TRICKLED DOWN LAWLESSNESS IN THE USA

Everywhere we look, in every aspect of life, the effects of a world gone mad have dangerously manifested. We are living in very perilous times (2 Timothy 3:1). Beginning especially with Bill Clinton's Administration, this country has slid into a blatant in-your-face quagmire of immorality. It is rare today to see common courtesy, decency and respect for our fellow man. It seems that anything goes as long as it is indecent and destructive.

 

The concept of being honorable is a trait that is rarely taught anymore, unless you are blessed to come from a good conservative and/or Judeo-Christian background, and even then-it depends on the character of the parents. Insurrection, bullying and violence are encouraged by liberal "progressive" activists posing as teachers, college professors and others who have slithered their way into the halls of education, media, government jobs and anywhere else they can infiltrate.

 

Make no mistake about it, these are radical godless individuals have no respect for individual freedoms and liberty (except for their own of course). These propagandists want to see our country fall more deeply into a precipitous decline.

 

The media are nothing less than political obstructionists-revolutionaries determined to take this country down. They are ruled by hatred and a dangerous ideology of hardcore socialism. They have a warped concept of reality that fuels their godless agendas, insanely defending anything that is detrimental to our safety and well-being-which includes lawless "sanctuary cities" and illegal immigration; hiding (under reporting) the identity of illegal aliens and Muslims who have harmed people, and playing down the seriousness of dangerous criminal gangs made up of illegal aliens. The subversive conditions we see in this country, and throughout the world are in-line with God's prophetic schedule just as the prophet Isaiah forewarned:

 

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20)

 

When the media can constantly and relentlessly slander the sitting president-an American president and all those who support him; when our duly-elected president can be outrageously stalked by a Soviet-style bogus "special counsel" using extra-constitutional techniques-out to get him no matter what. When bought and paid for dumbed-down masses are encouraged to loudly chant obscenities in public venues and cause physical harm to those who love this country and want it to thrive-we have a world on the brink of extreme chaos and lawlessness.

 

Sadly, the immoral and irreverent conditions we see today have also greatly affected the Christian community. We see turncoats everywhere. Turncoats who have betrayed Jesus with their false teachings and self-serving religiosity; professing Christians who are selling the "Me" gospel and have no qualms about stomping on others to get their way.

 

The most recent public exposé of false Christians is a Word of Faith cult, more specifically-the Word of Faith Fellowship located in Spindale, North Carolina-which has hundreds of members and branches in other countries. They have been recently exposed for years of terror unleashed upon their congregants "in the name of the Lord." It sounds like their lord is the devil himself.

 

According to interviews of ex-congregants, it has been reported that at the Word of Faith Fellowship members have been regularly punched, smacked, choked, slammed to the floor or thrown through walls in a violent form of deliverance meant to "purify" sinners by beating out devils, 43 former members told the Associated Press in separate, exclusive interviews. Victims of the violence included pre-teens and toddlers-even crying babies, who were vigorously shaken, screamed at and sometimes smacked to "banish" demons. The church's leader, is a woman by the name of Jane Whitley. [1]

 

Fear and intimidation have kept the majority of the congregant's quiet; many sold their homes and joined the church and felt they had nowhere else to go. Many were so browbeaten and intimidated that they lost their ability to think clearly and realize the full travesty of their situation. Cult leaders are experts at breaking down the psyche and will of their victims. The behavior and response of the victims is similar to the Stockholm Syndrome where captives develop a psychological alliance with the captor (s) in order to survive.

 

Looking from the outside in, when the unsaved see another cult rise to shame (another group of whacked out false evangelicals), many of them will think all professing Christians are tainted-a tragic situation cleverly engineered by the enemies of the Cross. Another black eye for true Christians and for the cause of Christ-all because of the wicked people who use the Lord's name to inflict their dastardly deeds. Only evil accomplices of the devil would use the Lord's name to abuse and terrorize innocent victims in a "Christian" ministry.

 

All enemies of Christ will be together during the Tribulation years. The prophesied one-world-church will be eagerly embraced by those who distort God's holy Word. The reward for their apostasy will be going through the seven-year Tribulation, a harrowing time of unprecedented pandemonium and tyranny.  All those who do not come to genuine faith in Christ and repent during those years-will ultimately spend all eternity in the lake of fire, with no chance of pardon or escape.

 

Zero Hedge reported on July 20, 2017 that our country has a serious drug problem, "An opioid crisis" -which began to escalate around the beginning of Obama's first term in office; that is when deaths from drug overdoses started to climb.  Now, after recording nearly 60,000 drug-related deaths in 2016, drugs are the biggest killer of prime-age Americans.

 

I was shocked to learn that America has more drug overdose deaths than any other developed country. Many of these deaths are caused by dangerous synthetic opioid analogues like fentanyl and carfentanil, the latter of which is 100 percent stronger than morphine. [2]

 

This crisis is causing working age men to drop out of the work force which is very detrimental to our nation's prosperity overall, and of course to those who are debilitated by their addictions.

 

The legalization of marijuana is another controversy which is only going to lead to harming people. Those who participate in ingesting that drug are opening themselves up for many difficulties. It is a known fact that marijuana acts as a gateway drug to other even more dangerous drugs and causes many other problems.

 

The despicable George Soros whose mission is to destroy the entire West has been a strong proponent of legalizing marijuana, which is of course a way to cause people to become distracted and  unproductive-another step toward a globalist clamp down to gain control of the lives of a weakened population and "fundamentally" change (ruin) America. The globalists want a weak servile population which they can control.

 

If some people are benefited medically from taking marijuana, then the substance should be carefully prescribed and regulated. Instead, at this rate we are heading for the development of hundreds of communities of free-for-all reckless dumbed-down useless pot-heads. How many more car wrecks will be caused by these stoners? How many families will suffer and be affected by the drug-induced behavior of these out-of-touch druggies?

 

The previous "president" whose true background has been hidden from the public, exponentially accelerated the conditions in which we find ourselves today-a  divided nation, fragile and gasping for breath. The Obama Administration had the most lawless gang of anti-American crooks this nation has ever had to endure; and Obama is still lurking in the background. We can see that he and his holdovers are rigorously shadowing the new administration with purposeful intensity, working  to try to destroy it. One has to wonder how many of the anti-Trump haters are demonically possessed or at the very least-demonically empowered. The evil is very fierce and relentless.

 

Obama's incessant racism, his perpetual lying, his hatred for Israel, his love for Islam, his anti-Christian rhetoric, his disdain for the Constitution, his obvious anti-American agenda-are all indicators of the closeness of the prophesied seven-year Tribulation. He is still a poster boy for globalism and about half this county drank his toxic Kool-Aid (and still do).

 

Obama's clueless followers, and all the maniacal leftist agitators who are working to implement tyranny-have no idea what a dangerous world lies ahead; a world where no one will be able to buy and sell unless they bow down to the coming global leader (Antichrist), and even then, when their usefulness is no longer needed, they will be destroyed.

 

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Revelation 13:16-17).

 

I have read some reports lately where large numbers of employers in all aspects of business are having difficulty finding qualified and reliable workers-because too many applicants are flunking the drug test. Bit by bit, in so many areas of life, productivity is being marginalized. I see this as a precursor of the dire economic and social conditions that will be prevalent during the Tribulation years-when hundreds of millions of people will be even much more dysfunctional than they are today.

 

When the Antichrist rises to power the ignorant masses will welcome him with open arms and call him a great hero. These unstable and susceptible people will eagerly accept a iron-fisted welfare state and surrender their personal freedoms. The security they think  government welfare will provide through sub-standard living conditions will create a breed of indigents, totally dependent on the state-the globalists' dream come true of a planet of slaves whom they can control.

 

The intensely disrespectful immoral behavior of both Bill Clinton and Obama have trickled down into every aspect of life. No one is immune from the outpouring of indecency which they introduced into the office of the presidency. Virtuous God-loving people are truly the minority-another indication of the coming judgment when God pours out his wrath upon a godless world.

 

Are there any towns or cities left in America where we can feel safe and free, where the globalists have not designated land to use for their sinister plans? These interlopers intend to build high density urban housing interspersed within good neighborhoods (bringing the ghetto you).

 

I have seen the blueprints for eight of these high density urban buildings (ghettos) designated for the town in which I live; they fall within only an eight mile radius of one another in good middle class neighborhoods where the property is well-maintained and not cheap.

 

Only a massive grassroots outcry with God's help against this wicked attempt to denigrate good neighborhoods, endanger the safety of its residents and bring down the value of personal property-can possibly stop or delay this detestable plan. The infiltration of unsavory individuals packed into these "high density urban" buildings would bring about lawlessness on steroids.

 

One world globalists have infiltrated U.S. government agencies even on the local level. Are there any cities or states that have not been forced to provide "refugee" centers? These centers house potential terrorists and criminals-people who do not want to assimilate into our American culture. These barely vetted or unvetted "refugees"(many from third world nations) are thrust into our towns and cities subsidized by our tax dollars. Yet we seem to have no say in the matter.

 

An Internet search will disclose some of the refugee centers (primarily housed by Obama- imported Muslims). America is no longer the Norman Rockwell apple pie white picket fence American flag on the porch nation. Thankfully, we still have some pockets that reflect our nation's culture, but it is even becoming dangerous to hang an American flag from your front porch in some neighborhoods. You might just offend someone. Your house might just burn down.

 

Lawlessness politicians whom the American people entrusted to carry forward the principles that this nation was built on, "One nation under God, with liberty and justice for all"-have shown themselves to be evil liars; sold-out diabolical globalists who despise the Constitution. This nation is now in a tailspin of lawless indulgence. It is imperative more than ever to pray for our president, his family and all those who are fighting to stop the attempt to take away our American sovereignty.

 

President Trump has done a lot of good for our country in a short time despite all the hysteria  aimed at him-constantly. The tyrannical forces are trying to drown out the successful positive changes implemented by him-so he does not get the credit he deserves, and so the brainwashed  fools that say they hate him-will not see that he is improving the conditions of our country for everybody.

 

Even with our president working for the betterment of America, the moral depravity that cuts deeply into this  nation and throughout the world cannot be legislated away. Too many unscrupulous people control Washington and will undermine anything that has to do with reviving, maintaining and improving our cherished American free market system. These desperately evil despotic frauds will continue to sabotage the constitutional precepts initiated by our Founding Fathers.

 

We also have too many people everywhere who laugh at and reject God's saving grace, defiantly choosing the wide gate and broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).

 

Our best weapon against all of these ongoing problems is fervent intercessory prayer and daily Bible study. Prayer is our refuge and strength, the way we can communicate with our beloved Lord and the Word of God is like a healing balm that soothes our souls on a blustery day.

 

How comforting it is to know that this is not our true home, and that one day soon we will be free of the cares and dangers of this broken world. I can't image life without Jesus. He truly is our Rock, our Fortress, our King.  Every night I pray that He will swiftly move things along prophetically and call us home. Even so come Lord Jesus.

THE AGE OF THE GENTILES IS ABOUT OVER

by Gene Lawley

It is my belief that this age of the Gentiles, this age of grace, is near its end, and following are some reasons why I think that.

 

First of all, Jesus aid, in Luke 21:28, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near," just after He gave a whole list of cataclysmic events that will come upon the world so that men's hearts will fail them for fear.

 

The Great Deceiver, whose goal is to lull everyone to sleep and unaware of eternal danger ahead, has come up with "man-made climate change" to explain it all. It was once called "global warming" until the heavy snow storms came upon us in the middle of the outcry of concern for global warming with melting of the icebergs and rising of ocean levels that would overcome the land masses.

 

In that list of stormy events Jesus said there would be earthquakes in different places, places that were not previously normal for them to be experienced. Ravaging hurricanes, ice storms, tornados with devastating effect have been happening.

 

The statement He made next, however, gives us the "times and seasons" in which these things would appear. He spoke, in Luke 21:29-32 in parable form, that the blossoming of the fig tree-a type of or identity of the nation of Israel-would mark the time of the end. Note His words:

 

"Then He spoke to them a parable: 'Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.'"

 

If He meant the generation which heard Him say that, as perhaps some might want to argue, then you and I would never have been born. No, He was talking of the generation which would see the return of Israel to its place as a nation among the nations. This happened on May 14, 1948, sixty-nine years ago. How long is a generation in God's timetable? Psalm 90:10 gives us a clue:

 

"The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

 

(This last part reminds me of that old faithful gospel song, "I'll Fly Away" and probably is the source of that title.)

 

When He says "all things take place," it is clear that He means the final seven years that are called the Tribulation period, for it ends with Jesus coming to the earth to reign as King of kings on earth for a thousand years. (See Revelation 20.)

 

Based on the accumulation of years since the rebirth of Israel, we are in the range of months only until Jesus comes in the Rapture of the saints.

 

There are other telltale events in this world, also, that indicate that the time is very short. In 2 Thessalonians 2:2-3 Paul tells us that a "falling away" must come before the appearance of the lawless one.  Some argue that this means "taking away" as in the Rapture, which is mentioned later in the chapter as being "when the one who restrains is taken out of the way."

 

I looked at how about 52 English translations and paraphrases recorded that phrase, "falling away," or if it were translated as "taking away" instead. Almost all were using "falling away" or a similar wording as their translation variation. The closest phrase used was "departure," which can easily mean "departure from the faith." None of them specifically identified the phrase with the Rapture, however.

 

It is totally conceivable that the end result of "falling away" from lawfulness will usher in that very image of lawlessness-the devil himself. That turning from lawfulness is confirmed by other Scripture, as follows, in spite of the argument as to the meaning of that phrase in the original Greek:

 

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron..." (1 Timothy 4:1-2).

 

 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away" (2 Timothy 3:1-5). 

 

"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13).

 

"Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?

 

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:1-7).

 

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world" (1 John 4:1-3).

 

(I have noted before that an uncle once complained that details of topics of the Bible were not put together under each respective topic heading, as in an encyclopedia, and now I have almost done the same thing. However, here I have quoted Paul, Peter and John to confirm the consistency of the Scriptures as one message.)

 

It is almost unbelievable what we see in the news every day , not only in America but the whole world, the turn to lawlessness. Terrorism runs rampant and it seems no one can get a handle on it with any authority. Political correctness has become the controlling principle for social relationships. There is a faction that is quick to call any contrary judgment to their way of thinking "racism" no matter what is the real issue.

 

Here in America the absolute hate for President Trump is so very vivid in the  liberal side of our culture that there seems to be no way to resolve the differences. The very things which the leftist Democrats have always said they are for are the things Donald Trump promised he would do and is doing them, yet their hate is so strong they will not cooperate at all to get those things done.

 

President Trump is president of the people of America, but he does not fit their mold of a president, so "he just is not presidential." They strongly deny it, but it does appear that they would rather destroy America than to see President Trump succeed.

 

Check the source of their "wisdom." Solomon wrote in Proverbs 9:10, "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom," so it is no wonder that their default position turns out to be lawlessness, right out of the pit of the devil's habitat.

 

Just like Jesus said, false prophets with their false doctrines are abounding and are giving the masses a casual attitude regarding any sense of impending judgment and the end of the age. A news person the other day told of a bumper sticker that said, "Jesus Is Coming-Look Busy." When sunlight is filtered through darkness, its intensity is greatly diminished and therefore, its effect shows up as increased lawlessness, in spiritual terms.

 

Why does God allow such to happen? There seems to be a principle that God allows mankind to embrace sinfulness in a big way once he has rejected God as his Master. It confirms Man's judgment for his rebellion. Yet, God says He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" in 2 Peter 3:9.

 

 None will enter the presence of God having not repented and turned away from his rebellion against God and receiving Jesus as his personal Savior, just as John 14:6 declares that none can be saved except through Him. 

 

SATAN'S BATTLE FOR NEW BELIEVERS

by Bill Perkins

 

"Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one   of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away   from the living God." Heb. 3:12 There are myriads of Christians alive today who have been beaten down to unfruitfulness by Satan's relentless tactics. Despite having been saved, winning the victory and securing the undeserved prize of eternal life in heaven, the excitement of trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior eventually is lost as they retreat back into the entanglements and mire of life. Yet we were warned this could happen:

 

 "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons," 1Tim. 4:1 The Barna Group, a large Christian research company, found that less than 1 percent of the adult population in the United States has a solid biblical foundation. And less than 1/2 of one percent of Christian youth (ages of 18-23) has a biblical worldview. (1)

 

Christians can "fall away" due to deception, temptation or persecution. But the root cause for why Christians fall off the wagon is that the armor of the Word of God was never properly instilled early in their Christian walk.  And without solid armor, without maturing to build your Biblical defenses, you can be easily torpedoed by Satan's lies-which are sure to come.

 

Christians have enough problems dealing with the unbiblical "pray-this-prayer-and-you're-in" style of witnessing.(2) And when they try to build on a sand foundation, the results are predictable. Although this is not a salvation issue, their growth and maturity into solid Believers is at risk.

 

Putting Babies into Battle And who is first in line to teach a new Believer? The person who God uses to lead them to Him. The early oversight, Bible teaching and scriptural protection should first come from those who led them to the Lord!

 

A new Believer is no different than an unarmored baby being sent to battle. Yet most brand-new Christians are usually left to fend for themselves in a new, unfamiliar and wicked spiritual battle.

 

Paul and Peter both referred to Christians starting out as babies.

 

 "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation," 1Pet. 2:2  "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able," 1Cor. 3:1-2

 

Most of us had children to raise, or have been around small infants, so think about this implication: God compares a new born-again Believer to a newborn baby!

 

When God blessed Susie and me with babies, they were totally dependent on us feeding them, protecting them and watching over them. If we did nothing, they would have died from lack of nourishment. God placed them into our care and we hovered over them like a mother hen as they slowly grew.

 

And after a while they began to crawl, and we had to keep them from getting into the wrong things. They were too young to know what was dangerous to eat or how to stay away from harmful spots in the house like a hot stove or iron. They were totally dependent on our constant oversight to keep them out of trouble.

 

Then they were able to walk-this was problems times 10! The new mobility made it much harder watching over them. We then REALLY had to pay attention to keep them out of harm's way. If we took our eyes off them for one second, they could get badly hurt!

 

When we took them out of the safe confines of our home, we had to hold their hands to keep them from walking into danger. We could never leave them alone. If we couldn't be there, we got a babysitter or a family member to do our job while we were gone.

 

Then they could run. Oh dear! Problems times ten again! The older our kids became the more we learned to pray for their safety. We taught them Biblical truths with great enthusiasm and applied what they were learning to sports, learning life's lessons, learning to drive, how to dress, and learning responsibility and stewardship. We invested daily into what the Lord had given us, as did most of you reading this with your own kids.

 

And yet a newborn baby growing up is what God uses to illustrate what we're dealing with new born again Believers. But we rarely seem to think of new Believers as being dependent on those whom God uses to convey the salvation message.

 

Let's be realistic. We usually simply give a new Believer a Bible, answer the most basic of questions, maybe find them a church or a Bible study to attend and hope for the best. We certainly don't think that their spiritual maturity has anything to do with the one God used to lead them to Him. But it is directly connected!

 

The Bob Dylan Travesty  I think of the famous singer/songwriter in the 1970s, Bob Dylan, and his conversion some 40 years ago. He was genuinely saved as evidenced by his many public confessions of Jesus being his Lord and Savior, as well as his new Holy Spirit-inspired lyrics that he began to compose.

 

But as a new Believer, he was a babe in Christ without the Biblical armor needed to fend off the Evil One. Yet that didn't stop well-meaning Christians from parading him around like an elephant in a circus tent.

Dylan got pulled in every direction due to his lack of having been afforded the time to adequately build a solid Biblical foundation on which to stand. He ultimately withdrew from even discussing his faith...saying it was private. Such a travesty.

 

If Dylan or any other new Believer, plants deep roots in the Word, they have a fighting chance to stay above the fray. But if they're Bob Dylan 1970 not taught early, it can get ugly quickly as their adversary doesn't waste any time coming after them:

 

 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart." Matt. 13:19

 

Paul's Delayed Teaching When Paul got saved on the road to Damascus, almost immediately God sent him into the wilderness for years to study the Old Testament before he began teaching in the Church Age (Gal. 1:16-18). This is further evidenced by the over 90 quotes from the Old Testament he referenced in his Epistles.(3)

 

The Bible even warns about taking new Believers and moving them too fast into leadership. Within the long list of leadership characteristics listed in Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus, this one is included:

 

 "and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil." 1Tim. 3:6 The Four Results Of Witnessing Jesus tells us one of four things happens when someone hears Biblical truth, and three of them are bad.

 

1) Satan Snatches Away Truth   "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road." Matt. 13:19

 

2) Persecution Pushes Away Truth  "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. Matt. 13:20-21 3) Worries and Wealth Choke The Truth  "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Matt. 13:22 4) Hear And Understand Truth "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Matt. 13:23 Granted, Jesus wrote that to the Jews under the law, not to those of us living post-cross in the Church Age. But the point is clear for all...our goal for new Believers is for them to UNDERSTAND scripture. We must watch over them until they have built a scriptural armor to stand against the wiles of Satan.

The Believer's Responsibility If God uses you to lead people to Him, we must act as if they are our newborn babies. We have a responsibility to protect them as we nourish them with the Word of God, which becomes their Biblical armor against lies from Satan and the world.

 

We must continuously be aware of their vulnerability to the enemy... that Satan is alive, active and doesn't like this new Believer. And he certainly doesn't want a mature Believer to bloom! So we must stay in contact, either teaching, or see that they are being taught, truth on a daily basis.

 

 "...reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction."          2Tim. 4:2 There are myriads of Christians alive today who have been beaten down to unfruitfulness by Satan's followers' because they didn't get the protection they should have received by those who led them to the Lord. They were sent into battle with little or no defense. And this unseen spiritual battle is really wicked! (Eph. 6)

 

A New Believers Class at church, run by mature Believers, is definitely good. But it's no substitute for the personal, individual accountability a new Believer needs to grow into the mature Believer who can be used mightily by God.

 

So when God causes your witnessing to result in his/her trusting the shed blood of Jesus to pay for their sin and His resurrection defeating death, God has placed a major responsibility in your life. So take the bull by the horns-pray for wisdom and the new baby's protection! What a privilege!

 

          "Train up a child in the way he should go,   Even when he is old he will not depart from it." Prov. 22:6 BP

ESCAPE FROM A FALLEN PLANET

By Pete Garcia

Growing up, I used to listen to a Christian pop-rock band called 'Crumbacher', who released an album in the mid-80's called 'Escape from the Fallen Planet'.  It was a little campy, full of keyboard riffs and cheesy 80's outfits, but looking back on it, I've grown quite fond of the concept of it as in regards to the Rapture.

 

So, it's not that I'm a fan of escapism, but of one day being reconciled to my Creator and becoming what I was intended to become.  Not a tent of flesh, prone to sin and the fallenness of this planet, but a building from God in whom we long to be clothed with. (2 Cor 5:1-5)

 

As Christians, our hope, our reason for drudging on day after day lies in the reality, that Jesus is God, and He promised that one day He would return for us so that we could be where He is.

 

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."  John 14:1-3

 

So where are we?

 

I've often wondered how long exactly the Lord would tarry.  We know His return is imminent in the sense that it could happen at any moment, but would He stay His hand another few decades or come before the end of the month?  Has the 2000 years been enough?  Or does the increasing population on planet earth necessitate a longer time needed to fulfill the final harvest of men and womens' souls?  No one currently alive can peak into the future, and we are explicitly told by Jesus Himself that 'no one will know the day or hour' of His coming.

 

So how do we gauge were exactly we are in history?

 

Aside from scriptures, that leaves only looking around at our current state, and looking into the past to see where we've come from.  We also know, that certain prophetic events that are currently in motion, have if you will, a shelf life.  They just can't continue to go on and on without some sort of finality to them.

 

I have a personal theory that men like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Ludwig van Beethoven, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein weren't really gifted with supernatural intelligence.  God just allowed them to use ALL of their brains, unlike most of us who only use a small percentage at any given moment.

 

These men were sprinkled throughout history to allow mankind to progress at a set pace, but not too quickly.  As we have progressed through time, more and more of these men (and women) appear on the scene to quicken the pace in which we progress.

 

But those times have changed, in large part due to the invention of the computer and the internet (thanks Al Gore!). The amount of information available to anyone with access to it is mind boggling.  Today's average person has more information at their fingertips than the smartest men of ages past had their whole lives, which is why we keep leap frogging (technology wise) at an incredible pace.  So based on that, we have a long, long, long period of time when man was limited as far as ability goes, and only just recently (last 100 years or so) have we exponentially exploded with a technological race unmatched in all our short 6,000 year history.

 

The questions are these; if we are physically and biologically the same people we were 500, 1000, 2,000 years ago, why did it take so long for us to get to where we are today?  Why was man limited to the speed of horse up until the early 20th century?  How could we go from building the Great Pyramid before the Noahic Flood to living in mud huts for the better part of 4,000 years following?  What do these have to do with the Rapture of the Church?

 

Dispensations and Creation

 

Looking at the big picture, it would appear that God has allowed mankind a set amount of time.  From Adam until the 2nd Coming, there is a predetermined number of years that mankind will be able to remain in a fallen state and populate this world, conducting what he/she thinks is their affairs in this realm of reality.  Based solely on the history we do have written for us in scriptures, we can know generally how much time has gone by.  So let's do some simple calculations and see how much time man roughly has:

 

If the Age of Man is divided up into Seven parts, matching the order of Creation, and the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation marking the age of the Church, it would appear like this:

1. 1.    Day 1: Age of Innocence: Adam's creation to Fall (unknown time)
2. 2.    Day 2: Age of Conscience: Fall to Flood (1656 years roughly)
3. 3.    Day 3: Age of Human Government: Flood-Abraham (427 years???)
4. 4.    Day 4: Age of Promise: Abraham till the Law (430 years)
5. 5.    Day 5: Age of Law: Moses until the Cross (1500 years)
6. 6.    Day 6: Age of Grace (Church): From Pentecost till today (1979 years)
   1. 1.    Ephesus (30-100 AD)
   2. 2.    Smyrna (100-300 AD)
   3. 3.    Pergamos (300-606 AD)
   4. 4.    Thyatira (606 AD- Tribulation)
   5. 5.    Sardis (15th Century-Tribulation)
   6. 6.    Philedelphia (19th Century-Rapture)
   7. 7.    Laodecia (20th Century-Tribulation)

7.   Day 7: Kingdom Age: From 2nd Coming until Great White Throne Judgment (1000 years)

 

The total brings you to about 5,592 years, give or take a few.

 

*I'm not dogmatically holding to these numbers, just throwing these out there to give the general idea.

 

So based on the numbers, IF Creation were represented by one thousand years for each day, mankind would have 7000 years.  But we know that the times do not line themselves up all nice and neat, and some periods are longer than others, but in the end, they would total 7,000 years.  Seven, scripturally signifies perfection and completion.  Since man was created on the 6th day of Creation, it signifies man's imperfection (compared to God) but also may show something else.

 

Man, created in the image of God, was the pinnacle of Creation.  He was the highest order created within the 6 days of Creation, and the world was given unto him to have dominion over (Genesis 1:28).

 

We currently inhabit (somewhere near) the 6,000th year of mankind's existence here on earth that we know of, by recorded history.

 

At the present moment, mankind is at the pinnacle of his existence, having mastered space flight, instantaneous information, and supersonic travel.  We have explored the known and unknown world, mapped the oceans, discovered the complex DNA double helix, and sent our cameras deep into space to explore the rest of the universe.  We have within the past century, created weapons so devastating that we could destroy our world many times over. 

 

We have created a level of luxury attainable by the average person that only the wealthiest royalties of ages past, could only dream of. (think ice cubes, instant meals, automobile travel, television, etc).  It would seem, that man has finally reached again that time when he has dominion over the earth.  Granted, man has coexisted with nature throughout our short time here, but it's only been in the last 100 years that we've harnessed electricity, divided the atom, pulled oil from the depths of the earth, etc.  Man has not conquered natural catastrophes, but we have learned how to forewarn ourselves of everything from hurricanes and tornados, to earthquakes and solar storms. 

 

If for nothing else, based on our level of achievement alone, we should realize that we are the well toward the end of the timeline, on the very trailing edge of our time left in this day and age we live in.  With prophetic scriptures pinpointing exact events that would transpire coming to the forefront of the news daily showing without a doubt, both the validity and accuracy of the Bible telling us where we are.

 

But the earth itself is in revolt, groaning with birth pangs, awaiting it's liberation, as are we Christians.

 

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."  Romans 8:22-23

 

Maybe not the best analogy, but the only thing that comes close is in the same lines that animals can sense an earthquake before an earthquakes strikes, we (Christians) can sense that our deliverance from this fallen planet is very close at hand.  We can feel it in our bones, that our time here is about done, and it makes us all the more excited.  Unlike our unbelieving friends and neighbors who trudge along thinking that this life is all there is, we have something glorious and grand that we look forward to with great anticipation:

 

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:13-14

 

There is an escape off this fallen planet, and it is only attainable by the forgiveness of sins, through the shed blood of God Himself on Calvary's cross, some 2,000 years ago.  Jesus died so that man could inhabit eternity with Himself in perfect harmony.

 

He endured allowing His creation to beat Him, spit on Him, pull His beard out of His face, and curse Him so that you and I could become the 'righteousness of God' through His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

It is only natural that we 'groan' within ourselves, longing for the redemption of our fallen bodies we inhabit, to finally attain that perfect body, which does not sin (nor wants too) to match that 'new creation' we became when we first believed (2 Corinthians 5:17, Eph 1:13-14) because of our sealing by the Holy Spirit.

 

If only God the Father knows, and we have received salvation through God the Son, and are currently being indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and they all belong to the same Tripartite Godhead, it is no wonder so many of us believers sense that are redemption draws nigh.

 

From the beginning, Satan has been seeking to undo the Promise God made in Genesis 3:15, beginning with the murder of Abel by his brother Cain.  Six thousand years is about the end of the line for man on this earth, and if for nothing else, written history can only trace back about that long, it would seem that the shelf life for fallen man is about to expire.

 

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 1 John 3:2-3