Devotional, Devotion, Prophecy, Bible Study, Bible discussion, End of Days, End Times, Enter Ministry, Underground Church, Church, Fellowship, Tribulation, Salvation, Ordained, Love, Heaven, Miracles
Author: Michael Young, Sr.
I am a practicing Christian, a disciple of Jesus, a husband of over 50 years, a father and a grandfather, a business man, a veteran and a friend to all who will have me.
I have served or am serving, at various times, as an Evangelist, a Pulpit fill pastor, an Associate Pastor of Evangelism and as Senior Pastor of a church plant. My passion is for practicing and teaching the Bible, building small groups, reaching the lost with the message of the Gospel of Jesus, recovering the straying Sheep of God and the gathering together the Called of God, in neighborhoods, business settings and in churches by equipping other Christians.
I have authored a few small books and I have a background in professional business management, finance and investments.
I am glad to meet you, even if it is virtually. Write me at any time and let's become friends.
Whether you think of it as a joke or take it seriously, people ranging from doomsday prognosticators, Nostradamus followers, MIT grads who have build end-of-worlds computer predictive models, to climate-change-fatalists, there is intense interest in the End of the Age and the Last Days of earth. The most reliable source in terms of up-to-date accuracy and detailed prophecies, however, is the Bible. For example, the Bible tells that in the coming decades, there will be events which are harbingers to the end of this earth age. These events will occur in sequence, then begin to overlap and increase in intensify until a great cosmic cataclysm will occur, wiping clean the face of the earth and eventually, the both the heavens and the earth will be consumed in a fervent heat.
I have prepared this essay in 5 parts.
PART 1.
The Bible tells of the harbingers to watch for and of the events that will lead up to the End of the Age:
False Christ’s and false Messiah’s,
Wars,
Famines,
Earthquakes,
Hatred, persecution and martyrdom of Christians,
A great falling away from the Christian faith.
The appearance of a charismatic leader who will seem able to solve the world’s worst problems, only to become a vile person of unimaginable evil, creating a global nightmare of unrivaled carnage, death and destruction.
Cataclysmic cosmic events.
Cataclysmic terrestrial events.
Here is the beginning of the discourse of the End of the Age between Jesus and his disciples:
Matthew 24:3 says, “As He, (Jesus), was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Verse 4, And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.
Verse 5, “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.
Verse 6, “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
Verse 7, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
Verse 8, “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Verse 9, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.”
So, when will these things happen?
Many of these harbinger events began as early as B.C. 2 and have progressively appeared, overlapping one another and increased in intensity and frequency:
I. Many will come IN MY (Jesus’) NAME:
This can be someone literally saying ‘I am the Christ’, but it is proving to be those who consider themselves as an emissary of Christ – such as ‘ordained pastors’ – who speak for Christ, but are blindly following ‘new age’ or errant doctrines; or, as we are clearly seeing, now, in our day, ‘institutional deception’, where entire denominations fall away from the clear teachings of Jesus and lead millions astray. (Also see“Shipwrecked”).
So, how can we know ‘which of the false Christs‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
II. WARS and rumors of war:
There have been thousands upon thousands of wars and conflicts since the time of Christ. Most notable for their scope and breadth are the
Religious Crusades (1095 – 1291, Muslims vs Latin Church, almost 2 million dead),
So, how can we know ‘which wars and rumors of wars‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
III. EARTHQUAKES & VOLCANOES:
Earthquakes are nothing new. In fact, they are so numerous that I can only give you a web link by period of time and let you view what has been recorded. But, Jesus did warn they would come.
Volcanoes are nothing new, either, but it would seem that seismic events (volcanoes) are on the rise.
Figure 1. Graph showing the number of volcanoes reported to have been active each year since 1800 CE. Total number of volcanoes with reported eruptions per year (thin upper black line) and 10-year running mean of same data (thick upper red line). Lower lines show only the annual number of volcanoes producing large eruptions (>= 0.1 km3 of tephra or magma) and scale is enlarged on the right axis; thick red lower line again shows 10-year running mean. See text for discussion.
Figure 2. Graph showing known historically active volcanoes, number of volcanoes reported to be active each year, and population. The line labeled “Known Historically Active Volcanoes” (right scale) is the cumulative number of volcanoes with an historically recorded eruption by that year. “Volcanoes Active Per Year” since 1400 CE (black line) and 10-year running mean of same data (thick red line) is also based on reported eruptions (those with uncertainty dates greater than 1 year are not included, nor are uncertain eruptions). “Population” (right scale) is the world’s estimated human population; data from McEvedy and Jones (1978) and (since 1750) Population Reference Bureau, Washington, D.C. See text for further explanation.
At first glance the nearly exponential increase through recent centuries suggests that the planet may soon be overwhelmed by volcanic activity, but this increase tracks the striking growth of global population (dashed line on figure 1) that has spread potential observers of eruptions over much of the Earth and the technological advances that have facilitated reporting of those eruptions. Another indicator of the growth of the record is the increase in the total number of known historically active volcanoes (upper line on figure 2). These are not newly-formed volcanoes, but already established features (or volcanic fields) that clearly had numerous previous eruptions. If a list had been continuously kept, about 2000 years ago, it would have contained only the names of nine Mediterranean volcanoes and West Africa’s Mount Cameroon. In the next ten centuries, the list would have grown by only 30 names, 18 of them Japanese. Although newly settled Iceland soon added seven volcanoes, the list totaled only 63 by 1400 CE.
So, how can we know ‘which EARTHQUAKES‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
IV. FAMINES:
Famines have taken hundreds of millions of lives since the time of Christ, so this is nothing new, either.
So, how can we know ‘which FAMINES‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
V. PERSECUTION:
Jesus tells us there will be a worldwide persecution of Christians. A look at history shows us that In the first few centuries, Christianity grew quickly. By A.D. 325, an estimated 7 million people were Christians, with as many as 2 million killed for their faith in Jesus.
However, according to a Christian think-tank. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) says 900,000 Christians have been ‘martyred’ in the last decade, equating to 90,000 a year and one every six minutes.
This may be the most dangerous time in history to be Christian
At least 327 million Christians face persecution, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which released its biannual report on Religious Freedom in the World in November 2018. That is 7 percent of the world’s 2.3 billion Christians, estimated by Pew Research Center in 2015.
245 million Christians in the top 50 countries on Open Doors USA’s 2019World Watch List experience high levels of persecution (i.e.: torture, rape, sex-slavery, for conversion to Christianity, murder and genocide), an increase of 14 percent from 2018. Sixty percent of those enduring persecution are children; women and girls are most violated. Release International, a UK-based human rights watchdog in operation for the past 50 years who partner with U.S.-based “Voice of the Martyrs” said they expect global anti-Christian persecution is set to rise ‘sharply’ in 2019. – (Read the report here)
So, how can we know ‘which period of Christian Persecution‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Yes, Keep reading!
So, where does all of this lead?
1. You will know when ‘The End of the Age’ is near, not when one or two of these events occur, but when ALL of ‘these things’occur and converge concurrently, as Jesus said they would; then these things are the harbinger of ‘those things’ which have come to pass. (Also, see “The Tribulation of Those Days’).
2. The phrase “the beginning of birth pangs” is a statement made by Jesus in or around the year AD 30 and is a translation of the Greek archē _ ōdin . The meaning of the phrase, translated in the KJV as “the beginning of sorrows” is a direct reference to preliminary birth pangs that ultimately lead to the full scale contractions and travail, which leads to the actual birth.
Recognizing the Old Testament reference that Jesus was hearkening to is an essential, but often overlooked, key to determining the timing of the prophecy. Jesus was pointing his disciples to two key passages from the prophet Isaiah.
The first passage is Isaiah 26, a portion of Scripture found in the middle of what is sometimes referred to as “Isaiah’s little apocalypse”. There, the Lord speaks through Isaiah, specifically contrasting the expectations of the Jewish people regarding deliverance, redemption and physical resurrection with the reality of the pain, suffering and travail that they had corporately experienced. In verses 16-18, the complaint of Israel is raised that despite having endured the great suffering of labor, the expected “birth” of deliverance, redemption and resurrection had not arrived.
Whether you think of it as a joke or take it seriously, people ranging from doomsday prognosticators, Nostradamus followers, MIT grads who have build end-of-worlds computer predictive models, to climate-change-fatalists, there is intense interest in the End of the Age and the Last Days of earth. The most reliable source in terms of up-to-date accuracy and detailed prophecies, however, is the Bible. For example the Bible tells that in the coming decades, there will be events which are harbingers to the end of this earth age. These events will occur in sequence, then begin to overlap and increase in intensify until a great cosmic cataclysm will occur, wiping clean the face of the earth and eventually, the both the heavens and the earth will be consumed in a fervent heat.
PART 1.
The Bible tells of the harbingers to watch for and of the events that will lead up to the End of the Age:
False Christ’s and false Messiah’s,
Wars,
Famines,
Earthquakes,
Hatred, persecution and martyrdom of Christians,
A great falling away from the Christian faith.
The appearance of a charismatic leader who will seem able to solve the world’s worst problems, only to become a vile person of unimaginable evil, creating a global nightmare of unrivaled carnage, death and destruction.
Cataclysmic cosmic events.
Cataclysmic terrestrial events.
Here is the beginning of the discourse of the End of the Age between Jesus and his disciples:
Matthew 24:3says, “As He, (Jesus), was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Verse 4, And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.
Verse 5, “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.
Verse 6, “Youwill be hearingof wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
Verse 7, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
Verse 8, “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Verse 9, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.”
So, when will these things happen?
Many of these harbinger events began as early as B.C. 2 and have progressively appeared, overlapping one another and increased in intensity and frequency:
I. Many will come IN MY (Jesus’) NAME:
This can be someone literally saying ‘I am the Christ’, but it is proving to be those who consider themselves as an emissary of Christ – such as ‘ordained pastors’ – who speak for Christ, but are blindly following ‘new age’ or errant doctrines; or, as we are clearly seeing, now, in our day, ‘institutional deception’, where entire denominations fall away from the clear teachings of Jesus and lead millions astray. (Also see“Shipwrecked”).
So, how can we know ‘which of the false Christs‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
II. WARS and rumors of war:
There have been thousands upon thousands of wars and conflicts since the time of Christ. Most notable for their scope and breadth are the
Religious Crusades (1095 – 1291, Muslims vs Latin Church, almost 2 million dead),
So, how can we know ‘which wars and rumors of wars‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
III. EARTHQUAKES & VOLCANOES:
Earthquakes are nothing new. In fact, they are so numerous that I can only give you a web link by period of time and let you view what has been recorded. But, Jesus did warn they would come.
Volcanoes are nothing new, either, but it would seem that seismic events (volcanoes) are on the rise.
Figure 1. Graph showing the number of volcanoes reported to have been active each year since 1800 CE. Total number of volcanoes with reported eruptions per year (thin upper black line) and 10-year running mean of same data (thick upper red line). Lower lines show only the annual number of volcanoes producing large eruptions (>= 0.1 km3 of tephra or magma) and scale is enlarged on the right axis; thick red lower line again shows 10-year running mean. See text for discussion.
Figure 2. Graph showing known historically active volcanoes, number of volcanoes reported to be active each year, and population. The line labeled “Known Historically Active Volcanoes” (right scale) is the cumulative number of volcanoes with an historically recorded eruption by that year. “Volcanoes Active Per Year” since 1400 CE (black line) and 10-year running mean of same data (thick red line) is also based on reported eruptions (those with uncertainty dates greater than 1 year are not included, nor are uncertain eruptions). “Population” (right scale) is the world’s estimated human population; data from McEvedy and Jones (1978) and (since 1750) Population Reference Bureau, Washington, D.C. See text for further explanation.
At first glance the nearly exponential increase through recent centuries suggests that the planet may soon be overwhelmed by volcanic activity, but this increase tracks the striking growth of global population (dashed line on figure 1) that has spread potential observers of eruptions over much of the Earth and the technological advances that have facilitated reporting of those eruptions. Another indicator of the growth of the record is the increase in the total number of known historically active volcanoes (upper line on figure 2). These are not newly-formed volcanoes, but already established features (or volcanic fields) that clearly had numerous previous eruptions. If a list had been continuously kept, about 2000 years ago, it would have contained only the names of nine Mediterranean volcanoes and West Africa’s Mount Cameroon. In the next ten centuries, the list would have grown by only 30 names, 18 of them Japanese. Although newly settled Iceland soon added seven volcanoes, the list totaled only 63 by 1400 CE.
So, how can we know ‘which EARTHQUAKES‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
IV. FAMINES:
Famines have taken hundreds of millions of lives since the time of Christ, so this is nothing new, either.
So, how can we know ‘which FAMINES‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Keep reading!
V. PERSECUTION:
Jesus tells us there will be a worldwide persecution of Christians. A look at history shows us that In the first few centuries, Christianity grew quickly. By A.D. 325, an estimated 7 million people were Christians, with as many as 2 million killed for their faith in Jesus.
However, according to a Christian think-tank. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) says 900,000 Christians have been ‘martyred’ in the last decade, equating to 90,000 a year and one every six minutes.
This may be the most dangerous time in history to be Christian
At least 327 million Christians face persecution, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which released its biannual report on Religious Freedom in the World in November 2018. That is 7 percent of the world’s 2.3 billion Christians, estimated by Pew Research Center in 2015.
245 million Christians in the top 50 countries on Open Doors USA’s 2019World Watch List experience high levels of persecution (i.e.: torture, rape, sex-slavery, for conversion to Christianity, murder and genocide), an increase of 14 percent from 2018. Sixty percent of those enduring persecution are children; women and girls are most violated. Release International, a UK-based human rights watchdog in operation for the past 50 years who partner with U.S.-based “Voice of the Martyrs” said they expect global anti-Christian persecution is set to rise ‘sharply’ in 2019. – (Read the report here)
So, how can we know ‘which period of Christian Persecution‘ Jesus is referring to, WHICH WILL MARK THE ‘END OF THE AGE’? Yes, Keep reading!
So, where does all of this lead?
1. You will know when ‘The End of the Age’ is near, not when one or two of these events occur, but when ALL of ‘these things’occur and converge concurrently, as Jesus said they would; then these things are the harbinger of ‘those things’ which have come to pass. (Also, see “The Tribulation of Those Days’).
2. The phrase “the beginning of birth pangs” is a statement made by Jesus in or around the year AD 30 and is a translation of the Greek archē _ ōdin . The meaning of the phrase, translated in the KJV as “the beginning of sorrows” is a direct reference to preliminary birth pangs that ultimately lead to the full scale contractions and travail, which leads to the actual birth.
Recognizing the Old Testament reference that Jesus was hearkening to is an essential, but often overlooked key to determining the timing of the prophecy. Jesus was pointing his disciples to two key passages from the prophet Isaiah.
The first passage is Isaiah 26, a portion of Scripture found in the middle of what is sometimes referred to as “Isaiah’s little apocalypse”. There, the Lord speaks through Isaiah, specifically contrasting the expectations of the Jewish people regarding deliverance, redemption and physical resurrection with the reality of the pain, suffering and travail that they had corporately experienced. In verses 16-18, the complaint of Israel is raised that despite having endured the great suffering of labor, the expected “birth” of deliverance, redemption and resurrection had not arrived.
PART 2.
The Bible’s “Daniel’s Seventy Weeks’ Prophecy” is one of the most significant and detailed Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Starting around 538 B.C., it presents a prophetic path of earth’s history as it concerns God’s Plan of Perfection for humankind and the cosmos, to its fiery conclusion. This amazing prophecy is found in the Bible’s Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter nine.
The chapter begins with Daniel praying for Israel, acknowledging the nation’s sins against God and asking for God’s mercy. As Daniel prayed, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and gave him a vision of Israel’s future.
In verse 24, Gabriel says, “Seventy ‘Sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city.” Almost all commentators agree that the seventy “sevens” should be understood as seventy “weeks” of years, in other words, a period of 490 years. These verses provide a sort of “clock” that gives an idea of when the Messiah would come and some of the events that would accompany His appearance.
The prophecy goes into such detail as to divide the 490 years into three smaller units:
one of 49 years,
one of 434 years, and
one of 7 years.
The final “week” of 7 years is further divided in half. Verse 25 says,
“From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (445 BC)
until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, (30 A.D.)
there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and
sixty-two ‘sevens.’”
Seven “sevens” is 49 years, and
sixty-two “sevens” is another 434 years:
When did Daniel have his vision about the End of Days?
538 B.C.
What is Daniel’s Seventy Weeks?
The prophecy contains a statement concerning God’s six-fold purpose in bringing these events to pass. Verse 24 says this purpose is
1) “to finish transgression,”
2) “to put an end to sin,”
3) “to atone for wickedness,”
4) “to bring in everlasting righteousness,”
5) “to seal up vision and prophecy,” and
6) “to anoint the most holy.”
Notice that these results concern the total eradication of sin and the establishing of righteousness. The prophecy of the 70 weeks summarizes what happens before the End of the Age, and when Jesus sets up His millennial kingdom. (From Gotquestions.org, seventy weeks)
When did the 70 Weeks (490 years) begin?
Gabriel said the prophetic clock would start at the time that a decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem. From the date of that decree, 445 BC, to the time of the Messiah (30 AD) would be 483 years. We know from history that the command to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem” was given by King Artaxerxes of Persia c. 445 B.C. (see Nehemiah 2:1-8).
The first unit of 49 years (seven “sevens”) covers the time that it took to rebuild Jerusalem, “with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble” (see Daniel 9:25). This rebuilding is chronicled in the book of Nehemiah.
Using the Jewish custom of a 360-day year, 483 years after 445 B.C. places us at A.D. 30, which would coincide with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (see Matthew 21:1-9). The prophecy in Daniel 9 specifies that after the completion of the 483 years, “the Anointed One will be cut off” (verse 26). This was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified.
Daniel 9:26 continues with a prediction that, after the Messiah is killed, “the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.”This was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The “ruler who will come” is a reference to the Antichrist, who, it seems, will have some connection with Rome, since it was the Romans who destroyed Jerusalem. (From Gotquestions.org, seventy weeks)
When does the finalweek, the 70th Week of Daniel, begin?
Read again, in Daniel 9:26, the prediction that, after the Messiah is killed, “the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.”This was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
This issue has been hotly debated for centuries. Scriptures have been clear. A simple face-value reading of scriptures leads to the conclusion that the final 7 Weeks, the ‘times of distress’ also known as a period of tribulation (not to be confused with the Great Tribulation Period or the “Wrath of the Lamb”), will begin with the breaking of the breaking of the 6th Seal of
After that, the Mid-Point of the Great Tribulation, (after 3 1/2 years) begins with the blowing of the 6th Tribulation Trumpet and will conclude after the pouring out of the 6th Tribulation Bowl Judgment.
What will happen to the people on earth?
All of those who, by faith, have repented of their sins, and who have confessed Jesus as savior and followed Him in obedience, will be saved. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Verse 17. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
Is there anything I need to do to get ready for these events?
Yes.Romans10:9, says, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; verse 10. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Matthew24:42 also tells us, “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. Verse 43. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Verse 44. “For this reason, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
Verse 45. “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Verse 46. “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.”
Section A.2. With the breaking of the 6th Tribulation Seal we will see that THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31 & Revelation 6:12-16)
Section A.3. Sometime after the rapture of the church, which occurs at the 6th Seal, the Antichrist enters a treaty with Israel. This begins Daniel’s Seventieth Week, also known as the Seven-Year Tribulation.
Section A.4. At the midpoint of the tribulation (1,260 days later, which occurs at the 6th Tribulation Trumpet), the Antichrist breaks the treaty, desecrates the temple, and begins to persecute the Jews.
Section A.5. At the end of the tribulation (1,260 days after the desecration of the temple), Jesus Christ returns to earth and defeats the forces of the Antichrist.
Section A.6. During the next 30 days (leading up to 1,290 days after the desecration of the temple), Israel is rebuilt and the earth is restored.
Section A.7. During the next 45 days (leading up to 1,335 days after the desecration of the temple), the Gentile nations are judged for their treatment of Israel.
Section A.8. The dispensation of the millennium begins, and it will last for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:3,5–6).
Below here is a more complete description of the Tribulation Timeline. Concern yourself with the first SIX SEALS.
First, notice that the Apostles Paul, Peter and Timothy refer to the “Last Days” in a time frame that began as early as 2 or 3 B.C. (the birth of Christ Jesus) or as late as 69 A.D. This is a clear indication that the Last Days and the first 5 Tribulation Seals were in the process of being broken (opened) during that time.
NOTE: When a Tribulation Seal is broken, (opened), the events it triggers continue to occur, overlap and intensify until the Great Tribulation period begins – which marks the final 7 years of the Tribulation, also known as Daniel’s 70th Week or the Days of the Wrath).
TO WIT:
Hebrews 1:2, “In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world”. (The Apostle Paul).
Hebrews 9:26, “For then He, (Jesus)would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He, (Jesus), has appeared once for allat the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”.
* Hebrews written around AD 60.
Acts 2:14-17, “But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel”:
‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;
*Acts written around AD 60. (The Apostle Peter).
2 Timothy 3:1-4, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these”.
*2 Timothy written around AD 60. (The Apostle Timothy).
1 Peter 1:20, “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you”.
1 Peter 4:7, 8, 9“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling”.
*1 Peter written around AD 60.
2 Peter 3:3.“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?”
* 2 Peter was written around AD 68.
(There is also a good teaching video by Pastor and teacher John Piper on this subject:)
REPEAT: When a Tribulation Seal is broken, (opened), the events it triggers continue to occur, overlap and intensify until the Great Tribulation period begins – which marks the final 7 years of the Tribulation, also known as Daniel’s 70th Week or the Days of the Wrath).
Conclusion: The “Last Days” began with the 1st Advent of Christ.
the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and her enemies.
The 1st Seal of the tribulation was being broken just after the death and resurrection of Christ and the succeeding seals (Seals 2 – 5) have been broken at various periods of time since A.D. 1 and that we have now entered the time of the breaking 5th Tribulation Seal. Jesus refers to this period, the breaking of the tribulation Seals ONE through FIVE as “the beginning of the birth pangs”,and He points out that “this is not yet the end”.
As witnessed by, Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. verse 30. “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. vere 31. “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”
Section B.3. The “7 years of Great Tribulation” (aka Daniel’s 70th week) begins with the breaking of the 6th tribulation seal, and, will reach the mid-point of the tribulation period, (after 3.5 years) with the sounding of the 6th Trumpet of the Great Tribulation.
Section B.4. Then, the Great Tribulation will end with the pouring out of the 7 Bowls of Wrath.
– THE TRIBULATION JUDGMENTS LEAD TO THE END OF THE AGE –
The 6th Tribulation Seal is The BEGINNING OF the final 7 years of Tribulation. “THE GREAT TRIBULATION: (a.k.a., “Daniel’s 70th Week”, “The Wrath of the Lamb”).
*It is at this time that all Christian believers who are alive, along with resurrected believers, will rise “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” The origin of the term extends from Paul the Apostle’s First Epistle to the Thessalonians in the Bible, in which he uses the Greek word harpazo, meaning “to snatch away” or “to seize,” and explains that believers in Jesus Christ would be snatched away from earth into the air and ushered before the Throne of God. All others are stranded on earth to face the God’s judgment during the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord which will extend through 7 Trumpet Judgments and 7 Bowl Judgments.
The first 5 Seal Judgments are completed and the 6th Seal Judgment is the beginning of the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord and the Wrath of the Lamb. Next comes the Trumpet Judgements:
Revelation 8:7 says, “The first (trumpet) sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”
Verse 8. “The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood,
Verse 9. “and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”
Verse 10. “The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters.
Verse 11. “The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”
Verse 12. “The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.
Verse 13. “Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Revelation 9:1. “Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Verse 13. ”Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Verse 14. “one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
Verse 15. “And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.
Verse 16. “The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
Verse 20. “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”
(* “How Long?”) This is very complex and confusing for almost every reader. This is meant to be a footnote: There will be 1,290 days of desolation)
Daniel 12:11. “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
Verse 12. “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! 13“But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
Both of these prophecies deal with specific time periods associated with the seven-year tribulation. The tribulation begins with the signing of a peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel, intended to be for one “seven,” that is, a set of seven years.
But the “seven” is divided into halves: midway through the seven years, the Antichrist breaks the treaty and sets up in the temple a sacrilegious object (the “abomination that causes desolation”).
The phrase “in the middle” indicates that the first half of the tribulation lasts for 3½ years (1,260 days, using a “prophetic year” of 360 days). Likewise, the second half of the tribulation lasts another 1,260 days (another 3½ years), for a total of seven years.
The 1,260 days of the second half of the tribulation begins as the Antichrist breaks the treaty, occupies the third Jewish temple, and sets up a profane and sacrilegious object of worship. This 1,260-day period ends when the Antichrist is defeated at the battle of Armageddon upon Jesus’ return to earth. At that time, the tribulation will be at an end.
NOTE: The Sixth Trumpet is a Key ‘Time Marker’ for the Mid-Point of the Great Tribulation. It is at this point that no one will be saved from the remaing Judgments.
Revelation 9:13.“Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Verse 14. “one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
Verse 15. “And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.
Verse 16. “The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
Verse 17. “And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.
Verse 18. “A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.
Verse 19. “For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.
Verse 20. “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; Verse 21, and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”
The Angel and the Little Book – Key Time Marker Mid-Point of the Tribulation
(The first 3.5 years of the Great Tribulation have passed at this point)
Revelation 10:1“I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;
Verse 2. “and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land;
Verse 3. “and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.
Verse 4. “When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.”
Verse 5. “Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven,
Verse 6. “and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer,
Verse 7. “but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.
Verse 8. “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.”
Verse 9. “So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”
Verse 10. “I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”
Revelation 11: 1 “Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.
Verse 2. “Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.
Verse 3. “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Verse 4. “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Verse 5. “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
Verse 6. “These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.”
Verse 7. “When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.
Verse 8. “And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
Verse 9. “Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
Verse 10. “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
Verse 11. “But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.
Verse 12. “And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.
Verse 13. “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Verse 14. “The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
PART 5.
The Seventh Trumpet — Christ’s Reign Foreseen
Verse 15. “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” 16And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
Verse 17 .“saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
Verse 18. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
Verse 19. “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
Revelation 11:3 specifically mentions 1,260 days, which corresponds exactly with Daniel’s prophecy of the abomination of desolation.
In Revelation, we have an added detail: two divinely appointed witnesses will preach and perform miracles for half of the tribulation—the first half—according to the chronology of Revelation.
These two witnesses are killed at the midpoint of the tribulation; their bodies will lie in the streets for three and a half days as the world celebrates their demise; then they will be resurrected and taken up to heaven (Revelation 11:7–13).
The 1,260 days of the second half of the tribulation begins as the Antichrist breaks the treaty, occupies the third Jewish temple, and sets up a profane and sacrilegious object of worship.
This 1,260-day period ends when the Antichrist is defeated at the battle of Armageddon upon Jesus’ return to earth. At that time, the tribulation will be at an end.
In Summary: Here is the Time Line
Sometime after the rapture of the church, which occurs at the 6th Seal, the Antichrist enters a treaty with Israel. This begins the seven-year tribulation period.
At the midpoint of the tribulation, at the blowing of the 6th Trumpet Judgment, (1,260 days later), the Antichrist breaks the treaty, desecrates the temple, and begins to persecute the Jews.
At the end of the tribulation period, (1,260 days after the desecration of the temple), Jesus Christ returns to earth and defeats the forces of the Antichrist.
During the next 30 days (leading up to 1,290 days after the desecration of the temple), Israel is rebuilt and the earth is restored.
During the next 45 days (leading up to 1,335 days after the desecration of the temple), the Gentile nations are judged for their treatment of Israel.
The dispensation of the millennium begins, and it will last for a literal 1,000 years (Revelation 20:3, 5–6).
PART 6.
THE 7 BOWL JUDGMENTS
Revelation 16:2 “So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.
Verse 3. “The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.
Verse 4. “Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood.
Verse 5. “And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things;
Verse 6. “for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.”
Verse 7. “And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”
Verse 8. “The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire.
Verse 9. “Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.
Verse 10. “Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain,
Verse 11. “and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.
Verse 12. “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.
Verse 13. “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs;
Verse 14. “for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.
Verse 15. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”)
Verse 16. “And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
Verse 17. “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”
Verse 18. “And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.
Verse 19. “The great city was split into three parts, and the ‘cities of the nations’ fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
Verse 20. “And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Verse 21. “And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”
Revelation 22:6 “And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
Verse 7. “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Verse 8. “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, verse 9, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
Verse 10. “And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Verse 11. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
Verse 12. “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.Verse 13. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Verse 14. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Verse 15. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Verse 16. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Verse 17. “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Verse 18. “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, verse 19, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Verse 20. “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.” –Revelation 22:21.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
DEAR FRIENDS, PLEASE NOTE: *If you are a devoted follower of Jesus, you need to be concerned with the first 5 Tribulation Judgment Seals. You have a responsiblity which you cannot escape during these days and dereliction of your calling and duties will reveal the true nature of your heart and of your salvation. The advent of the 6th Tribulation Seal is the beginning of the Days of Wrath, to which you are not appointed.
*If you are not a believer and follower of Jesus, I thank you for reading this far, but I must warn you that you fate is almost completely sealed. If you die before the 6th Judgment Trumpet without having surrendered your life to Jesus, seeking Him as your Savior and salvation, you are doomed to an eternity in the Lake of Fire. Turn to Him today.
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 21
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The Words of Jesus, Matthew 6:16-18
Here, Jesus is telling us about religion versus true worship of and prayer, to God. Fasting is a mysterious act of worship and prayer. There is no doubt that when entering into the presence of God with worship and prayer, the eternal battle between our flesh and our spirit erupts, pride being the great enemy of our soul. Scriptures tell us that God hates pride and opposes the proud, and that fasting is our remedy for taming and humbling the passions of our flesh and soul when approaching God. The Psalmist (Psalms 35) tells us he humbles his soul (nephesh), the appetites, emotions and passions of his flesh, with fasting.
The Apostle Paul also talks about this struggle between the flesh and the spirit, in Romans 7:21-24, when he says, “So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Jesus instructs us that ”when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.” I admit that I don’t fully understand why ‘praying in secret’ and ‘practicing your righteousness privately’ is necessary to obtain God’s reward, except that it is probable that our fleshly attitudes and passions have a direct effect on our spiritual life. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life”. Another way of saying this is “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
It is as if Jesus is drawing a line for us, separating the spiritual world, where all things originate, from the natural world, where all things are made manifest, showing us where we must live and breathe and have our being. (Acts 17:28)
It is almost like the function of a boiler producing heat. If the boiler has ‘leaks’, the steam and pressure necessary to produce heat is dissipated, and the boiler is only lukewarm and good for little more than vapor. But if the steam and pressure is contained, hidden away, focused on the internal workings of the boiler, the power to produce heat for the entire house is created. The ‘leaks’ are fissures of emotions, pride and self-glorification. The containment is ‘spiritual disciplines’ focused on worshiping, praying and serving God alone. This is how spiritual power is built; this is when the reward is revealed.
Jesus is teaching us a deep and important spiritual truth. It will be found only by a few who remember that we are not of this world (John 17:16), but that we are of His Kingdom. We have been adopted as heirs of heaven by God Himself, and that is where our citizenship is (Titus 3:7). This is where our power lies. This is where our reward resides.
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 20
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
The Words of Jesus, Matthew 6:10-14
Herein, Jesus is handing you the Golden Spiritual Key to righteous, effective prayer that always earns God’s Reward. But you must have eyes to see and ears to hear.
There has been so much written about this model prayer that there is little I can or should add. I will say, however, this is the perfect prayer. Notice that, by repeating or using this as your model, you will make a bold and grand remark that you identify yourself as a son or daughter of God, The Father Who resides in heaven, and by this you lay claim to heaven as your home.
Meditate on these next words, ”hallowed be your name”. ‘Hallowed’ is to regard as special (sacred), i.e. holy, “set apart”, sanctified. (hagiázō, “to make holy, consecrate, sanctify; to dedicate, separate”. There is none other like Him. This is your confession. Selah.
“Your kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, is the grandest of confessions made. It is in the Greek Aorist tense, meaning that ‘Your Kingdom has come, it is now coming, and it shall continue to come’! You are recognizing and affirming that as a child of God you live as a resident and an heir of God’s Kingdom, now and forevermore.
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” can also be said with this in mind: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” is also spoken and written in the Aorist Tense which hold no regard for the past, present or the future, again asking ‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, in the past, in this current day nor at any time in the future”.
We are told to make all our requests known to God, but “when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Pray then like this:
“My Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will is being done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give me this day my daily bread,
and forgive me my debts, as I also have forgiven my debtors.
And lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.
(I forgive others their trespasses, and you, my heavenly Father will also forgive me, but if I do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will my Father forgive my trespasses.)
This is the heartfelt and fervent prayer that avails much! (James 5:16)
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 19
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:” The Words of Jesus, Matthew 6:7-9
Another way of saying this is, “do not use thoughtless repetitions”. Prayer is not a magic formula or an incantation. Prayer is not an endless repetition of words that are meant to bring about a desired result.
The Greek words for “do not use thoughtless repetitions” has a force but is feebly rendered in the English. Formed from a word which reproduces the repeated attempts of ‘the stammerer to clothe his thoughts in words’, it might be almost rendered, “Do not stutter out your prayers, do not babble them over.” The devotion of the rosary, in which every bead is connected with a ‘Pater Noster’, (Our Father), or an Ave Maria (Hail Mary), reproduces the eighteen prayers of the Rabbis, which they held it to be an act of religion to repeat. These words describe only too faithfully the act of prayer when it becomes mechanical, and Jesus, Himself, says thoughtless, repetitive phrases disguised as prayers will not produce ‘the reward’ of answered prayer.
There is more here, however. Jesus is warning that we shall not be like the hypocrites (an actor, a pretender, a fraud), or like the Gentiles (Heathens; usually referring to non-Israelites; a pagan, a “non-covenant person,” standing outside God’s covenant of salvation).
One of the greatest dangers that has always faced the church is Syncretism, the attempted union of principles or practices which are irreconcilably at variance with each other, the merging of two opposing religious belief systems.
We are not to think like the Gentiles (Pagans) and hypocrites, in any fashion.
Do not dress like them, do not act like them or eat like them, drink like them, talk like them and in particular, do not practice your righteousness like them, and never approach God and never pray like them. Its end is vanity and loss.
Jesus gives us a model for prayer when He says,
“Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,hallowed be Your name,
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
“Give us this day our daily bread,
“and forgive us our debts,as we also have forgiven our debtors.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Of course there is nothing wrong with repeating this prayer, but if it is done mechanically, as becomes the tendency, it can become a meaningless repetition and will lose its effect. Instead,
Acknowledge, greet and call God by name and relationship: Father.
Remember, confess and admit His sovereignty and presence.
Ask for your daily sustenance from God, alone.
Confess your sins before God, and
Pray for His deliverance, daily
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
NEXT: THE WORDS OF JESUS – What Are You To Do With Them? Part 20, “Thy Kingdom Come”.
The Socialist-Globalist movement has won the cultural war
They now hold the political high ground
(what this means to you and to me).
I will make this very simple. If you want more detail, I will provide links to detailed articles and essays.
Communists through Socialism, over the last 75+ years, have infiltrated every American institution and every aspect of American life, indoctrinating our youth, ‘dumbing-down’, corrupting and perverting our educational systems, our systems of justice, our religious institutions and have destroyed the nuclear family unit. They have convinced half the populace that whatever is right in your own eyes, is valid and fair and any other view is racist, misogynist, sexists, fascist, unfair and undemocratic. They have set Americans one-against-another. We are a country divided and easily conquered from within. Simple.
The Socialists-Communist-Globalist movement is primarily made up of and run by the United Nations through U.N.E.S.C.O., the World Economic Forum, using the Agenda 2030 as the blueprint for a Socialist Utopia.
A brief snapshot of the goals of The Socialists-Communist-Globalist movement, as presented by the public relations arm of U.N.E.S.C.O., the World Economic Forum is shown in this short video:
How could we have seen this coming? This question, if answered in detail, would be too lengthy and subject to fact and conjecture. If you choose, you can research further on your own.
Here is the bottom-line: Bible prophecy has warned and foretold of the events that have continued to unfold to this day – with uncanny accuracy and frightening detail.
Since our source is the Bible, most people will not be willing to read it and are even less willing to believe it, although the facts and data is there. So, they lament and succumb.
What can we do about it now? There is nothing that can be done to thwart God’s plan for humankind and His creation. Does this mean we, too, are finished? Does it mean we should fold our hands, hang our head and go to oblivion? No, it does not. Hold your head high and let your spirit soar in expectation of a victorious end. God’s plan is for “perfection”. He is completing His plan for all His creation, for you and me and all who believe and follow Christ Jesus.
What we are seeing in this world of chaos and destruction is actually just a small skirmish in a greater war. The greatest of all battles is yet to be fought, and it will be waged by Jesus, Himself, The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! He will vanquish the Beast and the false prophet and cast them into an eternal lake of fire.
God will then create a new heaven and a new earth, without sin, without sickness or death. A place of perfection, in His presence for all eternity.
First, however, you should know that in the beginning, God created man and woman with a flaw which led to sin and death. But He also created a solution to that flaw through a Savior – Jesus Christ.
You should know that God gave each of us a free will and the power of choice. The choice, as found in Deuteronomy, is between life and happiness or death and adversity, both now and for all eternity.
Everything has gone exactly according to God’s Plan to this point, so you have every reason to know He will complete that which He has begun!
The conclusion of this age with be both terrifying and glorious. You, I and every other person who has ever been on this planet will have experienced or will experience parts of God’s plan, while alive on this earth, and will experience the conclusion of His Grand Design, whether you are alive or if you have been ‘asleep’ (dead) and brought back to life for God’s Great White Throne Judgment.
Natural World History has paralleled and reflected Biblical and Prophetic History. These two views of history began to visibly converge around 1 B.C. and will collide in a violent end at the Consummation of this Age.
So, know ahead of time that these troubled times and this age of tribulation is for our good as God readies us for perfection, to inherit His Kingdom and to live with Him and one another in that perfection – forever!
In the meantime, do not make politics, money, wealth, medicine, knowledge, position or any other earthly thing your hope or your salvation. These things may be useful at times, but it is God, through His Son, Jesus, Who will save you. Endure to the end in that Hope, and you will be saved!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
Charlie Kirk on the Global-Marxist Takeover of America
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 18
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” –
The Words of Jesus, Matthew 6:5-6
PRACTICAL, POSITIONAL, TRANSCENDING?
We have been trying to answer the question, “what if we have been reading and misunderstanding the entirety of what Jesus meant by, and the intentions of, His Words? What if we have, even slightly, been misapplying what He taught? If so, could this be one of the main reasons our faith has grown weak and our works have faded?”
Many times, a simple face-value reading of Jesus’ Words and a careful study of the results of His spoken Word, will either
Completely confound you,
Thoroughly convince you that ‘He meant what He said and said exactly what he meant’ , or
Will cause you to search the depth and breadth of His Words on your natural world.
When it comes to prayer, Jesus used the word ‘pray’ or referred to ‘prayer’, just twenty-one times (in the book of Matthew, English Standard version).
Since the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, men and women have written uncounted hundreds-of-thousands, if not millions, of books and articles about prayer and about ‘how-to-pray’. But Jesus taught on it in detail, only once.
Perhaps prayer was so widely understood and practiced in Jewish life, that Jesus did not see a necessity to teach on prayer in detail beyond the one time found in Matthew 6:5-14. This, of course, would be an incorrect assumption since Jesus’ life was a constant demonstration of active prayer – and one would know that if one correctly understood the idea and meaning of prayer.
Here is exactly what Jesus taught and practiced about prayer:
Which more properly means to ‘exchange wishes (or ideas)’;
Pray – literally means, to interact with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for His wishes (ideas) as He imparts faith (“divine persuasion“).
Accordingly, praying (#4336, proseuxomai), is closely interconnected with 4102/pístis (“faith”).
Let’s recap. Jesus is saying, “And when you pray it shall be an expression of your wishes, ideas, desires or thoughts, directed toward God in order to
(1), interact with Him,
(2), in order to switch or exchange your human ideas or wishes for His supreme ideas and wishes
(3) which will result in an importation of God’s divine persuasion through faith, from God to you.
Confusing? Let’s try to simplify.
Jesus is saying, “When you pray…”, come face-to-face with God directly. Do not be anxious about anything. Ask anything by way of prayer and petition, but do it with an attitude of thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God, then, having expressed your ‘wishes and ideas’, eagerly and willfully exchanged your ‘wishes and ideas’ for His wishes and ideas. Do not seek to find compromise. Do not add anything of your own out of doubt or impatience. Discard your own ideas and replace them with His. Then, wait expectantly.
If you approach God in prayer with any motives other than finding and receiving His wishes and ideas, you will in no way receive your reward.
Once you have heard God, believe in faith, and He will reward you openly. This is the only way to receive your ‘reward’ of answered prayer from God.
This is both amazingly simple and enormously difficult, and to help us further, Jesus gives us a model for this kind of prayer when He says, “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven…”
“As it is written and forever remains written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS [none that meets God’s standard], NOT EVEN ONE.” – Romans 3:10 (Amplified)
Does SIN separate you from God?
Have you ever heard that sin can separate you from God? I have often heard this phrase, that my ‘sins’ separate me from God, and that sin even hinders or negates my prayers or that God won’t even hear me.
Those who say that sin separates us from God, usually quote verses like Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
Or, New Testament verses like Galatians 5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
Then, when I commit a sin, this phrase comes to my mind, I begin to worry and doubt and fear that I have created a separation between me and my Eternal Hope.
I try to “not sin”, then I sin, anyway. And, the cycle of worry and doubt and fear starts over again.
I have met Christians who have serious challenges with alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual addiction, kleptomania, homosexuality, and other habits of thought, behavioral habits or addictions, and most will either say “the harder I try, the worse it gets” or “I am better, but…” or, they find themselves having live in the torment. I had found myself in this dilemma, once in my life.
Then there are the few who say they have been delivered from this torment and have been set completely free. How do they do that?
I have read all the well-intended commentaries and the so-called Bible scholars on this matter, and you get answers that differ depending on denominational views.
WHAT A QUANDARY.
The Apostle Paul gives us a word of hope in Romans, chapter 7, speaking about the conflict of the two natures that dwell within us.
Romans 7:14-25, tells us,
“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind I am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin.”
THERE IS DELIVERANCE FROM THIS BONDAGE
Romans 8:1-6, tells us,
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of [c]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For, those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For, the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,”
NOW THERE IS THE NEW COVENANT
The Good News is that Jesus died, ONCE, for all who would believe.
Sin may cause us to separate ourselves from God, but sin will never separate God from those of us who believe.
Romans 8:31-39, says,
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
You see, our ‘natural response’ to sin is to withdraw and try to HIDE FROM GOD, due to shame, guilt, worry, doubt and fear.
We can see this played out in the Garden of Eden, in Genesis 3:8
“They (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
Sin does not separate God from us. God will seek us out. We are the ones who will seek separation.
Sin is a method of Satan to impose guilt, shame, fear and doubt into our minds in order to compel us to withdraw from God and from God’s protection over our lives.
God never withdraws from His own, thanks to Jesus our Christ.“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1
Romans 8tells us that,“there is now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, those who walk in the Spirit of God. And that the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace!”
SO, WHAT IS THE ANSWER TO THIS QUANDARY?
James 4:7(Think on this, understand this, take it seriously, and do it)
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
“Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
YES!! Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
1 John 1:9 tells us that
“if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
And, on a final note, as helpful as some recovery programs are, this is not a “Two-Step” program for recovering addicts or habitual offenders.
James 4:7, is ALL ONE STEP: Submit yourself to God AND resist the devil, and the devil will flee from you WHILE you are drawing near to God.
In other words, MOVE YOUR FOCUS AWAY FROM THE TROUBLE AND ONTO GOD. YOU DO YOUR PART, WHILE, GOD IS DOING HIS PART
Again, let’s remember, Romans 8:6, says, “The mind set on The Spirit is life and peace.” Life and Peace, Indeed!
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 17
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” – The Words of Jesus, Matthew 6:1-4.
THE ‘LITMUS’ TEST
It was in the 14th century that scientists discovered that litmus, a mixture of colored organic compounds obtained from lichen, turns red in acid solutions and blue in alkaline solutions and, thus, can be used as an acid-base indicator. Six centuries later, people began using litmus test figuratively. It can now refer to any single factor that establishes the true character of something or causes it to be assigned to one category or another. Often it refers to something (such as an opinion about a political or moral issue) that can be used to make a judgment about whether someone or something is authentic or not.
How can you, as a Christian, know if your motives are genuine? Matthew 6:1 is a sure-fire litmus test for authenticity. To wit:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
Sometimes our true motives are hidden, even from ourselves, covered by layers of ‘good intentions’. When you perform an act of charity or a good deed, or as the Bible calls it, ‘your righteousness’, with either the express intention of assuring that someone else sees your ‘goodness’ or generosity, you have probably missed the mark. If it is done, so you can ‘get credit’, perhaps to build up your reputation as a good person in the eyes of others or in the Eye of God, you have missed the mark of righteousness. (Christian Righteousness is literally “the approval of God” which refers to what is deemed right by the Lord after His examination, i.e. what is approved in His eyes.)
It all comes down to motives. Only you can know your true intentions, and even that can be tricky at times. But here is a way to ‘check yourself’ as you go. Do good even when you don’t feel like. If you feel like doing good, then do it, but don’t talk about it afterwards.
Although applied to ‘slaves’ in the 1st century, Colossians 3:22-24 can also be applied to the ‘Bond Servants’ of Jesus, today:
In everything you do, do not with eye-service, that is with the intention of being seen, as people-pleasers, but do it with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receivethe reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
This, dear brothers and sisters, is another of the great Keys to the Kingdom of God. Treasure it and use it wisely.
Strange as it may seem, if you get the ‘warm fuzzies’, probably caused by the release of endorphins, you may just be on the right track. Studies have shown that the sensation is known as ‘helper’s high’ and is produced when your brain releases endorphins, the feel-good chemicals of the brain. When you do something good for someone else, your brain’s pleasure centers light up, releasing endorphin and producing this high. Not to mention, doing good has also been known to generate feelings of satisfaction and gratitude, (see PsychologyToday.com).
According to a 2013 study examining the relationship between volunteering and hypertension, giving back can have a significant impact on blood pressure. Researchers found that adults over 50 who volunteered about four hours a week were 40 percent less likely than non-volunteers to have developed hypertension four years later.
Doing good can also increase life expectancy. Researchers from the University of Buffalo found a link between giving, unselfishness and a lower risk of early death. The findings show that subjects who provided tangible assistance to friends or family members (running errands, helping with child care, etc.), reported less stressful events and, consequently, had reduced mortality. In other words, “helping others reduced mortality specifically by buffering the association between stress and mortality.”
According to a study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, altruists in the office are more likely to be committed to their work and less likely to quit their jobs. The researchers also found that individuals in their mid-30s, who rated helping others in their work as important, reported they were happier with their life when surveyed 30 years later.
Overall, the study came to an important conclusion about office altruism: those who help others are happier at work than those who don’t prioritize helping others.
The results are in! After an extensive review of 40 studies on the effect of volunteering on general health and happiness, the BMC Public Health journal has concluded that volunteering is also good for mental health. The review found that – along with improved well-being and life satisfaction – volunteering is also linked to decreased depression.
“People who engage in kind acts become happier over time.” It’s that simple, according to Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. Lyubomirsky, who has studied happiness for over 20 years, found that performing positive acts once a week led to the most happiness.
A 2012 study published in Psychological Science found that thinking about times you’ve helped others will make you want to help others again. The research found that reflecting on your past good deeds makes you feel selfless and want to help more, as compared to reflecting on the times others have helped you. In other words, thinking about what you’ve given others – and not only what you’ve received – will motivate you to do good again and again. (The foregoing taken from Goodnet.org)
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 16
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
“For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – The Words of Jesus, Matthew 5:43-48
This is one of the most counter-intuitive commands Jesus gives. It shows how hard it is to be a ‘fully devoted’ follower of Jesus.
Once again, Jesus begins with “You have heard that it was said, but I say to you…”, reminding us that He is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant and that you ‘cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from His mouth’.
He could not be any clearer than when He says, ”But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
I have prayed for my enemies and those who persecute me, as many of you have, by saying things like ‘make him or her a better person’ , or ‘make him or her a Christian’, with the unspoken thought, ‘so that they will quit being such a nuisance, a bother or a threat’. This is skirting Jesus’ teaching. He begins with ”But I say to you, Love your enemies”which precludes any preconditions, spoken or unspoken, I may add to my prayers.
The real question here is, ‘am I praying for my enemies and those who persecute me’ in order to obtain the keys to heaven, or can I truly ‘Love my enemies’? Because it is in ‘Loving my enemies and praying, in love, for those who persecute me’ that I find the keys to the Kingdom. This is very difficult. It is hard. It is impossible for some.
This should remind us of the time a wealthy young man came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?” And, Jesus responded with, “If you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
But when he heard these things, he became very sad and went away grieving, for he was extremely rich.
Then, Jesus said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Then Peter said in reply, “We have left our homes and followed you.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Taken from Luke 18:18-29)
AN ASIDE and a NOTE: There has been a story circulating, albeit false, which purports that there is actually a gate somewhere in Jerusalem called the “eye of the needle”, through which a camel could not pass unless it stooped down and had all its baggage first removed. After dark, when the main gates were closed, travelers and merchants would have to use this smaller gate. Great sermon material, with illustrations about how we must humble ourselves and remove our baggage before entering the kingdom.
It would be quite convenient if this myth were true because it would legitimize people’s affinity for money and probably the prosperity gospel as well. If the passage is about baggage and humility and not actually about wealth, then the prosperity preachers can breathe a big sigh of relief. However, this myth has been propagated since the 11th century, and it is completely made up. There is zero evidence to show that this gate ever existed other than stories brought back from Jerusalem tours.
But what about the image, above, showing the eye of the needle? This wall passage did not exist when Jesus walked the earth, or anytime close to his generation. This wall was built hundreds of years after Jesus’ time. The gates of Jerusalem were destroyed in 70 A.D. and later rebuilt. Josephus, the 1st century Jewish historian, wrote about the wall in Jerusalem (excepting the western wall):
“All the rest of the wall [surrounding Jerusalem], it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it [Jerusalem] had ever been inhabited.”
So, the image above would not exist in Jesus’ time.
Furthermore, the passage states that is it easier for a camel to go through the eye of “a” needle, not “the” needle. “A needle” refers to any needle. “The needle” would refer to a specific needle. This is not a mistake. Greek is an incredibly precise language, and definite articles (the) are hard to confuse with an indefinite article (a).
Finally, I would point out that this type of hyperbole is common in Jewish literature and as well as other literature. Jesus, again, uses the term of a ‘narrow gate’ in Matthew 7:13-14)
Thus, it is not necessary to try to bend Jesus’ words to mean something other than what they actually meant. This is why the disciples replied with this phrase in astonishment:
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25)
Jesus was actually referring to a camel and an actual needle, and that the camel is a simile for ‘every man and women, boy and girl’ and the ‘eye of the needle’ is a simile for the gate to the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, everyone who is laden with ‘the baggage and possessions of pride, high self-esteem, education, personal achievements, wealth, pedigree, education and the like cannot enter the Kingdom. All of these things must first be put aside, discarded, before entering through the ‘narrow gate’.
Secondly, Jesus is equally clear that in order to become ‘a son of God’ you must first learn to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. I can hear the echo of Peter’s words, “Who then can be saved?”
Christians are called the “sons” or “children” of God in several of these senses: as his offspring; as adopted; as his disciples; as imitators of Him. In this passage the word is applied to them because, in doing good to enemies, they resemble God. He makes His sun to rise upon the evil and good, and sends rain, without distinction, on the just and unjust. So, His people should show that they imitate or resemble Him, or that they possess His spirit, by doing good similarly.
Next, in what seems the closing of any possible ‘theological loopholes’, Jesus reminds us that taking the low road, the ordinary expected path which all others travel, yields no reward. “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You must choose to travel the high road, the road less travelled, that is the narrow path in order to find your reward.
Finally, Jesus complete this teaching with the exclamatory words, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”I have heard so many explanations of this idea of perfections and of those many who say, ‘this does not really mean perfect in the sense that God is perfect, instead it simply means ‘mature’”.
The word, “perfect”, here, does mean mature, but in the sense as consummated from going through the necessary stages to reach the end–goal of perfection in maturity. Mature in our labors, our spiritual growth, in our mental capacities and our moral character, as reflected by Jesus. Made into His image. (It is well-illustrated with the old pirate’s telescope, unfolding, extending out, one stage at a time to function perfectly, at full-strength and in full effectiveness).
It is when you reach this point of maturity that you are truly able to ”love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” and you will hear the words, “‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
(The Word of God truly means more than we could ever have imagined, and mastery of the Word of God in Its application requires subjugating ourselves to complete and utter surrender to God’s will and way. It involves becoming ‘poor (crushed) in our spirit’, in our mind and body, completely dead to our ‘old selves’. It is then and only then that God can begin to transform us from hopeless, destitute sinners into His child. It is then, and only then, that we, as joint heirs with Jesus, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. If you find the time, refer to a short series “It Ain’t Easy” which is about the difficulties you will face as Jesus devoted disciple and the unspeakable wonders of His rewards.)
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
NEXT: THE WORDS OF JESUS – What Are You To Do With Them? Part 17, “Practicing your righteousness.”
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 15
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
The Words of Jesus, Matthew 5:38-42.
Have you heard the term ‘counter-cultural’? I have heard it used to describe the attitude, actions and behavior of Jesus and His followers. But I believe it falls woefully short in its descriptive value, and is even more inadequate when applied to Jesus’ mission and intention.
This term, which came about in the mid-to-late 20th century, (around 1980), and it may be better used to describe many Christians of the postmodern world. Postmodern is a word used to describe major changes in the underlying ways people think — especially the way people view truth and reality.
Postmodernity, as discussed by Pastor Steve Cornell, founding and senior Pastor of Millersville Bible Church, Millersville, Pennsylvania, is a worldview which refuses to allow any single defining source for truth and reality. The new emphasis is on difference, plurality and selective forms of tolerance.
Postmodern thinking is full of absurdities and inconsistencies. It is, for example, the worldview that says no worldview exists. It is an anti-theory that uses theoretical tools to neutralize all theories. It demands an imposed uniformity in an effort to resist uniformity. It employs propositional statements to negate truth based on propositional statements.
Don’t misunderstand; God is warmly welcomed in the postmodern world, as long as he doesn’t try to play God. As one has written, “Postmodernity returns value to faith and affirms the nurturing of our spiritual being as vital to humankind. Unfortunately, with the loss of truth, people will now seek faith without boundaries, categories, or definition. The old parameters of belief do not exist. As a result, people will be increasingly open to knowing God, but on their own terms”. (See Summit Ministries)
Jesus, during His ministry, was described by His detractors and even His family crazy, ‘having a demon’, a lawbreaker, a radical, a troublemaker, a fraud and more.
If Jesus is compared to the prevailing mores and social norms of the 21st century, His teaching, His methods and His ways may seem to be counter-cultural indeed, at least too the uniformed casual eye. But to the informed, Jesus is better described as ”the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.”
Jesus, in these verses, begins to explain the law of retaliation or retribution in a 1st century contemporary terms, saying, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ I can only imagine the Pharisees, Sadducees and the scribes nodding in agreement at these words.
Then Jesus ‘drops the bombshell’ on , saying, “But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. (that is, do not oppose, show resistance to, do not push back against or hold a contrary position against and evil person).
HOW CAN WE?
But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Give to the one who begs from you,
And do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
This was beyond radical to the Jewish mind. It was blasphemous. It was beyond ridiculous; it was insanity on display. They might ask, ‘Where was the balance between right and wrong in that thinking?’; ‘How could social order be maintained with such foolish thinking?’; Let evil thieves, evil and overbearing people have unrestrained rule over the good people?’
The greatest mistake the 1st century world made in response to Jesus’ teaching, and the greatest misunderstanding in our day, is they thought Jesus was talking to everyone and anyone. Although anyone and everyone would benefit from practicing what Jesus is teaching, This was not the case. Jesus was talking solely to His disciples and to those who would be His disciples, about His mission and His calling. He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38) Jesus goes on to say, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 5:30)
His mission was not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe in Him is condemned because he does not believe in Jesus. (John 3:17).
In fact, “Then the disciples came and said to Jesus and asked, “Why do you speak to others in parables?” And he answered them, “To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“‘“You will indeed hear, but never understand,
and you will indeed see, but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears, they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. – The Words of Jesus, Matthew 10:10-17.
DESTINATION – THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Jesus warns us that another of the greatest obstacles lying in wait to entangle you and keep you from the Kingdom of Heaven is the need for retaliation, vengeance or neglect. From the moment that you involve yourself with evil or selfishness, you find yourself snared and held captive, unable to take even one more step toward or within the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is saying to go on your way, do not ‘resist’ an evil person; in other words, ‘do not entangle yourself’ with the demands of evil. Follow Jesus, do not be distracted, do what is necessary to stay focused on Him and His calling to you. Bypass evil that so easily entangles. Your destination is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
TRADTIONAL DENOMINATIONAL TIMELINE OF THE “END OF DAYS”
– VS –
THE PRE-WRATH RAPTURE – SIMPLIFIED.
It is important, as a Disciple of Jesus, to know where you are on God’s historical and prophetic Timeline so you will not panic, or faint from the faith as the End of Days come upon you We will explore what it means to you to ‘endure to the end to be saved’; what is required of you and what it means to be ready and how to prepare for these Last Day.
The 5th Seal has been intensifying; the Great Apostasy is well under way,which is the falling away from the faith and the corruption of the church,and the Antichrist is revealed. After the church is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:7–8), a satanically empowered man will gain worldwide control with promises of peace (Revelation 13:1; Daniel 9:27). He will be aided by another man, called the false prophet, who heads up a religious system that requires worship of the Antichrist (Revelation 19:20)
The rapture of the church. Christ comes in the clouds to “snatch away” all those who trust in Him (1 Corinthians 15:52). At this same time, the “dead in Christ” will be resurrected and taken to heaven, too. From the perspective of today, this is the next event in the eschatological timeline. The time for the rapture is close at hand; The only things that must yet happen are, (#1), the revealing of the anti-Christ, and (#2), the breaking of the 6th Seal of the Tribulation.
The Breaking of the Sixth SealThe Great tribulation, Daniel’s 70th week begins. A period of seven years in which God’s judgment is poured out on sinful humanity (Revelation 6–16). The Antichrist’s rise to power is associated with this time period. During the tribulation on earth, the Church will be in heaven. It is thought that at this time the Judgment Seat of Christ and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will occur in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 19:6–10).
The Battle of Gog and Magog. In the first part of the tribulation, a great army from the north, in alliance with several other countries from the Middle East and Africa, attacks Israel and is defeated by God’s supernatural intervention (Ezekiel 38–39). (Some commentators place this battle just before the start of the tribulation.)
The abomination of desolation. At the midway point of the seven-year tribulation, the Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel and shows his true colors. The Jews are scattered, and many of them turn to the Lord, realizing that Jesus is their Savior. A great persecution breaks out against all those who believe in Christ (Daniel 12:11; Mark 13:14; Revelation 12:17).
The Battle of Armageddon. At the end of the tribulation, Jesus returns with the armies of heaven (Mark 14:62). He saves Jerusalem from annihilation and defeats the armies of the nations fighting under the banner of the Antichrist (Revelation 19:11–21). The Antichrist and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20).
The judgment of the nations. Christ will judge the survivors of the tribulation, separating the righteous from the wicked as “sheep” and “goats” (Matthew 25:31–46). (It is thought that at this time the Old Testament saints will be raised from the dead.) The righteous will enter the Millennial Kingdom; the wicked will be cast into hell.
The binding of Satan. Satan will be bound and held in a bottomless pit for the next 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1–3).
The Millennial Kingdom. Jesus Himself will rule the world, and Jerusalem will be the capital. This will be a 1,000-year period of peace and prosperity on earth (Revelation 20; Isaiah 60–62). Memorial sacrifices will be offered in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40–48).
The last battle. At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be released from his prison for a short time. He will deceive the nations once again, and there will be a rebellion against the Lord that will be quickly defeated (Revelation 20:7–10). Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, never to reappear.
The Great White Throne Judgment. All those in hell will be brought forth, and all the wicked from all eras of history will be resurrected to stand before God in a final judgment (Revelation 20:11–15). The verdicts are read, and all of sinful humanity is cast into the lake of fire.
The new creation. God completely remakes the heavens and the earth. It is at this time that God wipes away all tears and there will be no more pain, death, or sorrow. The New Jerusalem descends from heaven, and the children of God will enjoy eternity with Him (Revelation 21–22).
There are multiple views of the chronology of the Biblical End Times. I do not want to pursue or repeat what has already been written. The following outline is a generally accepted chronology and is from the pre-tribulation view.
Almost every such outline or chronology of this sort, is the same. They begin with the rapture of the church and go from there. They usually ignore the prophecies about the coming End of Days, the events which foreshadow the coming Day of the Lord (a.k.a., End Times) and the most recent first century warnings which are leading up to the tribulation and the Great Tribulation periods.
It is difficult to imagine that God planned the entirety of time. We cannot go back far enough to discover when this began, because there is no beginning with God. In so few words, such an incomprehensible statement: “God has always existed”.
It is equally difficult to imagine “a world without end”, but God is eternal, even beyond “the new heavens and a new earth”. (Revelation 12:1)
But, God has spoken to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, and in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. And it is by these ways that we can know.
2. THE PROPHECIES
First, God has spoken to us through the prophets in various ways. God’s warnings are warning of coming judgment for His people’s rebellions and disobedience. God’s judgments followed His warnings, and each of these events, known as The Day of the Lord, are a foreshadowing of what is yet to come. A time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation. (Daniel 12:1)
The words and the imagery of the destruction during the great and Terrible Day of the Lord would be difficult for most to accept or to understand.
(The good news is that God’s people, everyone who is found written in the Book of Life, will be rescued.)
… the decree takes effect and that day passes like windblown chaff, before the LORD’s
fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s wrath comes upon …
for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. …
Each of these prophecies tell us what is past, what is present and what is yet to come. This is important because in order to look forward, we must look back. This is how prophecies work.
3. FORESHADOWING OF THINGS TO COME
Besides the prophecies in the Old Testament, we can foreshadowing of what is to come. It is as if we “see through a dark glass dimly”.
1. Genesis 6– The Flood shows us God’s judgment on a global scale. A catastrophe for mankind. God judged the world because (Genesis 6:5) “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”
*MISSING FROM THE TRADITIONAL DENOMINATIONAL OUTLINES”of thing to come: The rapture of the church. Christ comes in the clouds to “snatch away” all those who trust in Him. (1 Corinthians 15:52). At this same time, the “dead in Christ” will be resurrected and taken to heaven, too. From our perspective today, this is the next event in the eschatological timeline. The rapture is imminent; no other biblical prophecy needs to be fulfilled before the rapture happens.’
*MISSING FROM“THE TRADITIONAL DENOMINATIONAL OUTLINES” of things to come: Prior to the rapture of the church. We are told by Jesus and some of the Apostles that the End of Days, also known as the “times of distress” had begun as early as AD 1, but more likely between AD 60 and AD 100.
(1). Jesus called this period the LAST DAYS or the END OF THE AGE inMatthew 24:3-8.
(2). The Apostle Paul called this period the LAST DAYS in Hebrews 9:26.
(2). The Apostle Peter called this period the LAST DAYS in Acts 2:14-17.
(3). The Apostle Paul called this period THESE LAST DAYS in Hebrews 1:1-2.
(4). The Apostle Timothy called this period the LAST DAYS in 2 Timothy 3:1.
(5) The Apostle Peter called this period the LAST DAYS in 1 Peter 1:20.
(6) The Apostle Peter called this period the LAST DAYS in 1 Peter 4:7.
(7) The Apostle Peter called this period the LAST DAYS in 2 Peter 3:3.
(8) The Apostle John called this period the LAST DAYS in 1 John 2:18
(The following are an update to this list, but are not on the audio):
(9). The Apostle Paul called this period THESE LAST DAYS in 1 Corinthians 10:11,
The Bible tells about the END OF DAYS and the Tribulation. It is important to know that the Tribulation period actually is called by three prominent, although variant names:
(a) The beginning of Sorrows, Birth Pangs, The End of The Age or the Last Days
(b) The Tribulation also known as The End of Days
(c) The GREAT Tribulation also know as the Wrath of God or the Wrath of the Lamb.
(4). *MISSING FROM“THE TRADITIONAL DENOMINATIONAL OUTLINES” of things to come: The Denominational Outline says His Return is IMMINENT. BUT,
1.2 Thessalonians 2:3“Let no one in any way deceive you, for
it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and
the man of lawlessness is revealed,the son of destruction”
There are two events that must take place before the day of the Lord can come. First, the apostasy must come. Second, the man of lawlessness must be revealed.
2. The rise of the Antichrist. After the church is taken out of the way (2 Thessalonians 2:7–8), a satanically empowered man will gain worldwide control with promises of peace (Revelation 13:1; Daniel 9:27). He will be aided by another man, called the false prophet, who heads up a religious system that requires worship of the Antichrist. (Revelation 19:20).
3.MISSING FROM “THE DENOMINATIONAL OUTLINE”:
First, as has already been stated from 2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no one in any way deceive you, for
it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and
the man of lawlessness is revealed,the son of destruction”
There are two events that must take place before the day of the Lord can come. First, the apostasy must come. Second, the man of lawlessness must be revealed.
Secondly, a simple face value reading gives you a timeline. That timeline is deliberately blurred by denominational bible teachers who have to make the Bible fit their doctrinal statement. This can be confusing for the Christian Bible student and dangerous for those preparing in earnest.
4. The tribulation. A period of seven years in which God’s judgment is poured out on sinful humanity (Revelation 6–16). The Antichrist’s rise to power is associated with this time period. During the tribulation on earth, the Church will be in heaven. It is thought that at this time the Judgment Seat of Christ and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will occur in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 19:6–10).
5. The Battle of Gog and Magog. In the first part of the tribulation, a great army from the north, in alliance with several other countries from the Middle East and Africa, attacks Israel and is defeated by God’s supernatural intervention (Ezekiel 38–39). (Some commentators place this battle just before the start of the tribulation.)
6. The abomination of desolation. At the midway point of the seven-year tribulation, the Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel and shows his true colors. The Jews are scattered, and many of them turn to the Lord, realizing that Jesus is their Savior. A great persecution breaks out against all those who believe in Christ (Daniel 12:11; Mark 13:14; Revelation 12:17).
7. The Battle of Armageddon. At the end of the tribulation, Jesus returns with the armies of heaven (Mark 14:62). He saves Jerusalem from annihilation and defeats the armies of the nations fighting under the banner of the Antichrist (Revelation 19:11–21). The Antichrist and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20).
8. The judgment of the nations. Christ will judge the survivors of the tribulation, separating the righteous from the wicked as “sheep” and “goats” (Matthew 25:31–46). (It is thought that at this time the Old Testament saints will be raised from the dead.) The righteous will enter the Millennial Kingdom; the wicked will be cast into hell
9. The binding of Satan.Satan will be bound and held in a bottomless pit for the next 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1–3).
10. The Millennial Kingdom. Jesus Himself will rule the world, and Jerusalem will be the capital. This will be a 1,000-year period of peace and prosperity on earth (Revelation 20; Isaiah 60–62). Memorial sacrifices will be offered in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40–48).
11. The last battle. At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be released from his prison for a short time. He will deceive the nations once again, and there will be a rebellion against the Lord that will be quickly defeated (Revelation 20:7–10). Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, never to reappear.
12. The Great White Throne Judgment. All those in hell will be brought forth, and all the wicked from all eras of history will be resurrected to stand before God in a final judgment (Revelation 20:11–15). The verdicts are read, and all of sinful humanity is cast into the lake of fire.
13. The new creation. God completely remakes the heavens and the earth. It is at this time that God wipes away all tears and there will be no more pain, death, or sorrow. The New Jerusalem descends from heaven, and the children of God will enjoy eternity with Him. (Revelation 21–22)
Finally, here is a table showing the alignment of World History, an historical overview of Daniel’s 70 Weeks and a Biblical Historical outline:
I know that this is a long read and study, but, (#1), it is important for you, as a Disciple of Jesus to know where you are on God’s Timeline so you will not ‘faint’ when all this comes upon you, (#2), what it means to you, (#3) what is required for you to be ready, and, (#4) what it means to be ready for what is at hand and (#5), how to prepare.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
NEXT:
He began with the imperfect and created the Masterpiece, first in the heavens and then on the earth. His work completed in just seven days; He would allow His Masterpiece to mature for a millennium until it became His Perfection.
This is a journey of discovery and revelation of God’s Grand Plan and Design, from creation through the End of the Age, then into a New Heaven and a New Earth.
This is a thesis on the reasons for WHAT God is doing in these Last Days and WHY He is doing it this way. My prayer is that, after reading this, everything you’ve wondered about the reasoning behind God’s Plan for the world and your life, will fall into place.
Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 14
“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”– The Words of Jesus, Matthew 5:33-37.
Remembering that the Word of God is Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional and that we proceed with great caution and care when we speak and employ His Words in our life or for our use. What do you suppose Jesus meant by these words, and what are His intentions of this teaching? Misapplying what He has taught can carry dire consequences. (Jesus has always been concerned about our lack of understanding and ‘lack of faith’.)
By these words, Jesus is instructing about the power of His spoken Word and the seriousness of making oaths or covenantal contracts by or in His Name or the Name of The Father.
There is much that can be made of these verses and much that could be said about the Law, tradition, social constructs, etc. However, Jesus continues His teaching by simply comparing, contrasting and moving our attention from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, saying, “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn’.
The Jew of that day most likely had a basic understanding of the Law. Jesus is presenting what would have been considered a radical departure from the Law and the Prophets. He is teaching about the New Covenant written in His Blood and by His Flesh. It is indeed a ‘Covenantal Bridge’, which leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. (Again, there is much more that could be said here – volumes more – but it would be superfluous.)
You are privileged to be among the few and to hear His voice as He says, ‘Do not take an oath at all’. These few words summarize this urgent teaching, and we could stop here for all practical purposes. But since Jesus continues, so shall we. He emphasizes, that we are not to make any oath at all, ‘either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.’
It was common for men around Jesus’ time on earth, to add phrases to an oath or a proclamation like, ‘I swear to God; or, I swear by the heavens above; I swear on the earth or by Jerusalem’ as a means to add weight of solemnity or gravity of seriousness and inspiring the fear of God into their oath or statement. (See this commentary for extended commentaries.) This is slightly similar to what some will do in our day, saying, ‘I swear to God; Cross my heart and hope to die; I swear on my mother’s grave’, when trying to convince others of the truthfulness of what you are saying.
Jesus, however, is emphasizing that telling the truth, if that is what we are doing, is enough. Additionally, and most importantly, He is warning that we have no authority and no right to invoke the Name of God or anything under His dominion to support our statements or oaths.
Jesus warns against this type of ‘religious license and plagiarism’. “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.(Matthew 5:19-20).
Again, He cautions, ”I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”(Revelation 22:28-19).
And, there has never been a clearer statement from our Lord regarding any ‘name it and claim it theology’ than when He says, “And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.” Jesus is clear that you have neither the power nor the authority to change anything. It is God alone who creates and causes, gives and takes away, brings the rain and the sunshine. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Instead of making any oath at all, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”Nothing more need be said. Nothing more can be said, than “anything more than this comes from evil.”
Anything more than this comes from evil. Evil, from the Greek word, ‘ponērós’, meaning pain and laborious trouble – pain-ridden, emphasizing the inevitable agonies and misery that always go with evil.
Jesus is making a loving and concerned appeal against bringing pain, trouble and misery upon yourself and those around you from making oaths.
“Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.Be completely dependent upon God and His Word, and live!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”John 15:7
“It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4
NEXT: THE WORDS OF JESUS – What Are You To Do With Them? Part 15, Retaliation.
(Please note that I use page links in lieu of footnotes and references. Each page link provides greater detail and important information on matters contained in this article. Please use all of them for a complete teaching and udnerstanding. This is an urgent message.)
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE EYES TO SEE
As it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
My wife and I took a road trip around part of our country in 2011, starting in Florida, proceeding north, up the east coast to Virginia then west through Tennessee, to Oklahoma and all point between. We then headed north to Illinois, Minnesota, turning west again to South Dakota. Our return trip took a more southerly route, arriving back in Florida. I tell you this in order to mention that we each Sunday we would go to church.
We visited several different denominations such as Baptist, Methodist, Nazarene and non-denominational (which seemed to be more Charismatic or Pentecostal). I won’t critique each church experience, but I will comment on the one thing that was similar if not common in each and every church we visited: Shallow.
If I could grade my experience at most of them, on a scale from 1 to 10:
Score: 1 to 3 on greeting a visitor as we entered the building.
Score: 0 to 1 on ‘shaking hands during the greeting time’ in the services.
Score: 3 to 5 on the scriptural content and Biblical context of the sermon.
Score: 0 on follow up.
Score: 7 to 8 on polite.
Score: 0 to 1 on friendly.
But, to be fair, we are just visiting on a one-time basis. So how much can you expect, unless you are a returning visitor? (I wrote to one of the church pastors reflecting on our experience. ‘Crickets’.)
BACK HOME
We have moved locations three times and been members of six different churches over the last 44 years.
Castle Hills Baptist Church, 1975 to 1977. We were brand new Christians. This church was friendly (and I mean FRIENDLY). Non-judgmental. Outward focused. Biblically strong in practice of their faith, (bearing the fruit of the Spirit of God).Worship led you to worship God. Generous. Deacon led. Big on Sunday school and personal relationships. Sermons always fundamentally strong. Transparent. Score 9.
Bethany Place Baptist Church, 1978 to 1995. Friendly and family oriented. Outreach focused. Worship geared toward Jesus. A disciple-making Church. Score 8 to 9.
Oak Grove Baptist Church, 1996 to 2000. Friendly most of time, but firmly settled demanding on having their own way. Worship led by music minister, very traditional. Family oriented. Inward focused. Couldn’t keep a pastor on staff. Score 6 to 7.
Southside Nazarene Church, 2000 to 2002. Friendly. Family oriented. Outreach focused. Big on fellowship and personal relationships. Worship ‘team’ music focused on scriptures, very good presentation and Was being infiltrated by Emergent church heresy. Score 8 to 9, until Emergent philosophies introduced, then, Score 2 – 5.
White Stone Nazarene, 2002 to 2006. Clique oriented. Polite. Inward focused. Worship ‘team’ scripture oriented, consisted of guitars and drums. Began to teach a new age / Emergent church humanistic religion. Not dependable. Questionable moralities. Score 0 to 2.
Life, 2008 to 2020. Very ‘surface friendly’. Worship ‘team’ entertainment oriented; lighting effects, stage smoke, very loud and repetitive. Both inward and outward focused. Pastor-led polity, tightly controlled, manipulative at times. Members are cliquish. Uses ‘proximity to pastor’ as a punishment-reward method for control. Frequent turnover of members. Secretive-to-questionable financial management. Score 0 to 2.
Covenant Church, 2020 to present. Friendly. Worship team entertaining but always focused on scriptures and leads congregants to think on and worship God. Big on ‘small groups’ for relationships, outward focused. Elder-led church polity. Constant growth. Financially transparent. (Covenant Church left their major denomination PC USA, and aligned with the PCA. We have been at Covenant for just under 2 years as of this writing, so I cannot give my grade yet, but if I did it would be an aberration because it reverses the trend. It would be high.)
(Notice the trend of the scores over time is high to very low).
I realize that my view of these Churches are largely just opinions from my experiences, which would be affected by age, culture, life circumstances, personal preferences, etc., and probably only partially accurate, although this is how I recall them.
I also want to make sure that I am clear that ‘The Church’ is not just the ordained and professional clergy. They are just a small part of God’s Church. The Church is the everyday Christian who professes the Name of Jesus and claims to follow His teachings, and the one thing I am certain of regarding the Church, is the declension of the moral and the ethical life of the Church, that is to say, the loss of her righteousness, even as late as 1978 (when I was saved and became involved in church life), which is reflected in my ‘opinionated view’ and scoring of my ‘church experience’ over the last 44 years.
There is one thing common to all the churches I have listed, and in fact, from the majority of churches studied, since around 1995, has been a growing quiet-to-open-division, a fracture. Now-a-days, if you don’t agree on fundamentals of doctrine, you probably don’t hang out together, and there is more at work. Secular politics have invaded the church’s thinking and plays a role in this division. People have become galvanized in their opinions and are more self-centered and demanding.
Church members have gone from being quietly critical of one another to a form of open religious warfare, causing anxiety, suspicion, divisions and separation.
Cliques are a problem. The ‘religious birds’ within particular denominations are flocking together, and if you don’t wear their color of feathers, you are out! And, they aren’t even shy about it any longer.
Christians have become so judgmental, even of each other, that many are leaving these church ‘war zones’. A new convert is entering an almost impossible socio-religious maze of opinions, mores, traditions and attitudes and is subject to becoming a fatality before he or she can even settle in. So, it falls to the pastors of these Churches to sort out the mess and find balance and reason.
Jesus used the word “shepherd” interchangeably for overseers, pastors, elders, and presbyters. Historically and culturally speaking, the tasks of a Near Eastern shepherd were to watch for enemies trying to attack the sheep to defend the sheep from attackers to heal the wounded and sick sheep to find and save lost or trapped sheep to love them, sharing their lives and so earning their trust.
During World War II, a shepherd was a pilot who guided another pilot whose plane was partially disabled back to the base or carrier by flying alongside him to maintain visual contact.
Pastors and church leaders in our postmodern world, however, tend to deal with the pressures and stress of this ‘church fracture‘ (a.k.a., apostasy) using ‘distancing and insulating methods’. Assign the personal interaction taks to staff or volunteers; give programs priority over people.
Very few pastors actually ‘pastor’, they are CEOs, church leaders, insulated in their role as a survival method. Even with that, pastoral turnover is staggering in most denominations.
LOST?
In short, we, the Church, are lost. We are lost in a postmodern Socialist wilderness. We have been wooed and pursued by the ‘false messiah‘. We have drifted so far from the early Communal Church CALLING, CIRCUMSTANCE, INTENT, METHOD and MISSION, that we have no idea where it all began and really don’t care. We are held captive by and are living in the Great Delusion the Apostle Paul warned about. We say about the early church CALLING, CIRCUMSTANCE, INTENT, METHOD and MISSION, “those were old-fashioned methods and they don’t work any longer”.
We are mistaking function for form. We think because we still ‘do church’, sing hymns, go on mission trips, tithe, pray, have bible studies and wear religious symbols we are Christians like always. But that is not true. We have, without any doubt, lost our first love, both for Christ Jesus and for one another.
LOVE – AGAPE – PHILOS – EROS
Agape-Love
For Christians, Agape is considered a divine love. It is like the love that God had for his son, Jesus Christ. It is the love that Christ had for all human beings when he gave his life to redeem them from their sins. This is considered by many to be the best type of love in the Bible.
This is the love that God commanded all Christians to express for the rest of the earth. In your own life, you may have experience Agape for your spouse, parent or child. It is the kind of unconditional love that is never based on how someone looks or what they can do for you. It is an almost sacrificial type of love where you are willing to hurt yourself or take a risk if it means that you can help the one you love. You do not have to feel Agape to express it, but it is a wonderful kind of love to experience.
Philos-Love
Philos is a common type of love to experience. It is said to be the kind of love that you have for a close friend or companion. Basically, it is like loving someone like your sister or brother. It is the love you have for a friend who you feel like a brother to, and it often develops after two people share intense experiences together. This is the type of love that Christians are supposed to practice toward one another and the rest of the world.
Eros
Eros is a Greek word that is said to mean longing or desire. As we already mentioned, this is the kind of love that you typically experience when you are infatuated with someone or something. It also happens to be the name of the Greek god of love. Later on, Eros became the root word of the modern word, erotic. Basically, this is a selfish form of love that tends to be associated with sexual matters. It is the strong feeling you have for someone during the initial stage in the relationship. Often, Eros develops based on someone’s physical traits. For the relationship to continue, you have to develop other types of love. When Eros is not balanced, it can even lead someone to become possessive. This is the type of ‘love’ that produces the addictive hormones and bio-chemicals of adrenaline, dopamine,
The meaning of ‘love’ in the minds of most has fallen from ‘agape’ and ‘philos’ to ‘eros’. Even in the church, it is expressed in how we dress, how we talk, what we expect and the frightening rise of sexual abuse by the clergy and rampant immorality among Christians.
JEZEBEL
Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon and priest of the cult of Baal, a cruel, sensuous and revolting false god whose worship involved sexual degradation and lewdness.
The term, “Jezebel spirit” likely comes from Jezebel’s obsessive passion for domineering and controlling others, especially in the spiritual realm. She married Ahab, king of Israel, and became the queen and began a relentless campaign to rid Israel of all evidences of Yahweh worship. She ordered the extermination of all the prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 18:4, 13) and replaced their altars with those of Baal.
She had such a single-minded determination to have her way, no matter who is destroyed in the process, is a characteristic of the ‘Jezebel spirit’.
So infamous was Jezebel’s sexual immorality and idol worship that the Lord Jesus Himself refers to her in a warning to the church at Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29). Most likely referring to a woman in the church who influenced it the same way Jezebel influenced Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality, Jesus declares to the Thyatirans that she is not to be tolerated.
Whoever this woman was, like Jezebel, she refused to repent of her immorality and her false teaching, and her fate was sealed. The Lord Jesus cast her onto a sick bed, along with those who committed idolatry with her. The end for those who succumb to a Jezebel spirit is always death and destruction, both in the physical and the spiritual sense.
Perhaps the best way to define the Jezebel spirit is to say it characterizes anyone who acts in the same manner as Jezebel did, engaging in immorality, idolatry, false teaching, and unrepentant sin. To go beyond that is to engage in conjecture and can possibly lead to false accusations and divisiveness within the body of Christ.
APHRODITE
Another Greek goddess is mentioned in the Bible, albeit indirectly. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sensuality. The Romans called her Venus. Aphrodite is not explicitly named in the Bible, but she still shows up in the name of Epaphroditus, who was a “brother, co-worker and fellow soldier” of Paul (Philippians 2:25). The name Ephaphroditus means “belonging to Aphrodite”—the name of the goddess is actually incorporated into his name.
ANTINOMIAN
Antinomian: an·ti·no·mi·an| ˌan(t)ēˈnōmēən | adjective relating to the view that Christians are released by grace from the obligation of observing the moral law. noun a person holding antinomian beliefs.
DERIVATIVES antinomianism | -ˌnizəm | noun ORIGIN mid 17th century: from medieval Latin Antinomi, the name of a 16th-century sect in Germany alleged to hold this view, from Greek anti- ‘opposite, against’ + nomos ‘law’.
I am reprinting a section of a book, “Paths to Power”, chapter 5, by Pastor A.W. Tozer, as a corroborating view:
“To any casual observer of the religious scene today, two things will at once be evident: one, that there is very little sense of sin among the unsaved, and two, that the average professed Christian lives a life so worldly and careless that it is difficult to distinguish him from the unconverted man. The power that brings conviction to the sinner and enables the Christian to overcome in daily living is being hindered somewhere. It would be oversimplification to name any one thing as the alone cause, for many things stand in the way of the full realization of our New Testament privileges. There is one class of hindrances, however, which, tends out so conspicuously that we are safe in attributing to it a very large part of our trouble…
“:Fundamental Christianity in our times is deeply influenced by that ancient enemy of righteousness, antinomianism.
“The creed of the antinomian is easily stated: “We are saved by faith alone; Works have no place in salvation; Conduct is works, and is therefore of no importance. What we do cannot matter as long as we believe rightly. The divorce between creed and conduct is absolute and final. The question of sin is settled by the Cross; conduct is outside the circle of faith and cannot come between the believer and God.”
“Such, in brief, is the teaching of the antinomian, And so fully has it permeated the Fundamental element in modern Christianity that it is accepted by the religious masses as the very truth of God.
“Antinomianism is the doctrine of grace carried by uncorrected logic to the point of absurdity. It takes the teaching of justification by faith and twists it into deformity. It plagued the Apostle Paul in the early Church and called out some of his most picturesque denunciations. When the question is asked, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” he answers no with that terrific argument in the sixth chapter of Romans.
“Right after the first World War there broke out an epidemic of popular (NEW or NEO) evangelism with the emphasis upon what was called the “positive” gospel… They talked about a “big,” “lovely” Jesus who had come to help us poor but well-meaning sinners to get the victory. Christ was presented as a powerful but not too particular Answerer of prayer.
“The message was so presented as to encourage a loaves-and fishes attitude toward Christ. That part of the New Testament which acts as an incentive toward holy living was carefully edited out. It was said to be “negative” and was not tolerated. Thousands sought help who had no desire to leave all and follow the Lord. The will of God was interpreted as “Come and get it.” Christ thus became a useful convenience, but His indisputable claim to Lordship Over the believer was tacitly canceled out.
“Much of the stream of gospel thought has been fouled, and its waters are still muddy. One thing that remains as a dangerous hangover is the comfortable habit of blaming everything on the devil. No one was supposed to feel any personal guilt; the devil had done it, so why blame the sinner for the devil’s misdeeds? He became the universal scapegoat, to take the blame for every bit of human devilry from Adam to the present day. One gathered that we genial and lovable sinners are not really bad; we are merely led astray by the blandishments of that mischievous old Puck of the heavenly places. Our sins are not the expression of our rebellious wills; they are only bruises where the devil has been kicking us around. Of course sinners can feel no guilt, seeing they are merely the victims of another’s wickedness.
“Under that kind of teaching there can be no self-condemnation, but there can be, and is, plenty of self-pity over the raw deal we innocent sinners got at the hand of the devil. Now, no Bible student will underestimate the sinister work of Satan, but to make him responsible for our sins is to practice deadly deception upon ourselves. And the hardest deception to cure is that which is self-imposed.
“Another doctrine which hinders God’s work, and one which is heard almost everywhere, is that sinners are not lost because they have sinned, but because they have not accepted Jesus. “Men are not lost because they murder; they are not sent to hell because they lie and steal and blaspheme; they are sent to hell because they reject a Saviour.” This short-sighted preachment is thundered at us constantly, and is seldom challenged by the hearers. A parallel argument would be hooted down as silly, but apparently no one notices it: “That man with a cancer is dying, but it is not the cancer that is killing him; it is his failure to accept a cure.” Is it not plain that the only reason the man would need a cure is that he is already marked for death by the cancer? The only reason I need a Saviour, in His capacity as Saviour, is that I am already marked for hell by the sins I have committed. Refusing to believe in Christ is a symptom of deeper evil in the life, of sins unconfessed and wicked ways unforsaken. The guilt lies in acts of sin; the proof of that guilt is seen in the rejection of the Saviour.
“If anyone should feel like brushing this aside as mere verbal sparring, let him first pause: the doctrine that the only damning sin is the rejection of Jesus is definitely a contributing cause of our present weakness and lack of moral grip. It is nothing but a neat theological sophism which has become identified with orthodoxy in the mind of the modern Christian and is for that reason very difficult to correct. It is, for all its harmless seeming, a most injurious belief, for it destroys our sense of responsibility for our moral conduct. It robs all sin of its frightfulness and makes evil to consist in a mere technicality. And where sin is not cured power cannot flow…
“The vogue of excusing sin, of seeking theological justification for it instead of treating it as an affront to God, is having its terrible effect among us. Deep searching of heart and a resolute turning from evil will go far to bring back power to the Church of Christ. Tender, tear-stained preaching on this subject must be heard again before revival can come.” – SOURCE: “Paths to Power” – by A. W. Tozer, Ch 5.
“Deep searching of heart and a resolute turning from evil will go far to bring back power to the Church of Christ. Tender, tear-stained preaching on this subject must be heard again before revival can come.” Tozer’s words, to the postmodern world, sound like strange and alien idealism spoken in a foreign language.
Read what 2 Timothy 3:1-8 tells us on this matter,
”But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
“Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.”
It is known as the great Apostasy. “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is removed. Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be [p]judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.
Jesus was baptized, and the Spirit came upon Him. (Matthew 3:16) We must be baptized. (Acts 2:38)
Jesus was tempted, tested, by the devil. (Matthew 4) We must be tempted and tested. (Matthew 5)
Jesus began His ministry of calling people to Himself, making disciples, teaching and preaching the Gospel, practicing the Gospel.
Jesus instructs His disciples on the cost of following Him.
Leave your home and come with Me (Matthew 19)
Forsake your former life and follow Me
Leave your families and follow Me (Luke 14:26)
Give up all you have, or you cannot follow Me (Luke 14:33)
If you love your life, you will lose it (Matthew 10:39)
Jesus walks with His disciples, teaching and showing His Gospel.
Jesus sends His disciples to do His Work (Matthew 10)
Jesus continues to minister, teach and preach.
Jesus is crucified. (Matthew 27)
Jesus ascends to His Father and sends His disciples to continue His Works. (Matthew 28) We are to make disciples, baptizing them, preaching the Gospel, teaching them all He commanded. (Matthew 28)
A very abbreviated history leading to the Great Apostasy:
The Emergence and Progression of the False Church
AD 1 The Church of Jesus Christ, The Body of Christ, had no buildings, little money and no wealth. The Church was a Movement.
Jesus said to make disciples; collect no money except to make your journey.
The penalty for becoming a Christian was often death.
The Church grew exponentially.
AD 49 The Church expanded into Greece. The Church became a philosophy to many. The Church grew and size and influence.
AD 313 The Church expanded into Rome and it gained recognition. It grew in power and popularity. It obtained wealth, buildings, property and influence. It became an institution.
AD 380 The Church expanded into Europe. It was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. It grew in wealth, stature, power and influence. It had become a culture.
AD 1607 The Church reaches America.
AD 1681 The Church became corporate. It had become a business and incorporated. It became regulated by the government.
The Corporate Church grew. It needed money to support growth and expansion, which meant the Corporate Church needed more people.
AD 1777 The state of Virginia granted tax exemption to houses of worship.
AD 1894 The corporate church was granted tax exemptions by the Federal Government.
AD 1954 The Federal Government regulated what a church could and could not say in order to retain tax-exempt status.
The church continued to grow, and in order to attract more people the Corporate Church lowered its membership and doctrinal standards. More people became ‘members’ and gave more money to support more growth.
The Church corporation is complete with leaders, boards and membership and a business model.
Local churches compete against one another for members (customers). The church is selling itself in “three line slogans”.
The Church members now have choices and have become religious consumers. Church people can shop around for the religious brand and standards that best suits them. (2 Timothy 3)
The Leadership (pastors and preachers) have become CEOs, disciples have become church leaders, growing their 501(c)(3) business models.
Record numbers of pastors quitting because of stress, burnout or are being fired by their congregations (some stats say 1500 – 1700 leave “the ministry” each month).
Church debt in America soars; church foreclosures soar.
AD 1968 The church ordains homosexuals as clergy.
AD 1972 The United church of Christ ordains homosexual clergy
AD 2010 The Lutheran church ordains homosexual clergy
AD 2012 The Presbyterian church ordains homosexual clergy
Big Evangelical Churches, organizations and conferences, also known as “Big EVA”, have create an economy of power, people, and indeed money which is non-ecclesiastical but highly influential within evangelical churches. It is a populist movement of tremendous influence and minimal accountability. It provides an identity for its most passionate acolytes.
“And because it promises rewards to individuals and organizations – influence, students, platform – it is both very hard to criticize and functionally unaccountable to any but its own. The Trinity controversy of two years ago was a case in point: no church creed had ever taught the nonsense that had become so pervasive in evangelicalism. Quite the contrary – the creedal history of the church was arguably constructed to exclude precisely the kind of views that were being espoused. But key conferences and key organizations had a vested interest in sidestepping orthodoxy and demonizing any who pointed that out.
“An aspiring movement, to direct and shape the policies and testimony of the church, is quite another thing. (This is what has been done, or, put more bluntly, ‘What have we done?’ Selected and edited (comments from Carl Trueman, “Revoice, Evangelical Culture, and the Return of an Old Friend” July 31, 2018)
Here are links to several other notable and tragic recent SHIPWRECKS:
This article and its content was collected from various “identified sources” and is reprinted as originally posted by these “identified sources. Some parts are editorialized and contain the opinion of this author. White Stone Fellowship.
The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18, saying, “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them, you fight the good fight, 19 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.”
This is advice to all Christians. Point out and call out evil wherever you see it. Name the by names. Warns others to flee these wolves and false teachers.
Perhaps you are one of the brave souls who have read this far and perhaps you have thought or are thinking, “maybe it is like you say in many churches, but it is not that way in my church. We are a friendly, loving, giving, generous, Bible-based, Bible teaching church”, and if you are, well then, great! Good for you. Would you mind completing a short survey, then?
Do you believe it is sometimes permissable to avoid another Christian because of a disagreement or a dispute? Yes No .
Do you believe it is sometimes permissable to hold a grudge against another Christian? Yes No .
Does you believe it is permissable for a Christian church to ordain homosexuals for ministry or allow homosexual laity to teach or hold office in a Christian church? Yes No .
Do you believe it is your responsibility to ‘witness your faith’ to others, daily? What I mean is, do you tell others about Jesus, frequently? Yes No I mean to, but usually do not .
Do you believe it is your responsibility to lead anyone to Jesus; that is, someone who becomes a Christian and follows Jesus, daily? Yes No I try, but no success yet .
If you have done either of the above, do you teach them about Jesus and what He has commanded of us? Yes No I don’t have to; my church does that .
Do believe it is permissible to have sex outside of marriage? Yes No .
Do you and your friends at Church believe the Bible is completely true and accurate? Yes No .
I encourage you, let’s return to our first love. Let’s return to a life of obedience to Him. A life of peace, love and joy. A life of abundance through and in Christ Jesus.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE EYES TO SEE
Life, 2008 to 2020. Very ‘surface friendly’. Worship ‘team’ entertainment oriented; lighting effects, stage smoke, very loud and repetitive. Both inward and outward focused. Pastor-led polity, tightly controlled, manipulative at times. Members are cliquish. Uses ‘proximity to pastor’ as a punishment-reward method for control. Frequent turnover of members. Secretive-to-questionable financial management. Score 0 to 2.
