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Tag: apocalypse

  • Times of Difficulty – 5

    Times of Difficulty – 5

    Godlessness in the Last Days

    2 Timothy 3:

    But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

    2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

    File- This Sept. 6, 2012, file photo shows Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
    Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos richest man in the world with a net worth of $90.6 billion

    Many lovers of money worldwide, with the richest residing in the US, France, Spain, Mexico, China and Hong Kong.

    Proud and arrogant men and women rule companies and financial interests more powerful than countries.

    We sense the extreme poverty of so many without knowing the truth of many billionaires like Carlos Slim Helú who dominates more than a country just devastated by yet another earthquake.

    Borderless prisons of poverty abuse the starving and obliterate opposition.

    Difficulty in these last days

    How many rulers of this temporary darkness are without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit and more?

    Evil rulers of countries and military forces threaten apocalypse, condone persecution and order elimination of those who oppose them. Is the Lord God their God?

    Hardly a mention of evil in these trying times. Yet one word describes all – godlessness. 

    Meanwhile international headline news conglomerates skew our focus toward consumption, power and fleeting fame. 

    Signs of the End of the Age

    Enlightened ones speculate with futily about global warming and disasters of ‘mother nature.’ 

    Earth did not create us, aliens did not plant us and apes did not conceive our ancestors. Yet idolatry abounds in these times of difficulty.

    When hurricane approaches or disaster strikes do any dare mention ‘acts of God?’

    Matthew 24:

    Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

    3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

    4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

    6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

    7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

    9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

    11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

    12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

    14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

    No One Knows That Day and Hour

    In two millennia since the beginning of these last days, in recent centuries of these last hours, in passing minutes of threatening signs:

    Has your love grown cold? Will you endure to the end?

    Is your gospel of the kingdom of Christ Jesus a testimony of truth, an anchor of belief and hope of love?

    37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…

    Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Florida, wreaking destruction

    44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

    2 Peter 3:

    … scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say,

    “Where is the promise of his coming? …”

    5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

    7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

    Remember 9/11
    2,996 deaths

    10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

    For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…

     

     

  • Swords & Sickles

    Swords & Sickles

    Proclaim this among the nations:
    Consecrate for war;
        stir up the mighty men.
    Let all the men of war draw near;
        let them come up.

    Beat your plowshares into swords,blacksmith-hammer
        and your pruning hooks into spears;
        let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

    Joel 3:9-10

    Consecrate them, says the LORD! Yes. It is a holy war – war between the Lord God and those who hold to their sins, following idols, false prophets, foolish sages and lying leaders.

    What has been will be and what has never before been seen will blind the eyes of the nations.

    Joel 3:sickle

    13 Put in the sickle,  
        for the harvest is ripe.

    Go in, tread,
        for the winepress is full.
    The vats overflow,
        for their evil is great.

    14 Multitudes, multitudes,
        in the valley of decision!
    For the day of the Lord is near
        in the valley of decision.

    syria-kurdish-fighter-destroyed-city

    Borders and Nations Destroyed

    By what proxy have the nations divided Tyre and Sidon to the spoils of nations beyond the valley of destruction?

    Have the people not fled for their lives by land and by sea to places where they remain an enemy?

    Though you rebuild fallen towers and repair the breach of five-walled fortresses, refugees will yet invade your borderless regions. Their helpless will expose the evil of princes; their plight unveils the nakedness of greed.

    Has anything changed? Are these last times so different than the demise of the godless in the days of Joel?

    Six centuries later Peter would preach the words of Joel’s prophesy fulfilled by the Holy Spirit speaking through a few Apostles heard by the crowd in many languages. [Acts 2:16-21] The last days have begun, Peter preaches, with the incarnation of Christ Jesus and the Lord’s crucifixion for our sins and His resurrection and ascension to the Throne of the LORD!

    It is the Lamb of God who will judge. He was not a sword-wielding conquering King, general or prophet. God’s own compassion for the nations sacrificed the promised king of the jews as full payment for our sins, even the sins of His own enemies.

    The Rumblings of Peace

    One of the Apostles of Jesus lived to see Jerusalem fall once more under the domination of Rome. John wrote letters of love to the churches of Asia (modern day Turkey). Then as the last living Disciple prophesy came to John.

    Rome has since fallen. A false prophet emerged from a cave to conquer the continents. Wars to end all wars. Emperors and dictators and despots have risen with sword and perished in humiliation. Even Israel is replanted after shameful killings of the remnant.

    Only the message of the Lamb remains viable – a call to repentance and redemption in the blood of love, rather than the blood of war. Like in times before the falls of the mighty some claim peace, but it is war they invite. It is the Lord who will judge. Hear the Truth of these last days:

    Revelation 6:1-8 excerpt

    1. And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.
    2. And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
    3. And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.
    4. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
    4-horsemen-of-the-apocalypse
    And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

    Death Tolls of War

    • Current estimate of the population of the earth: 7,404,976,783
      • a fourth of the earth killed = 1,851,244,195
      • 9/11 Death toll           = 2,996
      • 2016 Migrant deaths = 4,310 of 243,000+ war refugees
      • Syrian war deaths      = c.300,000-400,000
      • Abortion deaths         = 40,000,000 – 50,000,000
      • WWII deaths              = 50,000,000 – 80,000,000
    • The current combined populations of China, Russia and the US = 1,831,278,025

    I am not suggesting that these three empires will be those destroyed in the end. The number of souls tormented and killed on the earth will exceed the total number of people living in these three earthly super-powers!

    Our sin is rampant! The judgment of evil is inevitable.

    The Lamb of God IS and will be, forever, Lord and Savior!

    He did not come to the world with a sword of power or a sickle to reap the riches of other lands. No, Christ Jesus came into the world as a Lamb of sacrifice for our sins. He will return on the clouds as John as prophesied.

    Revelation 6:

    9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice,

    “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

    11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

  • Seven Seals

    Seven Seals

    A scroll or proclamation sealed by the One of Authority

    Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. – Revelation 5:1

    The King James Version of the Bible uses the word ‘book’ in the place of scroll and interestingly enough you may recognize its importance from the original Greek: βιβλίον – biblion from the Greek root biblos.

    The Apostle John, exiled to the island of Patmos, survives the other eleven martyred for their faith, and receives a book of prophecy from the risen Lord. A few years prior to John’s apocalypse Rome had destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.

    An Ancient Sealed Prophesy

    Seven centuries prior to this witness of John, the prophet Isaiah had correctly predicted an earlier fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC.

    Isaiah 29:

    9 Astonish yourselves and be astonished;
    blind yourselves and be blind!
    Be drunk, but not with wine;
    stagger, but not with strong drink!
    10 For the Lord has poured out upon you
    a spirit of deep sleep,
    and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
    and covered your heads (the seers).

    11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed.

    חָתַם סֵפֶר

    When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

    The Lamb of God

    John had witnessed Christ Jesus slain on a cross. He was the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world; yet three days later and for many days John witnessed the risen Christ! Jesus was about thirty years old, but John was even younger. Hundreds of jews and gentiles saw the risen Lord, who previously had told the Apostles of His return.

    Now John is an old man (even by modern standards). The Lord gives John a vision, just as the Lord has previously uncovered a certain future to His Prophets centuries before Christ.

    John’s apocalypse shows events of a Day to come .. a day of wrath and a day of justice.

    ἀποκάλυψις

     

    Revelation 5:2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

    9 And they sang a new song, saying,

    “Worthy are you to take the scroll
        and to open its seals,
    for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
        from every tribe and language and people and nation,
    10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
        and they shall reign on the earth.”

    Revelation 6:

    The Seven Seals

    6 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder,“Come!”

    3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”

    And again with the third and the fourth seal. “Come!”

    The breaking of each seal introduces a horse of a different color. Did you know this scriptural source of this familiar expression?

    Read in Christ’s revelation to John the fearful imagery of these riders; for the deceiver leads the world to see these foretold truths of that Day as highly imaginable fantasy, when in truth, the wrath of that terrible terrible Day should bring a quaking of terror into unrepentant hearts of the living and souls of the dead.

    9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

    12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth…

    Read it for yourself, you who fear Almighty God!

    Revelation 7:

    4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

    A Great Multitude from Every Nation

    A seventh seal is yet to be opened…


    When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. –

    Revelation 8:1

    Christ the Lamb looks to you

    • Is reverence for the Lord an attribute of your life; do you show any respect for the deserved honor of the Living God?
    • Does your heart consider deserved repercussions of your sin?
    • Is your arrogance before the risen and living Son of righteous the foolishness of fallen angels who have told adam’, “You will be as gods, knowing good and evil?” Genesis 3:5

    Are you a god, failing flesh with mortal soul?

    Or does your own sin convict you of your many failings?

    Repent! While it is yet today.

    For the Day will surly come when seven seals will be broken and the judgments of God proclaimed before all souls – souls saved and souls condemned.

    To which side will the Lord separate your eternal soul?

    Read the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John and be blessed.