Predestination and TULIP: True or False? Part 1

 More churches are preaching Calvinism.  This system of beliefs is from John Calvin, a “theologian” of the 1550s. It was adopted by the Presbyterian, the Reformed, and the United Church of Christ doctrines a long time ago, and is an important tenet in about half the Baptist churches.  Most megachurches preach it, and most evangelical authors believe it.  It is a growing phenomenon among evangelical churches, according to a New York Times article (January 3, 2014).  But what is Calvinism?

It is represented by the acronym TULIP:

T=Man’s Total Depravity

U=God’s Unconditional Election

L=Christ’s Limited Atonement

I=The Holy Spirit’s Irresistible Grace

P=Preservation of the saints

I would like to summarize each in turn, as Calvinists see them.

Total Depravity, according to Calvinists, means mankind has no desire, or, more importantly, no ability, to approach God for salvation from his sin, which prevent God from admitting him in heaven--without help.  Man has no free will to accept Christ.  Man is spiritually dead, really dead.  Consequently, the only way he can be saved is for God to take the initiative. Not from friends, nor evangelists.  The seed they attempt to sow falls on a dead plain.  God has to initiate.

Unconditional Election means God made a choice to save certain people before they were even born, without regard for any future works of theirs, good or evil, being part of His decision about who would go to heaven, who would go to hell.  They were “pre-destined” for their final destination. The people He chose for heaven was a totally arbitrary move on His part; the decision was made before they were born. Those who would be ultimately saved were the "elect." Those not so lucky to be picked, shall we say, go to “the other place.”

Limited Atonement:  Jesus did not die for everyone; only for His ultimately saved elect people.

Irresistible Grace:  God’s action to save a person who is predestined for heaven cannot be resisted by that person.  Since they were elected, and predestined to enter heaven, God will not have His choice denied.

Perseverance of the saints:  God keeps and protects His people so they can never be lost.  Once you are saved, you are always saved.

I would like to comment on each of these points, proving that they are not taught in Scripture.  On several point, Scripture teaches the opposite, in fact. (I have another blog on John Calvin, if you’d like to know what manner of man he was.)

Total Depravity

Several of Calvin’s doctrines teach that man does not have a free choice.  Calvinism teaches that man cannot approach God; God has to approach man.  Abundant Scriptures dispute this. Consider Revelation 22:17:

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

 As the verse implies, "let him who thirsts...desires, take the water," we can have a desire for Christ, on our own, and see our need because of our sin. The original King James says “Whosoever will…take the water of life…”  That means “whosoever wills their mind to it, or “whosoever has a desire to…” God would not call us, as this verse indicates, unless we can respond.  To think otherwise would be a cruel hoax on God's part.  It’s our choice.  We have the power to will ourselves to turn to God. In Deuteronomy 30:19 God says, “Choose life.”  Joshua 24:15 says, “Choose this day whom you will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  The word “choose” suggests that decision is within our power. In John 5:40 Jesus says,

 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

 Would Jesus have said that if it were impossible for us to do, if we presumably are not able?  Of course not.

Calvinists love to cite John 6:44:

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

There, they say, the Father must draw us first.  But they fail to mention John 12:32, which explains what Jesus meant by being “drawn.”

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.

His crucifixion (and resurrection) does the drawing.  Not some choice God made before we were born. Also, note the importance of that little word “all.”  Truly a non-Calvin word, considering their “limited” atonement idea.

Calvinists have another pair of favorite verses, John 12:39-40:

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”

 Folks, the idea that God blinds our eyes or erects obstacles to people wanting to be saved from their sin is slander to His character. Let’s not forget II Peter 3:9 about God’s love for us and His wonderful desire for our fellowship:

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

So what is the meaning of, “He has blinded their eyes?”  Quite possibly, this word is Jew-specific.  The Jews had proven, by earlier chapters in John (like chapters 7 and 8) that they blinded their own eyes. They hated Jesus from the start.  He disrupted the system. The phrase “He has blinded” probably means God often sets us in a circumstance that lets us see or make public which side we’re on.  If we choose against Christ in such a test, it is the choice we do on our own. What He is doing is, He will not just let us drift into hell without a display to ourselves of where we stand. If we don't want to see it at that point, that's on us.  Such a test is to our own benefit because it hopefully makes us think of our choice, and hopefully change our mind at some point, or makes us fear judgment if we see that we are in rebellion to Christ.

So, we conclude that God would not blind our eyes, without us blinding Him.  He would love it if ALL would be saved; that’s the patient desire of His heart.

Or, consider Romans 1, where people that are reprobate have blinded vision.  Plenty of Jews were (and, sadly, are) in that category. Here's another verse:  When Calvinists read Ephesians 2:8-9:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Think about the word “it.” What is its source? They think that faith is the gift of God. And, of course, they then assume God provides the faith—nothing we initiate.  Well, to dispute this, any Greek student who studies grammar will tell you that the sentence is set up so that grace is the gift of God. Yes, His grace is not of ourselves.  But God provides grace to everyone, not just “the elect.” True, we, under this definition, cannot boast that we did something to earn God’s grace. But this is separate from having to make a choice to put our faith in Jesus.

On a side note, Calvinists argue that the words “free will” are not used in the Bible in connection of salvation.  But the term is used 17 times in connection of offerings that we make to God, which we voluntarily give.  That is a model of God’s intention.  He does not like robots.  He desires that we give ourselves to Him voluntarily, of our free will.

Unconditional Election

This is the Calvinist idea that God chose some of us to be saved, and His determination did not require any prior action of good works on our part; (they assume that we would claim to "deserve" salvation).  It was unconditional love for the elect on His part (and unconditional bad news for the rest of humanity who were not so chosen. In effect, God chose them for hell). To dispute this, consider Romans 10:9:

…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Well, does that place conditions on us to be saved?  Of course.  On the other hand, if God is making you open your mouth, and making you believe what He wants you to believe, then we would truly be robots.  And we’ve already disputed that.

The favorite verses for this belief for Calvinists are Romans 9:10-18:

…when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac ¹¹ (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), ¹² it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. ¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵ For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”¹⁸ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

Calvinism tries to claim that Jacob was chosen to be saved by God’s election, unconditionally, beforehand--and Esau was not so chosen. But this is a New Testament quote from the Old Testament.  Let’s look back, as we should always do, to get context, at the original Scriptures. We will find that the subject here is NOT salvation—and it is not even about Jacob or Esau!  The first quote, “the older shall serve the younger” (see v. 12 above), was from Genesis 25:23.  Here is the original verse:

And the Lord said to her (Rebekah, Isaac’s wife): “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.”

 With the words “nations,” and “peoples” (twice), we see God is not talking about Jacob or Esau, but about their tribes of descendants.  A very important find. You see, in later Scripture in Genesis, we don’t find Esau serving Jacob at any point (in fact, at one point, Jacob bows to him and gives him gifts).  But we do see that the nation Israel (from Jacob) dominates over the nation Edom (from Esau).  Thus, this entire quote is about nations. That’s what prophetically came true. Importantly, God can choose one nation to dominate over another without defying His rules on individual salvation.

The second quote, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” (v. 13 above) is found in Malachi 1:2-3.  For context again, let’s take a look back, again, at the original:

"I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; ³ But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”

Here again, the completion of the sentence put a whole different meaning on it:  it refers to “mountains and his heritage”—thus, again, the nation, the descendants of Esau, are in view, not Esau himself.  Consider also, the name Esau means "hairy;" and the word Edom (the nation) means "red." So he and the nation's DNA were red-haired folks.  The words are tied together.  So when you use the name, you could be referring to the ascendant of the nation.  Thus, there is no clear evidence that God hated the man Esau.  And thus, God does not doom a man before he is even born or “save” a man before he is born.  Thus, His election in the Calvinistic manner of defining it does not stand. The Romans 9 verses, so loved by Calvinists, does not really say what they want it to say.  The salvation of Jacob or Esau is not at issue as they think.  To me, the answer is pretty clear:  It simply makes no sense in God's character to say that He hated someone before they were born.

Let’s just talk a little about what brings about salvation in the Old Testament; Isaac was born of Abraham’s faith in God’s promise.  It took faith to believe that they could have a son, since they were too old.  Isaac was also born to a free woman, Abraham’s wife Sarah. Ishmael was born of a slave woman, born of Abraham’s weakness of the flesh.

Isaac, to show his faith, took a wife from God’s chosen people; Ishmael took a pagan wife.  As you can see, they made choices. Faith in God produced salvation in the Old Testament.

God simply foreknew that Esau’s descendants would hate God, and worship idols (which is the case); so He chose the nation Israel to carry His Commandments and Old Covenant to the world, so people could see their sin before His judgment.

Let’s talk more about the big elephant in the room, the major flaw in Calvin's theology: how could God “un-elect,” and send a man to hell before he is even born?  That’s what the election of a few, and thus the rejection of the majority, means. Such a thing is not His character, folks!  All of His Word tells of His patience for all to turn to Him; He wants us to make a free choice.

For a Scriptural definition of predestination, look at Romans 8:29-30:

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰ Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

 Note how it doesn’t begin as “whom He predestined, He foreknew...”  It starts with His foreknowledge.  What is foreknowledge?  God is the master of time; He knows what every person in the world will do all their lives in all of history—before any of it happens. An incredible feat.  What’s even neater, for us, is that He will inject Himself personally into our lives at just the right moment, doing everything with a goal of having us see His love for us and hopefully having us see the failure of the cultures of the broken world to keep us happy.  Yes, He knew before we were born which of us would be saved.  But foreknowledge does not mean that God was in control of our decision. He watched and wooed through time. He could see ahead of time that some of us would accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.  As a result, we were predestined for heaven. But even though He knew this before we were born, He never made the choice for us.  He directs outside activity to help all of us lean His way, but some people still reject Him; and ultimately He has to watch us make a choice—for good or bad.  Our election is our own.

Acknowledgement:  The sermon of pastor Anderson, Five points of Calvinism Refuted, in 2013, was softened, edited, and summarized. But we haven’t. This week we've covered the letters TU. See next week for the "LIP" of TULIP in Calvinism.

 

The Kingdom of God in the Mind of Christ in the Beatitudes

 Getting saved is not the end of God’s design for our lives; it is a means to an end.  The end is to be a functioning member of the Kingdom of God.  We must move away from a “Save Me” religion, which is wanting something for me—rather, it should be something that God wants--a kingdom, ruled by His children.

The best definition of the Kingdom is in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven…”  We want God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  How is God’s will done in heaven?  We have a very beautiful picture in Isaiah 6, where he is telling us that King Uzziah died.  He was a good king, reigned for 52 years, one of the more powerful kings of Judah—the nation did many great things under him.  Isaiah placed great confidence in him.  But the king became very proud, and decided to reach out and become a priest as well (forbidden in Israeli religion).  When he made the offering in the temple, God struck him with leprosy. And from then to the end of his life, the prophet Isaiah had to hear this man whom he had admired, shouting repeatedly outside the congregation “Unclean! Unclean!” That was a warning that he approached. It was a requirement in their law.

God knew the sadness Isaiah had, but He wanted to teach Isaiah that we should place limited confidence in Man. Only in God. So He gave Isaiah a vision—he saw the Lord high and lifted up, and the train of his garment filled the temple. He made Isaiah see reality--the greatness of God, much more than the greatness of Uzziah.  Then he saw the seraphim—and that’s where we get a picture of how God’s will is done in heaven. The word seraphim literally means “burners;” fiery, copper-colored creatures, burning in their zeal to do whatever God said. They had six wings.  Wings were drawn across their faces, their feet, and there were wings ready to fly.  That’s how God’s will is done in heaven—promptly, with passion, without question—and with humility.  Isaiah then cried, “Woe is me.”  Here is probably the holiest man in Israel saying, “I am nothing.”  That’s the attitude that we need to perform God’s will on earth.  In heaven, we’re going to love Him and develop the same attitude the seraphim had.  And Isaiah saw that he was far from that, as we all are.

Romans 12:3 says we ought to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  Did you ever notice what is the first evidence of the renewed mind?  Read the following verses carefully:

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...for I say through the grace given to me,… not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.”

That is the first evidence of a Spirit-filled and renewed mind—to have a proper view of ourselves, unaffected by pride or secrets. We're thinking of our need to be humble.  After all, humility ought to be a prominent theme of the Lord’s people.  Think of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. He taught us to be humble. We want to have the mind of Christ.

Philippians 2 has more to say on this topic, telling us that we are to have His mind, then telling us what the mind of Jesus was like.  Five things happened in His Incarnation.  (1) He didn’t think it (His noble position in heaven) was something He had to hang onto, to be equal with God—although that was the noble position he was used to. He was willing to step down to reconcile humanity.  Mankind thinks the opposite—once you reach a certain level, you’ll do most anything to at least hold your position.  Jesus was at the very top—and He didn’t find it necessary to keep that.  He stripped Himself of all the privileges and dignity and deity; “he emptied Himself.”  This is before He ever left heaven. And then (2) He would become God’s servant.  God will give the orders; Jesus was going to fulfill them. Through seven chapters of John (4 through 10), we have that picture.  We have something in every one of those chapters that says, “I don’t do anything but what my Father tells me.”  This was humility.  Before, He and His Father had always done things together. And now He chooses to become a slave, as it were.  (3) And then He became a man.  I don’t think we can imagine the step down to do that; maybe it would be like us becoming a mouse.  But this was a much bigger step down.    Jesus prayed, As He approached His crucifixion, Hebrews tells us that God would deliver His soul from death.  From the tomb.  Why?  He had come to the most dangerous part of His earthly existence—after all this mistreatment, could He avoid having a bitter thought, or saying an angry word?  If he did, He would have stayed in that grave.  He asked God to give Him victory, to come out of that experience and resurrect His body.  Since He was 100% man (as well as 100% God), since He endured the temptations that we all face, when He came down to be a man, He took a great risk. (4) As a man, He renounced His heavenly position.  He didn’t come as a king, or a priest; He was constantly faced with the accusatory question, “By what authority do you do this?”  He came as an ordinary person. (5) He allowed His creation to kill him.  That wouldn’t have been so bad if it were a heroic death, with at least "Taps" playing, or his name sketched on a wall, or buried somewhere special.  But it was the death on the cross—the most ignominious death that anybody could suffer.

So here we have Jesus—who went from the absolute top to the absolute bottom—by choice.  It wasn’t, like, "no way out," it was a voluntary humbling.  He chose this.  This is the mind of Christ.  He modeled humility, obedience, and self-humbling.  People, we should always take the “low road” of humility—that’s always the right road.

As Philippians says, because He did this, God highly exalted Him.  Scripture says to us, “he that humbles himself, God will exalt him.”  That’s a promise.  God will take care of your reputation--in heaven, where it counts eternally.

Now let’s move from the mind of Christ to how Jesus acted in His kingdom.  Matthew 5, the Beatitudes, shows how He exemplified the kingdom in His experience.  Many phrases begin with “Blessed.” What does that word mean; to be envied.  God is backing up each of these behaviors with tremendous promise; and to place yourself in His will, means He will pour out His promise on us—this is the best place to be.

The first character is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”  This means we desire to learn—able to get down off our high horse, lay aside all prejudices, all biases, and sit there like a child—and learn. By reading Scripture with fresh eyes, by meditating on it. Most people can’t do that.  Louis Pasteur discovered the germ theory of disease.  They didn’t even know about germs.  Many people died of infection, since doctors and nurses wouldn’t even wash their hands going to surgery, or they moved from one patient to another.  But despite all his data proving the lowered mortality where simple washing of hands were done, Dr. Pasteur couldn’t convince any of them, and he was heartbroken.  Going to all the trouble of washing, washing, washing was stupid, they said.  They were educated! You are only a chemist.  “We are doctors!  We have been trained—you have not. You are not going to tell us.”  Folks, you won’t get into the kingdom until that attitude is done.  Did you know Jesus was a learner?  You didn’t think He had to learn anything, did you? He had to learn what it felt like in flesh to obey, when you're tired, when you are in pain.  And all who follow Him are learners, ready to obey—no matter what it costs.  Dismiss your preconceptions.  Learn.

“Blessed are they that mourn.” The Bible says that some won’t see the kingdom of God; but once you want Christ, you get a whole new set of eyes.  You begin to really see the world—and you’re not laughing anymore at its jokes.  You’re not laughing anymore at its sitcoms, which picture no real family, or stupid fathers (or no fathers, or gay parents), or its version of hypocritical preachers.  That’s how they think of God's laws.  That stuff’s not funny anymore.  I heard a sermon that somebody can tell what you are by seeing what you cry about.  Most people cry about their own problems; you will be crying about the needs of your heart, and the needs of the world.  Sam Hadley was the leader of the Bowery Mission.  He had been a drunk on the street and had been converted and now was the leader of the Mission.  One evening he had Charles Alexander, who was the singer for Billy Sunday, come to the Mission to sing. After the meeting, Charles Alexander said, “I would like to see the Bowery.”  So Sam Hadley took him in his car around to all its places.  Afterwards, Sam said goodbye.  Charles Alexander walked around the corner.  And just as he got around the corner, he thought he heard somebody cry. As he turned around and walked back, there was Sam Hadley, leaning against a lamp post, saying “Oh, God!  The sin of this city breaks my heart!” He couldn’t contain his crying.  That’s the attitude you will have toward the world, the broken world you live in, all its shortcomings.  Learn about how people are treated in countries besides your own.  It's an eye-opener.  Your reaction should not be just thanking God you were born in a country that treats people this way.  You would have your own sorrow for your inability to make many things better immediately.  But the Word says you will be comforted; you will begin to see results—if you respond in that way to your own sin, and the sins of the world. You’ll see healing, and changes take place.

“Blessed are the meek.”  Meek people are gentle.  They’re mild.  They’re harmless. The Word says we should be, “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” They’re strong people, but it’s strength under discipline. They don’t ever lash out, they don’t hurt other people.  They use their strength in other ways.   A strong man who sets down beside that little boy, and teaches him or her with patience; that’s a picture of meekness. You can afford to be meek, I’ll tell you why.  If you’re part of the Kingdom, the universe is on your side.  In the Old Testament, you remember Sisera?  He came charging down over those hills, with his iron chariots, and there was the Israeli standing army.  He thought, “This is a lead-pipe cinch,” but there was a thunderstorm upstream, and the whole valley was flooded, and his chariots got stuck, and he got exhausted or chased, ran into the tent of Jael, went to sleep, and she drove a stake through his head…and he was dead.  You know what the Bible says?  “The stars from their courses fought against Sisera.”  (Judges 4:12-23; 5:20).  Now, if you’re against the God who directs the universe, you’re not going to win.  But you can afford to be meek, because the whole universe is behind you.  You will win, because God’s Kingdom will not fail.  So you can afford not to "get even" with people, and manipulate to make your “program” work.  Just let it go. And do what’s right. You’re not a weakling. But you will not force, you will not hurt, you will not use those kind of tactics on anybody. Remember the promise for being meek:  “And they shall inherit the earth.”  After Christ, slavery disappeared in the Roman Empire; and all the Christians did was obey the Gospel.  It was done without any violence.

Next. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.” We’re talking about being right. You will be blessed because that is what you were made for.  You are not constitutionally made, or physically made to hate, or have anger, or revenge.  You were made to love. What is it to be merciful?  To feel pain when others have pain.  The word for compassion literally means, the spleen.  If you have a deep deep concern for someone who is in trouble, your digestive system will tell you about it.

“Blessed are the pure in heart.”  Those who are sold out for God; their heart of desire has nothing else in it--just desire for God.  This person will see God.  They will really learn to know who God is.  There are lots of people who have real problems with God—but if they purify their hearts, they can really know Him and His love.  He is benevolent, gracious, extravagant.

“Blessed are the peacemakers.”  To be just like God.  He is a peacemaker.  Think of Ephesians 1:10:  “that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” If there is any place that you experience a problem, you will have a passion to reconcile.

And finally, “Blessed are the persecuted.”  That is where the greatest power that is ever on this earth is released—when a person suffers for Christ.  Martyrs often rejoiced at death's door, for they understood something we don’t understand.  When the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world clashes, something supernatural is going to happen.

May God help us to develop these characters, truly following our Savior—and helping to build His Kingdom.

Acknowledgement:  This is a Summary of speech from John M. Martin, the Anabaptist Identity Conference, 2010, Florida

 

Most Americans are Not Saved

 Most Americans are not saved. Most Americans are going to hell, barring a revolutionary event or revival. That includes many that go to "evangelical" churches. How can I say such terrible things? It’s part of the job of the watchman, when necessary.  God made prophet Ezekiel a 'watchman,' whose purpose was to look for gross sin in the people, hear from God that it was time to speak, and then speak strongly to caution and warn them.  If he didn't warn, their blood exacted from them in God's judgment would be on his hands when God comes by to punish them for their apostasy (Ezek 33:6ff). Most people dislike the prophets, so I know how unacceptable this paper is going to be; I’ve spoken parts of it to people, and they went elsewhere for light conversation. But there is, after all, a message of hope, if you get to the end of this paper. 

So, you want to know, what proof do I have for my assertions about America? Well, it’s what you call a numbers game.  It starts with Matthew 7:13-14:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction (hell), and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life (eternal life), and there are few who find it. 

Well, how many is “few,” the ones to be saved? I welcome you to take a survey like I did to see if you agree to my results. Invite someone to close their eyes. Tell them to imagine viewing from overhead, 100 people milling together on a person’s extended lawn or on a golf course. Then say, “OK, picture in your mind that a few of those people separate, cross over a bridge to a gazebo.” Then you ask, “How many people, to your best knowledge, did you imagine doing that?” I did ask people that, and the answers were 3 to 7. Let’s be generous and say the average is 6. By that measure, Jesus is saying 6% of the people are going to heaven—so 94% are going to hell. God does not provide a third alternative for eternity. I also think 94% fulfills the word “most” in the title of this paper. 

Now, you might argue that Americans are “different” than these depressing numbers would suggest, that we’re “better than just a few” for heaven. Well, quite the opposite may be true. Consider this well-known fact: America is the richest large society in the world, and has been for several decades now. Our middle class is huge (but getting smaller), and our middle class—including you and me, most likely—is “rich,” measured by any standard in world history. (Not measured by America 25 years ago).  Now here’s my point: Jesus warns rich people (and that includes you and me) several times in Scripture. When Jesus said, the chances of a rich person going to heaven are worse than the chances of a camel going through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24), that suggests to me that even less than the “few,” the 6%, are saved in our country. So America’s saved folk wouldn’t be greater than 6%—we might even suggest that it is less than 6%! What do I find that "Bible-believing" Americans do when they read that their chances of being saved are like “the camel going through the eye of the needle”? Do they experience a fear of God, or even any discomfort? No; they either say “I’m not rich” (which I've already proven false in the vantage point of the world and of history, as I’ve pointed out above), or they call Jesus' camel comment hyperbole—but then make the terrible mistake of completely dismissing it. Can you be so cavalier, to dismiss statements about eternity as "well, He doesn't mean it."  But folks, Jesus’ point when He does hyperbole is, it contains mostly truth. And you never dismiss what Jesus says. 

I'm saying that people in America may ask in pride, what is our great evil here, that you think Jesus would pick on us, that makes it extremely hard for us to be saved? It’s this: If you have "wealthy" assets (we’re talking larger houses than 1300 square feet--obviously larger if you have children at home--or a retirement or 401k, or your own stocks or decent savings)--and lots of Americans have that wealth, not just the upper class—you probably got it and kept it by ignoring your suffering brothers and sisters in the world. I know, that seems to be a nasty statement, but please read on, please.

The Scriptural fact is, we are supposed to use money on ourselves to fulfill basic needs only—and give the rest away, to the desperately poor and needy of the world. If we make the mistake of accumulating wealth, Luke 12:33 tells us what to do: Sell the excess of what you have and give to those in need. This will fatten your spiritual rewards in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no rips or holes in them. Your treasures there will never disappear; no thief can steal them; no moth can destroy them.  They're forever.  See my "radical"-titled blogs, which nail down proof on this command that Jesus really did make. 

So Jesus said, you should only own what you "need." Scripture makes it clear what defines “need”: Food, basic clothing and basic shelter. Every dollar you make above the ability to meet your needs, you have a choice: Do I give this to a brother or sister in the world who is starving, even to death--who is repeatedly terribly sick because he is drinking contaminated water, who doesn’t have a decent or safe place to live—or do I just keep it, buy another toy for myself, or throw it on my pile of savings to make my future even easier? The fact is, most middle- and upper-class Americans choose the latter—without a single pang of conscience. But we must learn to know and think like God; He loves every person, and hates to see His children suffer. His saved children with extra income (you and me) are supposed to make a difference in the world for the poor and the oppressed. As Jesus did. Our desire for sanctification is to become more like Jesus, right? But we are complacently ignorant, consuming our extra money selfishly on ourselves. Mothers go to work to help pay debts, or to supplement income—leaving the kids supervised by someone else. But kids love mom and want her praise. She, in return, will teach them how to sacrifice and they learn good morals.

God will judge us for this—perhaps more than we know. Our pastors are no help; their sermons have been on a kick, far too long, of teaching us that God is a grandfatherly fellow. That leads to complacency. We figure that God gave us wealth because He loves us, and heaven is a sure thing. But the reality is, He gave us this extra money for us to share it with His suffering children, thereby bearing fruit. But we spend it on ourselves, and thus do not bear fruit. If we get too wrapped up in consumption and materialism, we bear less fruit.  Not bearing fruit means no heaven for us—John 15:5-6.

So what have you done with your extra dollars in the past? We’re talking about the difference between eternal life or eternal death here. Surely you’re aware of the parable of the man who used his extra earnings to build better storehouses (Luke 12:18ff). Well, if you survey people innocently about his plan and procedure, without referring to the Bible, it sounds quite logical to save up for the future, so it must be godly.  But it drew God’s judgment—He took his life away! His sin? Clearly stated in Scripture (Luke 12:21)—he was adding to his previous wealth. Hey, that’s an American goal, “everybody” does it—well, as I proved, “everybody” is on the broad path (Matthew 7:13-14); that's a hellish path. And what about the story of that rich man, who passed by the beggar Lazarus every day (Luke 16:19ff)? What was his sin? He didn’t oppress him, like rich people often do to poor people; he just ignored him. What did God do to him, evidently because he ignored the poor? Sent him to hell (Luke 16:23). And that’s also what most of us who are comfortable in America do. We are rich, but we still buy, buy, buy things. We gorge our lusts so much that our plenteous income isn't enough; we even are into the idolatry of materialism so much that we go into debt, then we are trapped with huge payments, and then we can never help the poor. Meanwhile, our desperate brothers of the world often die without help.  This is especially true of refugees, who have no medical care, no income, and live in crowded quarters--leading to more disease and dysentery. (I’m sorry if you believe that all refugees in the world are terrorists, so you won’t help them.)  

Jesus says in Matthew 6:19, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth...” That is a crystal-clear command not to accumulate wealth. Not piling up savings seems foolhardy. But Jesus says He provides for the birds, and aren’t we worth more than birds? He will not let us starve if we give to the poor as He commands. Frankly, I’ve never heard a single pastor—and I’ve heard many—teach this simple truth.  What did Jesus say?? Let's quote Him: “DO NOT lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,” or DO NOT accumulate wealth. And He says why in verse 21: Because the desires of your heart will be thinking about wealth, rather than on what God wants you to do for His kingdom. Also think about the Sower sowing seed into the thorns: “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). Guess where the unfruitful go? Hell (John 15:5,6, remember). They want to believe that God wouldn’t send them to hell—so they ignore what Jesus says about rich people in Scripture. Surveys back up this assurance about the confidence people feel, indicating that over 60% of Americans say they’re going to heaven (Gallup poll). But try to say that Scripture indicates a more accurate number to be 6%, not 60%, as we’ve said—so that means the other 54% who think they are going, are deceived. So if 60% of Americans say they’re heaven-bound, but the real number is 6%, 90% of people who think they're going to heaven--aren't.  That's a whole lot of people deceived. And a whole lot of surprises at the Judgement seat. Another way of putting this data is, of every 10 people who think they’re saved, 9 of those are going to hell. Only one is going to heaven. Only one of ten is truly saved of all those who “know” they’re saved.

Think of the odds against you, my friend, if you are the "normal Christian." I'm hoping the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10), might actually enter your heart. I'm talking about sins like complacency or idolatry. The question to ask is: have you been deceived? Scripture points out (Matthew 24) the rampant deception in the Last Days. Could this be you or me? Out of the 10, are you in the 9? Or are you the one out of 10? Prove to yourself that you're the lucky one by the standards I've enumerated above. What did you do to show you're the one? Are you going to be with those, in judgment day, pleading like in Matt 25:44ff:

‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Will you be one of those hearing these sad words-- 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment

In summary, this says that people who refuse to help those in need are deceived and going to hell. Could hell be your destination, and you don’t even know it? What would you do to avoid that horrible possibility? Let’s assume you believed in Christ as Savior, you felt assured of heaven; but this paper is an eye-opener, and you wonder what to do. To get motivated to do this, to revive the Spirit within you, you might first ask if you've had that initial salvation.  Did you sincerely repent of your sin as a nauseous offense of God?  Did you sincerely place trust in Jesus as saving you from the hell you deserved, and the Substitute who paid for your sin? Then, read your Gospels intensively, to secure that you are in obedience to His commands, that He is truly Lord of your life.  This means doing all the things Jesus commands—you strive for best efforts. It would help if you make a list of Jesus’ commands in the Gospels—to be forgiving, to help the oppressed, to turn the other cheek, to love your enemies—and ask the Spirit, in prayer, to show you where you have violated any. Develop a fear of God’s judgment on the unfruitful, ask in deep sincerity for forgiveness for each sin. God may discipline you, but He will forgive (I John 1:8,9). But you must repent, turn around your behavior with regularity. You can’t keep falling back into sin, out of weakness or pride.  Don't just trust your feelings, saying "I feel God's got me."  God has patience, but it’s limited patience. Believing in Jesus as God, Who died on the cross to save us, Who rose again from the dead, will give you the Holy Spirit and is initial salvation. But sanctification is a necessity. We must endure to the end to be saved (II Tim 2:3,12). As the book of James says (especially 2:14), you must show your head-faith is real by bowing to His Lordship, by being His servant, ready to do His commands in Scripture and repeatedly work on them. If you are gifted with income above what you need (please prayerfully consider what the word “need” entails), would you change your lifestyle? Would you move into a smaller, less costly house? Would you sell the second car? Yes, there would be inconvenience, but the money you save and can give is huge; you could save many lives. Jesus mentions sacrifice many times. Your reward is in heaven, your reward is eternal—that’s a much longer time than your “reward” (i.e., convenience) for keeping the second car on earth. God has promised to return our investing in heaven’s treasures 30, 60, 100 times (Matt 13:23)!  And yet you’re fighting for a 4% return on your investments here, which keep you “happy” for a vapor in time, comparatively.

Why fight for scraps on the floor, when if you look to the table of a return of 60 times investment above, a feast awaits you! Why look at your return on earth—when you die, you take nothing with you—except the investments in heaven. Do you want to please God or yourself? If you’re married, and want to make a change, would you make it a dedicated goal to see your spouse change his/her mind, so you can do this effectively, together? Would you carry out a tight budget for a long time, and thus eliminate debts, and then go on to help the Lord? It would take a lot of “no we won’t comfort ourselves by buying that.” Would you go online to get websites of relief organizations that are run efficiently (those that spend little money advertising or trying to manipulate people)? Try googling “charity review sites” and get a long list of good international charities. (I follow Ministry Watch.) Please, please consider international organizations, not just your local church. I doubt God approves of all the money we spend on making our buildings comfortable and beautiful when there are people who cannot meet publicly in safety, who cannot even get enough Bibles to go around. Will you help these people? Yes, obeying some of Jesus’ commands is tough. Lifestyle changes are tough. I know how you want to dismiss His clear command to give away assets, thinking that Jesus doesn’t want us to be so “imprudent,” giving away savings. You have a million excuses to keep piling up savings: for your retirement (but does the Scripture talk about retirement?--no), for your kids’ college (in most cases, our young are not prepared to hear agnostic professors on how to nullify morality and turn away from God). But we must discipline ourselves. Because Scripture says if we don’t obey His commands, we’re not saved (I John 2:4). It’s being obedient on a difficult command like this that we really learn the real meaning of faith. If we begin obeying here, then if we lose our job and have no savings because we gave it away to a needy brother, you can bet on this--God will help you find another job. It will be far better than what you could get on your own. None of His children beg for food, He promises (Psalm 37:25). I pray your answer is Yes to Jesus and No to the world.

 

Revelation 12-14 and Others: The Final Antichrist and his father, Satan

 Let’s learn a little more about the Last Days; after all, we may be in it!

Let’s start with II Thessalonians 2:1-3. For those genuine Christians at that future time:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled…. as though the Day of Christ had come.³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition…

Paul is introducing this theme—"concerning the coming of…Christ” and “our gathering together.” So he means the rapture. Further proof is in the word “coming” --it’s the Greek word “parousia,” which is in many verses on the subject of the rapture. The term “Day of Christ” also confirms it (Phil. 2:16).

The brethren were troubled, thinking they had missed the rapture, which a fake letter said. He reassures them by saying that they had not missed the rapture--and what did he give as proof? “That Day will not come until the “man of sin, the “son of perdition”—which both mean the antichrist, is “revealed.”

But when is the antichrist “revealed”? Daniel 9:27:

Then he (the prince, v.26) shall confirm a covenant with many for one seven; But in the middle of the seven He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate…

This needs further explanation. It says that a “prince,” (believed to be the antichrist) makes a covenant with “many” (the Jews, we believe), of seven years, and in the middle, he reveals who he really is—a Jew-hater and Christian-hater. How does he reveal himself for who he really is? After joining the Jews in a covenant, he decides to cut off the “sacrifice and offering,” which is important to the Jews, which amounts to a betrayal of the covenant. And he will show his true feelings for the Jews by slaughtering them, beginning in Jerusalem. To pile insult upon insult, he erects an idol, maybe of himself, in the Holy of holies in the restored temple —that’s an “abomination.” That act will bring desolation in the Temple.

For further proof, note the first phrase of Ezekiel 7:27 below. The antichrist (called “the prince” as in Daniel 9:26) is clothed with desolation, having cast an idol in the Holy of holies in the temple. The Jewish people are trembling because they know that he means evil for them. I would like to add a comment on the rest of that verse, and the one that follows, from Zechariah 13:8. Both signal that God also accepts responsibility for this event, by allowing for this to happen. Not surprising, since Jews, currently and in the Last Days, do not believe either the New Testament, or even the Old Testament. They are almost all, in the land of Israel, atheistic or agnostics.  Their thinking is, God did not “do them any favors” in the Holocaust, so their hearts are hard.

The prince will be clothed with desolation, And the hands of the common people will tremble. I will do to them according to their way, And according to what they deserve I will judge them; Then they shall know that I am the Lord!’ ”

And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord,
“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it

The next verses come from Zechariah 14:1-2. The Day of the Lord refers to the devastation happening to the Jews during the Last Days. It climaxes at the same time as the Day of Christ, when Jesus calls for His people to meet Him in the clouds. There is a Judgment at that time. It is a time of trouble for the Jews. God does not do any miracles for them, rescuing them  like He did during the 1948, 1967, and 1973 wars; He allows them to be overtaken. Most of them gave Him no credit for His earlier miracles.

Behold, the Day of the Lord is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. ² For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity

To our original point, a summary: the antichrist pretends to a peace agreement “covenant” with the Jews for 7 years, but begins the second half of that period by attacking and slaughtering Jews in Jerusalem, thus “revealing” himself to be a Jew-killer and antichrist. Since this “reveal” has to come before the rapture, and since the “reveal” comes after 3-1/2 years of the tribulation, according to II Thessalonians above, we conclude that there is no rapture before the 7 years.  At best, it is after the middle, after the first 3-1/2 years of wars, famines, etc. has gone by. Those Christians living at that time will have to suffer through it as well.  

Why did Satan and his son, the antichrist, hate the Jews so much? Starting in Revelation 12:3, 4, and 13 we see the reason why:

…a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. ⁴… Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child…

The dragon is also called the devil--Satan—which means Adversary. Satan used to be a favorite angel of God; he was called Lucifer, a bearer of light. But his pride to be like God eventually caused God to throw him out of heaven and separate him from other angels. But he had a following; one-third of the angels joined him. These are likely demons now. Satan and his demons are immortal, which means they have lived, and will live until they are thrown into hell—even the ones that Jesus threw out of people and went into pigs who then destroyed themselves. The demons still lived.  During this vast time in the thousands of years that mankind has been around, they have accumulated a lot of knowledge. Because of this, they can perform what seems to be supernatural feats. Being immortal, they are interdimensional. They are strong enough to fight Michael and other good angels. But since they are created, they are under the sovereign rule of God. So they ultimately lose.  Which means God’s plan will still carry out. And God has given us special powers to make demons flee from us if we have faith--when we call on the name of Jesus for rescue from one.

Satan made his goal to kill Jesus or His ascendants, so Jesus couldn’t die for our sin. If he succeeded, we all die ourselves because of our sin, and never make heaven (God is holy.). Since Satan knew that Old Testament Scripture prophesied that Jesus’ incarnation would come from the Jews (Genesis 49:10), he wanted to “get him" in advance, by obliterating the Jewish race. Satan would love nothing more than to make the Bible prophecy of His race to be untrue. That’s why Satan “persecuted the woman (Israel)” in Rev. 12:4 above, since she will produce the Child, Jesus the Son of God.  But that early effort to kill Jesus’ forebears failed, since God always protected a remnant of Jews; so Jesus was born through the Jews, as predicted, despite Satan’s efforts.  Though Satan even saw to it that Jesus was killed, Jesus’ death was turned to the good by paying for our sins, so that we who obey Him can have access to heaven, despite our sin. The resurrection three days after Jesus’ death was a total surprise to Satan.  Then Jesus spent 40 more days on earth, showing that indeed He had risen from the dead. He then ascended to be with His Father.

But Satan still is working; his goal is to make us not believe that supernatural happenings still exist, and Jesus is not God. And to distract us by getting us thinking how to survive and be happy on earth and not think about what happens when we die. If he is successful, we go to hell.

In end times, Satan will be removed totally from his access to God. His job as accuser is done.  This is prophesied in Revelation 12:7-9 below:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, ⁸ but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. ⁹ So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…..for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them… has been cast down.

Satan is possibly now on earth, running his show live; so he will torture mankind more intensively than ever before—Jews first.  His “best” act in end times will be to introduce to the world, the antichrist.  This man will be possessed of Satan so much, that he knows full well of Satan’s thoughts, his great desire to lie and kill. So all of Satan will be in him.  He makes friends with the Jews first, deceiving them. While his real focus is on killing as many of the Jews as he can, God has given the Jews in Scripture (see Revelation 12 below) a place to hide (many feel that it’s a nearby mountainous, yet protected wilderness region in Jordan known as Petra—which still has a water-supply available), so some—very few who believe--will be given a way of escape for the second-half 3-1/2 years while the antichrist begins torturing and killing other Jews and Christians and who did not believe Scripture and didn’t hide.  Here is Revelation 12:3-6, summarizing this. The 1260 days is 3-1/2 years.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. ⁵ She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. ⁶ Then the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

The Jews should move fast to get out of Jerusalem when the Antichrist comes with his armies. This happens in the middle of the 7 years—when he is “revealed.” See Matthew 24:

 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place”…  ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. ¹⁸ And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes…  ²⁰ And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. ²² And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

The second half is correctly called the Great tribulation for its terrible killings, more than in the first half due to war. Much suffering will still be in the first 3-1/2. Revelation 6 and Matthew 24 say that in the first 3-1/2 years there will be deception that is cunningly done to get people away from Jesus—and to hell at the Judgement. The same chapters say there also will be wars, followed by extreme famine, earthquakes, and epidemics—all in the first 3-1/2 years. After the antichrist’s true demonic character is exposed in the middle, the worst is still yet to come. He begins the second 3-1/2 years by persecuting and killing Jews and Christians.  After he makes martyrs of many, THEN there is the rapture and Judgment.  

I believe that true Christians endure much more suffering in the last 3-1/2 years than in the wars, etc in the first 3-1/2. Part of my reasoning is based on how he takes over the world economy, and true Christians will not be able to buy food or anything unless they take his “mark.” Revelation 13:16-17 says:

He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name--666.

But true Christians will not take the mark—because he will make it an article of worship of him. So Christians will suffer genocide—experiencing famine, no place to live, because they refuse to deny Christ as their only God—our worship is only for Him.

More suffering in the second half than the first half is also proven by Revelation 6:9-11:

 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. ¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. It’s possible that relief for true Christians will not come until near the end of the 7 years.

Now a word from an opposing doctrine. There are those “pre-tribulationists” who assert that II Thessalonians 2, which I’ve proved (with Scripture) comes after the middle of the Tribulation, does not refer to the rapture at all, since they think the rapture will happen before the 7 years (ie, pre-tribulation). They think that those verses in Thessalonians refer to a separate event, Judgment. They ignore the rapture word “parousia,” and argue that the Day of Christ is the same as the Day of the Lord—which they accentuate as a Day of Judgment. But note that their doctrine says that that Day is the third appearance by the Lord.  (They say, 1 is Birth; 2 is Rapture and 3. Arrival for Judgement).  But--nowhere in Scripture does it imply that Jesus makes three appearances. Scripture only indicates two: Birth, and Rapture/Judgment. (Those latter two reach a crisis on the same day). The pre-tribulationism belief that Christians will entirely escape the tribulation by early rapture, is false doctrine, comforting but untrue. I have 3 blogs that lays all this out. But people only want to hear how they can escape all suffering; it’s convenient. But as I’ve shown above, rapture is near the end of tribulation. Those Christians alive waiting for rapture WILL suffer, and not escape until near the end of 7 years.

Why does Satan hate Christians? I thought his focus was on Jews only.

Since some Jews went into hiding, the antichrist fails to kill all the Jews. So he changes his strategy by renewing his attacks on Israel’s “offspring,” the Christians. Anybody who loves Jesus is his enemy.  In Revelation 12:13:

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Now the focus of his intense persecution will also be on us—the Gentiles.  Can we take it and be faithful to our Lord?  Considering His sacrifice on the Cross for our sin, guaranteeing His believers heaven for eternity--giving our lives is the least that we can do in return.  May God help us, if those last days are in our lifetimes, that we will, in times of chaos and confusion, seek Thy Word as the only source of truth and knowledge.  And will You, Lord, give us courage if we have to give our lives? And let us seek the Holy Spirit as our Guide. We must endure to the end of our lives, depending only on our God, to make it to heaven.

I Timothy 4:1 tells us that at the end of days, people will be so far from the Lord that….

…in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons

The phrase “some will depart from the faith” says that people who believe they are saved and are Christian will abandon it under persecution pressure.  They are unwilling to give up their lives for Him; they would deny their Lord first. But didn’t Jesus give up His earthly life for us? How can they do this, since they lose heaven, as Scripture clearly points out? See Revelation 14:9-11:

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night

These poor souls will be deceived. Deception will be that bad. That also means, they haven’t truly accepted their Bibles when it says hell is their destination for denying Him and putting their trust in the antichrist and his mark. II Timothy 2:12b says flat out: If we deny Him, He also will deny us. Matthew 10:33 says the same:

But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Evil forces rule the world.  1 John 5:19 says: the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. But it also says, true Christians “know that we are of God.” (If you have any doubt about being a true Christian, ask a question here or pray when you read the Bible. Try to cover the Gospels first. Do it daily. Several blogs here will help, too.)

But God is sovereign, and His plan will carry out.  Do you feel that the “whole world lies in the path of the evil one?”  If not, then you are not sensitive to how God grieves over our sin.  Sins are now on display in society today. The real meaning of “love,” particularly love to God, is lost to most. Too many couples have no idea of faithfulness, and get divorces, which is mostly anti-Scriptural.  It’s almost impossible to watch new movies without hearing an abundance of language blaspheming God and Jesus. The media is no help:  Women danced nearly nude at a recent Grammies. Translating Bad Bunny’s Spanish in Super Bowl LX gives you explicit sexual references that are guttural.  People have an attraction for the unexplained powers—but not for the supernatural in the Bible, which they just dismiss as fantasy.  Well, demons will fill the interest of many, since the Bible says there will be miraculous powers by people sold out to Satan. As Matthew 24:24 says:

…false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Such people are controlled by demons; others are oppressed. Their purpose is, by showing off mysterious powers, people will follow these miracle workers rather than be led by the Holy Spirit.  As a result, many people will abandon their faith in Christ as Savior.  Remember, all the powers in this universe, apart from the true and living God, are from the devil.

Will we lose our faith when the 7 years of troubles come?

For my final verses, I leave with you Matthew 24:29-32:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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. ³¹ And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

These verses are especially for the pre-tribulationists: note that “they will gather together His elect” is AFTER THE TRIBULATION. Do not be deceived.