Being Ready*

 

Last week, we discussed the truth vs. the lie, and how these things relate to the return of Christ, and the day of the Lord. Let's see what the prophets have to say concerning these events, and how we should be preparing ourselves for them:

"Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Surely the LORD God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret  unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the LORD God hath spoken, who can but prophecy?"   Amos 3:6-8

The prophetic word of God is like a trumpet sounding an alert, like a lion giving his warning roar. It requires a reaction from us. A wise man takes these warnings seriously, and reacts accordingly. The LORD announces these warnings so that those who will give heed to them will have knowledge and become prepared.

In Revelation, as the Seven Vials of Wrath are released by the angels, a warning is given:

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."   Rev. 16:15

We are now in the period of tribulation spoken of in the word of God. Christians are persecuted, even to death in some places, and are blamed for everything. This is the time when God warns His people to be watching. It is not the time to be distracted by worldly things, or fleshly concerns. The warning in the Gospel of Luke says:

"Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overtaken...and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare it shall come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."

                                                                                                          Lk. 21:34-36

We are to be watching for the day, praying, and keeping our hearts unblemished in His righteousness. It is not our own righteousness that keeps us, but Christ's righteousness, paid for each one of us in His own blood. We are to keep our hearts, and our spiritual garments in this saving righteousness. It is a righteousness that does not compromise truth, and does not compromise with sin and death.

The day of the return of Christ has not yet occurred. At His coming, the dead in Christ are raised first, and then we who are still alive join them and Christ (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Paul warned the Church not to be ignorant. There are conditions and events which precede Christ's return. Paul delivered the word of the Lord regarding this event:

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."   2 Thess. 2:1-4 (excerpt)

The first event that precedes the coming of Christ is a "falling away". This is the Greek word, apostasea, meaning "defection from truth". As we discovered last week, the lie that deceives man, and separates him from God and truth, questions and challenges everything in God's word. We have seen this condition today like never before. Even in the Church, apostasea is taking its toll. According to statistics, in 1972, 16% of Americans in mainstream denominations described themselves as evangelical Christians. By 1977, that number increased to 24%, and again, by 1993, the number increased to 30%, approximately one in three Americans. However, as of today's figures, that number has dropped to 24%, only 10% of whom identify themselves with a mainstream denomination. In 1972, those who then described themselves as either atheist or agnostic were 5%. Now that figure has increased to 24%. The numbers show that fewer are believing, and more are becoming unbelievers. We see daily the manifestation of these statistics in our culture, as secular humanism**, even the perverse, the demonic, and the repudiators of Christ gain more and more influence, even over our children, which has always been their declared goal. The Church seeks "peace" in this turmoil by compromising truth, and the wicked are justified for a reward. Evil is called good, and good, evil. Hell is enlarged, and scoffers jeer at the idea of God intervening in judgment. The LORD is angry with His own people as they deny the truth, and accept the lie, and are taken in captivity because of it, but His hand is stretched out still to them. Never doubt,  "... the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness." (Isa. 5:13-25).

The LORD is waiting for His people to repent, pray, and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. He will hear from heaven, and heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14).

Paul wrote that "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God...." (1 Thess. 4:16). These are the sounds of warning, and the sounds of warfare and victory. His coming will be sudden and when least expected, like a thief in the night. Are you ready?

 

**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanist_Manifesto

   https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/manifesto1/

 

 

*The above is based upon the 8/11/19 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.

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Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.

 

Dr. Stevenson's newest book is now available:
  

To order "NAZAH": https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8     http://endtimeschool.com/ 

The Truth vs. The Lie*

 

 

Charles Spurgeon once said, "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Lies seem to outdistance truth in our world on a regular basis.

The Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels exalted the power of the lie. He said that if a lie was repeated long enough, it becomes the truth. The lies of the Nazis, as we all know, led to much death and destruction, and finally, to their own destruction.

Our God is the Speaker of truth, and the Judge of the lie. His word is clear on the subject, and has been since the beginning. As Truth, He is unchanging in all things. His Son, our Savior, Jesus, sent in the name of His Father, was Truth made flesh: Truth walking in an "earth suit". Even in the midst of His examination before Pontius Pilate, He maintained His mission of Truth:

"Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice."  Jn. 18:37

Truth not only identifies who God is and who Jesus is, but it also identifies who we are: "of the truth".

As Jesus promised to bring us into His Father's house, to bring us where He is, to the place that He has gone ahead to prepare for us, Jesus assured us that if these things were NOT so, He would have told us. However, because He has spoken Truth, and we have believed Him, we can be sure of these things. When asked how we can know this way to the Father, and be with Christ in such a place, Jesus said as the guarantee, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."  
                                                                                                Jn. 14:1-7 (excerpt)

There is no way to the Father except by the living person of Truth, Jesus. All other ways, are lies. Because men believe the destroying lies so readily, as they appeal to the sin and rebellion in our hearts, God has made His judgment clear regarding lies and liars:

"And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega (Heb.-"Aleph-Tav"), the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."   Rev. 21:6-8

The Truth brings us into eternal life, having passed through only the valley of the shadow of death, immediately entering the presence of the Lord and His glory, as promised. Liars, and the other abominables face the full horror of never-ending death. Again, the Lord says of the difference in the futures of those who follow the Truth vs. those who chase and believe the lie:

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city (New Jerusalem). For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."     Rev. 22:13--15

In a listing of the six things the LORD hates, even calling seven an abomination, the LORD includes:

"...a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."   Prov. 6:16-19
God hates the lies and liars that send men to their destruction.

Peter revealed that those who prophecy, speak and teach lies have many followers. Because of them, "...the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." (2 Pet. 2:1-2). This is certainly the case today. Peter warned, however, that those involved in this teaching of lies, and those who quickly accept the lies, bring upon themselves swift destruction.

The apostle Paul had to address false teachings in the Church concerning the coming of Christ, and our gathering together unto Him. It was being falsely said that these events had already occurred, greatly upsetting those believers who heard these false teachings..
Paul reminded the Church that a great falling away would occur before the return of Christ, as well as the revealing of the son of perdition, who would oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God. These events would be a confrontation between the Truth, and the lie, and those who believe the lie. This son of perdition "whose coming is after the work of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."   2 Thess. 2:1-12 (excerpt)
Though the above verse refers to "a lie", the language used should be read as "the lie". The lie existed from the beginning of man. It was in the Garden as it challenged Eve saying, "Yea, hath God said...?" (Gen. 3:1). The lie promoted the idea that God did not tell the man and woman the truth. Man is still believing that same original lie. Even the Church has often believed that same lie, failing to teach the truth of His Word, but we have been called by Christ to be "of the truth".

 *The above is based upon the 8/4/19 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson.

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Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.

 

Dr. Stevenson's newest book is now available:
  

To order "NAZAH": https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8     http://endtimeschool.com/ 

Trans-humanism: Satan's New Twist on the Original Lie

 

Jesus was speaking in the temple of God, to those who believed on Him (Jn. 8:31). However, because of their pride in their religious and ancestral identity, they refused to receive the truth He was bringing. What Jesus revealed about their rejection of the truth was shocking:

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father, ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not...because ye are not of God.  Jn. 8:44-47 (excerpt)

The hearing and receiving of the truth from Christ was essential, as He also said, "Verily, verily, I say into you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death."  v. 51

Again, being challenged by the peoples' religious pride in their physical descendancy from Abraham, Jesus revealed His eternal nature, and therefore, His authority over death, and His identity with the Great I AM, by declaring, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."  v. 58.

Those who heard His words became very offended with religious indignation, and sought to stone Jesus to death. As a verifying sign in their midst, confirming all that He had been telling them, He passed right through the midst of them without being seen, and out of the temple.

The devil, in the form of a serpent, told the lie from the very beginning that man could

 escape death, and remain alive, without having to abide in God, or His Word:

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"  Gen. 3:1

The woman did not have an accurate knowledge of the Word, and she added to the command that God had given them regarding the tree of which they could not eat, saying that they could neither eat of the tree in the midst of the garden, nor touch it, "lest ye die". The serpent immediately challenged her:

"...Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."  Gen. 3:4-5

Those who do not have a knowledge, or understanding of God's Word, and the Person of the Living Word, Jesus, are very susceptible to the lie of the serpent, the same lie that exists today: that man is able to sustain his own life apart from God. We will see later, the current manifestation of this original lie.
We are warned in 2 Peter 2 that there are, and will be, false prophets and teachers who would bring damnable lies, heresies, among us. Because the truth will be spoken of as evil, many will follow the lies. We see today how the truth of faith is treated as if it is an evil thing. Peter went on to say that covetousness and merchandising is the reason behind this exploitation of man through lies. For the same kind of unrighteousness, the flood was brought to destroy life, except for the righteous Noah, and his household. Fire and destruction fell upon Sodom and Gomorrha, except for the man Lot, and his household, who was grieved by the unlawful deeds he saw around him. Those who have chosen to walk apart from God, Peter taught, are self-willed, covetous, adulterous, unclean, despising government, and speaking evil of the spiritual things that they do not understand:
"While they promise...liberty, they themselves are the servants (slaves bound) of corruption (destruction, perishing, eternal misery in hell)..it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and The sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire."  2 Pet. 2:19-22 (excerpt)
Yes, these who were both catching others, and were caught themselves with lies, once knew the truth of Christ and His salvation. They who, as Adam, were called to be sons of God, but chose the lie, instead. We are also called to be sons of God, and Peter tells us to stir up our pure minds in remembrances of the truth brought by the prophets of the scriptures, and the present, living apostles in the Church. Peter warned that scoffers will come in these last days, mocking the return of Christ, willfully forgetting that the life of the world was previously destroyed by flood, for just this cause. They are fooled by the fact that the Lord is longsuffering for us, because He does not desire any to perish, but to repent. However, the day of the Lord will indeed come, and it will come suddenly, and with fire enough to melt the earth (2 Pet. 3:1-10). Peter concludes by telling us that with these things in mind, we need to be living in a manner of holiness and godliness, being diligent to be found of Him in peace, continuing to grow in the knowledge of Christ, and in His grace. 
Salvation is not a walk that can be neglected nor taken for granted. It requires us to move always upward and inward in Christ. Jesus told us that those who abided in Him, and in His sayings, would never see death.
How is the original lie of Satan in the garden manifesting again today? In the same way that the serpent assured Eve that she and Adam, though apart from the Word of God, would not surely die, there is a new form of that false promise being developed and offered today. It is called trans-humanism*. It consists of physically implanting in man a technology that promises to identify and heal diseases, prevent aging, improve memory, lengthen life, perhaps even leading to eventual immortality. This chip, or form of A.I., would change the nature of man. Again life is being promised apart from God, apart from His Word. The Book of Revelation warns us not to be fooled by this tempting promise (Rev. 13:16, 14:9-11). The only true promise of life, even eternal life, comes through Christ:
"Verily, verily (surely, truly, of a truth), I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed (to pass over from one place to another, to remove, to change place) from death unto life."   Jn. 5:24

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior:Lord Jesus, open the eyes of my heart. I want to know You as my Lord, and as my Savior, who covers my sins, and cleanses my heart. Come into my heart, forgive me, and fill me with the Holy Spirit, who will lead me into all truth, and will teach me how to follow You. I believe that You are the Son of God, the Messiah, that You were crucified for me, and rose from the dead to give me everlasting life. I believe that You are coming again. Lord Jesus, in Your name I believe, pray, and receive all of these things. Amen.


*Transhumanism article

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