“Follow (Deute) me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matthew 4:19

Jesus’ words seem pretty straight forward, as He says, “Follow (Deute – dyoo’-the) me”. But what does Jesus mean when He says, “Follow Me”?

When you look deeper into the language and at what Jesus is saying, you find that He uses this form of the Greek word ‘Deute’. Pronounced, ‘dyoo’-the’, only ONE time, and it means come hither! And, it is an exclamatory word and a command which cannot be ignored.

There are thirty-five others times recorded in the New Testament that Jesus uses the Greek word, ‘akoloutheó, which simply means to follow, to accompany or to attend.

By using the word ‘Deute’, Jesus is not making a calm, polite request. He is using an interjection, and an imperative command, “Come here now, and follow Me!”

Jesus, in saying “’Deute’, Come. Follow Me“, is telling His disciples to follow Him closely as if to be upon His back, peering over His shoulder, watching, learning, being closely identified with Jesus.

The reason and purpose for following Jesus in this way is to be identified with and as a disciple of Jesus.

A disciple’s first priority is following Jesus. Everything else is secondary. If Jesus tells them to go, they go. If he tells them to stay, then they stay. They may be like Paul, traveling the world over sharing the good news of Jesus. Or, more likely, they may be like Aquila and Priscilla, tentmakers who served in a local church.

You might be male or female; rich or poor; a preacher, an engineer, or raising children; you might have a variety of skin tones or ethnic backgrounds. But the commitment to follow Jesus, even to the cross, is common to all disciples.

There may be times, when we, as did Peter when he followed Jesus ‘at a distance’ to watch the outcome of the events when Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested and led away by Caiaphas, the scribes and high priests. But like Peter, we must confront our fears and confess our failings, and ‘Deute’, follow Him, even to our own cross if necessary.

Discipleship is a term that we often give lip service to. But we often substitute being a fan of Jesus for being a disciple of Jesus. But, as Christians, we are not called to sit in our padded pews, cheering on the worship team and preacher and paying our entrance fee. We are called to be disciples. To give up the life we had and follow Jesus, learning from him and becoming like him.

It is not enough just to evangelize. Bringing a person into a saving relationship with Jesus is just the beginning. We need to teach them to obey what Jesus commanded and to follow him wherever he leads. To be a team player rather than a fan.

And, please, let’s remember: You have to BE ONE to MAKE ONE.

• Matthew 4:19

And He *said to them, “Follow Me (deute = dyoo’-teh), come hither! An exclamatory word),

and I will make you fishers of people.” (Used in this context only ONCE in the N.T.).

• Matthew 8:22

But Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me, (akoloutheó = ak-ol-oo-theh’-o), to follow, accompany, attend), and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Used in this context 35 times in the N.T.)

• Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me (akoloutheó = ak-ol-oo-theh’-o), to follow, accompany, attend).

• Matthew 19:21

Jesus said to him, “If you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me (akoloutheó = ak-ol-oo-theh’-o), to follow, accompany, attend).”

• John 1:43

The next day He decided to go to Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me (akoloutheó = ak-ol-oo-theh’-o), to follow, accompany, attend).”

• John 10:27

My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (akoloutheó = ak-ol-oo-theh’-o), to follow, accompany, attend).”

• John 12:26

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me (akoloutheó = ak-ol-oo-theh’-o), to follow, accompany, attend), and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

This is offered in humility and love. I fail and fall short more often than I admit. I pray for you and humbly ask that you pray for me as we work to serve God and reach this lost and dying world with His Gospel – Truly, Good News.

A recent publication by Zion’s Hope magazine, dated May-June 2023, asks, “Is the Church prepared to encounter the Antichrist before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?” (Zions Hope, by Marvin J. Rosenthal, 1933-2022).

I attended a small Church in Estero, Florida for a number of years, that is, until ‘certain things’ became clear to me. For example, I cannot count the numbers of members at that church who thought (believed) that the Church would be raptured before the appearance of the Antichrist.

When the matter would come up, I pointed out (on numerous occasions), that 2^nd Corinthians 2:1, says, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, verse 2, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Verse 3. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, verse 4, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”, only to be met with a blank stare and a denial.

“Naw”, they would say, “I don’t believe that. We will be raptured before that happens”. I would take a Bible and point out the verse to them. Still, a blank stare.

Marvin Rosenthal points out, in his article, “The Scriptures clearly teach that the Antichrist and the GREAT Tribulation (the final seven years of Great Tribulation) will precede the Lord’s coming. The Church should be constantly watching for her Lord’s coming, but fully cognizant of the fact that it is the emergence of the Antichrist which will indicate the Lord’s emergence is near.

“Believers still living at that time will be removed from the earth by rapture before the outpouring of God’s wrath during the Day of the Lord (the trumpets and bowls of the Book of Revelation) , but they will not be exempted from the difficulties associated with the Antichrist.

“If the Church believes she will be out of here before the Antichrist emerges, she will be caught off-guard and unprepared when he appears to deceive the world.”

Please, dear friends, be ready. Stay ready.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

PS:   On another, but related matter, among the many reasons my wife and I had to stop attending that church was the denying of the plain language of the Bible in favor of personal opinions. (Please don’t misunderstand. There were many, many times the Word of God was taught accurately and with great sincerity in this church, and many churches like it. But suppose if you were confronted with this scenario: You are dry and very thirsty, on the verge of passing out for lack of water, and someone offered you a cool, clear glass of water – but the unrevealed caveat is that the glass container itself may have previously been contaminated with fecal bacteria – would you drink? You see, it is the “hidden, missing or omitted facts” that creates danger and should create pause.)

It happened that at some point at this church, someone in the congregation found it necessary to begin ‘giving messages in tongues’ during or at the end of a sermon. Another person, then, would dramatically ‘interpret’ these unintelligible sounds. It was almost always the same two people claiming to have this ‘gift’, and they seemed to play off one another. It awed some people in the congregation, the interruption and strange practice annoyed others. Some people didn’t care one way or another, but some left these services permanently.

I pointed out on occasion that the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:23 said, “Therefore if the whole church gathers together and all the people speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are insane?”, some in the congregation would give me a blank stare – there’s always that stare – and would ask, “what are you trying to say?”.

“What am I trying to say”, I would think? “Read it for yourself”, I would think.

Finally, this practice ‘sealed the deal’ for me and we ‘were directed by the Word of God’ to move to another Church: The Word of God proclaims, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” (1 Timothy 2:11–12). (also see GotQuestions.Org).

Also, in 1 Corinthians 14:33, we find, “For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, verse 34, the women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.”

The clarity of these verses is so loud that it is deafening. It must be deafening because it seems some ‘churches and church people’ can’t (or won’t) hear it.

The church, I refer to, had decided not to just ordain women but to appoint women as co-senior or senior pastors to preach from the pulpit – over men. (Again, 1 Timothy 2:11–12, says “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent”.

(There is a Biblical, spiritual, mental, emotional, physical and social reason for this teaching, but I do not have the time or space to explain it here.)

I have had some people in other churches tell me it is none of my business, when I bring matters like this up for discussion, since I am not a member of ‘their church’.

FIRST-OF-ALL, in response to this, I say, “it is NOT your church. It is Jesus’ Church”, it is His Bride, and you have no right and NO AUTHORITY – none whatsoever – to stand in judgment of scriptures. Your responsibility is to read the Holy Scriptures, understand them, and obey them. (Call this ‘legalism’ if you must. I offer it out of love and concern for the Body of Christ, The Church, and for our spiritual prosperity.)

Finally, I would refer you to hear what pastor and teacher John Piper says in an article (interview) on his website “Desiring God”, which he says this:

“Matthew 7:15: tells us to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” And the word beware means all of us should be alert, but especially shepherds, to identify not just false teaching, but false teachers, whose ways are subtle. They’re clothing themselves with lamb’s wool, while they are wolves.

“And Paul used the same Greek word for beware, in Acts 20:28–29 when he said, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. . . . I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing them.”

“In order to avoid them (false teachings and false teachers), you have to know who they are. You can’t avoid somebody if you don’t know who they are. This idea of identifying and avoiding shows up in 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 John 10. In other words, Christians, and shepherds in particular, should be discerning and alert to behavior and teaching that dishonors Christ and destroys people — and not treat it in a casual or harmless way.

“And then in 1 Timothy 5:19–20, Paul went beyond just “avoid them” to “rebuke them publicly.” So, speaking of elders who persist in error, he said, “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin” — and that can be sin of false doctrine or sin of evil behavior, anyone who does not accept correction — “rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.”

I know that this “PS” will not make me popular with some and will probably rub some people the wrong way. It may cost me some acquaintance-ships. If so, I will be saddened by that. But enough is enough. It’s time to speak up and to speak out.

So, what do you think?

“Is the Church prepared to encounter the Antichrist before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?”

(You can leave your comments below).

THE CHRIST:  From the Greek word ‘chrio’; Anointed One or the Chosen One i.e. The Messiah, an epithet of Jesus – Christ.

“For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray”.

If you call yourself a Christian or if you call yourself a church, traditionally and historically, you are associated with the teachings of the Bible and of Jesus.

That has changed. In fact, Jesus, near the end of His earthly ministry, was recorded by Matthew, Luke and Mark, warning that false Messiah’s would come, saying they are the Christ.

Of course, if an individual were saying he is the Christ, he would be easy to spot and therefore avoid. But, when an entire religious denomination, which had been traditionally Christian, is compromised and begins saying in so many words, “I am the Christ” by claiming the moniker of Christianity, teach a totally different Gospel, we have a problem. And, this is exactly what is happening and many have been and are being deceived.

There are many people, today, calling themselves ‘Christians’ but they are not living according to the teachings of and the example set by Jesus. They are living according to their own desires, in their own image. This is called Paganism.

Paganism, via Global-Socialist-Communist-Marxism (GSCM), has reemerged as a dominant world view and a dominant world force. Through this reemergence, a not-so-new rebranding has taken place. GSCM is cloaking itself in traditional ‘Christian language’, look-alike-behaviors and eerily similar sounding doctrines, thus the deception is underway – but for a much different reason than that of Christianity.

FIRST – You can see the professed goals and activities of the Global-Socialist-Communist-Marxism (GSCM), better known as The United Nations and its partners like the World Economic Program and the programs of the Agenda-2030.

The Preamble of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (Agenda 2030) says, in part:

“This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.

It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom.

We recognize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet.

We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.

As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing today demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda. They seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did not achieve. They seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.

The Goals and targets will stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet:”

“We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.”

The cover story for the 17 sustainable development goals of agenda 2030 is are: (1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (10) Reduced Inequality, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (14) Life Below Water, (15) Life On Land, (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, (17) Partnerships for the Goals. However, the implementation and management of these ambitious plans require a convergence of governments nations and states into one global entity under the jurisdiction of a board of select officials from various nations. It also requires cooperation and submission by government and the populous of each nation to the dictates of the United Nations agenda 2030 and the World Economic Forum. Contemporary examples of this plan can be witnessed in country such as Argentina, Cuba, China and Brazil. Participation is not optional, and resistance will be costly and futile.

Who would not want to achieve these goals and live in such a Utopian world? Beware. The goals are lofty, but, the methodologies, the implementation and the governing of the world they describe can be likened to the gulags of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, the reign of terror imposed on China by the notorious Mao Zedong or the racist Hegelian, Karl Marx’s nefarious social construct of Marxism which is responsible for the deaths of upward of 200,000,000 people. They, all, used the same Siren’s song the United Nations is using now, to lure hundreds of millions into the webs of Agenda 2030.

Although grand in scope and scale, I say it is ‘not-so-new’ because The Bible tells of the beginnings of the idea of a One World Government and warns this system is coming again – in the Last Days. “They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’

“The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

“The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.” Genesis 11:4-6

DON’T BE DECEIVED

The agenda of this “migration” and Globalism or One World Government is not the stuff of just any book. It is stuff of THE BOOK, that is The Bible.

Genesis chapter 11 gives us the prophecy, the foreshadowing of the coming One World Government.

The Tower of Babel, built around, 2242 B.C., was a post-Flood rebellion against God by Noah’s descendants. As told about in Genesis 11:1-9, it is meant to explain why the world’s peoples speak different languages. According to the account, a united humanity in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar (שִׁנְעָר). There, they agree to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven.

(NOTE: “tall enough to reach to heaven” can be a metaphor for “man reaching to heaven, making himself god, to accomplish his own desires. This is the ‘Utopian dream’ of the Socialist and Communist manifestos; the State being our god – from cradle to grave)

This effort of uniting in a global community has been underway for about 4,200 years, about 100 years after ‘The Flood’, but before Abraham was born.

This is ‘forecast’ or what is Prophesied in the Bible. It is underway, and nearly completed. We should be prepared!

Jesus and His disciples dealt with the same type of deceptions of Gnosticism and Judaism. However, as we have entered These Last Days, we are seeing a culmination of centuries of preparation for the coming false church and the antichrist.

SECONDLY – You can see evidence that the GSMC have the invaded and compromised church by investigating the Word of Faith movement, the Catholic church, the Emergent church, the compromised Nazarene church and the drift of the Presbyterian USA church, the United Methodist church and even many in the Baptist faith and church, among others.

Here is the history of the drift, invasion and compromise of the church:

AD 1 The Church of Jesus Christ, The Body of Christ, had no buildings, little money and no wealth. The Church was a Movement. Jesus said to make disciples; collect no money except to make your journey. The penalty for becoming a Christian was often death. The Church grew exponentially.

A.D. 49 The Church expanded into Greece. The Church became a philosophy to many. The Church grew and size and influence.

A.D. 313 The Church expanded into Rome and it gained recognition. It grew in power and popularity. It obtained wealth, buildings, property and influence. It became an institution.

A.D. 380 The Church expanded into Europe. It was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. It grew in wealth, stature, power and influence. It had become a culture.

1607 The Church reaches America.

1681 The Church became corporate. It had become a business and incorporated. It became regulated by the government.

The Corporate Church grew. It needed money to support growth and expansion, which meant the Corporate Church needed more people.

1777 The state of Virginia granted tax exemption to houses of worship.

1894 The corporate church was granted tax exemptions by the Federal Government.

1954 The Federal Government regulated what a church could and could not say in order to retain tax-exempt status.

The church continued to grow, and in order to attract more people the Corporate Church lowered its membership and doctrinal standards. More people became ‘members’ and gave more money to support more growth.

The Church corporation is complete with leaders, boards and membership and a business model.

Local churches compete against one another for members (customers). The church is selling itself in “three line slogans”.

The Church members now have choices and have become religious consumers. Church people can shop around for the religious brand and standards that best suits them. (2 Timothy 3)

The Leadership (pastors and preachers) have become CEOs, disciples have become church leaders, growing their 501(c)(3) business models.

Record numbers of pastors quitting because of stress, burnout or are being fired by their congregations (some stats say 1500 – 1700 leave “the ministry” each month).

Church debt in America soars; church foreclosures soar.

1968 The church ordains homosexuals as clergy.

1972 The United church of Christ ordains homosexual clergy

2010 The Lutheran church ordains homosexual clergy

2012 The Presbyterian church ordains homosexual clergy

The Episcopal Church in the United States and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have also allowed ordination of openly gay and lesbian candidates for ministry for some years.

Internationally, churches that have ordained openly lesbian or gay clergy include the Church of Scotland, the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Church of Sweden, the Church of Norway, the Church of Denmark, the Church of Iceland, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Evangelical Church in Germany, the Methodist Church in Britain, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, the United Protestant Church in Belgium, the Swiss Reformed Church, the United Protestant Church of France, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Anglican Church in Canada, the Old Catholic Church, the Czechoslovak Hussite Church and the United Church of Christ in Japan.

2020 The church is losing and has lost influence. The church in 2020 is hemorrhaging members.

2023 Much of the church claiming to be ‘Christian’ is teaching and living a different Gospel than that of Jesus and the Apostles.

If you want to follow the “New World Order” and cling to the fanatical and reach for the  unattainable, then be my guest. But, the end is foretold:

Judgment Before the Great White Throne of God

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

There is ONE WAY to life – it is found through salvation by and a relationship with the One True Living God – Jesus the Christ!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young – inviting you to come to Jesus, today.

PS:

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

 

The odds of 1 to 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 is 1 to 10 to the 157th power.

These are the odds against – yes, AGAINST – Jesus Christ having fulfilled just 48 of the over 450 prophecies written about Him.

In order to give you some perspective, electrons are very small objects. They’re smaller than atoms. It would take 2.5 TIMES 10 to the 15th power of them, laid side by side, to make one inch. Even if we counted 250 of these electrons each minute, and counted day and night, it would still take 19 million years just to count a line of electrons one-inch long.  19 MILLION YEARS!

Read that again, please.  Why is that significant?

It is significant because it gives us evidence that the Bible is true and correct when it says that Christ Jesus came to earth and is the Savior of the world.

It gives YOU evidence, if you choose to pay attention, that your life can be eternal with the only LIFE source which gives eternal Peace, Safety, Security, Joy and fulfillment the universe has ever known or ever will know.

Just think about it: It is a scientific and a mathematical impossibility that HAS COME TO PASS!

No odds can defy the REALITY of Jesus Christ.

 

Have you ever heard or thought that? “Everything is a nail to a hammer”? That may be what I have become when it comes to The Mission of the Church, but I hope that is not the case. (before going further, please click on the word, Church, for an accurate Biblical definition and description).

The Church is the Bride of Christ, made up of the children of God – Christians. And, the Church is on a mission.

If I asked YOU, what is the mission of the Church, what would you say?

Here is what some are saying:

The Gospel Coalition says, for the Evangelical, “The mission of the church is the task given by God for the people of God to accomplish in the world. In simplest terms, the mission of the church is the Great Commission.” (Kevin DeYoung, Presbyterian, PCA).

Bible.Org says, for the Evangelicals, “The Church’s Mission Is to Worship God; the chief mission God has given the church is to praise and worship him”. (credit, Gregory Brown, chaplain and professor at Handong Global University and the teaching pastor at Handong International Congregation.)

GotQuestions.Org (a prevalent Reformed view) says, “First, the mission of the church is to make disciples;  

“secondly, the mission of the church is to glorify Christ;

 “thirdly, the mission of the church is to build up the saints;

 “finally, the mission of the church is to know and love Christ so supremely as to represent Him and His values accurately and vividly to the world and serve people’s deepest needs in the way Christ Himself would meet them.

GOD HAS A PLAN AND A PURPOSE

God’s plan and purpose is revealed throughout scriptures. But you will have to step back from a myopic view of the Bible and study the long-view. What I mean is see the entire Bible as a panorama of what God has done and continues to do. 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. This is not to be confused with the Mission of the Church.

Jesus explained the Mission, set the example, trained His disciples and sent them on His Mission.

Hear what Jesus says:

John 5:17, “But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

John 5:19, “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

John 5:30, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not My own will but the will of Him who sent me.”

John 3:17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

BUILDING AN ARMY

Some say that Jesus has built an ‘army of the cross’. True enough, but it must be kept in the context that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (see Ephesians 6:12).

Jesus called His disciples and trained them in His ways.

Then, He sent them to call others to do the same. From these few,

God has raised up a Christian army of millions who have engaged the Mission.

From these few uneducated, common men, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, Jesus began His Church.

THE EARLY CHURCH WAS A MOVEMENT

From these humble beginnings, in or around A.D. 29 The Church of Jesus Christ, The Body of Christ, had no buildings, little money and no wealth. The Church was a Movement.

Matthew 16:18, says, “And, I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. verse 19. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” verse 20. Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was the Christ. 

Jesus said to make disciples; collect no money except to make your journey. Although the penalty for becoming a Christian was often death. The Church grew exponentially.

A.D. 49. The Church expanded into Greece. The Church became a philosophy to many. The Church grew and size and influence.

A.D. 313.  The Church expanded into Rome and it gained recognition. It grew in power and popularity. It obtained wealth, buildings, property and influence. It became an institution.

A.D. 380.  The Church expanded into Europe. It was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. It grew in wealth, stature, power and influence. It had become a culture.

A.D. 1607.  The Church reaches America.

Era	Estimated Christians
First century	500,000
Second century	2,000,000
Third century	5,000,000
Fourth century	10,000,000
Fifth century	15,000,000
Sixth century	20,000,000
Seventh century	24,000,000
Eighth century	30,000,000
Ninth century	40,000,000
Tenth century	50,000,000
Eleventh century	70,000,000
Twelfth century	80,000,000
Thirteenth century	75,000,000
Fourteenth century	80,000,000
Fifteenth century	100,000,000
Sixteenth century	125,000,000
Seventeenth century	155,000,000
Eighteenth century	200,000,000

 

The year 1900                                   558,000,000 (million)

The year 1970                                    1,216,131,000 (billion)

The year 2000                                  1,988,770,000 (billion)

The year 2023                                   2,604,381,000 (billion)

(reference since 1990 – from Gordon Cromwell University)

Nowadays, however, I see many church slogans, (i.e., their mission statements), that say things like “to know Jesus and to make Him known”, or “Give, Grow, Go”, or “To love Him and to be loved”, all good things. But the practice of these ‘mottos’, or slogans, are reflected in their dearth of making disciples via leading by example.

(Two small examples for you to consider: I was in a ‘discipleship training class’ in a local church and the ‘teacher’ made this remark, at the end of the class: “We are to go and make disciples, but if they don’t come to church they won’t get saved.” This reflects that the real attitude of most Christians is to ‘leave it up to the preacher. Another time in another church, the prevalent answers from a similar class was, “I would, but that is not my gift”. (Both now have declining memberships, which is sad. But is worse is they are not following the example and commandments of Jesus.)

If, by chance, you think or behave like the examples I have given, here is a ‘pin to burst your bubble’: Jesus says to ALL CHRISTIANS, that is, ALL HIS DISCIPLES, “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.”

Yes. Perhaps I am guilty of being that hammer, and yes, perhaps I do see all things as the nails that have the calling and the potential of evangelizing the entire world, until He returns – which is perhaps sooner that we might think.

Please listen, dear friends, the ‘glory days’ of America are coming to a rapid end. The safety and sanctuary of living in a predominantly Christian nation are over. If you doubt that or are hanging on to a hope that somehow some preacher or politician is going to lead us to revival, you will be grievously mistaken.

God says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Within this call to repentance, also is the inference for obedience to Him and His Word. James has reminded us that “faith without works is dead faith.” In other words, we must not just be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word, for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Let’s pray for one another that we will find the courage, strength and willingness – each one of us as individuals – to join Jesus in the harvest fields, which are indeed ripe for the harvest in these last days!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

There has been so much written about ‘how to have a happy life’, usually written by those who have achieved such a life. But for those who are struggling, it just makes little sense. For those who have lost hope, there is no coming sunrise. It’s all dark and sad and hopeless. This is a dangerous place to be.

To those who are in that dark place, PLEASE LISTEN – ONE MORE TIME, that is, if you can muster the strength. I HAVE LIVED IN THAT DARKNESS, with no idea of how to escape. I wondered how others escaped (or, for that matter, why so many others have never experienced this awful sense of failure and hopelessness). I wondered what I have done to deserve this ? Why and how this could have happened to me?

There were times that I was not sure if I wanted to go on or that I could go on.

THEN I FOUND A WAY. I have since discovered that hundreds of thousands of others, even hundreds of millions of others, have also found this answer and it changed everything. It did not just change things – a little or a lot. It completely and radically changed them for the better!  Then everything around them, and every chance, every circumstance, every situation that might touch their lives followed suit.

PLEASE HEAR ME: THERE IS AN ANSWER. THERE IS HOPE. THERE IS AN ESCAPE TO A BETTER PLACE. But you will have to read this and believe, even if you have to drag yourself there. As weak as you may feel, reach deep and find just one tenth of one ounce of courage (the weight of a mustard seed), this one more time.

This will – if you will – change your life in wonderful ways.

Change won’t seem to come instantly, although you will have been changed in an instant, “in the blink of an eye” as the Bible puts it. You and your life’s trajectory will immediately be put on an upward trend, and the day will come when others will say they don’t recognize you as the person you once were. You, in fact, won’t even recognize that man or woman, boy or girl you used to be. And, nothing will ever be the same again.

The Answer seems to be a secret, since so many people continue to languish in fear-bordering-on-terror, being confined and chained in the dankness of a prison cell of their own making. But it is not a secret. Please hear me: This seems to be a secret only because many of you in bondage don’t want to know.

It is up to the ‘hearer’ to hear. It is up to the observer to see. It is up to you to know.

THINK WITH ME

A man comes from seeming obscurity, quietly enters the world scene, and begins to work miracles. As time goes by, His works are witness by hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of people, working miracles, saving lives, controlling the elements, reversing death, raising people from the dead, healing broken minds and broken bodies, driving away and defeating the darkness for all who would believe. He won’t accept money, and He rejects recognition and hides from fame. But the world takes notice, and the effects have lasted for over two centuries. He changed the world and redefined how to think.

His Power is still available, and it is waiting to be discovered by you. He will present it to you Himself, but you have to decide to see with your own eyes, hear with your own ears and believe it for yourself.

This “power” as I have called it, is not a nebulous or an ill-defined concept. It is a living Person. The person of Jesus. The Bible tells you that He is saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” The Spirit of Jesus lives on and is real and ever present for those who will receive Him and what He has to offer.

He can and is willing to heal your mind, your body and your soul. He can and is willing to raise you up from your bed of sickness and death – whether physical, emotional, spiritual, relational – to restore the things you have missed out on or have lost, and He will create new and wonderful things in your life you previously thought were out of your reach.

You no longer need be chained to that rock of human misery and suffering – which in fact is our exile from God.

He makes but one demand: You must believe.

He extends His Grace of mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration and promise to all who will believe. Your belief comes in the form of faith, and even this faith is a gift from God to those who choose to believe.

It is by God’s great mercy that we can receive this gift. We are born again to a new life, all because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now – if you choose – you can live with great expectation, and have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

And through your faith, God will protect you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed for all to see.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead. And even though you must still endure many trials for a little while, these trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So, when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

Sounds too good to be true? You will have to find out for yourself. You have to call on Him, believe Him, trust Him and follow Him. But, it is all up to you.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

PS: I am praying desperately and fervently for you. Reach out to Him. Please.

 

Do you ever have those days (or months) when it seems like everything you do encounters opposition? It is like everything is going against you?

The Bible address matters like these. One real-life story, in particular, is found in the book of First Samuel, chapter seventeen. It is about the battle between a huge man, described as a giant Goliath and a small boy named David.

(There are those who say this did not really happen, but it did happen and the details and outcome are so significant that it has been preserved over the last 2,800 years, serving us several invaluable object lessons for living an effective and victorious life.)

While reading this account in 1^st Samuel, imagine with me if you will, that the

(1) Philistines in this story are the disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures that one may face in life.

(2) Saul and the men of Israel and Judah represent you and your position in life.

(3) David, son of Jesse, represents a type of Christ, our Hope.

1 Samuel 17:1, Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. Verse 2. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. Verse 3. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.

Samuel 17:4. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span (9 feet 6 inches tall). Verse 5. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze (121.25 pounds). Verse 6. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. Verse 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron (14.5 pounds). And his shield-bearer went before him. Verse 8. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. Verse 9. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” Verse 10. And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.”

Verse 11. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Verse 12. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years.

 Verse 16. For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.

Verse 24. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.

Verse 26. And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Verse 32. And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33. And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”

 Verse 40. Then David took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

Verse 41. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. Verse 42. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. Verse 43. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Verse 44. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”

Verse 45. Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Verse 46. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, Verse 47. and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

Verse 48. When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. Verse 49. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

Verse 50. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.

NOTE: This is a real event which also makes for a great metaphor. A metaphor  representing the ‘giants and what appears to be overwhelming threats and troubles’ we may face in our lives. This actual event from the Bible gives us a monumental truth which, when applied, gives us the identical stupendous results in our individual lives. Once again, re-read this story with the 

• Philistines in this story as representing the disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures that you may face in life..

• Saul and the men of Israel representing you and your position(s) in life.
  

• David, son of Jesse, representing a type of Christ, your Hope and salvation in life.

RECAP:

1. Now the ‘Philistines’ gathered their armies for battle, which are those disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures you may face in life.
   1. They gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah. Notice that they are encroaching into your life, into your spaces and areas.
2. And Saul and the men of Israel, which are our lives and our positions in life, were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. We can’t escape these dangers and threats, and we must face off with them.
3. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
4. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath which are those disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures you may face in life.
   1. whose height was six cubits and a span (9 feet 6 inches tall), and they tower over us and over our lives. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze (121.25 pounds). And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron (14.5 pounds). And his shield-bearer went before him, and all our eyes see is defeat even before we begin, and it brings fear and terror.
   2. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, am I not all of your disappointments, your trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures you may face in life?
5. and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” I taunt you. I threaten you.
   
   1. When Saul and all Israel, which is your position and place in life, heard these words of the Philistine, you are dismayed and greatly afraid.
   2. For forty days, (with judgments, testing and trials, which will lead to a spiritual truth and a significant change to come forth for Israel), the Philistine comes forward, with all disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures he would have you face, and took his stand, morning and evening.
6. Then David, representing a type of Christ, your Hope and your future, SAID to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David SPEAKS God’s Words which are also our Words.
   1. And David representing a type of Christ, your Hope and your future, said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine”  who is bringing disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures.
   2. Then David took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones, (which in the Hebrew means ‘to build, to fortify, to rebuild’), from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
   3. And the Philistine bringing disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine spouting disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”
   4. Then David, son of Jesse, representing our type of Christ, our Hope and your future, said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
   5. When the Philistine bringing disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures arose and came and drew near to meet David who represents a type of Christ and our Hope and future,
   6. David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine who was bringing disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures.
   7. And David, representing a type of Christ, our Hope and our future, put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
   8. So, David, our type of Christ, our Hope, our future and our victory, prevailed over the Philistine’s disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.

The Philistine’s methods are always taunting threats, weapons of flesh and blood, and the appearance of imposing physical strength.

David’s methods (Christ’s methods) are always the Word of God delivered “into the forehead – ‘between the eyes’, so to speak.

When we are faced with the besetting troubles of the Philistines in life, we must say the words of David, (who was and is a type of Christ), “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine of disappointment, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

“You (disappointment, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures) come at me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in The Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

“This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines of disappointments, trials, troubles, hurts, besetting problems, illnesses and failures this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into my hand.”

Hear it. Speak it. Do it, and live!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

Please note: the results represented in these verses seem to be immediate, but in reality, they are the culmination of long-standing circumstances. So it may be in your life. Your rescue and salvation may occur immediately or it may take considerable time for the results to be manifest. But do not lose heart or turn away. It will come to pass!

Is it God’s Intention to Bless you?​

I believe that one of God’s primary desires is to Bless His own. 

​God’s first and greatest Blessing is the Blessing of Salvation by His Grace though faith in Jesus, His Son.  Then, there are His blessings of love and mercy and prosperity toward those who believe.

Some years ago, I became a serious advocate of God’s intentions to Bless His own people.  That is, God intends to Bless those who seek Him diligently.

Some people just don’t like to hear (or think) that God Blesses people beyond the Greatest of Blessing, that is His Blessing of Salvation through faith in Christ, for those who call upon His name.

But, I say it is true.

I have also been reflecting on what some people have said to me, over these years, regarding the “Blessings of God”. 

Some people have told me “Yeah.  God may have done ‘this or that’ for you or for others, but that does not mean He will do ‘this or that’ for everyone.  You are just making me feel bad saying God will do ‘this or that’ when He hasn’t done it for me.”

It also seems obvious that not everyone who says they believe, are being blessed!  It seems many are suffering some form of trial or tribulation. God allows us, and at times causes us to go through trials and tribulations, but He is always with us IN and THROUGH times of trouble. The Bible teaches us that (1), “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but He rescues us from them all; (Psalms 34:19). (2), “God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45). (3), God uses trials and tribulations to conform us to His image. (1 Peter 1:6-9).

We have to remember that God, through His Son, and the use of His judgements, separates us from sin, so that sin does not separate us from Him.

God’s judgment is an extreme act of mercy.  An act of Devine love, justice and mercy.

For an example, look at Adam and Eve.  They were expelled from the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience, sinful attitude and behavior. 

First, God places the blame squarely where it belongs, on Satan.  Look at what God said in casting Adam and Eve from the Garden:

“The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you…” Genesis 3:14

Because Adam and Eve had gained the “knowledge of good and evil” they would now live forever in their fallen condition.  So, God, by His great mercy said,  “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” — 

“Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden” (Genesis 3:23-24)

God was showing extreme mercy using extreme methods for extreme circumstances.  God always has a Plan.  God’s plan for humankind was Jesus Christ.  He was our future as our redeemer.  

But, we had to be taught about His great love through various trials.

It is important that we remember that God was not angry with Adam and Eve and God is not angry with you as His child.  God was displeased.  But His anger was, and always will be, toward sin.  This is another of God’s principals which never changes. 

God, through His righteous judgments of “exile and captivity”, separates sin from our lives so sin does not separate us from Him.

(By the way, we as, Christians, must adopt this principal for our lives.  Jesus tells us “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Matthew 6:14-15)

Coincidentally, someone I know who is going through a difficult time, posted verses regarding God’s intended Blessings toward Believers from Jeremiah chapter 29:11, ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”.  I imagine he posted them to remind himself of God’s kind and generous intentions toward all Believers, and perhaps to gain strength and to keep hope alive for his future.

This is a TRUTH from God’s Word, but, it can easily be taken out of context.  And when God’s Word is taken out of context it is usually improperly applied and rarely comes to pass.  Hence, we have an example of how people level unjust criticisms of God’s intention to Bless those who seek Him and to grant them His Favor.

Here is the context these verses: 

Most of Israel has been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s armies and the Jewish people have been taken into captivity and sent to Babylon.  This is a picture of extreme trouble and distress which has come upon the Jewish people and nation because of their sin and rebellion toward God.  God’s principals found in Jeremiah 29, never change.  You and I can and do suffer because of our sinful rebellion toward God, just like Israel.  

Remember, however, that there is a remedy for sin and God’s judgment – and His Name is Jesus!  But also remember that there was a just CAUSE for God’s judgments.

Jeremiah 29:1 ¶  Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

​Verse 2. “(This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)

Verse 3. “The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

Verse 4. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

Verse 5. ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.

Verse 6. ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.

Verse 7. ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’

Verse 8. “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.

Verse 9. ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.

Verse 10 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

Verse 11. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Verse 12. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Verse 13. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Verse 14. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into .’

We can see what happened to Israel.  But, what is God’s intended meaning of this “EXILE” and “CAPTIVITY”? 

NOTE:  This word, “EXILE”, literally means

• “to uncover oneself,

• to be removed from where you have been,

• to be disclosed and discovered,

• to uncover your nakedness,

• to be revealed, to lay bare”.

 
The CAUSE of the EXILE was the people’s sin.

The RESULT of the EXILE was to expose the people’s sin and rebellion.

The REMEDY of this EXILE can be seen in verses TEN through FOURTEEN:  

Jeremiah 29:10  “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

Verse 11. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Verse 12. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Verse 13. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Verse 14. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

God warns his people, however, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.

Jeremiah 29:9,  ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.”

God’s intention is to expose their sins and to make them aware of their condition, so they can repent and be restored.  But many of their preachers and prophets were deceiving them.  They were telling them what they wanted to hear.  They were telling them, in essence, that “God loves you too much to love you any less”, regardless of your sinful behavior and rebellion toward God and His laws.  And, while this may sound right, it is only half-true, which is actually a LIE.

The people were conducting their lives based on subtle lies about God’s Law.  They were being taught by false prophets.  THIS IS THE REASON THE PEOPLE OF GOD FELL DEEPER INTO SIN AND REBELLIION and eventually suffered God’s Judgment for correction.

The current condition of the church in America could be considered to be similar.  The preachers (prophets) are using the same words contained in the Bible but they are only “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” (2Timothy 3:5)

God warns us, the “New Testament Christians” to beware…

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” 2 Peter 2:1

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:4

Read these verses from  Jeremiah 29:10-14, again: 

“For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”

Do you want the Blessing of God?  I know I do.

If you are in a difficult situation that is the result of your behavior or for reasons you don’t understand, just accept God’s correction for your “Seventy years”

“Seventy Years” literally and symbolically means

• • • “to take an oath;

    • be a lover of God over being a hater of God. 

    • The number Seven is a number of completion and perfection “ten times over”. 

​

So, the result of your “Seventy Years” of “exile” brings you to ‘swear a perfect and complete oath of love and obedience in your heart’ toward God, ).

Know and have faith that He “will visit you again and He will fulfill His Good Word to you, to bring you back to your place.”

Always have faith; know in your heart that God “know(s) the plans He has for you, and those plans are for your welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope”. That promise never changes.

Then, after your “Seventy Years of exile”, you WILL “call upon Him and go to Him and pray to Him, and He will listen to you when you seek Him with all your heart.  You will find Him and He will restore you”.

Thus says the Lord.

Now, Let’s Go, and Be Blessed.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

ALWAYS LEARNING AND NEVER ABLE TO ARRIVE AT A KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH

The U.S. Education System is rife with Pagan teachings, ideologies and practices and has been effectively indoctrinating our children – your children – over the last seventy-five years. So effective has been the indoctrination that, according to the Arizona Christian University (and George Barna research), the percentage of Americans holding a Biblical worldview has dropped to an abysmal four percent. Correspondingly, we have seen a rise in wars and rumors of war, new diseases, plagues, famines and earthquakes, persecutions of Christians and a love lost for one another.

In proportion to the decline in people possessing a Biblical worldview, there is a sharp rise to 82% of American who hold a worldview other than a Biblical worldview. (Refer to the Christian Research Center).

(A Biblical worldview is defined as a means of experiencing, interpreting, and responding to reality in light of biblical perspectives. This view provides… (click this link for a full description of this term.  Additionally, there are seven principles that form the cornerstones of a Biblical worldview: Please click here for those principles and cornerstones.)

“When you put the data in perspective, the Biblical worldview is shuffling toward the edge of the cliff”, says George Barna. “As things stand today, Biblical theism is much closer to extinction in America than it is influencing the soul of the nation. The current incidence of adults with a Biblical worldview is the lowest since I began measuring it in the early 1990s.”

So, what does the mean?

1. For today? It would be easy to conjecture that, according to the idea of a coming Great Apostasy, that is foretold in apocalyptic scriptures, that the day of Apostasy has already arrived.

(Apostasy is the rejection of Christianity by someone who formerly was a Christian. The term apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia, meaning defection, departure, revolt or rebellion. It has been described as “a willful falling away from, or rebellion against, Christianity. Also see GotQuestions.Org.)

The Apostasy is referenced in Matthew 24:9-12, Revelation 6:9, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4.  It is important to note that these verses, these warnings, were written to the people in approximately A.D. 30 to A.D. 60, and were meant for all Christians leading up to the ‘End of This Age’, beginning with the breaking of the 6^th Tribulation Seal (a future event). In other words, like the other first four tribulation seals,

The 1st Tribulation Seal  –  Global conquest and political intrigue,
The 2nd Tribulation Seal –  Wars and Rumors of War,
The 3rd Tribulation Seal  –  Famine,
The 4th Tribulation Seal  –  Death,

The 5th Tribulation Seal  –  Martyrs, persecution, Anti-Christ, falling away, had been broken sometime between the birth of Jesus and A.D. 90. These seals have overlapped and have been increasing in intensity.

2. For the future? The 6^th tribulation seal is the next seal to be broken, which marks the beginning of the final 7 years of a great tribulation which has not been since the beginning of time and never will again. This is also known as the beginning of The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord and the End of the Age.

“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 heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet-call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

3. For now? “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”

4. The conclusion? We are standing at the precipice of the End of this Age and the beginning of the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, when God will pour out His finals judgments on this world.

For those who fall into the 96% of those who do not believe that the Bible is accurate to the point of being totally without any error, please reconsider what you have been taught. Ask God to show you the Truth. Your time is short, and your fate need not be seals. Please don’t be that person who ‘wails in an outer darkness and gnashes his or her teeth‘ and laments, ‘I wish I had listened’.

For the remaining FOUR PERCENT, take heart, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel: “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.”

“But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.”

“In the same way, then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”  Romans 11:1-6

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

PS: The Bible is written to every man, woman and child. It is written for you to understand. But, you cannot “hear” the Word of God if you are not His disciple. “It is foolishness (only) to those who are perishing”.

(Or are you – really thinking?)

There are strains of thought in science, philosophy and in pseudo-science (science fiction) being taught to our younger generations, which advances the idea that human beings “are not just external observers of (the world and) the universe around us, but are part of something spectacular that can teach us a kind of humility and gratefulness that can inform us how to live today”.  This ideology purports to teach us ‘how to live’ in contradiction to the Bible. It says that we are but one more part of the universe. This worldview is that we are no better and no worse than any living organism; and every living thing (bacteria, single cells, plants, animals, etc., even inert matter).

One of these ‘ideologies’ is named ‘biocentrism’ which encompasses all environmental ethics that “extend the status of moral object from human beings to all living things in nature”. Biocentric ethics calls for a rethinking of the relationship between humans and nature. It states that nature does not exist simply to be used or consumed by humans, but that humans are simply one species amongst many, and that because we are part of an ecosystem, any actions which negatively affect the living systems of which we are a part adversely affect us as well, whether or not we maintain a biocentric worldview. ‘Biocentrists’ observe that all species have inherent value, and that humans are not “superior” to other species in a moral or ethical sense.

Advocates of ‘biocentrism’ often promote the preservation of biodiversity, animal rights, and environmental protection. The term has also been employed by advocates of “left biocentrism”, which combines deep ecology with an “anti-industrial and anti-capitalist” position (according to David Orton et al.).

The four main pillars of a biocentric outlook are:

1. Humans and all other species are members of Earth’s community.
2. All species are part of a system of interdependence.
3. All living organisms pursue their own “good” in their own ways.
4. Human beings are not inherently superior to other living things.^[8]

This is nothing basically new, it just has a new ‘scientific’ twist. Alleging that ‘there is no God’ and that all living things ‘evolved into us’ or just magically appeared is as old as time itself.

However, the ‘militant scientific atheist left’ is teaching this in our schools and colleges as ‘scientific and philosophical fact’, successfully convincing our young men and women that God is either dead, irrelevant or has no place beyond the mystical realms of fantasy.

This kind of thinking reduces the idea that “we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and in the very image of God, our creator”, to the idea that we are no better and no worse than a flesh eating bacteria, a deadly virus lurking about in a cesspool or the carbon elements being scattered across the cosmos by an asteroid drifting in space.

Contrary to a mindless philosophical approach to life, we have evidence that “God said, “Let us make man^[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

^“So, God created man in his own image,
in the image of God, he created him;
male and female he created them.

 ^“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So, the war rages on. Good versus evil, lies and deception versus The Truth, God over Satan and his desire to steal, kill and destroy.

It is our job to engage this war and to do our part by teaching and preaching and living the Truth of the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus to the best of our abilities every chance we get, especially in our own homes.

(When our sons would come home from college for the summers, I would ask them what they had learned in class that year. I would then begin the process of ‘deprogramming’ them and realigning their thought with God’s Word. And ironically, our sons attended a “Christian” college).

Dear friends, let’s not be deceived. Let’s be Berean, indeed.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

THE WORDS OF JESUS

Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional – Part 63

“You will see the Son of Man.”

“But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”

The Words of Jesus, Matthew 26:63-68.

The challenge by the high-minded high priest, made blindly and carelessly in the name of ‘the living God, is for Jesus to tell him if Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!

Jesus, as only He can do, cuts straight to the point and says “you have said so”, entrapping the high priest by his own words. Although he may have said the right words, it is only by chance, and he is completely ignorant of the truth in what he has just said.

Jesus, next make this prophetic statement and literally sets His Royal Seal on these remarks by announcing the coming 6^th Seal of the Great Tribulation period, ”But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Jesus is warning this high priest and all people of the coming judgment. He is repeating to the high priest what He has already revealed to His disciples, “The powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Read Matthew 24:29-31 for the entire answer.)

These Jews did not believe Him, although they had the prophecies in their Torah. They accused Jesus of blasphemy, said He deserved death for His words. They spit in his face and struck him. Some slapped him, mocking His Prophecy, and mocking Him as the Christ.

There are those in our day who deny a literal tribulation period and a literal 7 years of a Great Tribulation Judgment (also known as Daniel’s 70^th Week, or The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord). They also deny a literal rapture of the Church, in spite of Jesus plain warnings.

A recent survey shows the majority of evangelical Christian leaders worldwide, believe in the Rapture, the teaching that as the end of the world draws near, Christians will be instantly taken up to heaven, leaving non-believers behind to suffer on earth. Six in 10 evangelical leaders, or 61 percent, say they believe in the Rapture of the Church.

However, only around 40 percent of the people calling themselves Christians believe they will be raptured or ‘snatch away’ from the earth which will then be thrown into a fiery chaos and then taken to the safety of heaven.

Yet here we read the literal words of Jesus, which have revealed this truth, first to His disciples and as a warning to the Jews and their high priest – judgment is coming; but they did not believe. Many others in our day do not believe, and they will be caught unprepared and will suffer greatly.

Do not be lulled into complacency. Do not listen to the naysayers. If you are to err, err on the side of caution. Take Jesus at His Word – and live!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

Further reading on the beginning of the end, The Sixth Tribulation Seal, and The Sixth Tribulation Seal, part 2.

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