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.
AND THEY OVERCAME SATAN BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND BECAUSE OF THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY, AND THEY DID NOT LOVE THEIR LIFE EVEN WHEN FACED WITH DEATH. – Revelation 12:11
I have written a myriad of articles about this world’s present Biblical tribulations, the coming Great Tribulation, The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord and the End of this Age. Now, I am presenting a Biblical Answer: What must our response be if we are to endure to the end to be saved!
There is a war which has been raging in the heavens for untold centuries. Isaiah 14:12-14 tells us of Lucifer being cast out of heaven. Daniel 10:12 tells of the Angel Michael at war with Kingdoms of Persia, and Ephesians 6:12 tells us that“our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
There have been wars and deadly personal conflicts on earth, even before recorded history. The Old Testament of the Bible tells of numerous wars and Holy wars. All of these wars and conflicts have been leading us to the great and ‘final battle’.
The book of Revelation tells of a coming war, the final war, that will be fought both from the Heavens and on the earth. It is known as the war at Armageddon. Revelation 16:12–16 is the record of what will happen toward the end of the tribulation, when an angel pours out the sixth bowl of judgment on the earth, which marks the mid-point of the Great Tribulation.
Revelation 19:11–20 records a final battle which occurs during the period of Christ’s second coming. Jesus will return as ‘the conquering Christ’, and will defeat the forces of the Antichrist. This is a description of the Battle of Armageddon as mentioned in Revelation 16.
These wars on the earth are a ‘reflection’ or a result of the wars being waged in the heavens. These wars are both distinctly separate, yet they are mysteriously one and of the same.
WHAT IS SEEN HAS NOT BEEN MADE OUT OF THINGS THAT ARE VISIBLE – Hebrews 1:3
How can this be? Reading Hebrews 1:3 we discover that it is “By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible.
Again, in 2 Corinthians 4:18 we read that, “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Finally, Hebrews 1:1tells us, “Now faith is the certainty of things expected, the proof of things not seen.”
What does this have to do with you and me?
We have read about or have heard about these wars, but until we are touched by them, they are just distant tragedies in the minds of most people. But listen dear friend, there is a war coming, and it is already on the horizon, spilling over the borders of heaven and onto the earth, sweeping toward you like a swelling wave with the destructive fury of a terrifying tsunami.
Jesus warns, in Revelation12:7-12, that this “war in heaven, with Michael and his angels, waging war with ‘the dragon’. The dragon and his angels will wage this war, but they will not prevail, and there will no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon is to be thrown down, that is the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he is thrown down to the earth, and his angels are thrown down with him. Then John heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
It is difficult to imagine a war being fought in heaven which is also being played out on earth. The final battle will be fought by Jesus and the armies of heaven. It is a mystery that while all of this comes to pass on the earth, it has already taken place in the heavens. Jesus is already the conquering King and Satan is the vanquished foe. But we must still endure this battle in our earthly existence.
Just as mysteriously, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Our battle is fought by being strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Our battle is fought with the full armor of God. We will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil by having belted our waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,and having strapped on our feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all of this we take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And we must take the helmet of salvation and wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We will engage this battle with our fervent prayers and requests; praying at all times in the Spirit. With all this in view, we must stay alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints.
LIKE JESUS, WE MUST TESTIFY TO THE TRUTH
John 18:37,says, “Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this purpose I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”This, too, is our calling and our method of resistance in these Last Days!
LIKE JESUS, WE MUST BRING A SWORD
Matthew 10:34, Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Verse35 For I came to TURN A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; Verse 36 and A PERSON’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.” This, too, is our calling and our method of resistance in these Last Days!
LIKE JESUS, WE MUST FULFILL THE LAW
In Matthew 5:17 , “Jesus said, “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.” This, too, is our calling and our method of resistance in these Last Days!
LIKE JESUS, WE MUST CALL SINNERS
Mark 2:17 says, “And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This, too, is our calling and our method of resistance in these Last Days!
LIKE JESUS, WE MUST PROCLAIM HIM SAVIOR OF THE WORLD
John 12:47 , Jesus says, “If anyone hears My teachings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” In a very real sense, This, too, is our calling and our method of resistance in these Last Days, lifting the Name of Jesus, telling others and leading them to Him.
LIKE JESUS, WE MUST CAST FIRE & BRING DIVISION UPON THE EARTH
Luke 12:49 , “Jesus says, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! Verse 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Verse 51 Do you think that I came to provide peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather to create division;” This, too, is our calling and our method of resistance in these Last Days!
“WHAT HE REALLY MEANT?”
John 14:12, “Jesus says, “Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. Verse 13. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verse 14. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
This is what the Bible says. It is the method and model of Jesus. This is our calling and our duty. Please, brothers and sisters, anything less is failure.
Matthew 24:3says, “As He 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 manywillcome in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.
Verse 6, “You willbehearing 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 merelythebeginningofbirthpangs.
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 thesethings happen?
I. Many will come IN MY 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’?
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’?
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 C.E. 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’?
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’?
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’?
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.
3. You must ask yourself, “why would Jesus warn His disciples (and subsequent disciples or anyone who would eventually read His Words in the Bible) about these coming events if they would not experience these events? Said another way, if we would have been Raptured before the tribulation, why warn us? Why warn His disciples and followers about something they would not experience?” The anwer is, “HE WOULD NOT HAVE WARNED US UNLESS WE WOULD ENDURE THE FIRST 5 TRIBULATION SEALS, AND WOULD NEED TO BE PREPARED!”
NOTE: The first five tribulation seals have been opened progressively since around A.D. 30. These seals overlap (occur concurrently and converge), and are increasing in intensity, which will lead to the future 6th Tribulation Seal, which is the begining of the Day of God’s Wrath, cosmic disturbances, blood moon, darkened sun, the Rapture, the multitude of people out of the tribulation before the throne of God, the Sealing of the 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel.
4. How can we tell WHICH ‘wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes’ were the result of the breaking of the first Seal of the tribulation, because there have been thousands of them since Jesus said these words.
(Also please see this teaching by Pastor and Teacher, John Piper on the timing of the End Times. One of the first, most accurate, and most persistent advocates of the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church can be found at Zion’s Hope, with videos on this site.)
5. Was Jesus wanting to ‘scare’ listeners into believing by warning them ahead of time? (I think not. Trickery just doesn’t fit Jesus Character, and He tells us “do not be frightened” by these things.)
6. Jesus tells His disciples (and subsequent disciples or anyone who would eventually read His Word in the bible), in Matthew 24:6 that
“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 theend. 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.”
And a few verses later, Matthew 24:13 “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”
If we will have been “Raptured” and out of harms way when these things begin, then why would He be telling us these things?
Why is Jesus telling us that we should not be frightened by the WARS, Rumors OF WARS, NATIONS RISING AGAINST NATIONS, FAMINES, EARTHQUAKES, and that we must ENDURE TO THE END TO BE SAVED if we would not be affected?
Again I ask if we will have been “Raptured” and out of harms way when these things begin, then why would He be telling us these things?
5. When you compare Jesus’ Words in the book of Matthew with John the Revelator’s account of the ‘End of Days’ in Revelation, why do you get the very real sense that something about pre-tribulation evangelical or reformed doctrines of the end times don’t line up with or doesn’t fit with what you read IN THE BIBLE.
(You can listen by audio; pause the audio to follow page links, then, when you are ready, resume the audio. Please note: I use page links for important details in lieu of footnotes and references.
There is an ongoing, aggressive and blatant movement creating a one world community. A slick and powerful, multifaceted global government propaganda cabal, is pushing A NEW GLOBAL SOCIALIST AGENDA ACROSS THE GLOBE.
The United Nations has been at work over the last seventy-five years, what was quietly and surreptitiously assembling a global organization and network with an agenda. It was named the Agenda 21, the twenty-one designating their goal to fully implement their global plans in the 21st century.
Produced by the United Nations World Commission on Environmental and Development, authored by Gro Harlem Brundtland, VP of the World Socialist Party, the term Sustainable Development was first introduced to the world in the pages of a 1987 report (Our Common Future).
The term was first offered as official U.N. policy in 1992, in a document called UN Sustainable Development Agenda 21, issued at the U.N.’s Earth Summit, today referred to simply as Agenda 21.
The Program for Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Commitments to the Rio principles, were strongly reaffirmed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (W.S.S.D.) held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 26 August to 4 September 2002. The actual and basic goals of the United Nation’s Agentda-21 and the W.S.S.D are hidden behind the stated goals of, which will be reaffirmed at a world summit in 2022,and Agenda 2030 was inaugurated, which set the date for the Globalist-Marxist Great Reset, and world domination. What began as Agenda-21(the “21” represents the 21st century), has developed into what is now known as Agenda-2030, and has brazenly stated it will have accomplished all its Socialist utopian goals by the year 2030. It has and is achieving what the people could not have imagined possible just a few decades ago. (No, this is not science fiction.)
The Capitalist, Published June 26, 2020 (Excerpt) “Quietly, while the coronavirus pandemic distracted the world, a group of liberal “key global governmental and business leaders” met in Switzerland and planned the next coup d’etat to take over the global economy. Many call it The Great Reset. It also means “dangerous times for those who support individual liberties and free markets.”The World Economic Forum held a summit ion 2021 to further their initiative. According to them, “The Great Reset is a commitment to jointly and urgently build the foundations of our economic and social system for a more fair, sustainable and resilient future. It requires a new social contract centered on human dignity, social justice and where societal progress does not fall behind economic development.”“What it is really accomplishing under the cover of the coronavirus pandemic is a renewed push for Socialism and climate change initiatives.”
The World Economic Forum and the United Nations signed a Strategic Partnership Framework, June 13, 2019, outlining areas of cooperation to deepen institutional engagement and jointly accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The framework was drafted based on a mapping of existing collaboration between the two institutions and will enable a more strategic and coordinated approach towards delivering impact.
The UN-Forum Partnership was signed in a meeting held at United Nations headquarters between UN Secretary-General António Guterres and World Economic Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab.\
THE U.N. BACKED “GREAT RESET” TO USHER IN NEW WORLD ORDER THE NEW AMERICAN, The New American – Europe; UN-Backed “Great Reset” to Usher in New World Order, July 15, 2020, Alex Newman, (Excerpt) “Get ready for a lot less freedom and prosperity, and a lot more government — at least if the elites get their way. After peddling coronavirus lockdowns that crushed the economy and funding riots that terrorized the public under the guise of fighting “systemic racism,” Deep State globalists are stepping in to offer their proposed “solution” to the crises they themselves unleashed: A “Great Reset” to transform the world and everything in it, supposedly for the benefit of the masses, but really for the benefit of the ruling classes.
“Top leaders of Big Business, Big Globalism, and Big Government worldwide — including royalty and mass-murdering communist tyrants — are jumping on the bandwagon. But even before the scheme is fully outlined and understood, resistance is growing quickly.
“Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed,” added Schwab, calling for even “stronger and more effective” government.
“We must build entirely new foundations for our economic and social systems.” And there is no other choice but to submit, he and others declared.”
“In short, what remains of the tattered free-market system is set to be tossed out — along with the vibrant middle class it sustained. In its place will rise technocratic governance based on nebulous “social” and “environmental” goals set by the technocrats.”
“For decades, progressives have attempted to use climate change to justify liberal policy changes. But their latest attempt – a new proposal called the “Great Reset” – is the most ambitious and radical plan the world has seen in more than a generation.
“At a virtual meeting earlier in June hosted by the World Economic Forum, some of the planet’s most powerful business leaders, government officials and activists announced a proposal to “reset” the global economy.
Instead of traditional capitalism, the high-profile group said the world should adopt more socialistic policies, such as wealth taxes, additional regulations and massive Green New Deal-like government programs.“Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed,” wrote Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in an article published on the World Economic Forum’s website.
“In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.“ Although many details about the Great Reset won’t be rolled out until the World Economic Forum meets in Davos in January 2021, the general principles of the plan are clear: The world needs massive new government programs and far-reaching policies comparable to those offered by American socialists such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in their Green New Deal plan.“Or, put another way, we need a form of socialism – a word the World Economic Forum has deliberately avoided using, all while calling for countless socialist and progressive plans.”
OK? Now you have an idea of how the CoronaVirus pandemic was politicized and used by the Globalit’s agenda. You also know what the GREAT RESET is all about. Now let’s look at the ‘how and why’ the American media and our goverment is assisting this collaborative movement, merging the United States into a One World confederation of governance. Another example of how we and the media (and yes, even Fox News) are either misunderstanding why the LEFTIST are doing WHAT they are doing, the WAY they are doing it, or they are lying. Or perhaps they are deliberately misreporting the news in order to stir emotions to increase viewership for monetary reasons.
To Wit: “Smiley Martin, 27, was arrested by the Sacramento Police Department on Tuesday. His role in the deadly encounter remains unclear, yet his criminal history is in focus. He served only four years of a 10-year prison sentence, being released in February over objections from the local prosecutor. “The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office strongly opposed Smiley Martin’s release from the 10-year prison sentence in a letter last year, the Sacramento Bee reported, citing public record documents. “Inmate Martin’s criminal conduct is violent and lengthy,” wrote Deputy District Attorney Danielle Abildgaard in a two-page letter to the Board of Parole Hearings on April 29, 2021.
“In the correspondence, Abildgaard outlines Martin’s criminal history dating back to 2013, which include multiple robberies, firearms violations, and providing false information to police.”
FOX NEWS’ afternoon broadcast, “THE FIVE”, led by Greg Gutfield, discussed criminal Smiley Martin, emphasizing his early release from prison over the objections of DDA Danielle Abildgaard, who said if Smiley is released he will continue to commit crimes and would likely hurt someone. THE FIVE’s conversation focused around the poor judgment, liberal ideology and stupidity of the parole office for releasing him. The criticism of Leftist thought and behavior brought to mind the unspoken question, “Why do they do that” when the results are almost always dreadful or deadly? This seems to be conservative’s standard response to Leftist politics and ideologies: Complain and criticize. But they need to be asking, ‘why do they do what they do the way they do it’? The implications of this approach are that Leftist and those who ‘lean Left’ are just that way; it is how they apply what they believe. And that may be correct for most individual Leftists. But, not for the media, politicians, policymakers and those in power. The ‘higher ups’ know exactly what they are doing, and for a more sinister reason than we give them credit for. They are creating crisis upon crisis, and a need for law and order, so they can step in and solve our problems with a new form of government – and this is a worldwide-coordinated effort, a global coup d’état.
They are creating policies and weakening (or altogether ignoring laws) to encourage civil disorder, terror in our streets and general chaos. They are abrogating our constitution, erasing our borders and dismantling our system of justice in order to implement a One World ‘homogenous’, Socialist-Marxist system.
This is evidenced by the case of Smiley Martin and others like him. You can also see this occurring through the destruction of our national landmarks, pulling down of historic statues, rewriting of our history book, remaking the explanation of historical events, demonizing our past national heroes, renaming cities, sports teams, street names and the like to erase our national identity and memories of these important events, places and icons. It goes even deeper with
the destruction of the nuclear family system and replacing it with homosexual marriage,
the promotion of transgenderism among very young children,
the loss of free speech and of our personal rights,
the destruction of women’s sports through transgenderism,
abortion-on-demand,
the push to legalize some forms of pedophilia,
the teaching the nefarious Critical Race Theory in our schools,
the fallacies and politicization of global warming and climate change, to name just a few. America’s way of life is being effectively replaced with the United Nation’s Agenda 2030 and their Sustainable Development Goals, funded and driven in part by the World Economic Forum. The forerunner of Agenda 2030, (Agenda 21), was introduced into the United States by President GEORGE H.W. BUSH as one of the 178 heads of government who signed the final text of the agreement at the Earth Summit in 1992, and in the same year Representatives NANCY PELOSI, Eliot Engel and William Broomfieldspoke in support ofUnited States House of Representatives Concurrent Resolution 353, supporting implementation of Agenda 21 in the United States.The United States was a signatory country to Agenda 21, but adherents quickly reminded us that because Agenda 21 is “a legally non-binding statement of intent” and not a treaty, the United States Senate did not hold a formal debate or vote on it. It is therefore not considered to be law under Article Six of the United States Constitution, or so they say. However, former president, BILL CLINTON, signed a 1993 Executive Order, creating the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) is explicitly charged with recommending a national action plan for sustainable development to the President. So, bypassing Congress, Clinton, made it law. Next, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development is composed of leaders from government and industry, as well as from environmental, labor and civil rights organizations. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development submitted its report, “Sustainable America: A New Consensus”, to the President in early 1996. In the absence of a multi-sectoral consensus on how to achieve sustainable development in the United States, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development was conceived to formulate recommendations for the implementation of Agenda 21. In the United States, over 528 American cities are members of “Local Governments for Sustainability” or “ICLEI”, is an international Marxist and Socialist leaning sustainability organization, that helps to implement the Agenda 21 and Local Agenda 21 concepts across the world. The United States has nearly half of the ICLEI’s global membership of 1,200 cities promoting sustainable development at a local level. The United States also has one of the most comprehensively documented Agenda 21 status reports.
In response to the opposition, Don Knapp, U.S. spokesman for the ICLEI, has said “Sustainable development is not a top-down conspiracy from the U.N., but a bottom-up push from local governments”. Finally, Joe Biden’s “American Rescue Act Plan” is the final push to fund and implement this plan as a means to end America’s national sovereignty and merge the United States into the United Nations’ confederation “The American Rescue Act Plan” is being touted as a plan to “give financial relief to state, local, territorial, and tribal government agencies are facing unprecedented strain in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, and the Federal Government is working tirelessly on the necessary steps to supply these entities with critical funding.
The American Rescue Plan Act provides a substantial infusion of resources to eligible state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to help reverse the negative impacts of the pandemic, address its economic fallout, and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery.” (See the‘A.R.P.A. ‘fact sheet’).Every agency in the U.S. Government is being bought out, every corporation, media outlet, university or college, every state legislature and state Governor is being given incentives as a sort of ‘bribe-by-another-name’, by way of payoffs using billions of our tax dollars disguised as ‘incentives’, but are in fact bait to lure America into a Socialist-Marxists scheme of a One World Government.
First, please Read this introduction by the Commission for Global Governance.“The task before UNESCO,” said its first Director-General Julian Huxley in 1946, “is the emergence of a single world culture by transferring full sovereignty from separate nations to a world organization. The “new world order” will be a socialist, authoritarian global government and court with “global rule of law” and a “one-world economy,”. The recommendations of the Commission on Global Governance, if implemented, will bring all the people of the world into a global neighborhood managed by a world-wide bureaucracy, under the direct authority of a minute handful of appointed individuals, and policed by thousands of individuals, paid by accredited NGOs, certified to support a belief system which contains ideas that are foreign to the American experience, and ignores other values and ideas that are precious to the American experience. (For the complete article on this relationship between the United States and the United Nations Agenda-2030, see “EXPLOSIVE DOCUMENTS – THE SECRET BUYOUT OF AMERICA.”)
These Leftist are well-trained and well organized and have been working diligently over the last 75 years and are on the verge of accomplishing all of their original goals and most of the evolving goals of the United Nation’s Agenda 2030. So the question should not be “Why are they doing what they do the way they are doing it?” because we should already know WHY. Neither should we ask, “How can they be so stupid or hateful?” They, The Leftist-Globalists-Socialists-Marxists-Communists, are very well-educated and dedicated to accomplishing their objectives. They truly believe they can solve the world’s problems and enter a new Socialist Utopia, a new golden age.
We are entering a new kind of world, a new era. It is something very unfamiliar to most of us. World forces are at work which are changing everything we have known as ‘normal’. There is an idea being implemented known as the ‘Great Global Reset’. We are being told that nothing will ever be the same again. We are being told that “you must submit”! (Quote by Klaus Martin Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum).
CHRISTIANITY IS AN OBSTACLE, A STUMBLING BLOCK
The Globalists and Socialists in favor say this Great Reset will be our world’s salvation through the elimination of wars, poverty, disease, and social injustice. It is the same decades old mantra of Socialist’s dream of Utopia. They also believe religion can be, and is an obstacle – especially Christianity.
Those who do not agree with the precepts of Socialism say we need a different solution. We all agree, however, that we need someone or something to make our world a better and a safer place.
I suspect that many people will roll their eyes, derisively, when I say that the answers to all of these world problems – and, the problems you and I face – is Jesus and His Word.
Periods of change such as ‘The Renaissance’, ‘The Enlightenment Age’ or ‘The Industrial Revolution’, all began with an idea which thoroughly transformed the world.
An idea expressed passionately, even fervently, and zealously pursued by committed and capable people, can bring change. Often there is a cost of radical change and the expense is measured in lives and families and fortunes.
An idea, repeated often enough and argued affirmatively and often enough, which is born in a crucible of fiery trials, often gives way to amazing global change, whether for good or evil. Then, once the hearts and minds of people are either convinced or enslaved, how they view and interact within the world can be seen in some very unexpected ways.
The American Revolution, for example, was an idea born of men and women who mutually pledged their lives, fortunes and their sacred honor to one another. Once this idea was manifest, the destiny of the world was set and the world has been a different and a better place for over 250 years. That era, now it would seem, is drawing to a close.
The Advent of Jesus Christ, “The Greatest Idea” was born of God, as a child in a manger in the obscure town of Bethlehem in the region of Judea. Emerging from this obscurity was “The Greatest Idea” which became known as Jesus Christ, the ‘Son of God’ and the Son of Man.
(I am aware that since God is omniscient, He actually doesn’t have ideas as we consider them. When God has a thought, oddly enough, it has no beginning as it has always been in existence waiting for its time to be manifest – and then it is eternal.)
The appearance of The Greatest ‘Idea’, that is Jesus, and the expression of this “God-man”, changed not only how people thought about the world, but radically changed how they interacted. It has been said that Jesus and His disciples had ‘turned the world upside down’, which was an apt description since He expressed and demonstrated ideas which were counter intuitive to the human experience up to that point in time. For examples:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:21-22
Also, “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.” Matthew 5:38-43
And again, “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”. Matthew 5:44
Jesus influenced the thoughts and behaviors of the known world by His Word and His deeds of peace among brethren and love for all humankind. His influence should rightly be called “The Greatest Idea”, as it brought change on a global scale in ethics, morals, social constructs, national economies, educational systems, and all the disciplines of the age.
But, everything temporal is subject to change. And, as time has passed, the world has continued to change in both its thought and behavior – and not always for the good of humankind.
Remarkably, it would seem, we are have not been ‘evolving’ as some like to say, but we are simply repeating history. It would seem we are specifically revisiting a bygone era, but with new advanced technologies being applied to some not-so-new ideas.
Although the world is changing, Jesus Christ, “THE GREATEST IDEA”, has not changed. Christ and His teachings are unchanging. His methods and His purpose are immutable. And, He has not forgotten the world He created by His Word, although the world is forgetting Him.
Change is rarely easy and opposing ideas almost always bring some sort of conflict. And, there has always been conflict in the hearts and minds of people when it comes to the idea of good versus evil. And this conflict intensifies as people forget God.
The standard of what is good and what is evil has been long established, although those who deny God and practice the ‘dark arts of the flesh’, would like to argue the point. Some would argue there are degrees or shades of evil. They say that some evil is not necessarily bad or harmful and therefore isn’t really evil, but are just examples of human error or mistakes. They go on to say that evil is just a concept and should be defined by each person by their own standard.
But, with Jesus, came “The Greatest Idea”. He set The Standard of Good – and that anything less than HIs Standard is evil.
It is The Mind of Christ which holds the Standard of Good. It is the Mind of Christ which transforms the mind of man and woman and how they think – for Good. It is the Mind of Christ literally living within us that overcomes the powers of the he rulers, and world forces of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the ‘heavenly places – that is in the unseen realm from whence comes all things which are seen.
There is no doubt that times are changing and the days are growing spiritually darker. Chaos, division and uncertainty reign. It is time, once again, to call on The Greatest Idea for our salvation. It is time to make the Mind of Christ our own mind and set things right.
How can I know this will set things right? How can you know this? Look at the evidence. Look at the effects. Look at the history. Make up your own mind. Don’t be swayed by doubters ‘second guessers’. Then, ‘by faith’, decide for yourself. Decide to believe “The Greatest Idea”. Believe Jesus and go after Him. Embrace Him, embrace His Greatest Idea. Follow Him and you will live! (“The mind set on the Spirit is Life and Peace”. Romans 8:6)
Finally, you must know that “The Greatest Idea” is not just an idea. “The Greatest Idea”, took on the form of a man and brought the world The Greatest Truth ever known. And He, Jesus, proved The Greatest Truthby going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, forgiving sin, healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. And, the news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
And for that reason, those who practice religion and the ‘dark arts of the flesh’, executed Him in an attempt to silence Him and to keep the Greatest Truth hidden. He was crucified on a Roman criminal’s cross. He was executed for no other reason than Who He is and for What He represented and for bringing the world Hope through the Greatest Truth, The Gospel of Christ.
In an ultimate act of God’s power and in defiance of the powers of and world forces of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the ‘heavenly places’ , Jesus rose from the dead, walked the earth and as an exclamation, ascended into the Heavens in plain view of men. He is now seated at the Right Hand of God the Father, interceding on our behalf. He has also announced that He will return again, this time in the skies, to gather His Elect, and to judge the world for its evil and rebellion.
There is new global shift occurring and the Globalists have been working feverously to infiltrate the Christian Church in an effort to Everything is changing, everywhere. And, like every other substantial shift or ‘new era’ in world history, this too, began with an idea. This idea, as it turns out, is not a new idea, but an old idea, one which has been lurking in shadows of the minds of certain people for centuries. In the book of Genesis, we see Satan spreading his lies and planting his ideas of destruction in the minds of God’s children. Its reformulation has been at work for centuries. A foreshadowing of this ancient idea of evil can be found in the writings of the Bible. It is known as the Tower of Babel. And that sinister tower is being rebuilt using twenty first century technologies. And the final conflict has begun.
The one who practices sin and evilis the of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil.(1 John 3:8). This is the purpose for all who call themselves the Children of God.
Those of us who have made The Greatest Truth our own and who follow Jesus as the Christ, have a role to play. God has told us, through His Son, that we will continue His Works, and we will do even greater works because He has given us the authority to complete His works, and He is now seated at the Right Hand of Power of The Father interceding for us.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
THE GREATEST TRUTH:“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:16-21
The Bible has foretold of these events and what will follow. If you are interested and have the time, read this short article “GOD’S PLAN FOR PERFECTION – Prophecy, World History and the Tribulation”. Then, if you will take the time, at the bottom of that web page read the book “THE JOURNEY TO PERFECTION” in either PDF format or as an online digital book. (I really urge you to read it because it gives clear steps on WHAT OUR RESPONSE SHOULD BE.)
“And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
“And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
“Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”Revelation 13:15-18
No one knows what ‘the mark’ will actually look like. There is speculation that it could be an image (icon) or a microchip or a tattooed type of barcode used in place of money or credit cards for tracking, commerce and trade. But, from scriptures we do know…
This will occur during the 5th Tribulation Seal period, or just at the beginning of the 6th Tribulation Seal.
And according to the Bible, the Antichrist gives his ‘Mark’ after the Seal Judgments, after the Rapture, and just after the 6th Tribulation Trumpet Judgment or during the 7th Trumpet Judgment, which is the Mid-Point of the Great Tribulation, which is after three- and one-half years of the final 7 years of the Great Tribulation period.
We have seen the 5th Tribulation Seal being opened in our lifetime, the great apostasy or falling away from the faith, false messiahs, great deceptions, a.k.a. the ‘deluding influence’ and alienation from one another, and it is become more pronounced as time passes.
What this likely means to you and to me is that some of us will have the opportunity to suffer awhile before God takes us away in the Rapture. How do we know this? The Bible says so:
1 Peter1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
verse 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
verse 5. who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Revelation 6:9 tells us that, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal,
I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; verse 10, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Verse 11. And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.
The Great Tribulation also known as The Wrath of God, that is the Wrath of the Lamb, begins with the breaking or opening of the 6th Seal of the Tribulation.
NOTE: The final 7 years of Daniel’s 70 Weeks, also known as the 7 Years of the Great Tribulation, will begin with the Breaking of the Sixth Tribulation Seal. It will reach the mid-point (3 1/2 years) at the Blowing of the 7th Trumpet Judgment and will conclude with the pouring out of the 7th Bowl Judgment.
Be comforted by this, that God has not appointed us to His Wrath, but to obtain His salvation!
The Son of Destruction – The Man of lawlessness – The Anti-Christ
2 Thessalonians 2:1 “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, verse 2, 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. Verse 3. 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, verse 4, 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.”
1 John 2:18,tells us that since the first century many antichrists have come and gone, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”
1 John 4:3, informs us that you can identify this spirit of antichrist because that person will not confess Jesus is from God, and we learn that the spirit of antichrist is already in the world,“and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.”
2 John 1:7-19, tells us that“Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christas coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
Daniel 9:24-27, gives an overview or a panorama of the timing of the coming and the actions of the antichrist.
Verse 24. “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
Verse 25. “So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress.
Verse 26. “Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
Verse 27. “And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.”
The ‘middle of the week’ is a reference to the 3 ½ year point of the final 7 years of the tribulation period, a.k.a., the Great Tribulation. Therefore, we can reasonably assume that at the mid-point of the final 7 years, the Antichrist will already have been revealed and will take his place in prophecy.
This antichrist is referred to as “The Beast” in chapter 13 of the book of the Revelation. These verses give us a terrifying, although symbolic, look at this monster. One valuable clue is found in Revelation 13:3, which says, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed.” Whether this is an actual wound on the head of a person or a mortal blow to a world power, such as a ten-nation confederation, either way, he or it, will be ‘healed’ and this Beast will, for a period, bring a reign of terror and death.
Finally, Matthew 24:15-16, also warns. “Therefore, when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place — let the reader understand — then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.”
Although this was a direct message and waring to those in Israel, just prior to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, it is also a foreshadowing of a yet-to-come destruction. The timing placement in scriptures regarding this warning given by Jesus, follows the breaking of the 5th Tribulation Seal and the reference to “the middle of the week” would indicate it the midpoint of the final 7 years of Daniel’s 70th week or the Great Tribulation period. So, we can rightly assume these events will take place after the antichrist has been revealed and at the midpoint of the Great Tribulation.
No one knows who the Antichrist will be, but we do know that when he is revealed, he will not be a frightening figure. In fact, he will be just the opposite until he has gained power.
Traits of the Antichrist Described in the Bible
Intelligent: Revelation 13:18; Daniel 7:8.
Charismatic Speaker: Daniel 7:8 Revelation 13:5.
Crafty Politician: Daniel 9:27; Revelation 17:12, 13, 17.
Distinct Physical Appearance: Daniel 7:20.
Military Genius: Revelation 4; 17:14; 19:19.
Economic Genius: Daniel 11:38.
Blasphemer: Revelation 13:6.
Utterly Lawless: 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
Selfish, Ambitious Egomaniac: Daniel 11:36, 37; 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
Greedy Materialist: Daniel 11:38.
Controlling: Daniel 7:25.
Proud and Self-exalting Above God and Everything: Daniel 11:36; 2 Thessalonians. 2:4.
What is the purpose of the Antichrist?
His purpose is to deceive. The Antichrist is a person prophesied by the Bible to oppose Christ and substitute himself in Christ’s place before the Second Coming.
There is a reference in Daniel 11:21 comparing Antiochus Epiphanes to a type of antichrist, who is one of the most brutal rulers known in history, easily eclipsing the horrors of Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich.
But, the horrors of Antiochus Epiphanes will pale in comparison to the brutality and horror of the coming Antichrist.
ANOTHER BEAST – The False Prophet
Revelation 13:11 says, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.
He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.
And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
“Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” Revelation 13:11-18.
He will doom anyone who receives his “mark” and worshipshim to suffer God’s Wrath. “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.”Revelation 16:2
Those which he deceived, those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image, are thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. Revelation 19:20
2 Thessalonians 2:1 “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, verse 2, 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.
Verse 3. “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, verse 4, 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.”
Outlined, verse by verse, makes this easier to understand; just read slowly and take it at face value.
With regard to the coming of our Lord and the gathering together to Him
Do not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
*5. For the day of our Lord and the gathering together to Him will not come unless the man of lawlessness is revealed
The man of lawlessness is the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,
He takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
WHAT IS THE APOSTASY: In Christianity, Apostasy is the rejection of Christianity by someone who formerly was a Christian.
The title of this article might suggest that misbehavior and apostasy is a recent malaise of the church. Apostasy, from the Greek word, “apostasia”, means “a defiance of an established system or authority; a rebellion; an abandonment or breach of faith.”
The term apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia (“ἀποστασία”) meaning defection, departure, revolt or rebellion. It has been described as “a willful falling away from, or rebellion against, Christianity.
Revelation 6:9, tells us, that, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; Verse 10, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Verse 11. And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
Matthew 24:9, also tells us that the sign of the 5th Tribulation Seal is being broken and is the reason for a ‘falling away from the faith’ is, “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. Verse 10. And at that time many will fall away from the faith, and they will betray one another and hate one another. Verse 11, And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. Verse 12. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.”
Even now, before the great persecution of Christians has reached the Western world, Pew Research and Barna Research, both, are revealing what the corporate Church is unwilling to admit, that many are leaving the church and are not returning. But, the other half of this ‘equation’ is that many are LEAVING THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS – falling away from the faith – but are staying in the church .
This “falling away from the faith”, as told by Pew and Barna research, alone, may not signal what prophetic scriptures has foretold regarding the “Great Falling Away” (The Great Apostasy) but, considering all has already come to pass (the breaking of the first four Tribulation Seals) you can be confident this is what is prophesied.
Just prior to this falling away from the faith, Jesus warns, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people”, (Matthew 24:4-5). False teachers may not say the exact words, “I am Jesus”, but they will claim to represent Jesus and His Gospel, and will mislead many people. Institutional deception is our greatest threat.
I have personally experienced pulpit bullies, false teachers, apostates and heretics in our postmodern church. Many of these men seem to have started right, but, over time, their ‘true selves’ emerged, and they are the ravenous wolves which scriptures warn about:
Matthew 7:15-23 says, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
Before I go further, please watch the first 15 minutes of Pastor Trent Casto’s sermon broadcast, (Senior pastor of Covenant Naples Church, Naples, Florida), to get additional background and context. For your convenience and brevity, I have cued this video to start at 4:42 minute mark of this video to the 13:35 minute mark.)
(NOTE: Use of this video in no way asserts or assumes Pastor Casto or Covenant Naples Church agrees with or endorses the content or the context of this book.)
The men, (and, now, women), as referred to in Pastor Casto’s sermon, are in pulpits and on TV screens, leading thousands and tens of thousands astray.
Finally, please, familiarize yourself with what the Bible says, since it is the way to life! Many in the pastorate or speaking from our church pulpits and through various media are not scripturally qualified to assume an office of pastor, teacher, evangelist, elder or deacon and have gone astray. You must be discerning. I have copied the following text from the website from the website GotQuestions.org as an excellent resource for details on the Biblical qualifications of a pastor.
All of this should be considered as signs pointing to the 5th tribulation Seal.
(Please listen, ALL OF YOU WHO ARE Pastors, teachers, Bible “scholars” and all of you Christians: Please, adhere to the Gospel Message of Jesus our Christ; get off your religious and denominational ‘high horses’ and sound the Shofar!)
THE FIFTH TRIBULATION SEAL IS NOW INTENSIFYING, and the GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD and the Rapture are near.
The SIXTH SEAL of Tribulation will be broken soon, and it will be too late for those who are procrastinating or for those who think they are saved but have never surrendered their lives to Christ as Lord.
(It is already in your home, government, schools, hospitals, churches and food production. It is in your Federal, State and local governments.)
The United Nations – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – The Commission on Global Governance – The United Nations Globalist Great Reset – Agenda 21 – Agenda 2030 – The Global Community – The Council on Sustainable Development – U.N.C.E.D. – International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives – The Social Security Administration – The Internal Revenue Service – etc.
Explosive documents have surfaced which exposed a planned genocide based on a Malthusian population control method, in order to save the planet from a depletion of resources due to overpopulation.
Was the release of the Corona-19 virus and the resulting ‘pandemic’ an accident, or was it a carefully executed plan of population reduction? Before you cry, “Oh, just another conspiracy theorist nut”, do your homework.
The LEFT, that is progressives, liberals, democrats and socialists, Marxists all, have been propounding population control, in concert with Communist China, for the last 75 years. They have pushed for population control through birth control methods, abortion, legalized euthanasia, by encouraging and endorsing homosexuality, transgenderism and wars. But, with the continued growth of world population, the worldwide Globalist-Marxist movement has activated and unleashed the most insidious and evil plan to date.
Their reasoning is based on the argument that the world is overpopulated and that the only way to save the planet from environmental doomsday is to force people to have fewer children, which has been the rallying cry for Stalinist population control measures around the world. Their methodology is based on extreme Malthusianism.
Deo-Malthusianism is the advocacy of human population planning to ensure resources and environmental integrities for current and future human populations as well as for other species. (Source, Wikipedia)
Stephen Moore, a columnist for The Washington Times, and a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation and an economic consultant with FreedomWorks, writes in a Washington Times article, “China took the population control crusade to a whole new level when it instituted its notorious one-child policy. To this day there are tens of millions of females demographically missing in China. The homicidal environmental policy was cheered on by the United Nations and many of the same left-wing activists and organizations that preach “reproductive freedom” and women’s rights. Similarly brutish population control programs were implemented in Africa, India, Egypt and many South American nations. To save the planet, babies had to be prevented.
Fortunately, scholars like the late Julian Simon of the University of Illinois proved that human beings do not deplete the world’s resources, but help discover and create them. A larger number of human beings — especially when combined with freedom and free enterprise — leave the planet materially and environmentally better off not worse off.
Simon also showed that freedom and prosperity are the best forms of contraception. Population growth happened because we found ways to conquer early death — with infant mortality rates falling by 70 percent and 80 percent — and eradicate killer diseases like small pox and tuberculosis.
The Malthusians were not just immoral; they were dead wrong on their population projections.
All of those population forecasting models that predicted standing room only on the planet over the next 25-50 years were lies. In the 1970s, the left predicted a population by today of more than 10 billion people. The number is closer to 7.5 billion.
These doomsday demographic models of the future were about as accurate as the climate change models predicting catastrophic temperature changes have been.
What the population control crowd didn’t see happening was that population growth has radically slowed down — and not because of government edicts. As people get richer and freer, couples have chosen to have fewer, but healthier children. In most countries of the world today — including in China — the tragedy is not too many children, but too few.
But at its core, the radical greens really do believe that the fundamental problem with the human race is that there are too many of us. People are the pollution. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Prince Harry are urging people to have fewer or no kids. Rep. Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez wondered earlier this year whether young women should feel ethically bound to not have children so as to help prevent climate change. At the end of the day, she rejected that lunacy idea, but the very idea that liberals had to ask the question shows how anti-human the left has become.
This is a fundamentally anti-Judeo-Christian ideology that disrespects human life and — as history proves all too well — can lead to dastardly consequences for basic human rights and economic progress. Human ingenuity is the solution to, not the cause of, environmental problems, and the constantly changing climate of our planet.” (Full article at “Democrats Embrace Population Control”)
An article by Human Life International, the world’s largest pro-life and pro-family Catholic advocate, Dr. Brian Clowes, PhD, explains that “the United States National Security Council, highest decision-making body regarding foreign policy in the United States, on December 10, 1974, completed a top-secret document entitled National Security Study Memorandum or NSSM-200, also called The Kissinger Report, since Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State at the time it was written.
“The Subject of NSSM-200 is “Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” This document, published shortly after the first major international population conference in Bucharest, was the result of collaboration among the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Departments of State, Defense and Agriculture.
“NSSM-200 was made public when it was declassified and was transferred to the U.S. National Archives in 1990.
“Although the United States government has issued hundreds of policy papers dealing with various aspects of American national security since 1974, The Kissinger Report continues to be the foundational document on U.S. government population control. It therefore continues to represent official United States policy on government population control and, in fact, is still posted on the USAID website.
“NSSM-200 is critically important to pro-life workers all over the world, because it completely exposes the unsavory and unethical motivations and methods of the population control movement. We can use this valuable document to lay bare the strategies used by unscrupulous governments and “aid” agencies that are used to bend developing nations to their wills. Their rote denials will be useless in the face of this evidence.”
“According to The Kissinger Report, elements of the implementation of government population control programs could include the legalization of abortion, financial incentives for countries to increase their abortion, sterilization and contraception-use rates, indoctrination of children, and mandatory population control and coercion of other forms, such as withholding disaster and food aid unless an LDC implements population control programs.
“This last strategy, force and coercion applied to developing countries, is currently used by the population control cartel to push not only abortion, sterilization and birth control, but other evils such as homosexuality and transgenderism.
“There are dozens of examples of this kind of blatant injustice, including the following:
When Nigeria refused to legalize contraception and homosexuality, the United States withdrew financial and military aid that would allow it to combat the Islamic terror group Boko Harem, which has murdered and kidnapped tens of thousands of people in that nation.1
When Ecuador declined to legalize abortion, the United Nations refused to provide any aid for it to battle COVID-19, condemning many more Ecuadorians to death.2
When Kenyan pro-lifers collected irrefutable evidence that Marie Stopes International (MSI), one of the largest abortionists in the world, were committing illegal and dangerous abortions on a vast scale, MSI demanded that they be either muzzled or jailed.3
The United Nations Population Fund halted food and other aid to millions of starving Yemenis because the nation refused to legalize abortion.4
When Zambia refused to legalize sodomy, the United States withdrew much-needed foreign aid to help alleviate the 11% national HIV infection rate and to care for 250,000 AIDS orphans.5
The Joint United Nations Program on AIDS [UNAIDS] threatened to withdraw all of its aid from the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia unless it approved language supporting abortion and homosexuality in a political declaration on HIV/AIDS.6” (It is important to read this full article. Go to Human Life International – population control).
Although the global fertility rate is in a steep decline, the Globalists Marxists and Communists, through the United Nations, have decided that in order to reach their proposed goals by the date they had set, the year 2030, they needed to accelerate the process of negative population growth. So, it appears they have taken matters into their own hands and in 2019, early news reports pointed to a virology lab in Wuhan, China, which may have released the Corona-19 virus. Since that time, a cover story has emerged and spread throughout the liberal and Leftist media, worldwide, claiming the Corona-19 virus was transmitted from either bats or a pangolins, (scaly ant eaters).
It was reported widely in the news media that democrats in America were using the phrase, “Don’t let a good pandemic go to waste”. So, we should ask if the Covid-19 pandemic was the Globalist’s opportunity to accelerate their Agenda 2030 completion? (see COVID-19 & GLOBALISM).
The United Nations Global Movement is a complexity of a myriad of sub-organizations, (tentacles), hiding behind many names under the control and direction of the Unite Nations. It is the United Nations which formulated the Agenda 21, which claims to be a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment. Its lofty sounding goals and programs are designed to deceive the observer and obscure the nefarious Marxists methodology and end game.
Now, what began as Agenda-21 (the “21” represents the 21st century), has evolved into what is now known as Agenda-2030, and has brazenly stated it will have accomplished all its goals by the year 2030. It has and is achieving what the people could not have imagined possible just a few decades ago.
There is much more to be written and said on these matters, but I will leave you with some important links for further information and study on the enemies we face and solutions.
The Heartland Organization is one of the world’s leading conservative free-market think tanks. It is a national nonprofit research and education organization based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Its mission since its founding in 1984 is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.
The Heartland Organization is an “action tank” as well as a “think tank,” and we measure our success by the impact we have in the real world. The Heartland Institute plays an essential role in the national (and increasingly in the international) movement for personal liberty and limited government. We are the pipeline between the freedom movement’s leading writers and thinkers and the nation’s 8,400 national and state elected officials.
Human Life International is a Catholic, Pro-Life mission, teaching the world to value life and to follow God’s plan for the family. In1972, Fr. Paul Marx, O.S.B founded the Human Life Center to fight the spread of abortion and breakdown of the family. In 1981, the Human Life Center became Human Life International.
Now we travel the world helping local leaders build a pro-life culture in their families, communities, and countries. The anti-life movement is huge. But we save lives and souls every day with the help of our amazing supporters. Together, we can build a culture that values life at every stage. Legal abortion will never end unless we can change the way our culture treats sexuality and marriage.
What began as Agenda-21(the “21” represents the 21st century), has developed into what is now known as Agenda-2030, and has brazenly stated it will have accomplished all its Socialist utopian goals by the year 2030. It has and is achieving what the people could not have imagined possible just a few decades ago.
For the Christian or any serious student of prophecies, this could be considered as the rebuilding of “The Tower of Babel”, an event recorded in the Bible, in Genesis 11:1-9, which tells about humanity as proposing, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.” Now the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the men had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be impossible for them.”
Few, if any, in the United Nation’s Globalist-Marxists movement would recognize or admit their efforts are a continuation of the humanist effort to replace God and become a god of their own design.
The Tower of Babel, from the Christian perspective, is described in Genesis 11:1-9. After the Flood, God commanded humanity to “increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). Humanity decided to do the exact opposite, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth’” (Genesis 11:4). Humanity decided to build a great city and all congregate there. They decided to build a gigantic tower as a symbol of their power, to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). This tower is remembered as the Tower of Babel.
In response, God confused the languages of humanity so that they could no longer communicate with each other (Genesis 11:7). The result was that people congregated with other people who spoke the same language, and then went together and settled in other parts of the world (Genesis 11:8-9). God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel to enforce His command for humanity to spread throughout the entire world.
Four thousand two-hundred years after the Tower of Babel, the ‘Spirit of The Tower’ has lingered, survived and reemerged on the world stage. Humankind is still determined to defy God and build that tower!
The commission made a standard definition of global governance, stating that “Governance is the sum of many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process through which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and co-operative action taken. It includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce compliance.”
The Commission on Global Governance has publicly stated that when their Agenda-21 plan is fully implemented, “it will bring all the people of the world into a global neighborhood managed by a world-wide bureaucracy, under the direct authority of a minute handful of appointed individuals, and policed by thousands of individuals, paid by accredited NGOs, certified to support a belief system which contains ideas that are foreign to the American experience, and ignores other values and ideas that are precious to the American experience.”
“FOREIGN TO AND IGNORES IDEAS PRECIOUS TO THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE”
The United Nations Conference on Environment & Development, in June 1992 in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, drafted the Agenda-21, which claims far-reaching global goals, while hiding or obscuring their Marxists methodology. They are organizing international cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing countries and related domestic policies at the cost of personal human rights and freedoms, the dismantling of democracies around the globe and other goals which are anti-Christian and malevolent to the Jewish Nation and people.
Here are some examples of what the Agenda-21 claims to be their goals:
Combating poverty.
Changing consumption patterns.
Protecting and promoting human health conditions.
Promoting sustainable human settlement development.
Integrating environment and development in decision-making.
Protection of the atmosphere.
Integrated approach to the planning and management of land resources.
Combating deforestation.
Managing fragile ecosystems: combating desertification and drought.
THESE HIGH AND NOBLE SOUNDING GOALS COME AT THE COST OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS, THE LOSS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS, CORPORATE FREEDOMS AND THE ERADICATION OF OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY – YOU BECOME EITHER A ‘SERVANT OF THE GLOBAL STATE’, A ‘WARD OF THE STATE’, OR A KEEPER OF THE STATE. FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND FREEWILL ARE TO BE ERASED ‘FOR THE GREATER GOOD’.
President Joe Biden and his regime have passed into law an American version of the Agenda-2030, known as “The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021″. It duplicates the Socialist-Marxist-Globalist United Nations and the Word Economic Forum’s, (W.E.P.), Agenda-2030.
You now have just a glimpse of what has and is happening in every country, in every city, village and borough around the world. The question should be, “What can you and I do about it”?
There are many capable and willing people fighting this spreading Global Marxist threat, but, it is my opinion that we have been awakened too late. The deed is done, the plan is in place. It is no longer a question of, “What can I do about it”, rather, we should ask, “What do I do now and how can I prepare or resist?”
Please believe me when I tell you that this current United Nations Global Socialist-Marxist movement and power grab has been in the heart of man and in the planning stage for over 4,000 years, (see The Tower of Babel). It has emerged from time to time in history under different names, but make no mistake, this time it is thorough, established and in control of your life (See “The History and Establishment of Socialism in America“.)
The ONLY response and the ONLY defense to this evil menace is God and His Word. The Bible lays out the perfect plan of resistance and counter-attack. This is why the Marxists, Communists, Socialists, Leninists, et al., hate the God of the Bible, Christians and Jews and seek to eradicate every vestige of God and His Principles from our minds and from our planet.
WHERE ARE WE, NOW?
What comes next is the long and complex Agenda 2030 for sustainable development manifesto. I am reprinting it in its entirety with comments explaining their real intentions and their time-proven dictatorial methodologies.
Their goals are lofty sounding but the methods of implementation are demanding, unyielding, harsh and even deadly for those who will not yield or cooperate. This has always been the way of Globalist and Marxists.
Most importantly, I will also add footnotes explaining the Biblical and prophetic relevance of each article in their Declaration.
This short video will give you a glimpse of what is being sold as this New World, but in reality it is the same tired old saga of the Marxists Utopia. The claims are the outrageous imagination of the world’s Globalists-Socialists and Marxists.
It has been difficult for me to tell about something that I found in the Bible. Something amazing. It is not a new ‘fact’ or a new ‘verse’ or some strange formula, a ‘secret code’ or anything like that. But it is so amazing that it has been almost impossible for me to articulate, for a couple of reasons:
First, what I have found seems, to me, to ‘go against the traditional grain’ of Bible Study methods. I attended Bible college and subsequently dedicated myself to continuing studies in an effort to better understand the Bible in order to draw nearer to God and to more correctly, ‘practice what I preach”. I find no problems with the accepted methods of proper hermeneutics or the principals of properly exegeting scriptures, understanding word studies and the use of the Greek or Hebrew languages nor the principals of proper Bible study application. The problem, that is the first problem I have encountered, was that I found an amazing continuity in the message of the Bible, (yes, there is a continuing, comprehensive message with ONE major theme that start in Genesis and ends in the Revelation), that is overlooked and as far as I can tell, is never mentioned. This Message and its continuity point directly to a profound and deeply prophetic message of:
What had been; why it happened in the way it happened; and how we are to successfully navigate these world events and circumstances.
What is happening now; why it is happening the way it is occurring; and how we are to successfully navigate these world events and circumstances.
What is coming next; why it is coming in the way it will occur; and how we are to successfully navigate these world events and circumstances.
Bible colleges, seminaries, churches, pastors, bible teachers, evangelists almost universally teach the Bible either by topic in random order, (i.e., ‘I wonder what I should preach on next?’), or they teach the books of the Bible consecutively, that is, as they appear in a Bible’s table of contents. This method appears to be ‘a chronological order’, which is not always the case.
It would appear that there is nothing wrong with the aforementioned Bible study methods. You can gain useful principals of living, about serving God and serving others. On the other hand, this can lead to a disassociation of the intended Message and theme of the Bible from the narrative being presented. This has caused most Bible teachers and denominations to ‘compartmentalize’ the reading of scriptures into ‘stories’, topics, subjects, isolated doctrines and dogma, which has led to ‘factionaldenominationalism’ and Sects within Christianity; divisions in the Body of the Church. (There are over 200 known denominations in America and over 33,000 denominations, worldwide, most in disagreement over scriptures and some are outright hostile to one another.)
I have found the Bible is both useful in teaching principals of living, about serving God and serving others and is a deeply prophetic message, telling what has happened in the past and why it occurred as it did; what is happening now and why it is occurring the way it is occurring; and is instructing and warning us of what is to come and how we are to prepare and how we can successfully endure what is to come. Another way of saying it is that the Bible is a very long and very detailed letter of instruction, written by a loving and concerned father to a son or daughter, who are going on a very long, arduous and dangerous journey in foreign lands.
This “Love Letter”, (The Bible), in being deeply prophetic, is giving careful and explicit instructions about the circumstances, the kinds of people, the opportunities and the dangers God’s people will encounter, and how they are to navigate this journey.
Successful completion of the journey will result in great reward and an eternal life, living in perfection. Failure to complete the journey successfully results with utter loss and eternal death in outer darkness and torment.
Secondly, what concerned me about being able to report on what I had found, is that I kept thinking, “who am I to come up with such a fantastic story as this? I am not that smart. There are many far brighter Bible teachers and theologians than me.” I keep thinking that I must be imagining what I have found or maybe I am just wrong. Besides, I would look like a fool to these wiser people.
However, after ten years of dealing with a ‘nagging feeling that I was seeing a profound truth and that God was showing me something very important, I dedicated myself to continue to study to understand and apply what I had found. The more I have prayed and studied, the more everything in the Bible has begun to make sense. Everything is falling into place. The Spiritual world and the natural world are dynamically connected. God is directing every event and every circumstance of the natural world to a preplanned conclusion. I am convinced and rock solid on this conclusion!
The Purpose of God’s Eternal Plan is “Perfection”. He is maturing and perfecting His people into His image, ultimately to live in Perfect harmony with Him and with one another, in a New and Perfect heaven and earth.
Each and every chapter, verse and word in the Bible, when viewed within this context of God’s Eternal Plan of Perfection, begins to make perfect sense.
PROVEN CHARACTER
This has been and will continue to be very a difficult journey for everyone who chooses to believe in God and to follow Jesus in faith. Read what the Apostle Peter has to say,“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trialsso that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:3-6.
Every book of the Bible, while not always written in chronological order, builds upon the previous book. It details, from Genesis through Revelation, God’s plan unfolding exactly as He purposed; from The Creation, through the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man to the Great Flood, the Tower of Babel, the Exodus from Egypt, the possessing of The Promised Land, the Destruction of the First Temple and the Jewish Captivity in Babylon, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Destruction of the Second Temple, our steady march through time has been exactly as Bible prophecy has foretold. We have entered an era leading to the destruction and, eventually, a rebirth of the heavens and the earth.
According to the Bible, the world entered the final epoch of time, known by various names, such as, “The Last Days”, “The End of The Age” the “Latter Days” and “the tribulation period”, about two thousand years ago, which was marked by the birth of Jesus. There are visible and observable signs and ancient writings to help you along your way, if you believe in such things. However, most people either don’t recognize the signs or writings or don’t believe. Even among those who believe these prophecies are coming to pass and see the signs, few know what they are seeing, where they are leading or what to do in response.
Not surprisingly, the main interest in this subject continues to be in the sensationalism of these matters; and sadly, both fictional and religious writers are profiteering and capitalizing on the subject financially. All-the-while, assuming these things are true, they are grossly ignoring the urgency and the catastrophic ramifications which are being played out.
This subject is classified as “Eschatology”, which is the study of final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. The word comes from the Greek word, éschatos, meaning “last” and -logy meaning “the study of”. Most of the major religious denominations which teach this doctrine believe it will come on the world suddenly, with an increasing intensity and will last for just seven years. This view is from a myopic view of the Bible’s history time line, and the Bible seems to tell a much different version of these events.
A study of the ‘long view’ of the Bible on this subject, will show that the End of This Age was planned before creation. God, indeed “has a plan for your life” as He has had a plan for the entire world, but it is not the “Sunday school version” you heard about. This is real, dangerous and both deadly and life-giving.
It has taken many millennium for this ‘travail’ to unfold, and we may still have many years to go. But I suppose that when you are dealing with an Eternal God who has no beginning and no end, time is not a factor. God can take all the ‘time’ He wants to execute His plan. Please come with me and let’s explore God’s Plan for creation.
WATCHING FOR THE CLUES
First, let’s consider the ‘Beginning of All Things’. Then, as we travel together, we will uncover clues to this mystery, this riddle of the ‘End of the Age’, evaluate the writings and assimilate the information to decide – How did we get here and where is all of this going?
We are in search of His Perfection, and it could change your life and the way you live it.
PREFACE
“Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the stream and the other on that bank of the stream. And someone said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?” And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish smashing the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. But as for me, I heard but did not understand; so, I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words will be kept secret and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.” Daniel 12:5-10
Come with me and be Berean. Let’s take a world tour and journey through time from before Genesis to the New Heavens and a new earth, perfected by God’s design and in His image.
Why is knowing the timing and sequence of a Biblical explanation of the tribulation period important in relation to a historical timeline. The answer is that it is because of historical events, both which have already occurred and those which are yet to take place,
(1), will be the direct results of Bible prophecy unfolding in this natural realm, and,
(2), we will have a physical historical timeline which we can identify, and finally,
(3), we will be greatly affected by these coming events and advanced knowledge of them and their approximate timing gives us the opportunity to respond as the Bible teaches so we can endure and survive these calamitous and catastrophic events.
Matthew chapter 24 and Revelations chapters 6 through 16 of The New Testament of the Bible, tells of a period of time known by various names such as “The Tribulation”, “The Last Days or the “Latter Days”, and warns and gives great details of a coming period of Great Tribulation, cataclysmic in its scope, both cosmic and terrestrial in nature, followed by “The End The Age”. (Also see Studylight.org; Also see Revelation 19-22).
This has been a great mystery throughout history. But it no long needs to be. Here is the Tribulation Timeline, in summary (Pre-Wrath, Pre-tribulation):
(One of the first, most accurate, and most persistent advocates of the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church can be found at Zion’s Hope, with videos on this site).
Finally, in this 21st century, there are a few prominent Bible teachers who are now arriving at this same conclusions (John Piper, and Corrie Ten Boom).
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 the seven-year tribulation.
Section A.4.
At the midpoint of the tribulation (1,260 days later), 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).
Here is a more complete and detailed description of the Tribulation Timeline. Concern yourself with the first SIX SEALS.
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 AD 30 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. Verse 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”, (also known as 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 2nd Tribulation Seal – Wars and Rumors of War. (This Seal was broken between A.D. 1 and A.D. 95, has been ongoing and has been overlapping the other Seals, and has been intensifying.)
the 3rd Tribulation Seal – Famine. (This Seal was broken between A.D. 1 and A.D. 95, has been ongoing and has been overlapping the other Seals, and has been intensifying.)
the 4th Tribulation Seal – Death. (This Seal was broken between A.D. 1 and A.D. 95, has been ongoing and has been overlapping the other Seals, and has been intensifying.)
The 6th Tribulation Seal – Cosmic disturbances, blood moon, darkened sun. (The Opening of the 6th Tribulation Seal is yet to come. It is The BEGINNING OF the 7 years of “THE GREAT TRIBULATION” period, also known as The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord or the Wrath of the Lamb.)
Sealing of the 144,000
The Rapture
Multitude from the tribulation before the Throne of God
All of these things and this historic time had been recorded, in various books of the Bible and is foretold in great and frightening detail, particularly in the Book of Revelation. You simply need the “eyes to see” and “the ears to hear”.
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
“For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also, we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.For in hope, we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” (Romans 8:19-25)
These may be the most misunderstood, poorly translated, under realized and oft denied words of Jesus in the entire Bible. Yet, they are clearly stated and can safely be taken at face value, that is – “if you believe in Jesus”.
Anytime you see the word “truly” (which translates as the English word, ‘amen’). This is an “emphasis marker”. It introduces a statement of pivotal importance – i.e., that is essential in interpreting the over-all passage. When you see it repeated as it is in John 14:12, know that what Jesus is saying is being ‘double emphasized’. A colloquialism would be that Jesus is “doubling down”!
WHOEVER BELIEVES IN ME
Secondly, the inescapable indictment from the most overlooked three words in this verse are, “whoever believes in me”. The reader is left with little choice here: You either believe in Jesus and will believe what He is saying at its face value, or you do not believe what He is saying, hence, you DO NOT BELIEVE IN HIM, despite what you say.
The “works of Jesus” are as broad and deep as the Bible itself. The word Jesus uses, (ergon), can mean, “work, task, employment; a deed, action; that which is wrought or made”. It can range from physical deeds to miraculous acts to faith. I would suggest you read John 6:29, “Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent”, to start your study on this, and take close notice how the listeners completely misunderstand and mischaracterized what Jesus is saying. The more Jesus explains, the more confused the crowd becomes, until they leave him in disgust and disbelief.
(I must take an aside here. I have heard so many so-called Bible teachers, preachers and pastors say this refers primarily or exclusively to “evangelism”. I.e., ‘you will make more disciples’. This is ‘primarily or exclusively’ because they cannot or will not believe what Jesus is saying, and they are diminishing the Words of Jesus. It is blatant foolishness, exposing either their gross misunderstanding of a Jesus’ plain Words, or a complete lack of faith – a rebellious denial of Jesus.)
The ‘flip side’ of this matter is those who go too far. There are those who take license, and there are many, who take these Words of Jesus and innovate, extrapolate and invent acts and behaviors of their own making, some so weird as to be Satanic.
Jesus explains, in Matthew 10:24-25, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” Luke records it as, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”
Then, in Matthew Jesus gives a stern warning in Matthew 5-19, when He says, “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven”.
If you insist that you believe in Jesus, then it follows that we must also BELIEVEHIM when He says, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do”.
If there is anything, in following Jesus, that will test your limits of faith and obedience, this is the one. It won’t be easy, but, DON’T BE ONE OF THE CROWD – EITHER OF THE CROWDS!
Follow the One and Only, Jesus – in both His Word and His Spirit.
Let’s please God through faith and by our obedience to Jesus, desiring to hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;.” 1 Peter 1:3-7
I am sharing three four testimonies of miracles, when God intervened, rescued and saved me, my family or a friend! This is to encourage those of us who struggle and for those who say they don’t.
Miracle #1 – Provision and Rescue. It Ain’t Easy!
Luke 17:6, And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
The year is 1996. I am married with two young sons. I had started a fledgling insurance agency, and we are struggling to make ends meet. Each month we invested several thousand dollars into our agency and if sales were made, we could pay our bills and care for our family.
I had built a solicitation mailing program that required we input data from new home sales into the program and that program would interface with a bulk mail program and would print and sort a pre-prepared letter and envelope to be mailed. These letters would get a response from homeowners who wanted to buy insurance. The cost was so high, that if our operation was interrupted even one week, the result would be a financial catastrophe for our family and the end of our business.
One particular week, the computer program stopped working. The data input from, what was then called ‘floppy disks’, would not work. I feverously tried again and again. I even reformatted the entire hard drive, reinstalled the operating system on the computer, reinstalled the mailing programs and when I tried to download the homeowner’s data FROM THE 26 FLOPPY DISKS, the program would fail at disk number 18, and disks 18 through 26 were the critical disks. I prayed continuously. I prayed fervently. I prayed desperately.
I worked on this for TWELVE hours (through the entire night and into the next morning), reformatting the hard drive and repeating the process, knowing that if this failed, we would become bankrupt and could not even buy groceries the next month.
I stopped in exhaustion, cried out to God, “I give up. I quit! I have prayed and prayed to you! Now, I give up.”
I started putting things away in resignation. I was defeated. My mind darted back and forth between what to do next and resentment. It was then I decided to do this ONE MORE TIME.
I restarted the computer and put disk number one into the computer. The computer whirred and gave me a screen message that confused me, “INSERT DISK #18”. I was completely confounded. It made absolutely no sense that the computer would skip disks 1 through 17 and ask for disk 18.
I followed the instruction and inserted disk #18. The program accepted disk #18 and another message came on the screen asking for disk #19. This continued until disk #26, the final disk, and after installing the data from disk #26, the machine turned itself off! It did it own its own!
My heart was beating what seemed like a hundred beats a minute. I restarted the computer and told it to start printing the mailing list, AND IT WORKED!
I was exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. I was weeping with joy as I ran upstairs to tell my wife what had happened. I was so excited that I made little sense to her. All she knew from my excited rambling was that things were working. AND, WORKING, THEY WERE!
God had answered in a humanly impossible situation, in a physically impossible way. As far as I could tell, every logical law of math and programming had been violated and transcended. Yet, here we were. Saved again. Safe and sound. BUT IT WAS NOT EASY.
When God came through, it was an intersection of the natural and the supernatural, and that IS NEVER EASY.
(And a big PS: Our business grew from that point to amazing proportions, creating a living, not only for our family, but for dozens of insurance salesmen, their families and a support staff that grew to 22 people!)
Thanks be to God!
Miracle #2 – Rescue and Restoration. It Ain’t Easy!
Luke 19:10, For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
It was, 1993 and our family were members of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Chesterfield, Virginia. I had been a Christian for about 18 years at this point, but, like so many others, I had actually been a Christian for about three years, six times! In other words, I had not grown in the knowledge of God nor in the Word.
Then something happened. Whether God lit a fire in my spirit or I, somehow, needed ‘more of Him’, (or both), I had a major ‘spiritual growth spurt’. Instrumental in this growth, I believe, was a combination of life circumstances and an intense time of Bible study and prayer through a book and course named “EXPERIENCING GOD”, by pastor Henry Blackaby.
My ‘sudden change’ from being a ‘get along to go along’ Christian and member of Oak Grove church, to being weirdly ‘on fire for God’ and ‘doing what God has called us to do’, created quite a stir among my friends and acquaintances. Some, of whom, were not so patient nor friendly about it.
One particular Sunday, just after church services, a lady approached me as we were heading to the parking lot to go home. Her name is Dale. Dale was suspicious of my ‘new walk with God’, and she hesitantly approached me and asked if I would pray for her and her daughter. I asked why she wanted me to pray, since I knew she wasn’t that fond of me. She said, “Because I know that your prayers get answered!”.
I smiled and protested slightly by saying that God would answer her prayer, too. With that, she became tearful and informed me that her daughter had taken her car and had run away from home the day before and the police had been unable to find her, and she needed God to help.
I agreed that we should pray. So I stopped walking and grabbed her hand and said, “Let’s pray”. Dale recoiled and said, “Right here? Right here out in the open?”
I answered, saying, “Yes. It sounds urgent, so let’s pray now!”
I began to pray and after only a few seconds, Dale’s cell phone rang. She answered the phone, mumbled ‘yes’, a few times and then shouted, “The South Carolina State Police have found her! She is safe, and I need to go get her! Thank you, Mike, I have to go!”
“Hold on Dale”, I insisted, “First, don’t thank me! Let’s take a minute and thank God for this quick answer. And tell me, what happened?”
“Her car stopped running, and she pulled to the side of the road just a few minutes ago. A state policeman was only a few cars behind her, so he pulled over to help and discovered she was a runaway, and called me!” She went on to say, “The policeman gave her the phone to talk to me, and she says she is sorry and wants to come home!”
We prayed and thanked God, together. Dale looked at me and said, “I still thank you, too, Mike, and I told you God hears and answers your prayers. I have just never seen Him answer that fast!”
This entire episode was full of surprises and was exciting. But, believe me when I say, IT WAS NOT EASY!
Miracle #3 – Provision. IT Ain’t Easy!
My wife, Betty, and I travelled from Virginia to Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois for a ‘parents weekend”. We would also have a chance to see our oldest son, Michael, play in a soccer game.
Michael was concerned that he would have a chance to play. So, we prayed for that opportunity. In fact, I felt my son’s prayer was a bit tentative, so I encouraged him to pray a bolder prayer, and to ask what his heart actually desired. Finally, Michael asked not only to play, but to score a goal.
The game began, but Michael did not start. We reached halftime, and Michael sat on the bench. The second half was the same – no Michael. Then, with about 5 minutes remaining, we saw the coach motion to Michael to prepare to play. Then a fun thing happened. Michael had been elected as the freshman class Chaplain at the beginning for the year, so most of the students knew him, and the students in the stand began to chant, “Michael! Michael! Michael!” (Chills down my spine!)
The score was tied, 1 to 1 and there was about 3 or 4 minutes left in the game by the time Michael got on the field. Play continued and at about the two minute mark, the opposing team’s goalie got the ball and prepared to punt it down the field. Michael was stationed about 15 yards from the goalie, but in his path. The goalie mis-kicked the ball and hit our son directly on the back side. The goalie’s forward motion took him past Michael, but the ball now laid at Michael’s feet, 20 yards from the open net. I don’t know what was going through his mind, but Michael ‘drilled’ the ball into the back of that net, with a bit of force!
The crowd erupted in cheers! Olivet now led by a score of 2 to 1. The referee signaled, “GOAL” and called for the ball to restart play, but the final horn sounded, GAME OVER!!
Afterwards, I asked my son what he thought. His remark was, “I have seen God answer prayers, but never so fast and like that!”
I have so many more to relate, but here is one that is most special to me.
Miracle #4 – Mercy, Rescue and Salvation. It Ain’t Easy!
Mark 9:24
“Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Our family was travelling from a vacation in Orlando, Florida. My sons were about five and eight years old. We stopped at a ‘pull off area’, sort-of-a rest stop, on highway A-1-A somewhere near Saint Augustine, Florida.
The weather was cloudy and blustery. The waves were splashing onto the sidewalk along the shore line, which was lined with large stones to stop erosion, I guessed.
My youngest son, I and walked to the end of a sidewalk cul-de-sac to look at the splashing water. I felt safe enough, then suddenly a huge wave crashed over the rock abutment and onto the two of us. When the water receded, my son was gone! The wave had sucked him into the turbulent water and I could see no trace of him. Prayers began to race in my mind and out of my mouth.
Psalm 116:8-9
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
Panic seized me and my first thought was, “GO GET HIM!”. So, I kicked off my tennis shoes and turned to dive into the water, which was probably a very bad idea, when another huge wave crashed onshore and as suddenly there was my son Jody, standing upright on the sidewalk, soaking wet, sputtering water and crying! I grabbed him and ran back toward the car, thinking, “WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Nobody is going to believe this.”
You know, it would be easy to say, “Yeah, well, that could have been a coincidence”, and rightly so. But, when this just keeps on happening, time after time, after praying, and believing in faith, I just have to BELEIVE!
So, believe it or not, God saved us again! AND IT WAS NOT EASY. When God gets involved, IT AIN’T EVER EASY, but it’s always good – really good – all the time!
Psalm 116:15-17
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
What more can we say? By faith, Moses? By faith, Abraham? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;and others experienced mocking and flogging, and further, chains and imprisonment.They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented(people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.”
Let’s have faith. Let’s step out on faith. Let’s pray for one another, please.
“And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” Matthew 4:23.
Imagine, if you can, what would happen in a world where medical technology was practically non-existent; no pharmaceuticals, no hospitals, the doctors’ training was less than rudimentary, and a man begins to heal every disease and every affliction among the people.
“So, his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.”Matthew 4:24-25.
Imagine the stories, the rumors, the wonders and confusion that would have spread among people. Imagine the crowds that would begin to search for this man and would begin to make pleas to Him, beg Him and demand help from Him. This man was Jesus, and IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN EASY on Him.
DISCIPLES GIVEN AUTHORITY
Read further with me in Matthew 10:1, “And Jesus called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.”
“Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.” Matthew 10:5-8.
MAKE DISCIPLES TO DO WHAT JESUS HAS DONE
And, finally, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20.
IMAGINE ACTUALLY BEING A DISCIPLE OF JESUS
You call yourself a Christian, right? Why is that? Why do you call yourself a Christian? Is it because you ‘said a little prayer, said you love Jesus, and accepted Him into your heart?” Is it because you do ‘good things’ in Jesus Name?
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will do what I have told you.” John 14:15.
Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14:21
Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23.
Calling ourselves a Christian is easy. But being a Christian, being a disciple of Jesus, AIN’T EASY – It is hard. But, just imagine! Yes, just imagine.
Many churches say witnessing or ‘soul winning’ is easy. They will say you just go into a neighborhood, and knock people’s doors, hand out literature and invite them to church.
Some other churches suggest inviting your neighbors to church at Easter, Christmas or to a special event.
This is NOT witnessing or making disciples, but it is easier than actually ‘witnessing’ about Jesus. These examples may be a starting place, but what we are told by Jesus is to “go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that Jesus commanded”. IT IS NOT EASY, so we improvise?
If you read the account of Jesus calling His first disciples, you might get the idea, “Oh, how easy is that?!”. The (Greek) language in Matthew 4:18-22, tells us that Jesus was walking around the Sea of Galilee “on purpose and with purpose”, anticipating the men He knew He would encounter. His words were simple and direct. The response is sudden and astonishing.
On the other hand, take a look at the results of two of Jesus’ disciples when they tried making disciples for Christ:
The Apostle Paul had gone to the church in Jerusalem to tell his brothers and sisters of the great things God was doing through the churches, and everyone was praising God. Then, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing Paul in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him,crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who instructs everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place!” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they thought that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then the whole city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.While they were intent on killing him.” Acts 21:27-31.
Well, that was not easy! It sounds more like an epic witnessing failure!
Or how about Stephen? Full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people, but some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. They were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom Stephen was speaking, so they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away. They shouted and rushed at Stephen, drove him out of the city, and stoned him to death. Acts 6:8 – Acts 7:60.
Ugh! Stoned to death. Nothing easy there, either!
Hebrews 11:36-38 tells us that “others experienced mocking and flogging, and further, chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.”
What’s going on here? None of this sounds like something me or any of my Christian friends would dare try. And, by the way, did someone say this was going to be easy? Did they say we could do this? (You know, we are more used to ‘Tuesday night witnessing and visitation night’.)
Still, the early Church grew exponentially. There must have been something worth more than just living life. (As it turns out, it is Jesus and eternal life with Him; and some people found it.)
Honestly, though, it has been not easy witnessing Jesus to others over the decades since Jesus was on earth. It has been even harder to make disciples – and is no easier today. There are many places in our world that still persecute and murder Christians for their testimony and for their witness. You may encounter rejection or ridicule in the Western world, but greater persecution may well be coming to your hometown, soon.
Still, this is our calling and Jesus’ command and commission to us. Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that Jesus commanded.
Let’s just say it upfront: THIS ISN’T GOING TO BE EASY!
There is a good example of one who followed Jesus. The Bible tells us of “a man, one sent from God, and his name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.”John 1:6-8.
John (the Baptist) said this about his calling, his witness and about making disciples: “I am the voice of one calling out in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord.’ I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy even to untie the strap of His sandal.” He said it, he did it, but it cost him everything. It was hard, but it was worth every minute.
I’ve tried to do what Jesus has told us to do, and I have tried to do what John said to do. I have almost always been reluctant and afraid, but at times I would just start talking.
EXAMPLES from EXPERIENCE:
One time, after a lawsuit settlement, the judge asked me why I was so generous to the plaintiff when it was shown the plaintiff and his lawyer had lied in depositions. The judge told me that because of that, I did not need to concede anything. “And, how were you able to stay so calm?”, the judge asked me.
Instead of answering directly, I related the story of Abraham and Lot, and how honoring God would bring blessings. I had known the plaintiff and had been good friends with his father, since this guy was a teenager. I felt more like an uncle to him. The judge said, “That’s quite a story”, to which I said, “Yes, and it’s the truth”.
As a result, I was able to talk to the judge about Jesus, and he was responsive.
Another example is when I had made friends with a man who had Parkinson’s disease. He, his wife and I were having lunch one day, and I asked him if he believed in God. He said he did believe in God. I asked if I could pray for him, whereupon he became enraged. He cursed me and told me to stay away from him, and to this day, he avoids me. (His wife later apologized and said she did not understand his attitude or behavior.) I had gone from being a friend to a hated adversary. This really confused and hurt me.
IT AIN’T EASY.
On another occasion, I was watching a young man, who was working as a landscaper’s helper. It was hot, he was tired, and not making much money. I sensed or decided to encourage him and to tell him about Jesus. He stopped his work and listened. I said something to the effect, “Excuse me. May I talk with you a minute?”
He responded, “yes”.
“I have just had a thought – I believe it was from God, and He told me to give you a message. Would that be O.K. with you?”
The young man smiled slightly and nodded, ‘yes’.
“God wants you to know He loves you and has a better plan for your life. A plan to help you and to provide for you in ways you cannot imagine, right now”, I said.
The young man asked what I meant, and was I a preacher?
Tears formed in this young man’s eyes, and he nodded, ‘yes’.
I reminded him, this will not be easy. You will have to endure the changes that will have to take place, but things will never be the same for you!
We prayed together. I gave him my phone number, and although I never heard from him again, I still think of him and pray for him.
YOU CAN DO THAT, TOO.
Another example is a time I witness to an attorney before testifying at a divorce proceeding. During that time, I talked to one of the lawyers about God’s love for them and His hatred of divorce. He was not happy about it, but, said he did not know and did not care if he died and went to heaven.
Then, during depositions, I testified to how God hates divorce but loves both this husband and wife and each person in the courtroom. I finished with as a personal witness for one of the couple.
Then a lawyer exclaimed, “Do you realize all of what you have said, now has to be read in open court?!”
I told him, I did not know that, but so much the better!”
Praise God! What a great surprise. (ONLY GOD CAN DO THAT).
I have had numerous similar experiences like these, but there have been other times when I have been rejected and turned away. There have been times when I was yelled at, cursed and verbally threatened.
It is never easy. Let me say it again – It just AIN’T EASY. But the more you try, the more courage you will gain. I would say, even if it isn’t easy, just do it!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Matthew 7:21-23
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
There He hung on a cruel Roman cross for all to see. The humiliation, the shame, the pain. But make no mistake, He had changed everything, forever. Neither the cosmos nor this world would ever be the same again. IT HAD BEGUN!
And “Thisislove: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10.
Friends, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be thepropitiationfor our sins.
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.”1 John 4:6 7 & 16.
Another example of how we and the media (and yes, even Fox News) are either misunderstanding why the LEFTIST are doing WHAT they are doing, the WAY they are doing it, or they are lying. Or perhaps they are deliberately misreporting the news in order to stir emotions to increase viewership for monetary reasons.
FOX NEWS’ afternoon broadcast, “THE FIVE”, led by Greg Gutfield, discussed criminal Smiley Martin, emphasizing his early release from prison over the objections of DDA Danielle Abildgaard, who said if Smiley is released he will continue to commit crimes and would likely hurt someone. THE FIVE’s conversation focused around the poor judgment, liberal ideology and stupidity of the parole office for releasing him. The criticism of Leftist thought and behavior brought to mind the unspoken question, “Why do they do that” when the results are almost always dreadful or deadly? This seems to be conservative’s standard response to Leftist politics and ideologies: Complain and criticize. But they need to be asking, ‘why do they do what they do the way they do it’? The implications of this approach are that Leftist and those who ‘lean Left’ are just that way; it is how they apply what they believe. And that may be correct for most individual Leftists. But, not for the media, politicians, policymakers and those in power. The ‘higher ups’ know exactly what they are doing, and for a more sinister reason than we give them credit for. They are creating crisis upon crisis, and a need for law and order, so they can step in and solve our problems with a new form of government – and this is a worldwide-coordinated effort, a global coup d’état.
America’s way of life is being effectively replaced with the United Nation’s 
However, former president, BILL CLINTON, signed a 1993 Executive Order, creating the 
In the United States, 
The American Rescue Plan Act provides a substantial infusion of resources to eligible state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to help reverse the negative impacts of the pandemic, address its economic fallout, and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery.” (See the 
The Bible has foretold of these events and what will follow. If you are interested and have the time, read this short article “
THESE HIGH AND NOBLE SOUNDING GOALS COME AT THE COST OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS, THE LOSS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS, CORPORATE FREEDOMS AND THE ERADICATION OF OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY – YOU BECOME EITHER A ‘SERVANT OF THE GLOBAL STATE’, A ‘WARD OF THE STATE’, OR A KEEPER OF THE STATE. FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND FREEWILL ARE TO BE ERASED ‘FOR THE GREATER GOOD’.
