signs, expect them to get stronger and happen more frequently as we get closer to the time of the end.

Satan is hard at work to turn as many people as he can away from following Jesus. He and his followers are working hard to take your attention off God. Think about how much music and TV has changed in your lifetime. The music business is around for one thing, that is to use music to lure you and your kids away from God. Have you watched the Grammy’s?? They may as well just come out and say that it is an homage to Satan, what are you watching? Don’t you see the fire and demons dancing around the stage, the blatant witchcraft and worshiping of Satan? Many of these celebrities have even come out and said that they sold their souls to the devil and that when they perform they are taken over by something else. Does that not sound like demon possession? The artists say they don’t even remember what happens while they are on stage. Believe me or not, the truth is in front of you and many of the performers admit to it. Satan uses any means necessary to deceive people, you need to be able to discern what is Biblical and what is not.

You may call this a conspiracy theory, and I admit that I did not really pay much attention to what the messages that were really being sent out were. My eyes are opened and I can never go back to looking at things the same way again. I tend to be cynical of conspiracy theories and usually don’t give them my attention but for some reason I looked into this and I can see it everywhere. Honestly, I am still a little cynical about some of it but I can see that a portion is true.

One thing that I found quite a few pages on is something called Project Blue Beam. Now I read a little on it and at first I set it aside as being unbelievable, but in delving deeper into prophecy I could see this being used as a tool. It may not be used according to the way it has been laid out, but I can see this used in other ways. First let me tell you about Project Blue Beam and the plan for its use. First you need to understand that this project stems from the Illuminati/Satanists desire to create a new world order and the use of this project to scare or intimidate people into asking for protection from the government. The premise of this project is to simulate a “second coming event” that will lead to a one world religion. The project has four steps:

• the first step is to use false archeological evidence to cause doubt about the information in the world’s religions. These planted “discoveries” will prove the doctrines of the world’s religions is wrong.
• The second step is an appearance in the sky of major religious figures. This will be accomplished by the use of holographic projectors that combine several light waves, ELF, VLF, LF to produce an image that looks real, it is not a flat picture projected in the sky. This will be lifelike and 3D, similar to the projection of Princess Leia in Star Wars. The images will be integrated with sound and effects that seem to come from the projected figure. These religious figures will speak and give a “correct interpretation” of the belief system before all the religious figures (Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, etc.) will all merge into one. This new god will usher in the one world religion system.
• The third step is the use of low-frequency waves that people hear in their heads to make it seem that their god is speaking to them.
• The fourth step is multifaceted. It involves using the same holographic technology to create specific scenes.

1. To create a false alien attack, forcing nations to use their nuclear weapons and lead to full disarmament
2. To create a false “rapture” where “good” aliens come to save all the good Christian people from a satanic attack.
3. The use of microchips installed in your technology to make is seem that ghosts etc. are haunting the person. This will cause panic and suicides and possible mental disorders

Now, do I believe this to be true? Maybe, in part.  I can believe that this is what someone would like to do, but I don’t believe they have thought through their plan. I have seen the first step in action, they are always “finding” these artifacts that disprove the scriptures. Most people ignore these finds and it does not affect their faith. I have heard that real artifacts that would prove the scriptures, like Noah’s ark have been found but the government agencies that are supposed to have these artifacts claim they do not.  Then, even if there was a projection of Jesus in the sky and it began talking about how we have misunderstood what he tried to teach us many Christians would know that it was false. I for one have read my Bible and know what Jesus says about false teachers and prophets and their plan to deceive. I know I am not the only one that would not believe this manifestation. I am sure there are many in other religions that would not believe what their “god” is telling them either. So this manifestation may fool some people but not everyone. Another reason that people may not be fooled is because we are so used to special effects in movies and TV and video games it is not a stretch of the imagination to think that a lot of people would assume this was a special effect rather than believing it to be true.In the third step, using low-frequency waves to “telepathically” speak to everyone, I don’t believe this would work on a worldwide basis even if the technology existed to create this effect. Now an alien invasion may fool some people, even the ones that are not fooled will not be able to stop the governments from launching their weapons. As for the fake rapture, I don’t see how they would be able to pick and choose the people they want to eliminate and how they would make them disappear. The use of microchips to materialize ghosts etc, yes that one I believe. All new electronic equipment has multiple computer chips to run certain things. You may think this is a one way kind of device but I must tell you that while you are watching your TV, there is a good chance that you TV is watching you right back. Samsung was in the news this week because their Smart TV, which responds to voice commands also records any conversations in its vicinity and passes them on to third-party companies. Any voice recognition device or internet connected device is capable of doing the same. Devices with cameras can easily be hacked and remotely turned on to watch what you do in your home. It would be easy for your devices to project a ghost or something into your home.

So, in conclusion, do I believe this is real? I will not say yes or no. I believe that it is someone’s plan that was not too well thought out. I believe some of it can be used and maybe it will. The one thing that I do know is that if by some strange way this plan is put into motion, I will not be fooled. I am prepared for any form of this plan in the case that it is carried out.

⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Be vigilant…Satan is always looking for ways to fool you and to keep you from following what the Bible says.  Stand firm in your faith and don’t let Satan fool you.

The Prophecy of Syria

A prophecy against Damascus:

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of Aroer will be deserted
    and left to flocks, which will lie down,
    with no one to make them afraid.
³ The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory of the Israelites,”
declares the Lord Almighty.

⁴ “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste away.
⁵ It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
    in the Valley of Rephaim.
⁶ Yet some gleanings will remain,
    as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷ In that day people will look to their Maker
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They will not look to the altars,
    the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles^[a]
    and the incense altars their fingers have made.

⁹ In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.

¹⁰ You have forgotten God your Savior;
    you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,
¹¹ though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
    in the day of disease and incurable pain.

¹² Woe to the many nations that rage—
    they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!
¹³ Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.
¹⁴ In the evening, sudden terror!
    Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

Isaiah 17:1-14

One of the prophesied events of the end times is the destruction of Damascus, the capital of Syria. It is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Isaiah prophesies that Damascus will be completely destroyed, there will be no one left living in the city and few buildings will be standing. It is also prophesied that several cities in northern Israel will also be destroyed. It seems that there may be some kind of battle between Syria and Israel, possibly using some kind of nuclear weapons that destroy Damascus and northern Israel and make the area desolate.

Other nations will rush in to take advantage of the destruction to attack Israel. This may be the event that sets off the War of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38-39. Israel is vulnerable, it is the perfect time for her enemies to try to destroy her completely. Psalm 83 gives a list of some of the nations that will try to destroy Israel.

O God, do not remain silent;
    do not turn a deaf ear,
    do not stand aloof, O God.
² See how your enemies growl,
    how your foes rear their heads.
³ With cunning they conspire against your people;
    they plot against those you cherish.
⁴ “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
    so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”

⁵ With one mind they plot together;
    they form an alliance against you—
⁶ the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
    of Moab and the Hagrites,
⁷ Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,
    Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
⁸ Even Assyria has joined them
    to reinforce Lot’s descendants.^[b]

⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
    as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
¹⁰ who perished at Endor
    and became like dung on the ground.
¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
    all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² who said, “Let us take possession
    of the pasturelands of God.”

¹³ Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
    like chaff before the wind.
¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest
    or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
¹⁵ so pursue them with your tempest
    and terrify them with your storm.
¹⁶ Cover their faces with shame, Lord,
    so that they will seek your name.

¹⁷ May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
    may they perish in disgrace.
¹⁸ Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord—
    that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Psalm 83:1-18

 The modern equivalents of the nations mentioned in Psalms are:

Edomites- Jordan

Ishaelites- Arab people

Moabites- Jordan

Hagrites- Jordan, Arab people

Gebalites- Lebanon

Ammonites- Jordan

Amalekites- Gaza

Philistia- Gaza

Tyre- Lebanon

Assyria- Syria, parts of Turkey, Iraq

Descendants of Lot- Jordan

These nations may be the first that move in to attack Israel, but the nations in the war of Gog and Magog prophecy may be quick to join. These nations include Russia, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya, and Eastern European nations. Both prophecies have Israel’s enemies coming to attack Israel when she is vulnerable and unprepared. Israel will not be able to defend herself from this massive attack, but God will miraculously defend Israel and destroy the nations that are attacking her. These may be two separate attacks but I think that it makes sense that one action will set off the next.

As a result of this destruction many are prophesied to turn back to worshiping God. All three passages mention this change of heart that Israel has. The people finally see their God extending His power to save them from destruction and it sparks a revival in Israel.

The Tribulation, or the Seventieth Week of Daniel

We have reached the end of the age of grace, or the church age. Jesus came to save His people, the Jews. When the Jewish people turned their backs on Him and crucified Him the gift of salvation was given to the gentiles. Anyone that is not of Jewish descent is considered a gentile. This fulfilled the prophecy given to Daniel,

“Seventy weeks[a] are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of[b] sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.

25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street[c] shall be built again, and the wall,[d]
Even in troublesome times.

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”  Daniel 9:24-27

In verse 25 it states that Messiah would be cut off after 69 weeks, (a week is considered a year). The 69 weeks are finished when Jesus is rejected by His people and crucified. Since the Jews rejected their Messiah they were cut off and the gift of salvation was given to the gentiles as it was prophecied in Isaiah.

“Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be accepted on My altar;
For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

This is an interlude in the period of time where Israel will be brought back into fellowship with God. After the age of grace and the rapture there may be a short period of time before the 70th week begins. This final week will begin when the Antichrist signs a seven year peace with Israel. You have to imagine that after the rapture the world will be in chaos. Millions of people just disappeared and all the children that were not old enough to make a decision to follow Jesus. There will be horrific damage and death from cars and other vehicles crashing when their drivers disappear, planes will fall out of the sky when their pilots disappear. Most people will be missing family members or friends, people will be terrified wondering where the others went and if others will be taken too. With so many people missing you have to imagine that the stock market will crash, government will be left short staffed as well as hospitals, the police and the military. Martial law will be instituted to protect as many people as possible while the country tries to recover.  This will be much worse in countries with many Christians, but every country will lose people. The world will be looking for someone to step in and bring things back to normal… A man steps onto the world stage, the people of the earth are mesmerized by what he says, this man seems to have answers that the world desperately needs. Before long this man is pushed into taking charge of a one world government. He speaks of peace and before long he has done what no one has ever been able to do before, he has brokered a peace in the Middle East. Israel has signed a seven years peace treaty. The world will look on in wonder at what this man has done, they will think that he is the leader that the world has always been waiting for. The truth is far more frightening, this man is the Antichrist. He will come onto the world scene talking about peace, he will seem to be the answer the world has looked for. He will actually have peace for three and a half years, but then he will break the treaty and start persecuting the Jewish people.  When the peace treaty is signed, that is the beginning of the final seven year period before Jesus second coming. During this period God will send judgments down on the earth like He did in the Old Testament, the purpose of these judgments are to remind Israel that their God is real and has not forgotten them. It is a call to Israel to come back to God. God will send judgments that get progressively worse, He will send two witnesses to preach the truth in Israel, these witnesses will cause many Israelites to turn back to their God and to preach the truth and bring others to truth.

And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”[a] 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Revelation 11:3-6

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,

from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,

from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000,

from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,

from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,

from the tribe of Levi 12,000,

from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,

8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,

from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,

from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.  Revelation 7:1-8

 

The first half of the tribulation will be bad, but the second half will be even worse. After the Antichrist breaks the treaty he will insist on being worshiped. He will institute a new program, everyone on earth will be required to have the number 666 on their right hand or forehead or they will not be allowed to buy or sell. Part of taking this mark is the worship of the Antichrist. As you take the mark you then need to walk over to the statue of the Antichrist and bow down and worship it. If you choose not to take the mark you will be immediately executed by guillotine.

Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666. Revelation 13:14-18

This will be a terrifying time to live if you are a believer. Many believers will be martyred during this time, but they will immediately be with God.

As for Israel, the Antichrist will be trying to kill the Jews any way that he can. The only way for the Jews to survive would be for them to escape Israel and run to the mountains where God will protect them. Many think the mountains that are mentioned is the rock city of Petra. Some believers have gone to Petra and buried Bibles for the Jews to use once they are in Petra.

 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a]spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.  Matthew 24:15-22

At the end of the seven years, when all seems lost, Jesus will return. All will see Him. Jesus will destroy the Antichrist’s armies and at the end of the one sided battle He will take the Antichrist and the False Prophet and throw them into the lake of fire.

 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is calledFaithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen,white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will [d]rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the [e]wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

17 Then I saw [f]an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying toall the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of [g]commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”

19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

Doom of the Beast and False Prophet

20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs [h]in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with [i]brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Revelation 19:11-21

 

No one wants to live through these times, and the good news is, as a Christian you will not have to. You will be with Jesus, in heaven at this time. What about those that don’t believe? Well the good news is that there is still time. The age of grace is still here, you have a chance to escape the tribulation, all you need to do is accept the free gift that Jesus is giving you. You don’t need to be perfect to accept this gift, it is a free gift of salvation. Think of it as a do over. All the bad things that you have done in your life are gone, the slate has been wiped clean. There is not one sin that God does not know about, or one that He can’t forgive. All it takes is a quick prayer and you will be saved from these things. Yes, you may die before the rapture, but you will be with God at that moment and at the rapture you will receive your perfect body and live in heaven, which is too beautiful to even imagine. I want to see you there. Pray this simple prayer to join God’s family.

 

Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name I confess that I have sinned and ask for forgiveness. I ask that Jesus come into my heart and become my  Lord and Savior. I believe Jesus died for my sins and was raised from the dead.
Thank You Father for saving me in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The End of the Age of Grace

There have been quite a few different ages throughout history. The first age was creation, from the beginning of creation until man was thrown out of Garden of Eden for disobeying God and bringing sin into the world.

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;    male and female he created them.  Genesis 1:27

 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.  Genesis 3:23

The next age was the pre-flood age, this time period covers the period after Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden until Noah built the ark to survive the flood.

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”  Genesis 7:1-4

The third age was the age of Abraham and the formation of the state of Israel. God made His covenant with Abraham to make him a nation and the father of many generations. Jesus starts His ministry and is crucified at the end of this age.

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai.[a] Walk with me and be trustworthy. 2 I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.” 3 Abram fell on his face, and God said to him,4 “But me, my covenant is with you; you will be the ancestor of many nations. 5 And because I have made you the ancestor of many nations, your name will no longer be Abram[b] but Abraham.[c] 6 I will make you very fertile. I will produce nations from you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will set up my covenant with you and your descendants after you in every generation as an enduring covenant. I will be your God and your descendants’ God after you. 8 I will give you and your descendants the land in which you are immigrants, the whole land of Canaan, as an enduring possession. And I will be their God.”  Genesis 17:1-8

 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob,[d] but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.[e]” So he named him Israel.

11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty[f]; be fruitful and increase in number. A nationand a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. Genesis 35:10-13

 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”  Acts 1:6-11

Now the fourth age is the church age, this is the age we are currently living in. The church age began when Jesus ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit down to believers during Pentecost. It will end at the rapture of the church, when God calls all believers living and dead from this age up to heaven. At this point the Holy Spirit will also leave the world.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.  Acts 2:1-4

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 2 Thessalonians 2:7

We are living in the church age right now. The only thing that is holding back Satan’s plans and the releasing of the Antichrist is the Holy Spirit. When the believers are taken to Heaven in the rapture, the Holy Spirit will leave as well. The Holy Spirit is on earth now in the church and the believers, once we are taken in the rapture the Holy Spirit will be taken from the earth as well.

Now no one knows when the rapture will happen


 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.  Matthew 24:36-41

What we do know is what Jesus told us about His return. 

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:4-14

As you read this I am sure you can see the parallels in the world that we are living in. There are wars and rumors of wars…the world has been at war more than it has been at peace, you constantly hear about wars in various places. As of right now we just had Israel and Palestine fighting and lobbing missiles at each other…and God has supernaturally been protecting Israel like He promised. At the same time Russia has encroached on the Ukraine and there have been some skirmishes.  Famine is widespread, especially in Africa and if you watch the news, it seems like there is a large earthquake happening somewhere around the world at least weekly. And of course, watching the news or reading a news site it seems like all that is published is bad news. More and more violence and brutality, evil is on the rise. We are growing closer and closer to the end of this age. 

One of the most pressing reasons that we are nearing the end of the age is in what Jesus said in this verse. The fig tree always represents Israel.

 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.  Matthew 24:32-35

Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948, as prophesied by Ezekiel.

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares theLord.’” Ezekiel 37:1-14

Now in Matthew, Jesus says that this generation will not pass away before these things come to pass. Many consider this to mean that those that were alive when Israel became a nation will not all pass away before the end of this age. So, in this age a person can live to be around 100 years old, if incredibly lucky. It has been 65 years since Israel became a nation and with all the other prophecies about the end of the age coming to pass, the end of the age could occur at any time. 

Once the rapture comes, the church age, the age of grace will end. After the rapture the next age is all about Israel and God giving Israel a final chance to turn to Him. In the Bible we see that Israel was punished to turning away from God and worshiping false gods. They were taken captive by the Babylonians and many of them were taken to Babylon as captives. Daniel was one of the captives, as he was praying fervently for Israel he receives a prophecy.

While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill— 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:

24 “Seventy ‘sevens’[c] are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish[d] transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.[e]

25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,[f] the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.[g] The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’[h] In the middle of the ‘seven’[i] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple[j] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. Daniel 9:20-27

The first 69 weeks of Daniel’s prophecy have already been fulfilled. After this, the prophecy was halted to be completed in its appointed time. So, between the 69th and 70th week is the age of grace. Once the age of grace has ended, the 70th week will start.