The Last Great War ...

Once more into the abyss … Finally, after so much delay, after so many years that have turned into centuries and centuries into millennia, the time for the ultimate extinction of evil has come. But alas, evil will not go down quietly. Once more, there is a time for war, one last final battle to decide the very fate of existence and death itself. This is the time to end all time, and after our work in heaven has been completed at the appointed time, it begins.

At the end of our first millennia in heaven, the time comes for end of evil. As such, the city itself moves from its stellar location back to the completely decimated planet earth. It descends on what used to be the city of Jerusalem. There is nothing there now, except the destruction that rained in great hail so many years ago. The bodies long rotten, decayed and returned to the dust they started from. The people of God do not wish to travel beyond the protective gates of the city, for at this time, evil lurks outside and will be set free “for a season”.

Satan is loosed from his bonds. The wicked dead are called forth from their graves. They do not come out as the righteous did, raised to the perfection of body and mind. Rather, the wicked are raised in exactly the same state that they went into the grave, diseased of body and mind. Every ailment is still in place, every scar, every wound, nothing is as it is wished to be. There is no guardian of light to lift them into the bosom of a loving God, as this is not something they ever wanted. The wicked wanted only the wealth and benefits of eternal life without any understanding of how to maintain true fulfillment. They would gladly steal what they wished for, even kill for it, as in life, nothing has changed. The only love that exists in them, is the warped love of self, that has always ruled their thoughts and actions.

Having come up from the grave, now what? Satan and his demonic fallen angel host begin to work miracles of their own, healing the wounds, and making ready an army. The city of God is a bright beacon of the perfection the wicked will not enjoy. The obvious wealth lies there for the taking. The inhabitants are push-overs, love-obsessed, weaklings. There will not be any real resistance, for the inhabitants do not wish to fight at all. Easy marks. And so the wicked are marshaled into hosts of mighty men, women, and children filled with hate in their eyes and souls. Love has left them. Hope has abandoned this crowd, They have nothing to lose, nothing is left to them but to kill the inhabitants and in so doing banish God to a far-off part of the universe to sleep while his fallen creations run amok, This is the fate that Satan convinces the wicked they can achieve under his leadership. He claims to know the secret to killing God, which is to say, putting God to sleep, so they can finally be free of His overbearing laws, and need for worship.

Here even at the end of all things, the great deceiver once again spins lies into beliefs. It is he who requires worship. It is he who would gladly control our every thought to insure his place at the forefront of our lives, even now on the precipice of losing it all. He has no choice to proceed to his doom. He has no options left to hurt God but to keep the wicked committed to rejecting the source of all Love. And so he uses the only weapon he has left, deceit and guile to motivate men to hasten their own destruction. No forgiveness is sought now. No repentance sought. No change of mind, heart, and soul – no surrender to Christ will be attempted now. No, only preparation to conquer what was not given.

If I wake in this crowd, rather than to the mercy of heaven and my loving Lord, I will know it is my fault, and I deserve what is coming. But I cannot imagine doing anything but laying face down in the dirt and weeping at the loss that I will never spend precious time with my Savior God. I would pray for death, for the mercy of non-existence. For to be so close to the source of love, and to find I have rejected it, to find my desire was insincere, my surrender far from complete, to find I have succeeded – only - in killing myself. This is the stark realization that proximity forces in the minds of those who thought they knew better. In the minds of all those who chose to serve expediency rather than God, in the minds of every skeptic who would not hear the word of the Lord, in the minds of every coward to who listened to the voice of men over the still small voice of conscience. To these; the stark realization that there will be no joyful reunions in perfection, only an imminent death.

Yet despite what are obvious facts, the wicked choose again to believe a lie, and they march on the city figuring to overthrow it easily. As they near the gates of pearl, the sky becomes a theatre such as has never been witnessed by men. Satan is frozen unable to move. The hearts of all are stilled by the spectacle of it all. Both righteous and wicked alike stare at the panoply that was once our atmosphere. In this 3D, HD, projection is told the story of Satan’s fall from grace, of our parents in the garden, and then down through time each significant event in the great controversy. Each man, woman, and child, whether saved or not, sees their own lives play out in real time before their eyes – but this time their eyes are opened to the attempts God makes to redeem us, and our responses to His love. We see the effects of the great controversy with evil on our lives from womb to tomb. Then for all to see, a replay of the life of Christ, His birth, death, resurrection and ascension. Afterwards, the martyrs and the history of gospel unfolds, finally his second coming replayed. Time is irrelevant during this presentation as all see their own lives, and the story is revealed in truth to all.

Even the wicked cannot resist the power of Love in front of their eyes, and each and every voice declares that ONLY the lamb is worthy, that truly there is ONLY one God, one Son, and one Holy Spirit. The righteous again hurl themselves down in abject humility discarding their crowns and weeping that they too once caused our Savior the pain He endured to save us all. The sadness is so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife. For while there is gratitude that mercy has saved each of the redeemed, there is great sadness in the city that wicked would not be so redeemed. The disease of self has now finally claimed the throngs that lay outside the city gates. They will never sing His praise with us, join in service, and experience the perfection of love. Their time is at an end.

And as the wicked return to their senses, hardening their hearts once again to the influence of love, their cry ascends to kill the creator. Where only moments before they could not contain acknowledging His worthiness, now that self has returned to control again, they must kill the thing that is worthy. For all deviation from God’s ways leads only to killing the creator. This is the lesson of sin. There is no middle road. There is no compromise with evil. There is only God and good and life and love, the opposite of all of that – no middle road, no grey area. Satan represents now to the world what sin does. He is unmasked before his followers. Men marvel that he is not nearly as impressive as he tried to portray. He is nothing. He is marred by the evil he has so long nourished in himself. Men begin to question why they were ever so deceived.

And the curtain drops … Clouds gather from nowhere, but rain will not be found. Instead, great drops of burning hail begin to fall to the ground. Fire rains from heaven itself, it explodes from the magma under the earth, there is no escape from it. And the wicked begin to burn, each consumed according to the sentences proscribed so long ago. Satan will die last, as he is the father of all evil, but he will die. And the effects of hell, the punishment of death, of eternal non-existence will last forever and ever. The smoke of their torment ascending forever and ever refers to the profound effects of sin ever fresh in each redeemed mind. One by one, all the wicked pass away into nonexistence, until finally only death itself is left to be consumed. And so it is. No more death. No more fire. No more punishment to dread, or to witness. The war is finally over. Evil is no more. Gone forever. It is time for something we can hardly begin to comprehend in our current state …

Millennia ...

One thousand years. The Bible speaks of a thousand years in Revelations chapter 20, as a sort of time-out for Satan. He is bound to this earth alone in solitude for a thousand years with no-one to deceive. Those who did not embrace Christ and the freedom from evil He offers die and remain asleep until the thousand years are ended. At that point they are resurrected for a little season. But before we get too far ahead, I would like to focus a bit of attention on the thousand years.

We saved followers of God will be in heaven (the city). We will be given coverings of light, a harp which we will instinctively know how to play, a new name, a ring, and a crown containing stars to symbolize those we were instrumental in helping to show the love of God to. We will be eating from the tree of life and drinking from the river of life. We will be feasting at the table of God in gigantic banquets, and singing songs of praise not even the angels can truly understand. And we will be casting our crowns at the feet of Jesus as we come to realize our true unworthiness, and His great love and mercy that sees us in the place we are in. But we are not here for just parties, and worship. There is a work still to perform; a work requiring a thousand years.

First; why that number? After all Satan could have been bound for a day or a million years, it is relatively immaterial to us isn’t it, as we have forever in our mindsets at this point. Some believe, this thousand years is a symbol of the Sabbath rest, as our created life on earth is about 6000 years old, the seventh millennia could be a symbolic recognition by our creator that our earth itself needed a rest. This kind of speculation regarding the significance of numbers in the Bible is interesting, but not necessarily based in fact. Similar speculations exist around the number 400 for example. There was about 400 years between the flood and Abraham, 400 more years until Moses, 400 years of Judges, 400 years of Kings, and 400 years of captivity and desolation just prior to Christ’s first coming. Since then another 2000+ years have passed. There are 12 tribes of Israel names after their 12 brother / sons of Jacob; there are 12 gates to the city, and 12 foundation stones it is built upon; 12 disciples that became 12 apostles. Seven days in a week; seven candlesticks in a holder in the temple; seven last day churches; Interesting phenomenon around numbers, but nothing too telling – so why introduce a millennia now?

Perhaps this thousand years is for the benefit of Satan himself; a chance for him to contemplate all the vast pain he is responsible for; a chance for him to realize just how far from God and perfection one can go when at first the deviation looks so small. But as Satan seems to have only ever hardened his position against God, I doubt this time period is for his benefit. What about us? I submit there are two pressing concerns left over from our time spent on earth. The first is the disposition of those who are not with us in perfection. We have never been intended to judge anyone while on earth, the lives, actions, and motives of others are hidden from our view; but in heaven this situation changes. The biggest judicial review of history itself begins, as the books are thrown open to all who have interest to review the records of the fallen and insure God’s judgments are fair and upright. It will be difficult for parents to see a missing child, and not question if perhaps a mistake has been made. Still more difficult for married couples who spend their lives together, attend church regularly, and find they are now parted in eternity (one waiting the resurrection of the wicked, one already in perfection). To let go of the love for those we care most about, will require a degree of “proof” so often demanded in our world.

And the records will be opened. We will see every detail of the lives we examine, from the earliest cognitive responses, to the dying breath and thoughts. We will see every deed, every word, and every thought behind them as recorded in the books of life and of death in heaven. And the pain of it will be immense. For we will share the pain God feels, when He is forced to acknowledge His rejection in the hearts of those He thinks only to love. It breaks the heart of God to be rejected by His creations, His children, His precious treasures; as it will then break our hearts no longer burdened with pride, selfishness, and thoughts of how we might be perceived to be caught crying. Tears will flow like rivers as we read the detailed accounts of those we loved, of memories we never saw from their perspectives, as time after time they choose to reject love, and embrace self-interest. Every attempt that God makes to lure them to Him is rejected. Every sin against them committed even by us, is capitalized on, by Satan to harden their hearts against our God. For we bear responsibility in the loss of our family, of our loved ones, of our world, and community. Our lack of action, our lack of giving when it was needed, our unwillingness to sacrifice time, energy, or resources when needed to save another at the most critical times will have played a role in the demise of another’ eternal soul.

We do NOT yet understand the great price we are paying with our constant addiction to self-interest in this life. We have no idea of the magnitude of our tiniest decisions. We have no idea the impact of our casual words spoken without thought of how they may be heard and interpreted. We are so careless with the lives of others, as we refuse to see the value in other souls, and focus only on our own. Were all the members of a church to simultaneously fall into vision and foresee the great impact of their selfishness during this special millennia, they would awaken and give every cent they had to the cause of Christ. They would gladly quit their jobs, and spend every ounce of energy ministering to the needs of those who now they ignore. For the price of a lost soul, weighs too heavy on perfected hearts. When finally we love as He loves, we are not equally protected and assured that we did all we could to help others as God does. For God is perfect in His efforts to redeem fallen man, but we; we are much less perfect. We put self ahead of our efforts to save others, as self blinds us to the cost and impacts of what we do. It will be at this time, that we will require healing from our God in order to continue to exist. And healing will come again, as He wipes all tears away from our eyes. For despite our shortcomings and responsibility for the loss of other souls, our God remained faithful to try to redeem them, and they would not.

Those who believe that hell burns forever, do not fully understand what it is like to have heart like the one of our God. To love as God loves is not a casual thing, or a part-time endeavor. Love cannot be blinded to the needs or pains of another, rather love is keenly aware of these things. To love as God loves is to be filled with love from bottom to top, to be consumed with how to bring peace, joy, and comfort to the object of our love – with NO thought of reward. To love another is its own reward. Our time in heaven must be long enough for us to insure for ourselves for all time that our God has been just in how He has dealt with those who refused to embrace Him. But our time must have a limit so that we do spend our days in dread of the execution of the sentences that have been pronounced.

For me, I almost do not want to know. The mercy that I would be in perfection is enough for me to trust in whatever judgments God has made on those I find missing. I already know, my record will be wanting. I already know, I have not done enough to save those I love. I already know, my selfishness will be more than enough to break me in the world to come. No matter what I do from this point forward, my deeds to this point have caused more pain than sought redemption. I already know I have been an instrument of destruction, more than a reflection of His love. While I believe He can and does forgive me; for me to open the records of others to review and remember my own participation in their demise is already too much for me to bear. Even so Lord, save me from myself and the evil I seem powerless to evict from my soul.

The self-interested heart finds a kind of fulfillment in the judging of others. There is a kind of satisfaction in trying to uncover the truth, and render a just sentence, for deserved behaviors. We think of judging the wicked in these terms today, because our hearts are infected with self. But when made pure from our disease; the work of judging those who were more like us that we care to admit, and who suffered at our own hands will not be a satisfying, fulfilling work. It will be nothing but sad. Sorrow will fill the halls of heaven while this work must persist. We will verify what does not need verification. We will review true justice and infinite love, and the mystery of how it can continue to be rejected in the hearts of man. It is a strange work we are destined to perform.

You see it is impossible to fully enjoy eternity at this point. For evil still exists, it exists in the embodiment of Satan bound alone on earth, it exists in his demonic following, it exists in those who sleep and await a resurrection to judgment. While evil continues to exist in the universe, it is impossible to fully enjoy eternity with God. For us to finally be free, the influence of evil must be rid of throughout all of time and space. This must begin in our hearts and minds. We must learn the lesson Satan failed to learn. We must trust God completely, regardless of how it looks to us. We must rely on His wisdom, knowing He does nothing to hurt us, and everything to save us. We must come to know, that only God can be trusted despite whatever considerable knowledge we gain over time. This lesson Satan failed to learn. When facing a conflict with God, He broke trust with God, and trusted in himself to the downfall of everything that followed him in this. Our ability to choose away from God will exist forever, but our inclination to choose it will be halted for permanently etched in our minds is the price for lack of trust.

We must also learn the lesson that Adam failed, by not trusting God with those who we love. We must be confident that God loves us all, and will provide for our need to love in a special way for all time and eternity. For we will never tire of loving, as love itself is the basis or definition, or substance, or power, make-up of our God beyond the point of our current understanding. Given our choice to trust God above ourselves, and with everything that we love; we will finally be ready to see the extinction of evil from all the Universe. And this extinction is right around the corner …

Second Coming ...

And just when you thought your life was at the end of its rope … Given the massive scenes of destruction described in Revelations that immediately precede the most anticipated event in history - the second coming of Christ; it is a miracle that anyone is alive and still waiting. From the loss of religious freedoms by well-intentioned moralists, to the coming of Satan as Christ – from the prohibition to follow the Bible, to the demands to worship as one is told, not as one believes – from the plagues that comes from God, and the destruction and demonic possessions that originate from Satan – now finally to the mental agony of knowing your past is laden with sin, but unable to find one in the present to ask forgiveness for: it all comes down to this – Jesus returns.

A small dark cloud appears in the sky about the size of a man’s hand, as it approaches the earth it becomes larger and larger. Scientists will no doubt attribute this event to a world-wide cataclysmic end to our existence. As it approaches it transforms from darkness to light, eventually becoming more brilliant than the sun. I imagine when He is finally near enough that every eye shall see Him, He will be seen large enough to encircle the Globe, surrounded by angels in the clouds around Him. What the wicked will hear as the most ominous sound in human history, the righteous will hear as the most beautiful music they could ever comprehend. The sound of love to one, is the sound of guilt to the other. The sounds of acceptance and belonging to the those who have maintained their allegiance to His word, is the sound of impending doom to those who have rejected it. Our brothers, wives, and children personally engaged in the premeditated act of taking our very lives to extinguish all remaining opposition to the world’s new leader Satan disguised as Christ, will break off from their deeds and realize quickly their error.

Terror begins to fill the hearts of those who have sworn their allegiance to the imposter Christ. They realize they are deceived, and even more realize their own willingness to participate in the deception. Those who presumed they had control over the lives and fates, and believed that nothing could touch them now, find themselves vulnerable in the presence of true power. They like Adam and Eve in the garden, feel exposed, naked, unable to mask their wickedness. And “self” cries out to hide from the expositor of its evil nature. They begin to think better to die, than to face the picture of infinite love with a heart that is devoid of all love. Great regret fills their minds, as they realize all the times that love reached out to them, and they refused it. Their unyielding addiction to self overwhelms them, and they begin to seek suicide as their answer, crying for the rocks and debris to fall on them and hide them from the light of love.

But as afraid as the wicked are, there are a few Charlatans who believe despite their recent past, and compromises with evil to stay alive, they will be forgiven and join with those who have remained faithful unto death. They approach Christ, and ask Him, why they are not ascending to greet Him in the clouds, for they have waited a long time too. And He reveals to them the emptiness of their words as He says … “Depart from me, for I know you not.” Their religious actions were as upright as any human eye could determine. They cast out demons, healed the sick, preached to the masses – and yet never had a true conversion of the heart. They never learned how to love, or what love means. For despite their outward appearances, they did not visit those in prison (the guilty). They felt no kinship with the homeless (the poor, and sometimes mentally ill). They had no sympathy on the sick when the cameras and lights were not around. In short, they were able to walk by every need – unaffected. If this is you today, you should ask Christ to change your heart so that you see “need” as He sees it; so that in this great and mighty day, you will not be a part of this crowd.

So many profess Christ in our world today, but do not allow Him to truly change who they are. They do not let Him root out the self-addiction we all suffer from, and as such are blind to the needs all around us. Without true change the heart does not break for the condition of our fellow man, it hardens against them. Without true reform, we are unmoved at the plight of others, and completely subsumed with our own fates. The mark of a Christian is the tear stains on his cheeks as he listens to the pain of his brother. The mark of a Christian is far from the 666 branded in the evil doers, but is the smile he offers when helping another’s needs even at the expense of his own. The mark of a Christian is the heart of Christ embedded within him. It is unnatural for humans to become like Christ, it takes an active action of Christ on our hearts and minds to become as He is. We must ask for it. We must allow it. Or we will never know the joy or the power of it in our lives today or in heaven.

We watch amazed from our positions around the globe, as He calls all the righteous dead to resurrection. There are no disembodied souls accompanying Him on His triumphant return to earth to claim His family and servants. There are angels with Him. There are those first fruits He took with Him from His first trip to earth when we arose on the third day. There is Enoch, who was the first human to so totally submit his own will to Christ, that he literally left earth to walk heavens streets since before the flood. There too is Elisha who was carried away on a chariot of fire. Moses who was called from the earth since long ago. These men and women were real humans, who lived real human lives, and some died real human deaths. But they were all invited to heaven before the main harvest, as a sampling of first fruits to present to God. But now is the time for the main harvesting of the world.

The remaining dead come forth from the last place on earth they died or were buried. They come forth from death, nowhere near as they went into it. They come renewed, recreated in perfection, back to the image their creator intended, fully restored in body, mind, and heart. They are the perfect age, perfect height, perfect weight. They can see for miles with their transformed eyes, and hear a pin drop at the edge of the galaxy with their renewed ears. Their hearts are beating rapidly as their king who they gave their last ounce of courage for has called them back into existence. Death, like sleep, has passed many years as if only a second. Their minds were just seconds ago occupied on their imminent demise and now are fully engaged at the spectacle of their ascension in to the clouds to be with their King. They have no knowledge of what has taken place since they died, nor how long it has been. It is as if their lives have never been interrupted by death, only a momentary pause, and then the scenery changed dramatically.

Now perfected in His image, their hearts, minds, and bodies are free from all traces of sin. They have no natural inclinations to do evil, or serve self. Those things have been finally, and fully eradicated from their existence. They are inclined to love. They are inclined to serve. And now, as the realization of what is happening to them comes fully to mind they turn and ask their accompanying guardian angels, where their loved ones are. I hope the answers do not break their hearts once again.

How merciful our God to allow the dead to sleep untouched by woe in our world that continues after they leave it. Those who believe the dead in Christ, never really die, have no concept of what it would be like to be perfect mind, heart, and soul, and watch the sin and evil of your loved ones be repeated again and again and again. No Saint, should even have to be exposed to the true nature of evil in those they care about around them. The revelation of true character would break their hearts over and over and over again. It is the mercy of God, to allow the dead to sleep without dreams of consciousness of any kind. When finally awakened in the great day of His coming, their lives will forever focus forward on the positive things around them, no more to contend with the burden of sin.

But on this day, death itself must yield up its harvest to our King. Adam and Eve arise, and every faithful servant of God since them to us who have fallen, wake up. They are caught up first says the scripture, then we which are alive and remain (Thessalonians 4:16). Finally it is our turn, our angels are revealed to us as in the twinkling of an eye (or perhaps better worded the blink of an eye), we too are transformed into the perfection God intended for us. Like the dead who have been raised, we are still unique, still distinctive, and still recognizable to those who knew us – but perfection is a long way from what we are today. The blemishes in our skin are gone, the discolorations in our hair gone, the cowlicks, the scraggly beards, the imperfect muscles, the over-abundance of fat cells, the imperfections in our senses, and perhaps most importantly – our minds are freed from the effects of sin both inherited and indulged in our lifetimes. We are truly, and finally free.

This alone, the final and full freedom from sin and all of its effects, and inclinations makes this day the greatest in the existence of mankind short the days that enabled it. Only the life of Christ in our world could mean more to us than the day of our freedom, for without His life, our day of freedom would never be. The Bible will have finally reached its fulfillment as reconciliation with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will have been achieved. No more prisoner to self, or bound to serve it, we can walk into the throne room and bow and speak directly to the God of the Universe. This is beyond the imaginations of men. It is asking an ant to describe nuclear fusion in a common language, our minds like those of the ant, have been limited by our sinful condition so long, that in the present world there are no words to describe the meaning it will have to be face to face with God without fear, with only love.

Time itself is put on life support. As a concept, time will lose much significance when facing eternity with God. But there is still some events that take place in the measure of time. A prophet once wrote we would not immediately return to the city that same day. It would take as much as a week to get there. I imagine during this week, families will reunite. Lessons will be given to us about the remainder of the Universe, how it functions, how to travel it at the speed of thought. I imagine our work will be laid out in front of us as for the coming 1000 years we have a new duty to perform. I imagine there will be so much joy and information than even now, our feeble minds cannot begin to comprehend it all. But it will be.

Back on earth, the ascensions of both living and dead righteous complete. There remain a few tasks to complete. There were a small group of people who were raised at the second coming of Christ to witness it first-hand. These were not a privileged few, rather a cursed few. They were the priests who killed our Lord on His first trip here. They were raised to see His words fulfilled with their own eyes. And their lament was loud, and formidable. As with all the wicked who were seeking death, the final plague of hail in the fifty pound variety begins to fall and they are granted the deaths they seek. Accompanied with the first world-wide earthquake plus 10 on the Richter scale, islands moved out of the sea, coastlines fall into it. In short, nothing survives this final global ending event except Satan. The world will lie dormant and destroyed completely for the next 1000 years. Satan will be bound here for a 1000 year “time-out”. He will be alone with no-one to tempt chained to the desolation he is responsible for.

But for those who have experienced the transforming power of Christ on our lives; for those who have remained steadfast to His word and have not yielded or compromised with evil for the sake of preservation of their earthly existence – this will be the day we have waited long for. This will be the final end to our earthly existence. From this point forward, our nature, our bodies, and our very lives will return to the perfection God intended. From this point forward, our point of view, will be radically altered. But there is more still to come …

Mental Anguish & Persecution

The prophet Jeremiah (chapter 30, verse 07) foretold of a time of Jacob’s trouble unlike anything ever seen on earth before then. The prophet Daniel (chapter 12, verse 01) seemed to reinforce this idea by referring to a time when Michael will stand up, and there would be a time of trouble such as nothing the earth had seen before then. Most of Revelations seems to describe a time near the end of the world where “trouble” is the understatement of history itself. A time where persecution would appear to be the norm; a time when following God is a crime punishable by death; a time when the only way to escape certain torture and death is to simply listen to what you are told by the ones in power to tell you. While the intensity foretold in scriptures is like nothing we have ever seen, the scenario itself is not something new.

I am reminded of three Hebrew boys, taken captive from their native home of Jerusalem and dragged to Babylon. They remained faithful to God despite the difficulties thrown at them. But one day they were taken to a great assembly with the King and ordered to worship a golden image of the King, symbolizing the eternal kingdom of Babylon itself. They refused. The penalty was certain death, death by burning alive. They continued to refuse. The King’s ego was damaged, his mercy in offering another time to worship them rejected, he lost his control and ordered the furnace be heated up seven times hotter than normal. His intent to kill those who would not obey him was clear.

A rational man in the Hebrew’s position could have easily bowed-down to avoid all this hoopla. After all, God knows what is on the heart, right? In fact, a modern day Christian might have known how to turn this seeming contradiction into something to be proud of. Instead of actually worshipping the image, they could bow down and pray for the soul of the King to the true God (while bowing of course). This way they worship God in their hearts, while not offending the King. No fire drama here. But the 3 Hebrews would not so compromise.

A rational man would realize that by being so uncompromising in how they lived their beliefs that they were provoking the King to anger, and forcing God to have to save them similar to jumping off a cliff first and then demanding God do something about it on the way down. If they could just take the day-off in their values systems, or not be so rigid in applying them, they could avoid angering the King and risking what was sure to be certain death. After all, if they knew what the meeting was for (pretty hard to miss the construction of a ninety foot solid gold statue of a king), why not just skip it and call in sick so no one blames you for not being there?

A rational man could have surmised that since God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to become king and had so blessed him with a dream of the future kingdoms of earth, that they should follow this blessed King of God and do whatever he says. After all if God did not want a ninety foot solid gold image to be built, why not simply destroy it like He had destroyed other things in the past? Maybe God allowed the ninety foot statue to be built in order to accomplish some greater purpose. A rational man would choose expediency and life rather than obstinacy and death.

The 3 faithful servants valued their lives. They did not have a death wish. They did not relish the idea of being burned alive. But they could not disobey the council of their mothers and fathers in their ears; they should bow down only to God. This was not a lack of humility on their part; it was obedience to an unseen God in whom they firmly believed. At least in their story, there was a point to be made. The king lost his best soldiers trying to throw the Hebrews into the furnace. But the Hebrews walked among the flames, only their ropes burning off. They were undamaged, and Nebuchadnezzar recognized the fourth man as the “Son of God”. Through their perseverance and dedication to obeying God, even to the point of certain death, the entire Babylonian kingdom heard about the God of Israel.

At the end of time, the world becomes divided into two camps; those who serve the invisible God of the Bible in whom they have come to trust with their very lives; and those who do what is expedient to survive, possibly even claiming to worship God, but never letting God affect their hearts or lives in a meaningful way. John (favored disciple of Christ) through his revelations sums it up this way … “let he is holy be holy still. And let he who is unholy be unholy still.” These have long been the scariest words in all of scripture for me personally. They represent a paradox I have been unable to get my mind around.

The closer I get to God, the more wicked I realize I am. To actually achieve holiness is to allow Christ to change the entirety of my life, but the ability to recognize this work has taken place is not something we will have any training in. None of us have yet reached perfection, yet those who remain alive to see Christ coming in the clouds will stand in that day without a shield between them and God. And so the source of our pain, the thorn in our shoes, the greatest worry to occupy the mind of a Christian will not be our physical fate, our lack of food, our horrific surroundings, perhaps even the fates of those we had come to love who have not made the choices to follow God. Our greatest concern will be inward, have we truly let go of the sin we have clung to our entire lives? Or are we merely denied acting on our sinful natures by the conditions around us? Are we in fact holy or merely deceiving ourselves as the wicked so often do? Our minds will search for un-confessed sins, but find none.

You see no one knows your evil better than you do. You can put on a mask for the world to see, for your family to see, in front of your church brethren. You can pretend to have a servant’s heart and mind, and seem to know your scriptures very well. But it is possible to remain unaffected by the saving grace of God as you continually refuse to allow Him to change the core of who you are, by daily forgetting to submit your will to Him first. When there is no more time for repentance, and achieving change through the power of His Holy Spirit which has been withdrawn from the earth; in that great day of Jacob’s trouble, will we be found wanting?

For years, I have known Adventists who bought property away from the cities. Some who have reported to have buried canned foods in caves in the mountains for “use” during the time of trouble. Those poor Christians, have missed the point of these prophesies entirely. God has already assured us that our physical safety will be protected (a thousand shall fall at thy left side, and ten thousand at thy right, but it will not come near you – says David in the Psalms). Our food and water will be sure as it was for Elijah who received each day’s meal from the Ravens bringing him bread in an otherwise famine filled land. I used to joke that my Raven will bring me pizza. The caves of the earth may indeed provide us shelter, or perhaps the jails and prisons of the land (where we may find the last few who truly need to hear the message we bring with us). But to place our emphasis on preparing for the last great troubles by trying to be physically secure is to doubt God, and to miss the point of preparation completely.

It is not our diet that needs adjusting, it is our character. It is not our homes in the cities than need to be abandoned it is our propensity to hold on to sin and refuse to let it go. It is our minds that need an overhaul not our vehicles. We do not need to bury food in the earth, we need to bury sin in the grave once and for all and find ourselves ahead of the curve when it comes to being Holy still. It is TOO easy to compromise our values and be pragmatic about what we believe and how we live it. We are trained cattle to march to whatever banner and directions we are given that keep us alive physically with no thought of the cost to our souls. Our compromises with evil are training us to compromise our eternal lives in the end of all things. We have so long indulged the idea of control that it has become a part of the fable we hold on to. It is long past time to relinquish control and let Christ do His saving work in minds and hearts of each of us.

Remember when the doctor tells you … “this is going to hurt.” The doctor is not being a Sadist, and does not enjoy inflicting pain for a living. Rather, the doctor administers to us what may hurt us in the form of a pinprick, or sometimes worse, because our greater good requires it. Our Lord gives us insight into these prophetic writings not to scare us as if we were the wicked to be punished in the end, but to keep us from becoming the wicked, to help us avoid the coming pain, and to help us focus on what is truly important. The time of Jacob’s trouble is fast approaching our world as it has been for the last 50 years. We are wandering towards it even now.

Even in the United States that has long been a beacon of religious freedom, currently there are well meaning Christians who would impose their own standards of morality upon the remainder of the country as the law of the land. They fear that Muslims are out to do the same, or Atheists, or worse. They fear that we have turned away from God as a nation and the only way to return to Him, is to make His laws our laws. But in this effort, they totally miss the mark. It is not our laws that need amending it is our hearts and minds. It is not even our actions that must change nearly so much as the motives that lay behind them; only Christ can offer us this freedom, and only when we allow Him to do so. While men continue to attempt to tell us what is right, we must learn to go to Him, and find it for ourselves. We must learn what it is like to be led of Christ, rather than of men; for men are bound to lead us into darkness as the time grows short.

We must learn to be like the 3 Hebrews of old. They did not attempt to enforce their beliefs on others, only to offer others the witness of their lives and if needed their deaths while obeying the commands of our God. They were human just like us, wanting, needing, loving the same way we do. But unlike us, they were willing to enter the grave following what they believed to be true, from the hands and writings of an unseen God, than to obey the dictates of the men in power in front of them. They did not bring spears and swords with them to fight the evil servants of the king. They offered no resistance to the mighty soldiers who bound them. Instead they let their words state the love in their hearts when they told the king, he need not give them another chance. They could only bow to their unseen God, and if that cost them their lives, so be it. This was a mark that Christ had been active in the hearts and minds of the 3 servants.

I wonder as our time of trials and testing begins, will we be so similarly minded? Will the effects of Christ changing our hearts be so evident in our thinking that we could not even consider the demands of men not to follow Him? Or will we find a life of compromise with evil now simply continues right through to the end, without even second thoughts that rational is not what God is looking for. He is looking for those who trust in Him no matter what life brings, no matter how the outcome looks to us, and to the end, even if it means the end of our mortal life on this planet. I hope He finds this in each of us …

Armageddon ...

What is Armageddon and why do you seem to only hear about it in the context of the “end of the world”? A singular text in Revelations chapter 16 verse 16 states … “and He gathered them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Mind you, this verse appears in the middle of a description of the last plagues to hit planet earth. So perhaps with all the rest of the destruction going on at the time, a war to be waged with the name Armageddon seems plausible. Some believe it has something to do with the rapture, but there is nothing in scripture to indicate this. Some believe it is a final battle between the forces of good and evil, but the actual final battle is described later in Revelations and ends with evil being deposited into the lake of fire. So why is this simple Hebrew name, the cause for such alarm within the Christian community?

Perhaps we fear most what we understand least. In my own study of Biblical prophecy I have encountered things that could be interpreted more than one way, and still hold to correctness. The letters to the seven churches in the first few chapters of Revelations for instance, or the seven candlesticks, are actual letters of advice to real people, in a real place, suffering from real problems. The churches in those locations needed the council they were given. But beyond the here and now, the churches also seem to represent periods defined in history where the prevailing attitude within the church matches the description in Revelations perfectly. Prophecy interpreted in its own day, and in ours, and relevant in both, a trademark of the God business.

So when I consider how to interpret prophecies surrounding so little mentioned a thing as Armageddon, I wonder if more than one interpretation could again be correct. Perhaps it is indeed the harbinger of a final earthly battle between forces in the Middle East. Traditional thinking places these forces as centered on support for the state of Israel and those who oppose its existence. But if this were true, then we would have already had 2 Armageddon’s since the state was first created. And in both instances Israel fought alone to defend itself, winning huge land territory in the process. Besides, God has shown little interest in insuring the continuing land rights of the Jewish people over the years. They have been scattered to the four corners of the earth, since before Christ even came the first time. And not much has really changed since Abraham himself was a wanderer searching for home.

So if Armageddon is a human conflict perhaps the location and politics of pro or anti-Israel is only a catalyst to launch a far greater war for control over the planet. Perhaps this is a war designed to promote one form of government over another – say democracy over totalitarianism. But if that were true, Israel’s involvement does not aid the cause. And presently China or North Korea would seem to pose a much greater threat to democracy’s quest for dominance than any mid-eastern nation state. A religious war perhaps; but then Islam against Christianity could hardly be described as a world ending event. In theory we serve the same Father God, and the Quran talks very highly about Christ. So having Muslims launch this would make less sense.

The more plausible argument I have heard about Armageddon is that it is a spiritual warfare between God and Satan, or perhaps between those who refuse to abandon the God of the Bible and those who have chosen to worship the false Christ you can see and touch (Satan as an angel of light). But even this conflict would appear vastly one sided. The Bible refers to the group who hold on to God despite everything, as the “remnant” or “all that remains.” The wicked would so vastly outnumber the righteous who carry a motto of non-violence; it would not be a war, it would be a slaughter. This too seems less likely.

I believe the reason why Armageddon has played so prominently in Christian interpretations of prophecy is that due to its limited context, it can be used to justify anything. Christians make the mistake of applying current world events to their limited understanding of scripture of the topic of Armageddon. Consequently they adjust it to fit whatever is going on right here and right now. In short, Armageddon means whatever world event is most threatening to our way of life. In the 1940’s we could have called it Hitler’s ideas. In the late 60’s and early 70’s we could have called it Vietnam. Harder to figure when the wall comes down and communism fails. The fundamental problem with this approach is trying to shoehorn the Bible to fit the news, instead the other way around. It is more an approach of telling the setting what is being said, rather than listening to God to see if any current events fit the texts and moving on from there.

Perhaps Armageddon should be studied more as a location, or to be pluralistic, a state of mind. Perhaps God allows men to follow their own wisdom (i.e. folly) to such a degree that only a worldwide plague such as the Earthquakes that follow, and the catastrophic extreme hail that follows that, would be enough to convince the survivors that God does exist after all. The anti-Christ can do nothing to save the people from the wrath of God in these plagues. He must therefore assume ownership of them, and continue to report that they will persist until all the hold-outs who cling to the Bible have been killed. Perhaps Armageddon is the only habitable place left in the area where men of any kind could gather after the catastrophes that befall the earth prior to this. Perhaps men entrenched in their own mistaken ideology are led to this place to witness what is yet to come.

In any case, I see so little scripture on the topic of Armageddon as illustrating its relative importance to us. Little data equals little effort expended to interpret. I believe our thoughts will be occupied by something even more frightening to us than our physical survival in these last times. Perhaps we should channel fear into something that is legitimate to worry about, so that we can fix our problems, rather than simply propagate fear tied to a term in a singular text, in a rough section of the scriptures.

The 144,000 ...

There is a final prophecy that occurs at the end of time that sparks much interest and debate. It is a description of precisely 144,000 of God’s servants who are special in some way. Given the cryptic nature of this prophesy much discussion, study, and theorizing has occurred as to what its fulfillment might look like. Ever wonder if you could be a part of this special group of God’s servants? What would it take? In times past in the Bible, the biggest criterion for selection by God, was willingness to be selected. I wonder if it will be so again, or if this special reward will be granted based on another type of criterion.

References to the 144,000 can be found in Revelations chapter 7 and again in chapter 14. In both instances the 144,000 are seen in heaven surrounding the throne of God. Some of the verses describe their work as never ceasing, always close to God, able to sing a song only they are allowed to learn. The composition of the 144,000 includes 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We might have interpreted from this that they were 144,000 literal Jews who served God throughout Old Testament times, but later verses describe them as have had victory over the beast, faith in Jesus, and commandment keepers. They are further described as “virgins” having not been defiled with “other women”. Perhaps this means they were born into serving Christ, and have never served any other God than He in their entire lives (this view based on women often representing a church in the book of Revelations). There is no guile in them and they walk blameless before God. As all of us have sinned, perhaps this might refer more to our teachings about God being more accurate and less mixed with error than those we find around us.

The first references to the 144,000 is made as God tells the 4 angels holding back the winds of strife to hold on a bit longer until the 144,000 can be sealed. This would imply they are alive and well at the end of time, waiting to be permanently marked of God for His service. If so, I hope to be among them. But perhaps I have not thought that through completely  I base my desire to be in that number on a singular belief I hold; proximity is everything. Remember when you were a small child and were uncertain of the world around you. At times like those if you could see your parents around you, perhaps down the hall, or in the next room, your comfort level increased. You knew that even if they were not immediately at your side, they could be in seconds should the need arise. That made you feel good. Now take that feeling and amplify it a trillion times. Imagine what it would have been like to hear the words of Christ from His own mouth while He was here on earth. This is why the disciples argued over who would be closest to Him (apart from their own pride), being close to Christ was always the most enviable position.

Mary Magdalene had no issue hanging out at His feet. Let’s face it Christ was in human form, and human feet that walk long distances over rough terrain in nothing but leather sandals are not going to look or smell too good. This is why the practice of washing feet is still considered an ordinance of humility. One must humble themselves, to take on the service of such a dirty job for someone else they know. But in Mary’s world, Christ’s feet were more than enough – anything to be close to the Savior, even the less savory parts. Another woman who suffered of a lifelong disease felt the same way, she did not dare to even speak to ask for healing believing she need only touch the hem of His garment and she would be healed; and so she was. Being close to Jesus was life altering.

Now here we have a picture of the very throne of God Himself, where 144,000 people are selected and sealed to serve Him throughout all eternity, ever at His throne. They do not need sleep. They do not need food or water. They exist on serving Him, and doing as He asks. This is the highest ambition of any citizen of Heaven is to be able to do the will of God as He requests. To be useful in His purposes, to be needed, to be asked; this is the highest hallmark of service everyone there can ascribe to. And for 144,000 blessed individuals this is their life’s calling. I wonder if any of us can truly grasp the significance of this opportunity while still living under the curse of sin, in our current gloomy, self-centered world?

In heaven this kind of proximity to God on a full time basis is like icing on the cake. But in our world, we still pause to consider what full-time service to God might deny us from experiencing on our own. Being honest, we think about flying from world to world, talking with past Patriarchs like Moses and Noah, and Abraham. We think about eating fantastic fruit from the tree of life, and swimming or skiing in the river of life. We dream of petting animals that on earth would easily eat us, and wonder what our homes or mansions will be like. We fantasize about romantic relationships with a spouse from earth that can now be lived in the perfection of heaven. If we served God full time, would we still get to experience all that, or would it go away. More to the point, would we value in heaven what we think we value while still here in this condition. Or like the gold that is used as concrete in heaven, would all our earthly aspirations of heaven fade away in 10 minutes when placed against the prospect of being close to God forever.

Perhaps our minds are still clouded by the fog of our sin. Perhaps we have yet to learn that doing the will of God is the ultimate prize in any life including this one. This world does not make it easy to know what God’s will is for us while here on earth. It is clouded in the ambiguity of our iniquity, the fog of our sin, our selfish nature at war with His will. At least in heaven we can ask Him that question directly. But for me, I am taken back to when I was very very young, and quite content to play with my toys under the chair of my mother. I was fine and happy there knowing she was sitting directly above me. If I am so blessed, I hope to play with my toys under the throne of God Himself, fully contented to know He is sitting directly above me. Hoping to get some snuggle time in His lap if that is not asking too much. For despite being an adult, I recognize my infancy when confronted with the awe and majesty of the creator of ALL worlds. In the presence of the Father God, I am taken back to being two years old, hoping for His affection, and content to be close to Him in the same room, under His chair if needs-be. After all, I know He will be busy working above me, and I can’t figure to interrupt Him too often with my demands for attention.

I think we underestimate what being close to the source of ALL love might do to us. We have experienced love here only in such a limited capacity, sometimes afraid to embrace it fully for fear that an imperfect world will wound us greatly for showing a vulnerable side to another person. But when risk is gone and when perfection reigns, will our freedom to love without hesitation or limitation bring our entire existence to a new plain of consciousness? What will it do to the human mind and soul to be only feet away from the source of infinite love? Will it be like standing near the reverse of a black-hole instead of pulling light in, it shines light and love outward with equal force, or perhaps even greater force. Could our transient frames even expect to hold up in such close proximity to the source of all power, all love, and all grace?

The texts describe God as wiping away the tears of their eyes. I will need this. My unworthiness to even be saved is beyond comprehension. But to be rewarded as one of the 144,000 is a reward well above my pay-grade. I should be content to live in a rat hole along the south wall of heaven itself, locked in isolation after the life and deeds I have done. But to stand with the select few, is too great a reward for me. The level of love that would even consider this is too much for even a perfect being to comprehend. It would break me. It would break the perfect heart He created in me, even in the perfection of heaven. To be so undeserving and yet so rewarded would require constant wiping away of tears from my eyes. To daily witness the Lord and my God His Father, and to know the pain I caused them from my selfishness while in this life – this would cause me immense embarrassment, shame, and pain in my now perfected heart. An addict may not be fully accountable for the nature of his disease, but he remains fully aware of his actions while under its influence. My sin would haunt me for eternity, if God did not remove it from my memory. I believe this final gift of healing will be required to maintain sanity in the face of such love.

Then there is the work to consider. What will the 144,000 do that keeps them so busy? Will it require travel away from the immediate presence of God? Will we assist in the creation of new worlds and new life? Will we be a part of some sort of governmental or bureaucratic committee to take care of the ins and outs of running a multidimensional set of universes? I believe our minds are presently too limited to begin to guess at what He would have us to do. But to do the work of service will remain our reward for eternity. In this I am confident.

For those of us who do not merit inclusion in the 144,000 – God’s love for us will be no less. I imagine we will all find work, purpose, and fulfillment in our existence in the perfection of heaven. To simply experience fully the relief from slavery to sin will be reward enough for me. To be saved, once and for all time, to be made perfect by His grace – this is my highest ambition. Should I be fortunate enough to be selected to be within the 144,000 I will magnify His name for yet another of His gifts. But should I not merit inclusion in this number, I have equal confidence in His love and ability to save me, from me. And for this alone I can be eternally grateful.

On Pain of Death ...

The biggest difference between God and Satan is that God refuses to compel the conscience of man, or control his mind and heart – whereas Satan would gladly enslave both. God is love, and love must be freely given or you cannot call it love. For us to truly love God we must be free to choose to love Him, or free to choose against Him. The choice must truly be ours, if God were to control it in any way, the result could no longer be called love. Satan on the other hand, is much less interested in love and free will; he is interested only in power and control. He is constrained by our free will as God will not let him subvert it without our consent. But Satan is not interested in preserving our free will; he is far more willing to threaten us with death if we do not do things his way. While the consequences of embracing evil always do lead to death, Satan is willing to hurry the process along should we find ourselves in disagreement with him. This is why in the unseen war all around us, angels of light are sent to guard each human being, to preserve their right to choose, even if that choice is against the very being who sent the guardian to preserve their ability to make that decision. Ironic. We spit in the face of God, yet He preserves our ability to choose to do so. What other deity ever claimed to do that?

At the end of time, the Holy Spirit will be poured out in great measure to reap a final harvest of souls who are seeking to follow God. But then He will withdraw His presence from the earth allowing what was bound to become loosed before the return of Jesus. Satan eagerly awaits this day, the day He is given more ability to enforce his will upon mankind without constraint by our loving God. And death too, it seems is eagerly awaiting this day as well, as you can bet death will be the predominant news story in every corner of the globe. The day for Satan’s ability to enforce his will on the conscience of man will have arrived.

While Satan will not be able to possess the righteous and force them to do as he wishes, he will be able to surround the righteous with his followers who are eager to do his bidding. Human agents will take on the work of Satan with great vigor, believing they do the work of the almighty God himself. Forgetting that God never compels the conscience of men, eager servants of the evil one, will use the name of Christianity in efforts to enforce worship to Satan on pain of death. And they will have many allies who effectively attempt the same thing. For instance, there are many totalitarian governments on planet earth who deny the existence of God altogether. They tell their citizens they are not allowed to believe and worship the true God, or they will be imprisoned for it. At the end of time, the punishment will be universally raised to killing the non-compliant. The Catholic popes have for years told their parishioners to follow the edicts and traditions of men and the church over what the plain word of the gospel directs them to do. Compelling the conscience is not a new phenomenon, even inside of Christianity. But it is the hallmark of the evil one.

But why shoot us, if starving us is cheaper? And so the only way to earn a living, to buy or sell anything, will require receiving the mark of the beast himself. This mark may be in the form of a physical tattoo, a scar, or merely the symbolic agreement (in the mind) with evil, or taking up the actions of evil (in the hands) to do the will of Satan. But without the mark, those who believe will be placed in a position to starve. It will be easy to get the mark, one need only verbally swear to agree NOT to follow the God of the Bible, but to do as men, or Satan, or the Pope, or whoever else says to do. The idea is simple, deny the real God, and receive the mark that allows you to live as you did before (stuck in your sin, without hope, if we were being technical).

Satan’s ultimate idea of punishing God for the death of evil he is sure to experience, is to have no one on planet earth waiting for God to return to save. Before you start thinking that should be nearly impossible, remember that ONLY Noah was saved in the ark with his family. No-one else on the planet believed, or was saved. If Satan could pull off this feat again, he might make God delay or cancel coming back at all. But there will remain a stubborn few who simply will not give up their Bibles and do as the men around them command them to do. Despite the apparent starving solution, the faithful refuse to let go of their true God and will not embrace the earthly alternatives including Satan in the form of Christ. This all but infuriates the evil one; particularly when birds seem to be flying to the caves of the earth with food for those who hide there from his evil presence. I guess the righteous won’t be starving after all.

Controlling commerce does more than just provide a method of punishing those who refuse to give up their faith. It provides a way to control the rich, the powerful, those who up until now have known no fear more than losing what they have. With the beast in full control of the events of the world, short a few, he takes many liberties in establishing his course to war with God. “The dragon was wroth with the woman” … it says in Revelations … “and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed.” Satan has no illusions that war with believers is coming. He is well prepared and plans to win. He intends to use every device against us. Not just the power-plays of obey or die, but the subtle ones like he used with Adam – “can you really imagine life without your loved one who agrees with me?” Any manner to compel the conscience, force a version of morality the individual would not normally accept,

Christians still seem not to have learned the lesson Christ tried to teach them with the analogy of the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, and the beam or log in your own eye. While it makes perfect sense to most believers that Satan will try to compel the conscience at the end of time to worship him, his way or else. They do not see that participation in groups like the “Tea Party”, or attempting to take over the “Republican Party” in order to bring “God” back to America is exactly the same work Satan himself will take over when he is given more power at the end of all things. God does NOT compel the conscience. It is why when Christ was here, he never made any moves to become part of the government in order to make His will the law. He invites us to listen, does not force us to. He lures us with love, does not compel us with control, even though He is able to do so. Those who do not yet believe in Christ are supposed to be free to make that decision. It is the very will of God that they have the freedom to choose against God. Humans trying to force other humans to give up evil and embrace love by force; are the perfect recruits for Satan when he begins his unholy, unrestrained final efforts to control us all.

If we lived lives of love, dedicated to serving others ahead of ourselves, we would not have time for the folly of trying to control the minds of others through the power of the state. In fact, we would gladly return to our true Christian heritage keeping the state completely away from our religious beliefs and thinking. Better for Christians to be governed by Atheists who believe in nothing, than to be ruled by fellow Christians intent on enforcing “the will of God”. Love can never be achieved by force. This principle can be used as a dividing rod at the end of time, to sort out the fake claims of divinity, from the real ones. When God heals someone, he does it in love, asks nothing in return, and looks only to the best interest of the person He is healing. When Satan heals someone, he is looking to make headlines in the news, increase his influence or control of a person, and intends to use the healed person for his own tasks. Where God is about love and service, even to us; Satan is about nothing but power and control over us. The mark of serving Satan will come in the form of trying to compel the conscience of another human, this effort itself is the work of the beast. And it has already begun. Will we walk in it, or away from it.

I hope when push comes down to shove, we choose to worship the God of the Bible who we cannot see, but has taught us what love is – than the imposters all around us who believe they know better than we do what “god” wants us to do. The Bible we take so much for granted now, may become a collector’s item in the not too distant future. I hope He leads us deep into truth before that day comes, for only through His strength can we hope to remain standing for the real God.

The Last Plagues ...

Exactly how crazy am I? It may be difficult to quantify just how crazy I may be, given that a universal “scale” for measuring “crazy” seems to be still under development. For instance, if I told you I could predict the future, you might dismiss me as merely mildly delusional. If I told you that God had spoken directly to me, you might consider that a touch more alarming as direct communications from “God” usually accompany some self-destructive behavior in the nut-balls who claim to have heard from Him one-on-one. But then, how crazy do I remain, if I told you something was going to happen in the future and it did happen exactly as I predicted it. We could call that luck, perhaps even guess that I had somehow an inside knowledge of what was going to occur from other more reliable scientific sources and as such ease our concerns and logically founded mind. But what if what I predicted was outside all the scientific norms, and happened anyway? Can’t call that insider info, can’t really call it luck, it would begin to cause you to question whether I really was crazy, or just right? Perhaps then, it is your own sanity you begin to question.

No need to worry, I do not claim to have heard from God one-on-one; nor do I claim to be able to predict the future. I am no prophet, at least not yet. I do consider myself a conspiracy enthusiast as I can often trace the fingers of conspiracies in the actions that otherwise seem random in the world, perhaps that just makes me a bit paranoid. But it does not mean I am wrong.  In any case, the life of a prophet is never an easy thing. It is hard to tell sane people that you have heard a message directly from God. This idea alone is often enough to get you ostracized at best, and committed at worst. To follow your pronouncement of hearing from God with news of a disaster is to invite the strongest type of ridicule and criticism imaginable. And so for those few servants of God who had the courage to bare their lives in scripture to we who read the accounts of their lives and stories, I wish to honor them as I am humbled by their sacrifice.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to have to take news of a dire consequence that will almost certainly get you killed into the governing palace of Kim Jung Ile, or Saddam Hussein, or Adolph Hitler when they were in power. It is hard enough for me to imagine taking in “God’s warnings” to our president Obama who I admire and respect, let alone to an all-powerful dictator with malevolent designs on my life. But such was the case for Noah to an angry world, Joseph to an egomaniac pharaoh, Moses to another even more egomaniac, Elijah to a wicked king, Jonah to an angry city, Daniel to a worldwide monarch, just to name a few. But to think that prophesy has all but been forgotten or fulfilled is to ignore one of the final writers of the gospel whose name was John the Beloved of Christ. For John also known as the Revelator penned a few prophesies that have yet to be fulfilled. We have at our disposal messages directly from God. Given to us, one-to-one, if you will – that we should be able to give to the world who still needs to hear them.

And so I ask the question once again, just how crazy am I? If I begin by telling you about a series of events that are to captivate the world’s attention, would you dismiss me once again as just another nut-ball who takes the Bible too seriously? Many would. You may. I would not hold it against you, as I myself have often wondered at the purpose of prophecy for those who believe. So if you read my council and decide I am crazy; that would be the norm. But if you remember my words, or rather His words, and then see them fulfilled in your lifetime, will you remember ALL of His words, or just those that had to do with the supernatural.

Take the life of Noah once again for consideration. If Noah had predicted regional floods instead of a worldwide phenomenon that wiped everyone off the planet at once, would those in the surviving regions had accepted Noah’s calls to repentance? If you lived in India for example at the time of Noah, and you saw Japan, China, and Indonesia wiped away by floods, would you start believing in Noah? Or would it take the further destruction of North America, Mexico, down to Panama for you to begin to believe. Or perhaps would you wind up staring at the ark as the door closed and realize you would never be on board as your logical mind would simply not allow you to believe what you see. After all the idea of flooding on this scale was “against science” to that point in time.

There are many today, both inside and outside the church who question the Bible’s more miraculous stories as authentic. They believe them to be more allegories designed to teach us a moral lesson, rather than accurate depictions of facts of the ground as they occurred. The idea that miraculous events have ever occurred forces one to accept the idea that God is real, and perhaps even that Satan is real, and even more importantly to me, I am not the center of the known universe. But then to witness a miracle first hand is intensely more personal than to simply read about one that took place before you were born. Apathy has grown great within the Christian community for just such reasons. Believers have all but stopped submitting their will to Christ and therefore lost the witness of miracles He works within us changing the core of who we are into His image once again. Believers have long ago forsaken testing their faith by requiring miracles of God in healing, raising the dead, curing disease, etc. And most prophesies have been fulfilled more than 120 years ago. So apathy grows in our hearts. What a waste, and what a disappointment to those who need to hear the living word.

But to wake our Laodicean minds from the spiritual slumber we foolish virgins have engaged in, world events will once again become very intense. Before the end of time, just before the orders to kill all those who do not follow the beast (or the Anti-Christ if you will) worshipping him as he commands rather than as God has laid out in scripture, a series of plagues will be poured out upon the world. This is not done to torture evil people, or punish those who sin for the fact that they sin. This is the unfortunate consequence required to wake even the most evil and steadfast doubting mind up to the possibility that the Bible may be correct, God may exist, and that while late, perhaps Salvation is not yet out of reach. This is the purpose for pouring out the “wrath” of God on the world. Many will die in this process. Again unfortunate, but the messages of love will have already been rejected. Great death is about the only thing left that captures the attention of the world. And so it will be.

The details of the plagues can be found in Revelations chapter 16. John uses language that would appear to affect the entire world. We do not know if the plagues themselves will fall over the entire face of the earth, or just in very large regions, with the news of the events being carried on every TV news outlet capable of running the stories. John also speaks about two references to time in chapter 17 that may be a reference to the plagues. The first reference is a day which in prophetic time period generally equals a year. The second reference is an hour, which doing the math generally lasts about a week. We are not certain if John intended the pouring out of the plagues to take about a year to complete, or the final “burning of Babylon” to take about a week to complete. So there are a few unknowns related to these prophecies. But with the unknown is also what we do know.

The first plague will be one of grievous sores that fall upon men who worship the Beast and his image. This means for those who reject the Bible and embrace the teachings of men over the teachings of God, they will be susceptible to the plagues of God. If in tumultuous times you find yourself infected with the grievous sores of the first plague, you are worshipping the WRONG way, or to the WRONG god. This is your first wake up call, that something has gone wrong. Very wrong. And sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the False Christ or Anti-Christ or Satan who is impersonating Christ will tell you lies, that these things come from him as punishment because he has NOT been universally recognized as the only true god. In short he wants you to get mad to true believers and take your anger out on them for the sores you could have avoided if you chose not to worship the false god in the first place.

The second plague sounds even more daunting, as it is poured out on the sea, and “every living soul” in the sea dies as the water is turned to blood. We can infer from the first plague that this will only affect those who worship the beast, but there is no guarantee of this protection. It is possible when this plague is poured out on the sea, all will die who are on it at the time. The third plague is also related as the turning to blood phenomenon occurs in the lakes, rivers, and streams as well. The intention is to offer the wicked blood to drink, as they seem bent on shedding the blood of the saints. I am sure that devout atheist scientists will formulate opinions, hypothesis, and theories on how this is all explainable without supernatural influences to comfort themselves, but it will not quench their thirst.

The fourth plague sounds like global warming run amok. The sun was given power to scorch men, and rather than come to repentance they choose to blaspheme the name of God; perhaps by continuing to offer worship to the fake gods of science and the Anti-Christ rather than to the creator of all things. No doubt people will simply say Al Gore was right all along. But happening in this order, with these exact effects, is designed to show people the validity of the God of scriptures, and the way of Salvation. Alas will there be any who see, remember, and repent before time itself runs out for them?

The fifth plague is poured out on the seat of the beast and is a great darkness. This would be a welcome relief from the scorching rays of the Sun, and defies scientific logic as to why the Sun would suddenly “go dark” even if only in a particular region of the planet. The seat of the beast could infer the headquarters location of the beast. Some have speculated this may mean Rome, where the papacy was long claimed equality with God in religious standing. Some say Washington D.C. as our nation seems bent on dictating morality to others in the forms the majority sees fit denying the rights of the minorities to worship God as they choose. Some say Beijing as the communist capital has long denied even the existence of God to its people and has restricted anyone from Biblical worship outside a rigorous state approved process. But wherever the darkness falls, people will chew on their own tongues for the pain in order to remind themselves they are still alive. And more bad news, the sores from the first plague are still there with them as well.

The sixth plague is decidedly a regional one, as the water of the river Euphrates is dried up, preparing the way of the kings of the east. I should imagine this will cause a massive drought around the areas where the river’s waters once flowed. But this plague appears to be a precursor to something even more terrible, a final war called Armageddon which we will discuss in more detail in another section. None the less the sequence of plagues seems a bit interrupted after the sixth plague with many events seeming to take place all at once.

It is possible that the seventh plague takes place immediately before the coming of the Lord in the clouds. It is possible that the effects of this plague will be felt less as there may not be anyone left on planet earth to talk about it. The righteous gone to heaven, the wicked killed in the final chaotic events. But the final plague of hail will fall from the heavens, every stone about the weight of a talent. Depending on whose version of a talent John was referring to, the current weight estimates would range from 57 pounds on the low end to 130 pounds on the high end. Falling from the sky like rain, the destruction of ice weighing this much would literally crush everything it comes into contact with. Even if this plague is regional falling only where the final war might occur, the devastation would be immeasurable. And worst of all, it appears that if one has not found Salvation by plague number 6, number 7 is already too late.

There is one point that the falling of these plagues makes above all else – evil itself is on a time clock. Evil will NOT be permitted to endure until it can self-destruct and take the world with it. Evil will be cut short, miraculously, and permanently by the God who has no evil in Him. The plagues may be labeled with flimsy scientific explanations designed to placate the masses, but the truth of their foretelling in every KJV Bible in print will be hard to deny. And I imagine that since the plagues are designed to prove the authenticity of the God who is their originator, they will be beyond the normal bounds of scientific theory. For years the siren cry of the Atheists is “show me proof”, how sad that even when this proof is offered it will not be enough for the minds bent on rejecting it.

I ask a final time, just how crazy am I? Am I so crazy you will simply reject these predictions as misplaced faith in a literal version of the Bible that could never come true … until it does. Or is possible that the entire reason for John’s foretelling of the horror of these events was for YOU specifically to be able to avoid them, by accepting the Salvation that Christ longs to offer you? Think about it, why else would a loving God given such a detailed accounting of last day events, including the violence and horror of some of them – if not to warn you on how to avoid these things – staying nestled in the loving protection of a God who is eager to bring you home with Him again. These plagues are not threats to change or die, they are the proof some required that God does exist, and the consequences to evil actions illustrated in the lives of all who remain to see such times. The only reason why we know about them now, is for the purpose of being sheltered from them. If God were out to “punish the guilty” why bother to announce what He is going to do, just do it quietly and effectively. But by writing all this in detail, He shows His purpose is not to destroy but to help as many as possible avoid destruction. Will you be saved from the cataclysm that is to come, or will you follow the edicts of man, science, and logic over the still small voice of love that tugs at your heart strings?

Left Behind ...

A friend of mine once told me … “we do not get punished FOR our sins, we get punished BY our sins.” When understood properly we realize how detrimental all forms of evil are to ourselves, to all those around us, to our victims, and to our God who wishes us free from such self-inflicted pain. But it is not only from our own evil that we can suffer, we can also suffer from the evil of others. In the last days, Satan’s abilities will be less restrained and he will do much to divert the world’s attention away from truth, away from redemption, and towards a path of self-destruction that will finally result in the first death of all those who embrace his ideologies. As the end draws near a sequence of events will occur to give warning of what is to come.

One of the shortest texts in the Bible is … “Jesus wept.” Our savior felt the keen pain and sting of death as it affected the sisters of Lazarus. He sympathized with them and their loss, and was moved to act to reduce their pain. And so one of the greatest miracles affirming His divinity was conducted as He called Lazarus forth from the grave by name. Had He been more generic every dead person buried in the region might have come forth. But Lazarus heard his name called and emerged from the tomb, still wrapped in the cloths designed for his burial. It was this action that cemented the Religious leadership of the day to kill our Lord. This act was incontrovertible proof of His divinity, and instead of accepting Him, they purposed to kill Him.

The disciples and Christ visited with their friends for a while, and interestingly enough, nowhere in the Gospel does Lazarus talk about the searing pain of hell’s flames; or the bliss of his time in heaven with the father. Rather, he was asleep, knowing not anything, having no part in the land of the living as Solomon had once written. Those who believe that upon death a soul enters eternal glory or eternal punishment misread the scriptures. If this were true, it would have been an unspeakable harm to pull Lazarus out of heaven, to come back to live in a world of pain once again. I imagine Lazarus would not have been too happy about it. Also note that upon Christ’s own resurrection from the grave, He was plain to say to Mary not to touch Him yet because … “he had not ascended yet to His Father.” Christ too slept in the grave upon his death and resumed His life and work on His resurrection.

This distinction about our condition upon death is important as a belief that the soul is eternal opens the door to much mischief by the evil one. In Genesis at our creation the Bible speaks plainly that God breathed the breath of life into our nostrils and man “became” a living soul. We had a beginning, and those who embrace evil will have an end. God told our parents that upon eating the fruit from the sin restricted tree, they would surely die. If our souls were to live forever, then death would not be the true end result of eating that fruit. God would have lied. Even a tortured existence in hell that supposedly lasts forever, is still existence, not death. God was clear, the punishment was death.

In the beginning of the book of Acts the disciples witnessed the ascension of Christ back to Heaven on clouds of glory. The angels told them He would return in like manner. And every eye shall see Him. Later Paul writing to the Thessalonians describes the second coming of Christ as the son of Man appearing in the clouds (the same as in Acts) with a loud voice, a shout, a trumpet sound to wake those who sleep to greet the Lord in the air. After which we who are alive and remain are caught up to be with the Lord forever. This is a loud, visible, world captivating event, that no one will miss. We will not need the Satellite technology of the day, as our naked eye will easily see His return. The graves will give up their dead, not raised in the imperfection in which we went into the tombs, but in the perfection He always intended us to be.

Knowing that the dead sleep, means they could not be interfering in the lives of the living. There is therefore, no such thing as ghosts. But there is such a thing as a fallen angel, or demon in you prefer. Beings who are able to take on the form, and sounds, and smells, of those who have passed on before (probably by manipulation of DNA at a molecular level). They impersonate the dead, as they did with “Samuel” who appeared to Saul at the summoning of a witch in the Old Testament. Saul believed it to be Samuel, but the Bible is clear that it could not have been. “The dead know not anything.” They sleep awaiting the resurrection of the righteous as described by Paul, or the resurrection of the wicked as described by John in the book of Revelations. The results of Saul listening and believing the words of the fallen angel who impersonated Samuel led to his death, and those of his sons. Saul lost everything because of who he listened to.

Revelations speaks about a time of Jacob’s Trouble before the end arrives. It is a time of persecution. Christians have always assumed that this persecution would come from non-believers to those who still believed. But the truth may be more insidious than this. Revelations also speaks of an Anti-Christ who will arise and deceive many. Imagine the influence a fallen angel, or demon could hold, if he impersonated Buddha, and spoke personally with the Dali Lama. Imagine what more influence a fallen angel or demon could hold on Muslims, if he appeared in a covering of light, claiming to be Mohammed himself, back from the grave to correct the teachings of Islam. Imagine if Satan impersonated Christ and used a legion of fallen angels to appear as past religious leaders, and Christians of note, to say that our forms of worship were incorrect, and we needed to amend the Bible according to his “new word”. This being (Satan) would appear as an angel of light, preaching peace, but promising destruction to any that opposed his authority.

I wonder what my Atheist friends will say on that day? When proof of the supernatural has arrived in just the form they have always asked for, will it be too late to find truth? Only those who are armed with the knowledge of the dead being asleep will have any mental defense against demons wreaking this kind of havoc. Those who believe souls are eternal will not be able to distinguish which are departed loved ones, and which are demonic impersonators trying to deceive the world. Add to this the fragmentation of doctrines between protestant Christian denominations and you have a recipe for confusion that makes the demonic arguments seem reasonable. Satan will not be allowed to impersonate the method of Christ’s return, so you will not see Him appear in the clouds with every eye able to watch him arrive. But I am sure he will use modern technology such as CNN’s global satellite network to get his messages across.

And what is the message of the Anti-Christ you ask? Quite simply to worship him, listen to him, and do what he says, not what the Bible says. The Bible, long derided as a book of violence and chauvinism, will be discarded in the new “light” the supernatural beings ask us to accept. To reinforce his purported dominion Satan and his agents will work miracles, of healing, and peacemaking. The lure will be enough “almost” to deceive the very elect. But for being pre-warned this would all happen, and content to trust God as He has demonstrated the truth our salvation in removing evil from our lives over time in a personal way, we might all walk the paths of evil.

But despite the calls to worship the “Christ” we can see, there will remain a stubborn few, who will choose to worship the Christ they cannot see. There will be a remnant few who choose to obey what they have been taught in scriptures rather than what “beings of light” have to say. But what will happen to this stubborn, archaic, old-fashioned group of believers? They will be ordered to be exterminated with great prejudice. Who would do such a thing in a country like ours you ask? Your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your best friends, all those who not like you have adopted the “new” way of worshipping “god”. They will see you as a pariah that needs to be removed the perfection the beings of light are trying to establish. “Christians” who keep the name, but forsake the God behind it, will be first in line to torture and kill those remnant few who remain faithful to a God we cannot see.

The question upon which all of humanity will determine its fate is … will you follow God, or will you follow what you can see. It is enough for Satan that you do not follow God. It is enough for him that you ignore what God asks, and pursue your own ideas of morality, of love, of service, and insure that you believe you are a good enough person. That is all the evil one needs, for you to miss out on what God offers. Whether by intention, or by deception, or by apathy, or by negligence – choosing not to follow the God of the Bible, is a definitive choice for Satan. The results of which will be catastrophic. There will be no constitutional separation of church and state in the days like this. The Anti-Christ will insure church and state are closely united in order to use the resources of governments to hunt and kill any who dare to disobey.

It will be a desperate time, worse than any the world has ever seen, as Satan will have more ability to work his evil than ever before. Believers will have to flee to the mountains, deserts, and forests to look for shelter from the hate that is created for them all over the world. There will be no more friendly countries, laws, and lands – only those who wish the death of all the Bible believers. Some have speculated that a secret rapture will precede these horrible events, and believing Christians will be spared this agony. But this is not what scripture teaches. There is no “secret” coming of the Lord, only the one described in Thessalonians, and described in Acts. There is no “third” chance for the wicked to repent (though under these conditions truth would be all but extinct in every heart except for those who have spent their lives following the true Bible God). The Holy Spirit will be removed from the world, and the righteous will stand before God without a barrier between them. There will be no comforting influence to calm and melt the hearts of men, only the spirit of evil which is full of hate. Were it not for the second coming of Christ, none would survive. But in the last moments, before the orders of execution can be carried out, our Lord will appear as He has promised, and the world will meet its first demise.

These are the conditions immediately before the second coming of Christ. But there is more that happens just a bit earlier, and we will discuss it more detail in the coming sections. Stay tuned …