The Church is fragmented into thousands of different sects and groups, so much so as to say, “There sure is an awful lot of interpretation of this Book out there.” Can any of these groups say for sure that “We don’t have the ability to be deceived, or come to a wrong doctrinal conclusion”? We should be humble enough to bow and pray, and say, “God, show me Your truth!” We naturally think our view of theology is right, and everybody should think like us.
Actually, though, don’t people choose their denomination based on family history, or what their heart secretly wants to hear about God? After all, what do people really want in a church? They often say, in surveys, they want “something authentic, something real.” They dislike orthodoxy, maybe it's because they assume anything old is irrelevant; or maybe they assume most churches don't really seem to accomplish much. They often are swayed by the “Emerging church” movement (see my blog). But the movement’s desire to have relevance causes them to “come down to the world’s level.” Playing with the world's cards is not good. Orthodoxy, actually, is Scriptural, based on God's Word--and it really has much to benefit us.
If people are really looking for authenticity, they should look again at the lifestyles and words of the Christians in the book of Acts. The Kingdom of God was so irresistible, so radical, that the people had one of two choices: Either join us, or persecute us. There was no neutral ground; they couldn't ignore them. Just like Jesus said, You’re either my friend, or you’re my enemy. There’s no “gray area” with Christ. The Church, in Acts—it will make your heart pound when you read it. When you read it, don’t you have a longing in your heart to see church today like that? When you look at the radical nature of what God is doing through them, does it ever make your heart burn? Let’s examine their actions in the Word.
Acts 2:41-47: Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Acts 4:29-35: Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. 32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
Acts 5:12-16: And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
Acts 8:35-39: Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
Acts 9:32-35: Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda. 33 There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed.34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately. 35 So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
Acts 13:2-3: As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 14:8-10: And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.
Acts 16:25-31: But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Acts 20:7-11: Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together. 9 And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.” 11 Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.
Let our hearts hunger for reality with Jesus Christ like they experienced. Look at His willingness to pour Himself out. People were so moved that they gave away their wealth, unreservedly; miracles were flowing, angels were appearing (other verses). It’s radical when you look into God’s heart for His people. Do we still believe what Jesus said—“You’ll do greater things than I have done”? Do we really believe that Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever? Or have you bought into doctrine that cynically says, “That was then: wake up, this is now.” Wouldn’t you just want to be in the early church? Well, think twice, now--could you take the punishment that went alongside? We didn’t mention about how leaders were losing their heads, that believers were persecuted and had to flee. In a couple of cases, church people were killed by the Holy Spirit for lying. That was an intense church. Would you have counted the cost and joined—or are you content to be comfortable? You know, our churches fall so short. You could argue that, hey, miracles are not the whole story, but doesn’t Scripture say that “these signs will follow those who believe.” (Mark 16:17). So, then, you have to ask--do we really believe--do we really believe that this could happen again?
What keeps it from happening in America now? Jesus might answer by saying, Do we really want to meet Him on His terms? Our lifestyle is quite different than that church. We don’t have their dedication. Are we hungry enough to pray for ten days straight? If anyone in the church is lacking, would we give up our food, would we all fast to feed them? Would we give up all of our excess property to meet those in need—do we have a heart to give like that?
Could it be that the reason for this difference is that our interpretation of doctrine is different than theirs? After all, doctrine and lifestyle go hand in hand. Doctrine is useless unless it transforms your life. You can think you believe something, but you only truly believe that which moves you to action. Do you believe that people are on their way to hell? To the extent that you actually believe that, you will intercede for the lost, your heart will break when you see people that don’t know the Lord, you’ll stand on the street corner and plead with people, or write a letter to an aunt that doesn’t know Him. You’ll hit your knees often.
To the extent that you believe in something, it changes your life.
What was it the apostles believed that made their lives so radical? Let’s call it “apostolic doctrine.” Let’s spend some time reading the early church fathers, whose lifestyles were the closest to theirs. These men bled and died for the faith too; they sat at the feet of the apostles, or only a generation removed. Let’s interpret Scripture as close as possible to what the fathers believed and wrote about. These guys must’ve had the doctrine right, the way they lived. When we see lifestyles like the book of Acts, then we know that apostolic doctrine was taught. We’ve layered on many weaknesses in the 2000 years since, I suspect. Let’s find them. Are we ready to admit we might be wrong on some points? Sure, they didn’t have modern technology; but they did it one better—they just read the Bible, over and over and over. In fact, they were the people who debated thoroughly and decided on what was Scripture in the first place. They took the words literally, they consulted no commentary (that might twist words); their knowledge of other Scripture enabled them to place things in the proper context to explain seemingly contradictory passages. They didn’t have to fool with interpreting Greek—they spoke it, they knew it intimately. Here is their lifestyle, as described by witnesses:
Let's start with two witness statements of 125 AD, from a new believer about his local congregation:
They do not bear false witness; nor do they covet what is not theirs. They comfort their oppressors and make them their friends.
Their women are pure as virgins and their daughters are modest; their men keep themselves from all unlawful unions and uncleanness. They go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness. They love one another. They deliver their widows and orphans from those who would treat them harshly. He who has, gives to him who has not. They fast two or three days to supply the necessary food for the needy. They follow the commands of their Christ justly and seriously. Every morning and every hour they give thanks to God for His lovingkindness to them. If any righteous man passes from this world, they rejoice and give thanks to God.
Now a "testimony" from a non-believer; within the sarcasm is actually a good witness:
They despise the temples, as dead houses; they reject the gods. Half-naked themselves, they despise honors and purple robes. Oh, wondrous folly…They despise present torments, although they fear those which are future. They fear to die after death, but they do not fear to die for the present. The larger portion are in want, are cold, are laboring in hard work or hunger. And God allows it. You do not visit exhibitions; you reject public banquets and abhor sacred contests…you assume you will rise again but refuse to live in the meanwhile. Cease from prying into the destinies of the sky. What is wrong with you?
Could the church of America be accused of having such a witness statement? No, frankly. The church today, in fact, is too often accused of hypocrisy, of worldliness. And, mostly, of lukewarmness. The early church had a Holy Spirit-touched lifestyle. They won souls, they turned the world upside down. The secret was in their doctrine. It was different than ours.
NEXT WEEK: So What are the Three Doctrines the Early Church Had That Have Been Radically Changed in Today’s Church?
Acknowledgement: Scott Schones, “A New Kind of Christian?” CD, Scroll Publishing
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Why Did Jesus Reject Some People from Heaven? The Answers May Surprise You
Jesus spoke many parables. A parable is defined as a story, the object of which is to learn a spiritual lesson. This narrative is of a physical story, but the hearer is to make the analogy to the spiritual lesson. Jesus used it often in a crafty way; He wanted to point out the deficiencies of the Jewish spiritual leaders without pointing His finger directly at them. In their guilt, they knew He was talking of them, but they couldn’t get too enraged to take His life without real proof. I think parables added some time He was allowed to speak freely; He was “lucky” to have lasted over 3 years before they had Him silenced --but only for a little while, right?
One group of parables is called Kingdom parables. When you read them over, you see three basic themes dominate them. We can learn much, and they have to do with how to get to heaven—so let’s study on.
Theme #1: God’s Kingdom People Would Start Out Tiny, then Grow in Number Around the World
Demonstrated In: Mustard Seed, Matthew 13:31-32
Leaven, Matthew 13:33
Example: Matthew 13:31-32: Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
A mustard seed is really tiny. Yet it becomes a tree. And a small amount of leaven will ferment the whole loaf. These parables are also a prophecy, and of course that prophecy has come to glorious truth. There are believers all over the globe (as I have found!).
There is one possible argument that you could make about this parable: How do you reconcile the huge number of believers this is speaking of, with Jesus’ comments in Matthew 7:13:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
So, the argument goes, which is it? A huge number, or few? Well, it could be both. It has been agreed upon by several scientists who should know that 100 billion people have ever lived. As my earlier blog (Most Americans Are Not Saved) points out, “few” might be 6-7%. But 7% of 100 billion is 7 billion. That’s “few” of everybody—but a lot of people, too.
But it could also be argued that the number of initial believers is huge--however, fewer get to heaven at final judgment. (See another blog on that, or I will explain it in this blog next.)
Theme #2: Many Who Start Out As Believers Get Rejected in Final Judgment
This is very important. In these parables listed below, Jesus makes it crystal clear why the “believers” get rejected. They were not rejected because “they were not saved to begin with,” or “they trusted in their own righteousness vs. God’s imputed righteousness.” For our soul’s sake, let’s seek the real reason why they were rejected, so we can avoid such tragedy.
Demonstated in:Vine, John 15:1-10
Sower, Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23
Wedding feast, Matthew 22:1-14
Five foolish and five wise virgins, Matthew 25:1-13
The faithful and wise servant, Matthew 24:45-51
Talents, Matthew 25:14-28
Separating the Sheep and the Goats, Matthew 25:31-46
Houses built on the Rock and Sand, Matthew 7:21-27
I picked three of the above:
Example #1: John 15:1-10: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
This is some of the best Words from Jesus in the New Testament, aside from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is the Vine; some of us are the branches. True, these verses don’t say how to get on the Vine in the first place, the initial salvation (it takes repentance and faith, explained elsewhere in Scripture), but they do a wonderful job of explaining the much-ignored path to final salvation. You need both (initial and final) to get to heaven. As these verses clearly show, to finally get to heaven, and not be tossed out, we must abide in Christ to bear fruit. We must bear fruit for final salvation. If we don’t abide in Christ, we are “cast out,” we are “withered,” we are thrown into the fire, and we burn. An obvious reference to hell. The word “abide,” in the Greek, is defined as “continue, remain, tarry.” It suggests a relationship of bonding which we seek with our Savior, in gratitude for His saving us from hell. We want to find out and obey His commandments, His commandments of love, the best path for our life. Beside the requirement to obey His commandments, we must produce fruit. The word “fruit” might be best explained by Galatians 5:22-24:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This concept of initial and final salvation is revolutionary, it seems, except in Scripture, where it is set forth plainly (see my blog, “Initial and Final Salvation.”) Protestant Reformers like Luther didn’t get it; he spent most of his time trying to be the opposite of the Catholics. If they said “works is big,” he had to say “no works, grace.” I don’t deny grace. It is all grace for God to pay any attention to us sinful creatures. But the truth is, Catholics distorted their idea of works (they say a relationship with Christ is not necessary; just say your rosary, attend Mass, Confession, etc). And Protestant Reformers distorted grace (they say a relationship with Christ is not necessary; just accept Him, and you are saved forever, through His unconditional grace, whether you sin little or a lot, hey, we all have to sin). Both these theologies are lies, and put you in danger of hell. The real truth is, a relationship with Christ IS NECESSARY to be saved, as Scripture clearly points out. That relationship will start out weak, of course, but then it bears a little fruit, gets pruned, starts to grow more each year. We gradually learn to love the world less, and Him more.
Example #2: Matthew 25:31-46: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 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, but the righteous into eternal life.”
So the issue for final salvation is not a theological debate about grace, but simply, “What did you do with your life? Did you love your fellow man? Did you care for the poor?” Caring for the poor, and loving, being merciful and forgiving, are commandments Jesus gave frequently. But broken frequently by "Christians" without a thought of its danger. It's possible to feel "secure" about accepting Christ once, go to church, commit few "bad" sins, yet go to hell. Because the sins here are not sins of commission (if you steal, murder, etc) but sins of omission. Lots of "Christians" might assume poor people are just lazy, and only give to their church, and would never go near areas of the city that really need Christ's help. Are they assured of heaven? These verses say no; they're the goats.
Example #3: Matthew 7:21-27: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
As anyone can read, hearing His commandments and DOING them is wise and keeps our spiritual house together; hearing and NOT DOING, no matter how much “service” you do to impress people, you are headed for spiritual collapse. We must “do the will” of His Father. It’s the same theme: Having been saved, doing His commandments gets you on God’s “good side” in judgment. Saying a prayer and accepting Him, no matter how sincere, might get you initial salvation; but follow through is necessary. It will mean nothing if you don’t persevere in talking to Him as well. Living your life as you wish and ignoring God’s desire for relationship and His will for you puts you back on the road to hell.
For a little more proof, I cite John 5:28-29:
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
This is what Jesus preached; final decision is made on who has done good, versus who has done evil. Maybe that idea is different from what you hear at church? Are we going to twist the obvious meaning of this verse? It looks clear: “Doing good” gets you final salvation: the resurrection of life. (PS: Don’t forget initial salvation—you won’t produce fruit without His Spirit’s guidance, abiding in Him). If this seems to disagree with what Paul says about ignoring the law (especially in Romans and Galatians), you need to keep context in view. The apostles had to deal with Judaizers—new Jewish Christians who wanted us to keep all their laws to be saved. “Let’s get all the male believers circumcised, too,” they said. “They have to follow the law of Moses to be saved.” That’s what Paul couldn’t stomach. He didn’t want us to just follow laws; he wanted us to have a relationship with Jesus. (I have other blogs on “Paul vs. James” on this subject).
Theme #3: God’s Kingdom People Would Have Non-Believers Among Them; Let God Weed Them Out at Final Judgment
Demonstrated in: Wheat and Weeds (tares), Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43
Dragnet, Matthew 13:47-50
In the interest of space, we only comment on one.
Example: Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43: Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”…(ed, now speaking only to disciples) “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
In His kingdom, largely expressed through the church, there will be wheat and weeds together. We sometimes worry about a problem: Who is a genuine Christian? Jesus say, Don't worry; the angels will pull out “those who practice lawlessness.” I believe that phrase includes those people who publicly preach that obedience to His commandments, making Him Lord of your life, is not necessary. They are saying, “If you accepted Him, it’s possible not to worry about His law; you are unconditionally saved.” They are practicing lawlessness with that false gospel. This "gospel" makes those who made a profession of Christ think they had heaven “locked in,” and they can live without thinking about what Christ wanted for them, or pay any attention to His laws. They are not abiding in Christ's commandments; they are living without laws--lawless.
Jesus is saying, further, that He doesn’t want concerned believers to spend all of our time examining other church member’s lives to see if we think they’re still saved, and then tossing out of church those who don’t meet our qualifications. Things like Spanish Inquisitions or Salem witch trials usually come of that. In other Scriptures, Jesus counsels against judging others. The word is: Let Him decide in the last days. Let’s love the foot-draggers among us and encourage them to do better; and let us build His church missions accordingly. It may go slower, but it’s a good test of love. I’m not saying, forget church discipline. There are many good Scriptures on that score. But, what if the church discipline goes awry? If things get like the late Middle Ages, with the church married to the State, with wicked people running the show, with adulterous kings and bishops, and the wrong people getting disciplined, that might be a time to break away from that denomination completely.
Well, think awhile on these important parables. Don’t twist them to meet your previous theology. Don’t ignore them, thinking them too hard to understand with their couched language. As you can see above, Jesus’ language is really quite clear. We often just don’t like what He’s saying.
Acknowledgement: David Bercot CD, “Kingdom Parables,” Scroll Publishing.
One group of parables is called Kingdom parables. When you read them over, you see three basic themes dominate them. We can learn much, and they have to do with how to get to heaven—so let’s study on.
Theme #1: God’s Kingdom People Would Start Out Tiny, then Grow in Number Around the World
Demonstrated In: Mustard Seed, Matthew 13:31-32
Leaven, Matthew 13:33
Example: Matthew 13:31-32: Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
A mustard seed is really tiny. Yet it becomes a tree. And a small amount of leaven will ferment the whole loaf. These parables are also a prophecy, and of course that prophecy has come to glorious truth. There are believers all over the globe (as I have found!).
There is one possible argument that you could make about this parable: How do you reconcile the huge number of believers this is speaking of, with Jesus’ comments in Matthew 7:13:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
So, the argument goes, which is it? A huge number, or few? Well, it could be both. It has been agreed upon by several scientists who should know that 100 billion people have ever lived. As my earlier blog (Most Americans Are Not Saved) points out, “few” might be 6-7%. But 7% of 100 billion is 7 billion. That’s “few” of everybody—but a lot of people, too.
But it could also be argued that the number of initial believers is huge--however, fewer get to heaven at final judgment. (See another blog on that, or I will explain it in this blog next.)
Theme #2: Many Who Start Out As Believers Get Rejected in Final Judgment
This is very important. In these parables listed below, Jesus makes it crystal clear why the “believers” get rejected. They were not rejected because “they were not saved to begin with,” or “they trusted in their own righteousness vs. God’s imputed righteousness.” For our soul’s sake, let’s seek the real reason why they were rejected, so we can avoid such tragedy.
Demonstated in:Vine, John 15:1-10
Sower, Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23
Wedding feast, Matthew 22:1-14
Five foolish and five wise virgins, Matthew 25:1-13
The faithful and wise servant, Matthew 24:45-51
Talents, Matthew 25:14-28
Separating the Sheep and the Goats, Matthew 25:31-46
Houses built on the Rock and Sand, Matthew 7:21-27
I picked three of the above:
Example #1: John 15:1-10: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
This is some of the best Words from Jesus in the New Testament, aside from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is the Vine; some of us are the branches. True, these verses don’t say how to get on the Vine in the first place, the initial salvation (it takes repentance and faith, explained elsewhere in Scripture), but they do a wonderful job of explaining the much-ignored path to final salvation. You need both (initial and final) to get to heaven. As these verses clearly show, to finally get to heaven, and not be tossed out, we must abide in Christ to bear fruit. We must bear fruit for final salvation. If we don’t abide in Christ, we are “cast out,” we are “withered,” we are thrown into the fire, and we burn. An obvious reference to hell. The word “abide,” in the Greek, is defined as “continue, remain, tarry.” It suggests a relationship of bonding which we seek with our Savior, in gratitude for His saving us from hell. We want to find out and obey His commandments, His commandments of love, the best path for our life. Beside the requirement to obey His commandments, we must produce fruit. The word “fruit” might be best explained by Galatians 5:22-24:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This concept of initial and final salvation is revolutionary, it seems, except in Scripture, where it is set forth plainly (see my blog, “Initial and Final Salvation.”) Protestant Reformers like Luther didn’t get it; he spent most of his time trying to be the opposite of the Catholics. If they said “works is big,” he had to say “no works, grace.” I don’t deny grace. It is all grace for God to pay any attention to us sinful creatures. But the truth is, Catholics distorted their idea of works (they say a relationship with Christ is not necessary; just say your rosary, attend Mass, Confession, etc). And Protestant Reformers distorted grace (they say a relationship with Christ is not necessary; just accept Him, and you are saved forever, through His unconditional grace, whether you sin little or a lot, hey, we all have to sin). Both these theologies are lies, and put you in danger of hell. The real truth is, a relationship with Christ IS NECESSARY to be saved, as Scripture clearly points out. That relationship will start out weak, of course, but then it bears a little fruit, gets pruned, starts to grow more each year. We gradually learn to love the world less, and Him more.
Example #2: Matthew 25:31-46: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 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, but the righteous into eternal life.”
So the issue for final salvation is not a theological debate about grace, but simply, “What did you do with your life? Did you love your fellow man? Did you care for the poor?” Caring for the poor, and loving, being merciful and forgiving, are commandments Jesus gave frequently. But broken frequently by "Christians" without a thought of its danger. It's possible to feel "secure" about accepting Christ once, go to church, commit few "bad" sins, yet go to hell. Because the sins here are not sins of commission (if you steal, murder, etc) but sins of omission. Lots of "Christians" might assume poor people are just lazy, and only give to their church, and would never go near areas of the city that really need Christ's help. Are they assured of heaven? These verses say no; they're the goats.
Example #3: Matthew 7:21-27: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
As anyone can read, hearing His commandments and DOING them is wise and keeps our spiritual house together; hearing and NOT DOING, no matter how much “service” you do to impress people, you are headed for spiritual collapse. We must “do the will” of His Father. It’s the same theme: Having been saved, doing His commandments gets you on God’s “good side” in judgment. Saying a prayer and accepting Him, no matter how sincere, might get you initial salvation; but follow through is necessary. It will mean nothing if you don’t persevere in talking to Him as well. Living your life as you wish and ignoring God’s desire for relationship and His will for you puts you back on the road to hell.
For a little more proof, I cite John 5:28-29:
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
This is what Jesus preached; final decision is made on who has done good, versus who has done evil. Maybe that idea is different from what you hear at church? Are we going to twist the obvious meaning of this verse? It looks clear: “Doing good” gets you final salvation: the resurrection of life. (PS: Don’t forget initial salvation—you won’t produce fruit without His Spirit’s guidance, abiding in Him). If this seems to disagree with what Paul says about ignoring the law (especially in Romans and Galatians), you need to keep context in view. The apostles had to deal with Judaizers—new Jewish Christians who wanted us to keep all their laws to be saved. “Let’s get all the male believers circumcised, too,” they said. “They have to follow the law of Moses to be saved.” That’s what Paul couldn’t stomach. He didn’t want us to just follow laws; he wanted us to have a relationship with Jesus. (I have other blogs on “Paul vs. James” on this subject).
Theme #3: God’s Kingdom People Would Have Non-Believers Among Them; Let God Weed Them Out at Final Judgment
Demonstrated in: Wheat and Weeds (tares), Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43
Dragnet, Matthew 13:47-50
In the interest of space, we only comment on one.
Example: Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43: Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”…(ed, now speaking only to disciples) “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
In His kingdom, largely expressed through the church, there will be wheat and weeds together. We sometimes worry about a problem: Who is a genuine Christian? Jesus say, Don't worry; the angels will pull out “those who practice lawlessness.” I believe that phrase includes those people who publicly preach that obedience to His commandments, making Him Lord of your life, is not necessary. They are saying, “If you accepted Him, it’s possible not to worry about His law; you are unconditionally saved.” They are practicing lawlessness with that false gospel. This "gospel" makes those who made a profession of Christ think they had heaven “locked in,” and they can live without thinking about what Christ wanted for them, or pay any attention to His laws. They are not abiding in Christ's commandments; they are living without laws--lawless.
Jesus is saying, further, that He doesn’t want concerned believers to spend all of our time examining other church member’s lives to see if we think they’re still saved, and then tossing out of church those who don’t meet our qualifications. Things like Spanish Inquisitions or Salem witch trials usually come of that. In other Scriptures, Jesus counsels against judging others. The word is: Let Him decide in the last days. Let’s love the foot-draggers among us and encourage them to do better; and let us build His church missions accordingly. It may go slower, but it’s a good test of love. I’m not saying, forget church discipline. There are many good Scriptures on that score. But, what if the church discipline goes awry? If things get like the late Middle Ages, with the church married to the State, with wicked people running the show, with adulterous kings and bishops, and the wrong people getting disciplined, that might be a time to break away from that denomination completely.
Well, think awhile on these important parables. Don’t twist them to meet your previous theology. Don’t ignore them, thinking them too hard to understand with their couched language. As you can see above, Jesus’ language is really quite clear. We often just don’t like what He’s saying.
Acknowledgement: David Bercot CD, “Kingdom Parables,” Scroll Publishing.
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
From Matt Walsh on the Issue of "Black Lives Matter"
The areas where black life is most under attack are not unique to black people —our culture rejects human dignity completely — but they do impact the black community more than others. If you’re looking for the worst culprit in the war on black life and all human life, law enforcement is not the place to start. They shouldn’t even be your second stop or your third. In the vast majority of cases, law enforcement is not an enemy of black life, but hopefully a protector of it.
The abortion industry is a different story, however. The legalization of fetal homicide undermines the sacredness of life at its very foundation. It devalues life universally. It says that life at its core, in its essence, is not worthy or important. It says that life is valuable only in so far as it is useful to those around it. It proclaims human life disposable, particularly the lives of the poor and the disadvantaged. The abortion industry preaches quite explicitly that life does not matter. That’s its whole sales pitch. When Black Lives Matter shouts “black lives matter,” the abortion industry is the loudest voice shouting back, “No they don’t.” Yet many of the people who think police departments should be abolished also think the abortion industry should be funded. It makes no sense.
Abortion is not a uniquely black issue, but it is a uniquely cataclysmic issue for the black community. Black people only account for 12 percent of the citizenry but they make up almost a third of the abortions. There have been over 16 million black abortions since Roe v Wade, resulting in a 36 percent reduction of the black population. In some cities, black babies are more likely to be aborted than born.
There have been about 1,100 black people killed by cops in the last 10 years. Abortionists wipe out three times as many in less than a week. Police killed about 300 black people in 2015, according to some estimates. Abortionists kill well over twice that amount on an average Tuesday. Still, incredibly, Black Lives Matters supporters are much more likely to accuse police of exterminating black children.
You can care about more than one thing, of course, but the fact remains that BLM and its proponents are almost entirely silent about the actual mass slaughter of black kids. There have been enough black babies executed in abortion clinics to fill 200 football stadiums, but we are still more likely to see a high profile Black Lives Matter supporter passionately defending the abortion industry than criticizing it, before pivoting quickly back to the systematic evils of law enforcement.
It’s OK to focus especially on one sort of issue or another, but if your movement stands for life in one case and then is utterly and completely silent in the other — or worse, it is all of a sudden in favor of devaluing life in these other situations – then your movement is, at best, impotent. At worst it’s fraudulent. When it comes to BLM, I suspect the latter.
There may be a few people who’ve marched in both Black Lives Matter protests and the March For Life, but I have never seen cities across the country swarmed by mostly black citizens angrily denouncing the murder of black babies the way they denounce the much less common killing of black criminal suspects. Indeed, it really appears that, in the eyes of Black Lives Matter, the only black lives that matter are criminal suspects. At least those are the only ones they seem interested in acknowledging.
And it’s not just abortion that’s so conspicuously ignored. As has been pointed out many times, Black Lives Matter has almost nothing to say about the thousands of black people gunned down by other black people in the inner city every year. They have even less to say about the millions of black children abandoned by their black fathers. If your kid’s life matters, Black Lives Matter should say, then go home and be a father to him. Perhaps that will minimize the chances that his face ends up emblazoned on t-shirts at the next Black Lives Matter rally. But no such message is relayed. In fact, that message is uniformly denounced and shouted down.
It doesn’t end there. Prostitution, drug abuse, pornography — all of these evils desecrate the sanctity of black life just as they desecrate the sanctity of all human life. That’s to say nothing of the black musicians and black pop culture icons who glorify black criminality and objectify black women, helping to promote among black youth a total rejection of human dignity. It’s true that some bad apple cops don’t respect human life, but it’s even more true that the culture itself — the whole culture, but especially black culture — disrespects human life. Where is Black Lives Matter on that issue? Why are cops the only villains in the story they tell?
To whatever extent the problem of dehumanization can be found in law enforcement, it must be understood as a symptom, not the cause. It should be no surprise that a culture that hates life would produce cops who don’t respect life.
It’s OK for a movement to be about something specific. Not every movement has to be about everything. Not every protest against a bad thing needs to be a protest against every bad thing. But the movement and the protest should be grounded in principles that can be applied — and are applied — beyond it, especially if the movement marches under a banner like “Black lives matter.” That is a motto that appears, at first blush, to be saying more than, “Cops shouldn’t kill innocent black folks.” If it isn’t trying to say more than that, it should stop using the motto. If it is trying to say more, then it should come out and finally say it.
Black lives matter? Yes, they do. But, sadly, it appears that black lives don’t really matter to Black Lives Matter. And that’s the problem.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
The Antichrist is Islamic (Revised)
This blog is for all you eschatology, or future event, thinkers out
there. I have an important announcement: You may think seriously
about adjusting your “charts,” particularly if you are a follower of Lindsey,
LaHaye, or Hagee, because this study considers why the Antichrist is a Muslim, a conclusion from
the book The Islamic
Antichrist by Joel
Richardson. His best proof for that claim is by proving that the same man is in the Bible and in the
Quran. The irony is, this man is the Antichrist in the Bible, but the
Savior in the Quran! This one chapter in the book that I will summarize might convince
you too.
Now, first, keep in mind that there is more than one
sacred text to their Scripture: In addition to the foundational Quran
(Mohammed’s writings of God's actual words through the angel), you have the
Sunna (presumably Mohammed’s life and thoughts) and the hadiths (presumably Muhammed’s sayings);
these are sacred as well. A true Muslim believer will follow any of these
to the death, if need be.
Why is this study worthwhile? The Quran records five things that a Muslim
must believe in to be a true Muslim; these five areas are fixed and
non-negotiable. As it says in sura 2:177: “righteous is he who believeth in
(1) Allah and (2) the Last Day and (3) the angels and (4) the Scripture and (5)
the prophets.” Note the importance of the Last Day to them.
Eschatology (study of future events) may be optional for study to us Christians, but their scary Last
Days may lead to some irrational and murderous action—on us. We need to
know their predictions of their future, in thinking about a defensive strategy
against the determined Muslim who wants to help bring about their version of
the Last Day. There is no doubt in their minds how those days will go if they act,
and their scenario does not look good for us.
Of their many key figures in the Last Days, the man
above all men was al-Mahdi,
which means “the Guided One.” Other names given to him by Shia Muslims
are Sahib Al-Zaman and Al-Mahdi al-Muntadhar. These names mean “the Lord of the
Age” and “the Awaited Savior.” Let me quote hadiths, for much of the details
Muslims have in their theology about him.
Then we’ll compare to what the Scripture says about the same man.
From the hadiths: The Mahdi will be a world ruler through revolution
To quote Al-Sadr and Mutahhari, “He will reappear on
the appointed day, and lead a world revolution, and set up a new world order… " Quoting Izzat and ‘Arif again, this will bring ”victory of the Truth and
the fall of all tyrants.” According to
Islamic tradition, the Mahdi is said to preside over the entire earth as the
final caliph of Islam.
Now the Bible truth about the Antichrist: The Antichrist will be a world ruler through military
power (Daniel 7:23)
‘The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which
shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth,
Trample it and break it in pieces
The first three kingdoms (“beast” or “beasts” can mean
kingdoms or people). were Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece, most experts agree. Each of those dominated the known world. Based on Daniel 7:24-25, a revived fourth kingdom
will be worldwide, but is yet future. Some say the fourth kingdom was the Roman
empire in two parts. Part 1 has already
occurred. Part II is future, they say. We’re
suggesting that this latter kingdom is Islamic.
Revelation 13:7:…authority was
given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Hadiths say: The Mahdi will be worshiped, a popular political
genius
“Allah will sow love of him in the hearts of all
people…everyone only talks about Him.” He will have control over the wind
and the rain and the crops; the world will live in prosperity, says Sahih Hakim
Mustadrak.
Bible: The Antichrist will be worshiped, a popular political
genius (Revelation 13:3,4,8):
3And I saw one of his heads as if it
had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world
marveled and followed the beast.…they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make
war with him?”… 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have
not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world.
Hadiths: The Mahdi will be spiritually good and a Messiah;
Sahih Hakim Mustadrak claims: “He will give away
wealth profusely, flocks will be in abundance.” He will be perceived to
be a miraculous archaeologist, uncovering Jewish and Christian sacred treasures,
perhaps to convert them to Islam at the beginning: he finds the Torah (first
five books of the Old Testament) from a mountain in Syria, and the Gospel from
a town called Antioch (a major town in south-central Turkey). And if that
weren’t enough, the Ark of the Covenant (a wooden chest clad with gold, containing
the Ten Commandments) will be brought forth from the Lake of Tiberias and will
be placed in Jerusalem. As quoted by Ayatullah Baqir al-Sadr: “For
the ultimate salvation of mankind he is the Pole Star of hope on which the gaze
of humanity is fixed…He stands high above the narrow walls in which humanity is
cut up and divided.” To quote Al-Sadr and Mutahhari, “He will…set up a
new world order based on justice, righteousness, and virtue.” From
Sachedina again: “He will create a just social order and a world free
from oppression.”
The Bible has a different view: The Antichrist will be spiritually the embodiment of
evil, with hate and murder at his core beliefs:
II Thessalonians 2:4 shows his hunger
to be worshiped, his blasphemy:
…who opposes and exalts himself above
all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God
Revelation 13:4a shows the Antichrist (the beast) gets
his authority from Satan (the dragon):
So they worshiped the dragon who gave
authority to the beast
In further proof of his Antichrist nature,
let’s quote Muslim sacred texts which indicate his hatred and murderous
spirit. As Sunan Abu Dawud says, “Every
believer will be obligated to support him.” As Ibn Maja says, “Give him
your allegiance, even if you have to crawl over ice.” The Mahdi’s means of
accomplishing world revolution will include multiple military jihads (holy
wars), as Abdullrahman Kelani says. Even Harun Yahya, supposedly a
moderate, says, “the Mahdi will invade all the places between East and West.”
Sheikh Kabbani says, “black flags coming from the area of Khorasan (in Iran)
will signify the appearance of the Mahdi is nigh.” The black flag is the
flag of jihad. On the flag is one word written in Arabic: punishment. Here are some
really ugly quotes showing their anti-Semitism: Egyptian
authors Muhammad ibn Izzat and ‘Arif: “The Mahdi will be victorious and
eradicate those pigs and dogs and idols of this time…will abolish the
leadership of the Jews…and put an end to the domination of the Satans who spit
evil into people and cause corruption in the earth, making them slaves of false
idols and ruling the world by laws other than the Sharia of the Lord of the
worlds.”
To quote a famous Islamic tradition: “the last
hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews, and the
Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide behind a stone or a tree and
a stone or tree would say: “Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a
Jew behind me; come and kill him.”
Hadiths: The Mahdi will have his seat of authority in Jerusalem
As Tirmidhi says, “No power will be able to stop them
and they will finally reach Eela Baitul Maqdas, where they will erect their
flags (i.e., the jihad black flags).” This place is the Jewish Temple Mount, in Jerusalem, which
no longer exists—but will then.
To quote Izzat and ‘Arif again: Jerusalem will be the location
of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule, which will be
headed by Imam al-Mahdi.
Bible: The Antichrist will set his throne in God’s Temple
(Jerusalem) and desecrate it
Zechariah 14:2: 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, But
the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Matthew 24:15, 21:
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the
holy place (i.e., in Jerusalem)…21 For then there will be great tribulation...
Hadiths: The Mahdi will present Jews and Christians with a
“Hobson’s Choice”
To quote the Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini: The Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to
the Jews and Christians; if they accept it, they will be spared, otherwise they
will be killed.
Bible: The Antichrist will present Jews and Christians with a
“Hobson’s Choice”
This is in Rev. 12:17, keeping in mind that the
Antichrist is the embodiment of Satan (the dragon). Note the reference to “her offspring,
who….keep the..testimony of Jesus Christ.”
This refers to Christians. Thus,
we Christians will not escape the Antichrist’s intense persecution:
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
Hadiths: The Mahdi will ride a white horse
The Muslims’ authority for that is the Bible, of all
things (which they consider it a source, but “less than sacred” book). They quote Revelation 6:1-2:
Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures
saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had
a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Obviously, the Bible agrees: The Antichrist will ride a white horse
The same Bible verse is used. But it actually proves that this is not a
messiah, but a deceiver. For proof, first,
we look at the word “crown” in Rev. 6:2. The Greek
word is “stephanos,” used for the winner of war games. Jesus’ crown is a “diadem,” a kingly
crown. Plus, note the events of
subsequent seals in Revelation 6:3-17:
war, famines, death and Hades, martyrdom, and cosmic disturbances. There is no way this follows a triumphal
entry of a Messiah. No, it follows a
deceiver, one who pretends to be a Messiah.
And the world then chaotically reels under his hatred and destruction.
The best one of all: From the hadiths: The Mahdi will make a Seven year treaty with Jews
This is the most shocking and convincing testimony
that the Antichrist and the Mahdi are the same.
Note the hadith first: this is
called the “fourth treaty,” to be made with a descendant of Moses’ brother
Aaron the priest. Now to quote Muhammad
Ali Ibn Zubair: There will be four peace
agreements between you and the Romans (i.e., Christians, Westerners). The fourth will be mediated through a person
who will be from the progeny of Hadrat Aaron and will be upheld for seven
years. The people asked, “Who will
be the leader of the people at that time?”
The prophet said: He will be from my progeny and will be exactly 40
years of age.
Bible: The Antichrist will make a seven year treaty with Jews
This is from Daniel 9:27. Note the use of “abominations” and
“desolate,” which we tie in to Jesus’ reference to the Antichrist (from Matthew
24, above). Using “seven” to mean “seven
years” works best. Few negotiated treaties of importance are only for seven weeks, or months.
27 Then he 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.
Thus, in these seven important areas, what happens when the
Antichrist comes to power will mean the Muslims who read their sacred texts will
be completely deceived into thinking this horrible man, this embodiment of
Satan, is Their Messiah! This will bring
about, I believe, an intensity to follow their sacred texts—which are texts of
murder and hatred. (I have a blog on
their version of Allah vs. our Biblical God). And with over a billion Muslims
in the world, they would rise up in religious fervor and perform whatever their
sacred texts tell them to. This would lead to unbelievable deaths and
chaos.
Christians, think nothing of your bodies, which are temporary
abodes. If all this happens in this age,
be ready to be a martyr if given the choice of Jesus or al-Mahdi. Your reward will be a place in heaven for
eternity.
Acknowledgement: The Islamic Antichrist, Joel Richardson
Acknowledgement: The Islamic Antichrist, Joel Richardson
Sunday, July 3, 2016
The Nation's Abortions Have Consequences
I want to tell you a Bible story that will illustrate how God feels about abortion. Consider this: America has really not retracted one bit from the disastrous Roe v Wade decision. What's even worse, we are actually becoming blase about this terrible status quo. And by status quo, I mean we still allow nearly one million babies to be killed in the womb in the U.S. every year. We tinker with abortion by not allowing it later, etc, restricting it a bit, but we’re still not anywhere close to shutting it down. I read about how Asians around the world are still memorializing the 2004 earthquake and tsunami that killed 228,000 people. An astounding number, don't you think? If you do 260 more just like it, you finally get close to the number of babies murdered through abortion in the U.S. since Roe (1973) was enacted, through today. That’s 60 million little lives lost. Where is our sorrow?
I promised you a story. True story. First, a rabbit trail. It begins with how evil the ancient Canaanites were. One of their worship practices was called the teraphim. Teraphim is ancestor-worship. When they wanted to zealously follow it, they would take the first-born male of their family and cut off his head! (Yes, he was perfectly healthy when they decided to do that). The hair of the head would be removed, and then the head would be salted and oiled, thus preserving the son's features. The dessicated head was supposed to retain contact with the departed spirit. So, with the proper ritual, the head could serve as a conduit to the spirit world, passing information between a family and their ancestor gods. The book of Jasher (a reliable book, mentioned in Joshua 10:13) records the following steps:
…taking a small tablet of copper…and writing the name upon it (ed., of the person you desire to contact), and placing the tablet under his tongue and putting the skull in the house, and lighting up lights before it and bowing down to it. And at the time when they bow down to it, it spoke to them in all matters that they ask of it…
This is demonology. It also strengthens my understanding of why God would initiate such a severe judgment on the Canaanites—He is a holy God, and never tolerates killing the innocents without passing severe judgment.
Let’s take another look at another unspeakable “religious” practice of the Canaanites—but this time they got Ahab, a Jewish king, hooked on this practice. Ahab's only notorious claim to fame is that his wife was Jezebel. But he has his own tale of evil. He adopted many religious practices from the Canaanites. The Canaanites were so evil that God told Israel to attack them and not leave a single soul breathing. That may seem unjust--but look at my last paragraph for the reason why. They loved to kill children as a sacrifice offering. This was in honor of the god Molech, a god of Baal. This is where Ahab got involved. Here is II Chronicles 28:3 about his “religious” worship:
He (Ahab) burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
This horrific act seems beyond understanding. Why did Ahab do it? Well, maybe it was due to some other sexual “benefits” of Baal and Molech worship that might outweigh losing a son. (It helped if you had many wives and many sons, which kings typically had; the pain of losing one was lessened). The religion, after all, included sex rituals. Such as, would you believe, sodomy and prostitution in religious liturgy, and adultery with swapping wives and fornication with other men’s virgin daughters.
Unfortunately a later Jewish king, Manasseh, did the same shocking thing. But he did even worse: he promoted it among the people! Many Israelites followed his lead. From II Kings 21:11:
“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols)...
More on Manasseh’s sin, II Chronicles 33:2-3, 6-7:
But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them...6 Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. 7 He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God…
Unbelievable that he would do this in God’s house. God is also totally against mediums and spiritists, as you see in Deuteronomy 18:9-14:
“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.
As you can see, making your children “pass through the fire,” a sacrifice murder of your own child (similar to abortion, my main point), was mentioned as early as Deuteronomy. This practice, and God’s hatred of it, had been known a long time. So these two kings, Ahab and Manasseh, were in direct violation of a plain command of God.
But let’s get back to our story. Manasseh’s sin (promoting it to the people, and doing it in God's house) was so great in the eyes of God that He promised His anger could not be quenched. The sad words are in II Kings 21:12-15, right next to verses above:
… therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13 … I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, 15 because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’”
What was Manasseh’s specific sin that deserved such extreme judgment? In the next verse:
Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
It was the innocent blood. Blood of little children. "From one end" of Jerusalem "to another" meant lots of people followed his lead. Now Jesus loves little children. How was Manasseh’s sin greater than Ahab, so that Ahab wasn’t threatened with this ultimate calamity? I suspect because, as the verse above says, “by which he (Manasseh) made Judah sin.” He publicized it, and lots of people followed. So the murder of the innocents was that much greater. (But I suspect it doesn’t total America’s sin thus far, 60 million souls!)
Now you expect judgment, and--perchance, if there is repentance, God is OK again, right? Well, now you’re going to see a part of God you don’t want to see.
We’ve all heard about how Jonah, after being burped out of a big fish, preached to the vicious Assyrians, you heard about their repentance—and how God changed His mind of His promise of judgment on them and rolled it back. Great story about God’s mercy. Yes, we’ve all heard of the Jonah story, and there are many kids’ books about it. But did you know that Manasseh repented, and had a great reformation? Have you ever heard what happened after that? Doubtful. Well, did you ever hear about how his grandson Josiah had the greatest revival in human history? What, you’ve never heard that one either? Not surprising, considering God’s reaction to this wonderful repentance is “unexpected.” Let me warn you: We all just need to know more about God. We have imagined His mercy is unending— but for a nation, that might not be a true image. Kind of important since He has the keys to every nation's judgment.
First, Manasseh’s judgment and repentance. From II Chronicles 33:11-16:
And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. 12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. 14 After this he (Manasseh)…took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. 16 He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
So, you say, the land was forgiven, right? Jerusalem was saved, right? Uh, no…He died right after that. Then there was a short reign of his son, who was killed. Then his grandson Josiah comes to power. During his reign, the priests find the buried Book of the Law, blew the dust off, and read it to him. He tore his clothes in distress, and urged his aides to seek a prophetess (not the same as a medium, this person was touched by God and had a 100% rate of prophecies that came true). II Kings 22:13 records Josiah's great words:
“Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
Later, he does a “clean-up” operation like his grandfather, only better; and this is what joyous Scriptures record, from II Kings 23:1-10:
Now the king (Josiah) sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. 2 The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. 3 Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.6 And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the LORD, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people. 7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons[d] that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image. 8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate… 10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
The “high places,” in case you’re wondering, based on other Scriptures, seem to be where the religious prostitutes were. He eliminated those. He executed the priests of the high places, by the way. And he removed those who consulted mediums and spiritists. Josiah goes farther than his repentant grandfather, because and he goes out of his way to defile the worship places of false gods—and because he gets the populace involved with making a covenant to God. The main thing is that he stopped the sacrifice killing of children.
He goes even further yet. In honor of religious holidays that he’d just heard about, he institutes a Passover festival (memorializing God’s miracles which saved them from Egypt). We read this joyous event in II Chronicles 35:18:
There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
All in all, he was praised as a wonderful king—he gets higher praise than King David. Think about that! From II Kings 23:25:
Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
So, you say, God forgave the land, right? Jerusalem was saved, right? If God could give the vicious Assyrians a break with Jonah, He could give His favorites, the “apple of His eye,” a break, right? Uh….no. Only five verses after the great Passover festival, only four verses after the verses recording the reformation above, Josiah was simply…dead. Explanation? From II Kings 23:26:
Nevertheless the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.
So, great reformation and the greatest revival in history could not bring forgiveness. I remind you, what were the “provocations” that were unable to save Jerusalem? Killing the innocents.
Immediately after Josiah, it turns out that the Israeli kings, and soon the land, too, are in the hand of their enemies. You can see why this story is not in kids’ books, and not well-known. We don’t like stories with a bad ending. But kill the innocent—and your country gets a bad ending. Shouldn’t we expect the same for the U.S.--or even worse, since we have not even repented? A country who seems to lack the spiritual power to slow down or stop the status quo of killing a million innocents a year?
Now if any of my readers out there had an abortion, or encouraged one, that's a different subject than a country. We’re talking about your individual soul. You will have different consequences than Israel if you repent. Murder will, indeed, get you to hell—unless you repent and begin living your life for Christ, who came to die to pay for your sin. Become a “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,” as Romans 12:1 puts it. It’s never too late to confess and begin to have guilt-free living.
Acknowledgement: Ancient Paganism, Ken Johnson
I promised you a story. True story. First, a rabbit trail. It begins with how evil the ancient Canaanites were. One of their worship practices was called the teraphim. Teraphim is ancestor-worship. When they wanted to zealously follow it, they would take the first-born male of their family and cut off his head! (Yes, he was perfectly healthy when they decided to do that). The hair of the head would be removed, and then the head would be salted and oiled, thus preserving the son's features. The dessicated head was supposed to retain contact with the departed spirit. So, with the proper ritual, the head could serve as a conduit to the spirit world, passing information between a family and their ancestor gods. The book of Jasher (a reliable book, mentioned in Joshua 10:13) records the following steps:
…taking a small tablet of copper…and writing the name upon it (ed., of the person you desire to contact), and placing the tablet under his tongue and putting the skull in the house, and lighting up lights before it and bowing down to it. And at the time when they bow down to it, it spoke to them in all matters that they ask of it…
This is demonology. It also strengthens my understanding of why God would initiate such a severe judgment on the Canaanites—He is a holy God, and never tolerates killing the innocents without passing severe judgment.
Let’s take another look at another unspeakable “religious” practice of the Canaanites—but this time they got Ahab, a Jewish king, hooked on this practice. Ahab's only notorious claim to fame is that his wife was Jezebel. But he has his own tale of evil. He adopted many religious practices from the Canaanites. The Canaanites were so evil that God told Israel to attack them and not leave a single soul breathing. That may seem unjust--but look at my last paragraph for the reason why. They loved to kill children as a sacrifice offering. This was in honor of the god Molech, a god of Baal. This is where Ahab got involved. Here is II Chronicles 28:3 about his “religious” worship:
He (Ahab) burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
This horrific act seems beyond understanding. Why did Ahab do it? Well, maybe it was due to some other sexual “benefits” of Baal and Molech worship that might outweigh losing a son. (It helped if you had many wives and many sons, which kings typically had; the pain of losing one was lessened). The religion, after all, included sex rituals. Such as, would you believe, sodomy and prostitution in religious liturgy, and adultery with swapping wives and fornication with other men’s virgin daughters.
Unfortunately a later Jewish king, Manasseh, did the same shocking thing. But he did even worse: he promoted it among the people! Many Israelites followed his lead. From II Kings 21:11:
“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols)...
More on Manasseh’s sin, II Chronicles 33:2-3, 6-7:
But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them...6 Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. 7 He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God…
Unbelievable that he would do this in God’s house. God is also totally against mediums and spiritists, as you see in Deuteronomy 18:9-14:
“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.
As you can see, making your children “pass through the fire,” a sacrifice murder of your own child (similar to abortion, my main point), was mentioned as early as Deuteronomy. This practice, and God’s hatred of it, had been known a long time. So these two kings, Ahab and Manasseh, were in direct violation of a plain command of God.
But let’s get back to our story. Manasseh’s sin (promoting it to the people, and doing it in God's house) was so great in the eyes of God that He promised His anger could not be quenched. The sad words are in II Kings 21:12-15, right next to verses above:
… therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13 … I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, 15 because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’”
What was Manasseh’s specific sin that deserved such extreme judgment? In the next verse:
Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
It was the innocent blood. Blood of little children. "From one end" of Jerusalem "to another" meant lots of people followed his lead. Now Jesus loves little children. How was Manasseh’s sin greater than Ahab, so that Ahab wasn’t threatened with this ultimate calamity? I suspect because, as the verse above says, “by which he (Manasseh) made Judah sin.” He publicized it, and lots of people followed. So the murder of the innocents was that much greater. (But I suspect it doesn’t total America’s sin thus far, 60 million souls!)
Now you expect judgment, and--perchance, if there is repentance, God is OK again, right? Well, now you’re going to see a part of God you don’t want to see.
We’ve all heard about how Jonah, after being burped out of a big fish, preached to the vicious Assyrians, you heard about their repentance—and how God changed His mind of His promise of judgment on them and rolled it back. Great story about God’s mercy. Yes, we’ve all heard of the Jonah story, and there are many kids’ books about it. But did you know that Manasseh repented, and had a great reformation? Have you ever heard what happened after that? Doubtful. Well, did you ever hear about how his grandson Josiah had the greatest revival in human history? What, you’ve never heard that one either? Not surprising, considering God’s reaction to this wonderful repentance is “unexpected.” Let me warn you: We all just need to know more about God. We have imagined His mercy is unending— but for a nation, that might not be a true image. Kind of important since He has the keys to every nation's judgment.
First, Manasseh’s judgment and repentance. From II Chronicles 33:11-16:
And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. 12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. 14 After this he (Manasseh)…took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. 16 He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
So, you say, the land was forgiven, right? Jerusalem was saved, right? Uh, no…He died right after that. Then there was a short reign of his son, who was killed. Then his grandson Josiah comes to power. During his reign, the priests find the buried Book of the Law, blew the dust off, and read it to him. He tore his clothes in distress, and urged his aides to seek a prophetess (not the same as a medium, this person was touched by God and had a 100% rate of prophecies that came true). II Kings 22:13 records Josiah's great words:
“Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
Later, he does a “clean-up” operation like his grandfather, only better; and this is what joyous Scriptures record, from II Kings 23:1-10:
Now the king (Josiah) sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. 2 The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD. 3 Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.6 And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the LORD, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people. 7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons[d] that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image. 8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate… 10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
The “high places,” in case you’re wondering, based on other Scriptures, seem to be where the religious prostitutes were. He eliminated those. He executed the priests of the high places, by the way. And he removed those who consulted mediums and spiritists. Josiah goes farther than his repentant grandfather, because and he goes out of his way to defile the worship places of false gods—and because he gets the populace involved with making a covenant to God. The main thing is that he stopped the sacrifice killing of children.
He goes even further yet. In honor of religious holidays that he’d just heard about, he institutes a Passover festival (memorializing God’s miracles which saved them from Egypt). We read this joyous event in II Chronicles 35:18:
There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
All in all, he was praised as a wonderful king—he gets higher praise than King David. Think about that! From II Kings 23:25:
Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
So, you say, God forgave the land, right? Jerusalem was saved, right? If God could give the vicious Assyrians a break with Jonah, He could give His favorites, the “apple of His eye,” a break, right? Uh….no. Only five verses after the great Passover festival, only four verses after the verses recording the reformation above, Josiah was simply…dead. Explanation? From II Kings 23:26:
Nevertheless the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.
So, great reformation and the greatest revival in history could not bring forgiveness. I remind you, what were the “provocations” that were unable to save Jerusalem? Killing the innocents.
Immediately after Josiah, it turns out that the Israeli kings, and soon the land, too, are in the hand of their enemies. You can see why this story is not in kids’ books, and not well-known. We don’t like stories with a bad ending. But kill the innocent—and your country gets a bad ending. Shouldn’t we expect the same for the U.S.--or even worse, since we have not even repented? A country who seems to lack the spiritual power to slow down or stop the status quo of killing a million innocents a year?
Now if any of my readers out there had an abortion, or encouraged one, that's a different subject than a country. We’re talking about your individual soul. You will have different consequences than Israel if you repent. Murder will, indeed, get you to hell—unless you repent and begin living your life for Christ, who came to die to pay for your sin. Become a “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,” as Romans 12:1 puts it. It’s never too late to confess and begin to have guilt-free living.
Acknowledgement: Ancient Paganism, Ken Johnson
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