END OF THIS AGE, AND COMING TRIBULATION

 

by Pastor Mike Taylor

 “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what {will be} the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" NASB. (Matthew 24:3)

Jesus has just come from the temple mount and prophesied that the temple would be torn down, “not leaving one stone upon another.” This disturbed the disciples, as the temple was the center of their world, the world of the nation of Israel. The KJV has the last part of the above verse as “the end of the world.” We know that it is more proper in context to use the “end of the age” as when Jesus comes back to rule for 1000 years, it will be on this very earth we now populate, but with major revisions to return the earth to it's former glory when Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden. It will be the end of the world, as we know it. But let us take a look at the signs that would precede the coming of the Son of Man in power and great glory.

I will do a line by line bible study of this chapter that must be followed up with the next chapter of Matthew 25 in a follow up sermon, as all are connected, but let's take the first sign of the end of this age.  Continuing in Matthew:

24:4  And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you.
24:5  "For many will come in My name, saying, `I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.


Folks have taken this to mean that many will come as claiming to be the Messiah. True, there have been many false messiahs that have claimed to be Him, but what was Jesus talking about? I don't believe He was talking about what many believe.  It's pointing to false religions, false doctrines, and deception that will fill the churches in that day. Men claiming to be followers of Jesus Christ will use His name to appease the masses they wish to delude. These frauds and double agents would come in His name, that is, appearing to bear His authority. In particular, the name of "Christ" would be exploited as cover for their nefarious trickery, and by this ruse, great numbers of people would be deluded. The phrase, "saying, I am the Christ," should not be understood, as the New King James Version has punctuated it, to mean that many would come claiming to be the Messiah. No, they would come claiming that Jesus is the Messiah—a truth—and thereby gain people's trust. From that point forward, deception through doctrinal change, both major and minor, provides the means of deception. As the anonymous maxim puts it, "The nearer a lie is to truth the more deceitful it is."

NEW AGE AND THE EMERGENT CHURCH

Folks, look around you. Have there ever been a time when there is false doctrine permeating our churches? They promote a feel good gospel. They promote false healing, miracles, and signs used to deceive. All the while they have agents in the background who are setting up this charade to influence the masses to what end? Money! They are religious entertainers in our churches that use smoke and mirrors to fool the people looking for truth. I have never seen so much imagery and modern technology that gets the juices of these adherents to a feel good gospel all whooped up in a frenzy and elevate the man preaching a feel good sermon, instead of Jesus Christ. Jesus warned us of these “wolves in sheep clothing” that would come into to devour the sheep. They have continued unabated in these New Emergent Churches and promote universal tolerant view that there are many roads to God. They preach that all religions will find the way to Heaven, meaning Gnostics, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and Jews right along with true believers in Jesus Christ will all receive the same salvation and eternal life. “”All roads lead to God and all religions are the same”” God is love and no one will go to any “hell”. This flies in the face of Acts 4:10-12, in which Peter asserts that only by the name of Jesus Christ is salvation possible. I call this Emergent theology, the “First Church of Blasphemy”. They make a mockery of the saving Grace of our Lord and Savior. They preach that all will receive “Universal Reconciliation” and no one will end up in hell, nobody. This is not found in scripture anywhere as Jesus spoke of hell more than He did heaven.

WAR AND RUMORS OF WARS

Jesus continues in Matthew:
24:6 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
24:8  All these are the beginning of sorrows.”(Matthew 24:6-8)


Men have been fighting each other for 2000 years since Jesus made this statement, but the last century of modern times has been the bloodiest of all the centuries past. More people died in this last 100 years of 2 world wars, and the various conflicts that have killed more people in them than the preceding 1900 years combined. Various wars and conflicts by count of the dead totals 262,000,000 people....that's millions, folks. And this was the “beginning of sorrows”. That's a large portion of every man, woman and child that resides in this country we called the United States of America as a population count.

24:9 “ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
24:10  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

You look at other third world countries, the Middle East and other dictatorships say of Russia, or China, and it's not safe to be a Christian even in our modern times. It hasn't come to America YET, but Christians are becoming viewed increasingly with suspicion by the powers that be, even in our country, the USA.  People are being slain for the name of Jesus Christ right now, even as you read this. Jesus said it would be so, and it is becoming more and more common place. As it was in Jesus day, being persecuted by the Romans and even the “Holy Roman Empire” (sic), ie. the Catholic Church has now come full circle to engulf our world with the same genocide of whole races and people who profess Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But stay tuned, as you haven't seen anything yet!! Look at verse 12 of the above passage. Here in the home of the brave and the free, we have become a nation that is filled with iniquity in all shapes and forms and it has grown exponentially in the last 50 years. No one would have believed when I was growing up that men and women of this nation and for that matter, the world, would grow emotionally cold and not value human life. That is even where we have slaughtered over 60 million of the unborn in the name of sexual freedom and love for our off-spring has nearly died in many parts of our society. Not to mention crime growing worse every day and terrorist attacks coming even to our shores.

THE GOSPEL PREACHED WORLDWIDE

24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”24:14-15)

No other time in history has there been so many ways to transmit the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The technology has advanced at such a rapid pace, that an email sent across the world is delivered within seconds. The Gospel News has covered the entire earth. So what prevents the end of the age? I believe nothing, except the timing held by God the Father who knows when the last person will accept His offer of Grace.

JESUS REFERED TO  PROPHECY in DANIEL 9 v. 27

“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Daniel 9:27)

Jesus speaks of the Abomination of Desolation that Daniel spoke of, and says when you see this man standing in the temple of God, claiming to be God, then RUN or “get out of Dodge” so to speak.

24:16 “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
24:17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
24:18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
24:19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
24:20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”(Matthew 24:16-22)



Notice the people Jesus speaks of? He doesn't refer to the Gentiles, or the rest of the world, but those who live in Judea. Jesus takes dead aim at only one group of people. He was talking about Israel. Observant Jews cannot travel more than a days walk from their home on the Sabbath, and to travel with child is difficult. Pray it's not snowing, as it sometimes does in Israel and it's cold making travel a problem. But Jesus warns them to get out, head for the hills....hide yourself. Don't take anything with you. Why? Because Israel will reject this “man” claiming to be a god and in his rage will attempt to destroy the nation of Israel because of their rejection of him as a liar and know they have made a deal with the devil.

The Holocaust of the Nazi's will pale in the attempt of this man to destroy all remnant of the house of  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I've spoken of it many times in sermons past. Israel will be refined as silver is in the fire. They will be persecuted and hunted down because they reject this “false messiah” and his “false prophet”. Malachi chapter 3,

3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
3:4  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” (Malachi 3:2-4)


How do you refine silver? You heat it red hot, but not too hot, or the silver is destroyed, but hot enough to remove the slag that floats to the top, to reveal the pure silver beneath.

That is what will be Israel's purification. Until our Lord and Savior can see His image in them, He will continue to allow the heat of persecution to turn them to their Messiah that they had rejected 2000 years earlier. Only when they realize this and proclaim, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:35b.) , then swiftly, the Lord God will come to do battle for His people Israel and save them out of tribulation and set them as a crowning jewel of His city Jerusalem on a mountain lifted high. He will save them all for the promise He made to their father's and because of His glorious Name. So much for Replacement Theology.

JESUS WARNS OF THE ANTICHRIST AND FALSE PROPHET

24:23 “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
24:25  Behold, I have told you before.
24:26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.”(Matthew 24:23-26)

Not only has there been false prophets and false messiahs leading up to this time, but I believe Jesus is talking of  THE false messiah, and THE false prophet that all of the Gentile nations will follow who have pleasure in unrighteousness. He speaks to the Nation of Israel to believe it not, as the Gentiles who have rejected Jesus Christ and will follow whole hog after this charlatan who claims divinity. I submit that all nations will be fooled, as there is nothing to give them discernment of this false hood, as they believe in themselves, and reject God. They follow a god on earth, that leads them in their wickedness. Paul warns of this in 2nd Thessalonians:

 2:8, “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2^nd Thessalonians 2:8-12)

Notice the next few verses? Jesus, I believe is giving an almost chronological order of the time leading up to His glorious appearing and the events that happen right after that.



24:27 “ For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
24:28  For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” (Matthew 24:27-28)

Some misinterpret this to mean the sun shining from the east to the west and all will see Him....I believe this is reference to the sudden appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, suddenly, when they think not. As lightning flashes suddenly from the eastern part of the sky and flashes to the west, this will be sudden and without warning. All will know something has happened, as the signs are all around them. People missing, people screaming for loved ones that have vanished and the realization that an unexplained calamity has befallen their world.  Untold havoc will rule the day.

But what of that next verse, verse 28? In the days Jesus lived in and we see it somewhat in our world here in the USA, carrion birds smell death. This verse is better translated as vultures, as eagles kill live prey, not dead ones. Vultures circle a carcass and many gather for this putrid feast. Jesus was making a comparison that Jerusalem was dead in spirit, and by extension of end time prophecy, saying that those who miss the greatest happening of our lifetime, will be devoured, as so much dead bodies as they are spiritually dead. Note that Revelation says that 2/3 of all mankind will be destroyed, by divine judgment, including natural disasters, and to a lesser degree, man-made persecution. I calculate upwards of 5 billion+ people will die in 7 short years. Notice in the opening lines of this sermon, 262 million people have died in the last 100 years by war....during the tribulation, this will be 15-20 times that amount, not millions, but billions of people who will die in 7 short years, with the majority in the last half. Woe to the person who reads this and puts off what I preach of the nearness of our Lord's return, and not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, by grace through faith. Then they will see just what I am referring to in all its horror, which is beyond anything I could describe.

24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”(Matthew 24:29-31)

Notice the progression of events as Jesus explains them? Jesus came prior as a flash of lightning, quickly and without warning. People are then dying by the millions into the billions called the tribulation and then the Great Tribulation, where judgment from God gets kicked into high gear. Then immediately, a sign of impending doom covers the earth. Here we have people dying all around, so could things get any worse? Yes, much worse. Seven angels pour out 7 vials of the wrath of God in it's full strength. The sun fails to shine, the moon quits reflecting the sun during night hours, stars are falling, and the powers of heaven and earth are shaken....what could shaken mean? Untold destruction, signs of impending doom and everyone knows. I mean everyone knows that something is about to happen and the dread grips them, until their hearts and circulatory systems collapse or maybe they go mad and crazy with fear. One can only speculate. People will mourn. It says that all the tribes of the earth will mourn. You will not mourn for something that gives you joy as we will at His appearing, but mourn because of spirit filled dread and loathing, so the church of God is not included in this analogy, as we prayed for His appearing, and it  brought great joy 7 years earlier.

When Jesus comes to reign and rule and destroy all rebellion, will this time be sudden, without warning, without anyone noticing a difference in their environment? Would you notice? If you are witness to it, and I pray you are not, then you would definitely notice some type of world shaking event that is about to happen.  Will men repent of their rebellion, what with all the disasters and environmental changes, not to mention inescapable displays of divine wrath that can only come from a Higher Power? They must know that it's the God of Heaven doing this to them and to this world. Will they repent? God says they will not as found in the verses of Revelation.  We see angels flying in the air proclaiming the Gospel to the nations left.

Why are Angels proclaiming the Gospel at this time? Was that not the Church’s job to preach unto the highways and the byways? Yes, but since the Church is NOT here, the job is left to an Angel to proclaim one last time that Gospel of Jesus Christ, as we are not on this earth...another sign of the rapture of the church. God gives them every possible chance to repent, but alas, they will not.


Then verse 31, He shall send His angels to gather all of the elect who have died for the witness of Jesus Christ. Who are these elect? During this time of Great Tribulation, there will be 144,000 evangelist from the 12 tribes of Israel. You will have two witnesses who are preaching nonstop for 3.5 years at the temple of God. Who will believe their message? The Nation of Israel will be their focus. People of the rest of the world have been fed a strong delusion, and they believe a lie. They have taken a mark of loyalty to the Beast Power and are spiritually doomed. The angels are gathering saints, fallen saints during this tribulation. They have died believing in their Messiah and have not denied Him, to the death. They are Israel and a minority of Gentiles, as God has purified them all as silver is refined in the fire....He has washed them as with fuller soap....clean, white, and pure because of the blood of their Savior, our Savior.

Now Jesus backs up in time continuum and speaks a parable of a fig tree:

24:32 “ Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matthew 24:32-36)

Earlier in Luke, Jesus blasted the Pharisees for not perceiving signs that were given them:

12:54 “ And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.
12:55  And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
12:56  Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” (Luke 12:54-56)

In their blindness, they had the prophecy of Jesus appearing, as He was right in front of them. They did not perceive or understand. Today we have the prophecy right in front of us, as they did. They did not perceive His coming to them as their Messiah. Will we understand and perceive His glorious appearing and gathering His church, in the twinkling of an eye?

51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1^st Corinthians 15:51-53)

A SURPRISE FOR THOSE IN DARKNESS


As I just mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, the time of His coming to rule and reign to put down all rebellion on earth, will not come as a surprise. All will know that impending doom is coming. It will be an unprecedented time and not a day like all others. Jesus speaks of an earlier time, when a fig tree is about to blossom and putting forth new leaves. When did that fig tree appear? Correct, in May 1948, when Israel was made a nation again after almost 2000 years. Unprecedented and amazing, not suppose to happen, but it did....divinely so. He says when these events start to happen, then know He is near...right at the door!

A generation will not pass till all things be fulfilled. What is a generation? The bible says in Psalm 90 that a man has 70 years to live his life and 80 years by strength to live on this earth. Now I warn others, we can't make predictions about dates, or times, noting v. 36, but we can know the season....add 1948 plus 70-80 years....see what I mean, are we on the cusp of the fulfillment of this scripture? Note that the lower age of 7o years was fulfilled three years ago. How much longer, Lord?

24:37 “ But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
24:39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”(Matthew 24:37-39)



Jesus speaks of a day, that's like any other day. People are merrily going about their business. They continue their wickedness, not knowing anything is amiss, much like the people of Noah's day. UNTIL, the warning ends, and the event takes place. Life will change for everyone who misses the warning and continues in their wickedness. Much like Noah's Ark.  This ship (Jesus Christ and Him crucified) of the Church of the Living God will leave port and bound for glory, and the world will wander around as blind people wondering what happened.

24:40 “ Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
24:41  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
24:42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”(Matthew 24:40-42)

Notice the suddenness of the event, as described here which is synonymous with the parable about Noah and warning people of the Antediluvian period. Some take this as a bad sign for the one removed, but I take it as to mean the elect being removed by force, without warning. Why do I say that? Because of the next few verses:

24:43  But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
24:44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew 24:43-44)

Jesus comes suddenly, without warning, much as a thief would break into your home. Another emphasis on the unforeseen. Did you know he was coming? No, that's why he's appears as a thief. Jesus is not a thief, but the analogy fits as it describes the unforeseen, so you take precautions and that you are prepared for the suddenness of His coming. How do you prepare? By accepting Jesus as your Savior.

 24:45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?(preaching the Word in the time we have left) emphasis mine.
24:46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
24:47  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
24:48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
24:49  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
24:50  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
24:51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:45-51)

Then comes this last part. Ministers that read this, take note. Who is Jesus speaking of here? Is it the everyday Joe that the Lord has given him ruler-ship over His household? What is His house? The church and the  people who make up that church. Sadly, there are many so called “ministers” that take the office of shepherd lightly and abuse the office of their calling. That is many in the main stream denominations today. I believe Jesus is making special mention of men and women  who have been called to teach, to preach the Gospel, to counsel, and to minister to the children of God who make up His body. To neglect that duty and wander into sins of the flesh, be it stealing, lying, adultery, or any other sin that abuses the folks, then woe to that servant.

Sadly, these wolves in sheep clothing, or ministers that abuse their office, have the flock looking to them for leadership. They look for spiritual meat for life, as found in the Word of God. If a minister falls, and fails in his calling, is it only him that it takes down? No, it takes many people who looked to him for spiritual leadership and they fall away from following God. They sadly, put their stock in a man, as their example and failed to realize, that there is only One example, and that is the man/God, Jesus Christ. Is this minister responsible for the spiritual condition of His flock? To a point, yes he is. But in the same breath, each of us are responsible for our own salvation. It's just sad that this minister, or false prophet, since he failed, abused this office and the reward is severe. How severe? God is the judge, not me.

YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH

The signs of the end of the age are all around us. Jesus gave us the prophecy 2000 years ago, and it is being played out with pin point accuracy, in His day and in ours. Jesus is God and He knew when He spoke of these words to His disciples the path that this age we live in would take. The question is: Are you taking Him seriously? Do you read these words and scoff, or take warning? Have you been playing church, or wandering around in the dark and know not my Savior? You say you believe in Jesus Christ, but do you live like you know Him? People, the time is growing short. History is winding down to the end of the  Church age, or the Age of Grace. Suddenly, the Words of Jesus will be all too  real for anyone that turns a deaf ear to the warning. Will you survive what is coming? Will you even want to? Will you make your home with the angels or with the demons of hell? Will you dwell with God Almighty for all eternity, or be banished to outer darkness where this is weeping and gnashing of teeth?

Many places within the Bible speaks of prophecy, as it is full of signs and wonders for the close of human existence on this planet. Will  you be found in Him, by accepting His blood sacrifice on a cruel cross for your sins, and mine? Will you enjoy eternal bliss and glory in a world that no man can imagine? Or will you worship yourself and pay the penalty with everlasting punishment apart from God? I beseech you, that you present yourself as a living sacrifice to  God and believe on the only name, that is above every name, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, as the signs speak of the end of the age closing fast.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

The above verses are the whole point of the Bible, as it's all about Jesus and what He did for mankind nearly 2000 years ago on a cruel Roman cross bleeding and dying for your sins, and for mine. You see, the salvation message is so simple that even a small child can understand their need for a Savior..I've seen children as young as 6 years old proclaim Jesus as Messiah, their Redeemer and their need for His sacrifice applied to their lives. As Jesus said,

“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3)

We may not fully understand everything about the Gospel message, but we understand God's Grace through our faith confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives.

8 “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:8-13)

Stayed tuned as I will continue in chapter 25 next time that the time of the Lord's visitation to this earth for the Bride of Christ, His Church is close, even at the door. Won't you join us, those who have put their faith and trust in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only Way back to God?

This is Pastor Mike Taylor, praying God's salvation in your life today. If there is anything I can counsel you on, pray with you about, or just listen with a sympathetic ear, email me at pastormiketaylor@yahoo.com, or visit me online at www.pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com, God bless you all,

till we meet at Jesus feet.

DEVELOPING NOW.

 By Daymond Duck 

 

Concerning world government: on July 28, 2021, prophecy teacher Geri Ungurean posted a Tony Koretz video on her website (Absolute Truth from the Word of God) in which Tony made a couple of statements that really caught my attention:

 

• “We are headed toward a worldwide dictatorship.”
• “A global medical dictatorship is rising.”

 

Writer’s comment: It is hard to deny that the shadow government is using unelected individuals to dictate policies (masks should be required, vaccinations should be mandatory, people that disagree with them should be censored; lockdowns should be ordered, etc.) to nations all over the world.

 

The government of Antichrist will be a worldwide dictatorship, and it is developing now.

 

It may even be more developed than most people realize because it doesn’t appear that Biden is in charge at the White House, and someone has made Covid a global issue.

 

On July 30, 2021, Bloomberg reported that “More than 4.06 billion doses have been administered across 180 countries…. The latest rate was roughly 39.7 million doses a day.”

 

Below is more information about Covid than this writer likes to put in one article, especially with everything else that is happening, but this idea that Covid is being used to establish a global medical dictatorship needs to be explored.

 

Just know that Jesus will eventually throw a big monkey wrench into the plans of this global medical dictatorship (no one knows the day or the hour), and ultimately, we will win.

 

One, concerning open borders or a borderless world: on July 28, 2021, it was reported that Catholic Charities had booked all the rooms at a hotel in La Joya, TX, the U.S. Border Patrol was releasing immigrant families to Catholic Charities, 20-30 Covid-infected people were staying at the hotel, and infected individuals were then being moved to other hotels in the McAllen, TX area.

 

It appears that Catholic Charities and the Biden administration’s Border Patrol are knowingly and deliberately spreading Covid while Biden (under the influence of the shadow government) is blaming the unvaccinated for spreading Covid and talking about forcing unvaccinated U.S. citizens to get vaccinated.

 

It looks like the shadow government is creating an excuse to have another lockdown and try to control everyone.

 

Update: Earlier in the week, TX Gov. Abbott signed an Executive Order to stop the Biden Administration from transporting illegal aliens (many infected with Covid) into and through TX. But on July 30, 2021, Biden’s Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland said it is “dangerous and unlawful” for Abbott to stop the federal government from bussing illegal aliens into the U.S.

 

If this is not knowingly and deliberately spreading Covid, what is it?

 

Update: On Aug. 2, 2021, Bill Melugin, Fox News Correspondent in Los Angeles, wrote, “All morning long, we’ve watched Border Patrol drop off multiple busloads of migrants at a Catholic charity in downtown McAllen, where they are given food & shelter before they take buses and flights across the United States. Buses arriving every 30 minutes so far.”

 

Update: On Aug. 4, 2021, Fox News Commentator Lawrence Jones said, “Every hour of every single day, buses leave the border taking people with Covid to other parts of the country.”

 

Writer’s comment: Unvaccinated people are not to blame for this, and it is partly why the U.S. may have to go into another lockdown; more people will lose their jobs, businesses, etc.; inflation will soar; the U.S. economy will worsen, etc.; and the real goal is to scare people into accepting a godless one-world government.

 

Two, concerning deceit: on July 28, 2021, people in the halls of the House of Representatives were required to wear masks, but people in the halls of the Senate (same building) were not required to wear masks.

 

Why does the government and CDC tell people to follow the science when members of the House are required to wear masks and members of the Senate are not required to wear masks?

 

Does the science that our government wants people to follow change depending upon where people are in the halls of Congress?

 

Three, concerning the shadow government’s desire to reduce the population of planet Earth: it is difficult to know the truth, but on July 28, 2021, it was reported that the Director of an Alex Jones video said (as this writer understands it), one’s immunity system is reduced after the second jab of a Covid-19 vaccination; every jab after that will reduce the vaccinated person’s immunity system even more; continuous vaccinations will eventually reduce one’s immunity system to zero; eventually the vaccinated person will require a jab for every new illness that comes around because they won’t have a natural immune system to work against it, and they cannot survive if they don’t get it.

 

According to an article by Brandon Smith on July 29, 2021, globalists and their puppet governments are desperate to get everyone vaccinated because they are gaining great social and political power by pushing it.

 

This writer will add that they plan on the government owning everything and them taking over the government.

 

Four, on July 29, 2021, it was reported that the Center for Disease Control claim that vaccinated people are immune to Covid is false because the CDC is now telling vaccinated people they need to wear a mask. (If getting vaccinated makes a person immune, why should they be required to wear a mask? Will the vaccinated person eventually need to take a Mark to distinguish them from the unvaccinated?)

 

By the way, this writer may be wrong, but he seems to remember that one purpose of social distancing was that masks are not 100% effective.

 

Update: On Aug. 2, 2021, Yahoo News reported that fully vaccinated people that get the Covid Delta Variant are just as likely to spread it as unvaccinated people.

 

Five, on July 29, 2021, it was reported that the California counties that claim to have the highest percent of vaccinated people now have the highest Delta infection rates (Why should people get vaccinated for Delta if it is going to increase their chance of getting it?).

 

Update: On Aug. 1, 2021, naturalnews.com reported that Israel may have the highest percent of vaccinated citizens in the world (people are required to be vaccinated if they want to buy and sell), but as much as 90% of all new infections are people that have already been vaccinated.

 

Six, on July 29, 2021, The Gateway Pundit posted an article by author and radio host Wayne Allyn Root that makes the following points (I am quoting him):

 

• I personally have vaccinated friends that have gotten Covid.
• New York Yankees players who were vaccinated have Covid.
• An NFL Coach who was vaccinated has Covid.
• Olympic athletes who were vaccinated have Covid.
• Texas Democrats who were vaccinated have Covid.
• In Israel, the government admits a majority of new Covid cases are among the vaccinated.
• In UK, the government admits a large share of new Covid cases and hospitalizations are vaccinated.

 

Root gives several more examples (but you get the idea), and then he goes on to say, “America is being destroyed from within. Bad and evil people are in charge…. I know one thing for sure. Unvaccinated Americans aren’t to blame.”

 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/wayne-root-know-exactly-blame-new-wave-covid-not-unvaccinated-americans/

 

Update: On Aug. 2, 2021, Sen. Lindsey Graham announced that he has tested positive for Covid even though he has been fully vaccinated.

 

Writer’s comment: Booster shots are needed because the vaccinations are failing.

 

Seven, on July 30, 2021, it was reported that Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the Covid vaccines are failing to control the Delta variant and vaccinated people may be more contagious than unvaccinated people. (Really! Vaccinated people are more likely to spread Delta than unvaccinated people?)

 

• On July 30, 2021, White House correspondent William Koenig reported, “The vaccines are not working—in fact, they are making things worse. The White House and the CDC are alarmed that many of the new coronavirus cases are with those vaccinated.” (Koenig’s Eye View from the White House)
• Koenig said, “Dr. Peter McCullough told on Fox’s Laura Ingraham Thursday night of a recent wedding in Houston that had 35 guests. All were vaccinated, and all came down with COVID…. would it be possible that the vaccinated need to be put into quarantine to protect the non-vaccinated?”
• On Aug. 2, 2021, Pam Geller reported that as of June 1, 2021, 99% of Gibraltar’s estimated 34,000 residents had been fully vaccinated, but Covid has now exploded on the peninsula; and 90% of Iceland’s estimated 369,000 residents have been fully vaccinated (98% of those over 70), but Covid is surging.
• On Aug. 2, 2021, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admitted that 74% of the people that were infected in a recent Delta Variant outbreak in Massachusetts were people that had already been fully vaccinated.

 

Eight, on July 29, 2021, it was reported that the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) came out against forced vaccinations.

 

The AAPS said, “all human beings have the right to liberty, which they do not forfeit when they serve the sick or the disabled.”

 

They said “experimental drugs” (the vaccines are experimental) cannot be coerced according to federal law.

 

Nine, concerning the Battle of Gog and Magog: on July 30, 2021, an Iranian drone struck and an Israeli oil tanker. Defense Min. Benny Gantz called an emergency meeting and announced that Israel will make an “appropriate response.”

 

Updates:

 

• On Aug. 1, 2021, the U.S., UK, and Russia gave Israel the “green light” to retaliate against Iranian targets. Iran said it will “respond promptly and strongly to any misadventure.”
• On Aug. 3, 2021, it was reported that Iran or Iranian proxies seized 5 civilian vessels (4 are oil tankers) near the UAE coast.

 

Ten, concerning wickedness and deceit: in late July, it was reported that:

 

• Audits of the 2020 election may move forward in Wisconsin and 5 counties in Florida.
• The Biden Justice Dept. warned state and local officials that it is “concerned” about the legality of some audit procedures.
• Twitter suspended several accounts that have been reporting on audits in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
• Auditors in Arizona testified that there were widespread irregularities in more than 2 million ballots that were cast in Arizona.
• A joint meeting of the Arizona house and senate can legally decertify the Arizona election, and they may eventually do that.

 

Eleven, concerning the decline of the U.S.: on July 27, 2021, former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo said, “Collapse from within is possible.”

 

Pompeo added, “Immigration without assimilation, illicit drugs, human trafficking, disputed elections, inflationary risks have become the tools to disassemble our republic in what must surely be an attempt at national suicide.”

 

It sounds like Pompeo believes people are deliberately attempting to bring down the U.S. (This writer believes the Deep State may be trying to cause the U.S. to commit national suicide, but the economic collapse will be after the Rapture.)

 

Twelve, concerning a departure from the faith and a falling away in the Church: on July 26, 2021, it was reported that Facebook is planning to use future church lockdowns to increase its number of users.

 

Adding services could be a good thing, but Facebook censors services that go against “their Community Standards,” and it is dangerous to have people that support abortion, gay marriage, world government, world religion, etc., deciding what can and cannot be streamed on Facebook.

 

Perhaps, this is one reason why Paul said, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb.10:25).

 

God wants the whole world to hear the preaching of the Word, but He wants it to be the whole Word, not a filtered, censored, or politically correct message.

 

Thirteen, in the Bible, the Greek word translated “sorrows” means travail, labor pains, birth pains, etc.

 

Birth pains increase in frequency and intensity as the birth of a child nears.

 

When Eve sinned, God put a curse on her; “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow (labor pains) and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children” (Gen. 3:16).

 

Jesus said false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes are “the beginning of sorrows” (beginning of the birth pains or Tribulation Period; Matt. 24:8).

 

Paul said, “For when they say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child” (Like birth pains; I Thess. 5:3).

 

Many prophecy teachers believe natural disasters will increase in frequency and intensity as the Second Coming nears.

 

On July 31, 2021, it was reported that Prof. Petteri Taalas, the Sec. Gen. of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said, “Weather, climate and water-related hazards are increasing in frequency and intensity as a result of climate change.”

 

How significant is it that the Bible teaches that natural disasters will increase in frequency and intensity at the end of the age, and the head of the WMO said disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity?

 

Fourteen, concerning the Mark of the Beast: there was a time when some prophecy teachers said one’s Social Security Number, Medical ID Number, etc., is the Mark.

 

Wrong, the Mark of the Beast is not everyone having a different number; it is everyone having the name, number or Mark of the Antichrist (Rev. 13:17).

 

On July 20, 2021, it was reported that cybersecurity expert Karen Roby said vaccine passports have to be consistent so that all countries can recognize them.

 

A common global vaccine passport may evolve into a common global mark in the right hand or forehead, and godless globalists that don’t believe or understand the Bible wouldn’t hesitate to push it.

 

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

 

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

 

duck_daymond@yahoo.com

LIBERTY VS. JUSTICE

 

By Pastor Mike Taylor

" And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."( Matthew 24:12-13)



Our world has been invaded by blatant evil once again. The news is filled with the Corona Virus that spread from China to all over the world. Many believe that it was used as a bio-weapon to push this world closer to a One World Government.

Then we read about how this Ebola virus has spread over all Western Africa and has threatened to become a pandemic over the entire world. Lately, this “mutated” disease has come to America’s shore and the citizens were worried. Now I’m not into conspiracy theories, but it is being reported that this new form of Ebola is not a natural occurring phenomenon, but a man-made,( in the laboratory), form of a biological weapon and tested on the unsuspecting African people. Just similar in the exposure of the world to the Covid 19 and the disastrous vaccine that has killed many people soon after taking the “jab”.


That experiment has gone awry and it has spread exponentially and mistakenly brought to the USA. Or was it a mistake? Then a reported hastily made vaccine that could kill more people than it will protect. The only thing that stands in the way of a one world government and a one world religion is the citizens of the USA and their guns, which comprise what is left of freedom in this world and the policing with military might of despotic rulers that wish to rule the world. What an evil thought, if it be true, that someone would use a deadly disease or a vaccine to bring panic, death, and martial law to the only obstacle in their path for complete rule over the earth. I wonder with just these two instances of the diabolical intent of someone in a leadership position to impose their will on the population of the USA, and the world. 


It has been reported and I’m not saying it’s true, but we’ll keep ours eyes and ears open to any possibility of an attack or treason on the American people.  However, I would not be surprised if this were true, as I remember the stories of syphilis being introduced into the black population of the USA, just to see what it’s effects would be on this minority community. Many untold black men and women died as a result. Or how about the military using our own soldiers to test the effect of radiation during the development of the atomic bomb in the Marshal Islands, and in New Mexico? Again, unsuspecting guinea pigs called our soldiers were exposed to deadly radiation and died as a result. Would our government do such a thing? In times past, they have done the aforementioned atrocities to their fellow men, in the name of science and military warfare. Would someone in a position of authority or a group of elites also release Covid 19 on the citizens of the USA to further their plans on world domination? History tells us, there are men that would do such a horrible deed at the expense of millions dying from it’s release into our environment. How can such evil exist you may wonder?

 RACIAL HATRED BREEDS DEATH

Then we, historically had racial tensions in my home state of Missouri where two black teenagers at different times were shot during a commission of a crime. One during an assault on a police officer in uniform, and the other during a burglary robbery where the perpetrator shot at an off duty policeman doing private security work and was subsequently shot numerous times during the fire fight. Now the community is all fired up over police brutality. And it got to fever pitch on the death of George Floyd and BLM have risen along with Antifa to attempt to destroy America. They speak of justice for the black community, and called it police brutality and evil, but the men would not have been part of being shot, if they had followed the law or not put up resistance, now would they? Both the acts are evil, if the police overstepped their bounds in enforcing the law or lets say, the two teens who were committing crimes against law enforcement during the commission of a crime. Their acts would be deemed evil. It seems to me, that the world as we know it, is falling apart. There is no social right or wrong, just the evil expressed by evil men with only one thing in mind….power over other men.


I have heard the outrage, the expressed horror of people of this nation in national news coverage of death over Covid 19 or in Missouri over police actions, and on the internet over this Ebola scare or the death of George Floyd by police that rail out in raw emotions asking why when they ask, “why would a God, if there be one, allow this type of evil in our world?". Could not God have intervened and stopped these senseless acts? This further re-enforces their own preconceived notions that there is no God. Instead of looking inward, they express rage outward at the Creator. They want gun control, they want safety at the expense of their God given freedoms, or they want the government to take care of them? They want the 2nd amendment abolished or hack away at our Constitutional rights from a culpable media using scare tactics to further the one world agenda. They want to defund the police, even as crime spirals out of control. They want, they want, they want, but will never find the answer in themselves. To their question, why does God allow evil? It is in one word.....LIBERTY.  From the beginning, when God made man, He made him a being of free moral choice.

LIBERTY VS. JUSTICE

To accomplish this, God gave men free moral agency to enable us to choose to follow His way and assist in the development of His image in us, since we cannot be in His image unless we voluntarily choose to do so. Then the character is truly ours, as well as being truly His, because it is inscribed in us as a result of what we have believed and experienced. Humans have not changed for over 6000 years since the bible was being written down by men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit. It was the same in the day Joshua took the nation of Israel into the Promised Land that he admonished them: Joshua,

14 “ Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
15  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”(emphasis mine) (Joshua 24:14-15)

To start, it is necessary to understand from the beginning of creation, which extends to even the angels , man was given choice. God is not a dictatorial tyrant, but a loving God that gave man all the tools to be successful and told him how to use these tools to insure prosperity both in the natural and spiritual.  After giving the introduction to how God operates then answer a question with a question, “do you like your every move being dictated by another person or do you put a high premium on an individual having the freedom to make decisions for him/herself”?  Of course not, you rebel at the very suggestion and so it is from creation God knew this and that is why he created man giving him choice. It comes down to one simple concept....Liberty.


To not have liberty to choose, then man is not really free. God in His loving kindness has given mankind the tools to make proper choices based on God's way, even the laws that He laid down from creating this universe, this world, and the very first man. God gave Adam the free moral agency to choose to follow God's example and follow Him, or to follow another god. God wants each of us to choose Him above all other influences in this world. What are those other influences outside of God? Yes, Satan, the devil. Satan has used the fallen state of man, when he tempted our first parents with transgressing the commandment of Almighty God. Satan knows that if he can just divide our loyalties between following God and following our own lusts, he can destroy man.

FROM ANCIENT TO OUR MODERN WORLD


Fast forward from ancient times to a fledging country formed out of rebellion against tyranny. A nation formed out of man's desire to choose his own destiny, but in direct submission to the Laws of God. The young United States of America was formed based on a solid Rock foundation that was laid as a corner stone to form this nation. The Rock was the Ten Commandments and the Judeo-Christian belief in the only God found in their bible. What better choice, but to form a nation based on clear instructions founded in God's Holy Word?


From those humble beginnings, God blessed this nation like no other in all of recorded human history. We had our ups and downs, to include our wars fought in the name of liberty and freedom to choose.

Liberty founded in man's right to choose good or evil was what we were fighting for in our own Civil War and two major wars in this last century. From those fields of battle, the United States has become the most powerful force on earth by God's own blessings on a people who, as a majority, put their trust in the God of our Fathers.


A NATION ADRIFT


Our national ship of state has taken a different path in the last 50 years. We have charted a different course other than what we followed in it's previous 150 years. I propose that our nation began it's demise starting in 1960s when a loud and obnoxious atheist by the name of Madelyn O'Hare brought suit against allowing prayer in public schools. Our own Supreme Court went against the clear historical underpinnings of what this country was built upon. It violated the first Amendment to the Constitution by subverting the intent of it's language. “Congress cannot make a law that favors the establishment of one particular religion; that prohibits the free exercise of religion; or that restricts freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to gather and engage in peaceful demonstrations and to petition the government for redress of their grievances. “ We were given the free moral choice by God to express our freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.


Why was the Supreme Court allowed to change the meaning of the law clearly expressed from our founding fathers? Liberty is the answer. Why did the nation accept this intrusion into our God given rights? Liberty is again, the answer.


From there, it has been a slippery slope for the America that we had known. Children born into this country were brought up devoid of a knowledge of right and wrong. They didn't need God, as humans could take care of themselves. I got an email from a reader that had an interesting quote put on a T-shirt, and it is so true. The shirt was a question from a student to God. “God why do you allow our children to be killed in our schools? signed student......I'M NOT ALLOWED IN SCHOOL. signed God” Is that not the truth? We kicked God out of our schools and not allowing our little impressionable children to be taught the existence of God, to be allowed to pray for His blessings, or to bring them to a knowledge of good vs. evil. Instead we have replaced it with paganism in the form of evolution theory, humanism, and liberalism.

From that deplorable beginning forced on us by a pagan, we progressed even further down into the pit. In 1973, the Supreme Court in all it's “divine” wisdom decided Roe v. Wade in favor of legalized abortion on demand. Why was this allowed?...Liberty! We chose evil over good in direct conflict with the Laws of God. “Thou shalt not murder”. We have murdered a whole generation of the unborn. How dare we complain that we don’t have enough people working to fund Social Security as we have killed a whole generation of American tax payers. We murdered children in and out of the womb and have enforced this slaughter and God allowed it...why? Liberty! Another culture had the same problem of poor choices of liberty, as we have experienced found in Jeremiah,

5  “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
6  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.” (Jeremiah 19:5-6)

These people were allowed to destroy their children, their sons, and their daughters in a fiery altar in worship to a pagan god, Molech and we have done likewise to the god of self, humanism. Why was this so? Liberty!

LIBERTY REQUIRES JUSTICE

But God has a limit to His Holy patience. He gives men the right to choose, but there comes a time, that liberty produces another product of that liberty....JUSTICE!! Without liberty there is no justice. To make good choices based on God's law and His commandments produces blessings, but to do evil in the sight of God according to His giving men the right to liberty, there comes a time when justice will be enacted. It is sure as the sun will shine tomorrow. My friend, justice is coming.



 AMERICA IN PROPHECY

Isaiah prophecied of a people in the end of days that would rise to power, but fall by the sword. It speaks of God's coming judgment on this nation found in your bible. Many say that the United States is not mentioned in the bible, but oh, yes, I think it is. It's not mentioned by name, but by it's symptoms of lawlessness.

"Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!" (Isaiah 18:1, 2)

  

 The nation described in this text is in dire difficulty with God because the opening word is judgmental. God says, “Woe,” and the term always connotes judgment. I believe it speaks of America, (as I include this quote from another minister),  because of the following reasons:

“1. This nation has the insignia of wings. Similar to our national emblem, the bald eagle, with extended wings could be this insignia.  People in other parts of the world recognize the symbol of America.  I list more reasons  that are only a small sampling of the descriptions given us in the bible that distinctly describes the U.S. from any other nation in the end time.

2. This nation is a land beyond the sea. Israel is always the focal point in Bible prophecy. So the message of warning is directed to a far country beyond Ethiopia and across the sea from Israel. This designation eliminates Europe, Asia, and Africa. It eliminates Iraq where Babylon was because it is not across the sea from Israel.  Instead it is directed to a nation with outstretched wings across the sea from Israel and America qualifies.

3. This nation is scattered and peeled. Scattered here means to be widely spread out or having great land areas.

4. This nation is measured. This accurately describes the U.S. with its counties, cities, and states. The next time you fly across America by air notice the staked out acres tens of thousands of miles completely measured and marked.

5. This nation is a land whose rivers are spoiled. Ecological experts vouch that this significant prophecy has occurred in our waterways. Isaiah simply tells us that dreadful judgment will come upon a nation with outstretched wings, beyond the seas of Israel; a nation with vast measured land areas and polluted waters. Water tables and aquifers are polluted with drugs and chemical waste as recent news story points out.

So you can see from this prophecy judgment is pending with the word “woe” being used and no other nation in the end time meets this description. We are a nation that has rejected God and what is happening in our country we brought on ourselves. God gave us choices and we made that choice so we must live with the consequences of those decisions.” David Lamon, Why God Allows Evil. )

Woe to the land who calls evil good, and good evil.

  “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! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”( Isaiah 5:20-21)

Woe to them who embrace clear instructions of the Laws of God, especially when it comes to human sexuality.

 “ Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

1:26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

1:27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”( Romans 1:24-28)

The world is rampant with homosexuality and no place is more prevalent than in the USA, the cradle of Judeo-Christian belief in modern history. Why is this so? Again, it's Liberty. Young men and women have grown up devoid of the need for God. They have not been taught for generations the ways of the Lord. Their parents, their grandparents have been liberal thinkers. They don't need God, and their children were not taught so they grew up not needing God, and believing such lies.

I have met men and women who in themselves, are good people in all moral aspects, save one. They profess that they are gay and are proud of it. They believe God will not judge them as evil, because they do so much other good for children, or other people. But these same people adopt children to teach them their perverted lifestyle and our courts allow it by law.

They ignore the clear message noted above. They feel God will ignore this one indescretion. Will God ignore this sin? No, or God would be a liar and we know He cannot lie. He would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomarrah if He did so. Why have they chosen to go against the laws of God clearly stated? Liberty! God has given them over to their own selfish lusts and blinded them to the truth of His Word. Why? Because they have believed the lie of humanism and believe they are just as righteous as the next person. God turned them over to a reprobate mind to believe such lawlessness. Woe to a land who embraces such sinfulness, as we have.

Woe to this land who from the beginning was endowed by our Creator with “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Woe to a nation who forgets their Benefactor, the source of life, their strength, and their national resolve to follow Him. For fifty eight years since 1963, the USA has wallowed in the mire of its own self interest devoid of accountability to the One who made us great......Almighty God, in whom we said “In God We Trust.” We were given so much, but those given so much, much is required.

 Luke 12:4 “for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” 

 Exodus 34:14 “for thou shalt worship no other god (that includes you and me): for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

 We have substituted the love of money and love of self over the love of God.

GUARANTEED DESTRUCTION COMING TO THE USA

Woe to a nation who stands against the apple of His eye and wishes to divide His land. In the past, the USA has been a strong supporter of the nation of Israel. From it's inception, the USA has been at Israel's side. Troubling policies have come lately of this present administration, and previous presidents who desired to divide Israel and it's captial, Jerusalem. My belief, it was the only thing saving us from certain judgment was being on Israel's side, but no more. God has been patient and God has given us warning signs after warning signs of His desire for us to come back to Him. Just as He did other ancient people who were called to follow His laws, and abide by His Word.

 WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAST 58 YEARS?

I remember when President Reagan was in office and at his farewell address, he mentioned that America was that “shining city set on a hill” which beckoned to all the world as a source of goodness and freedom to others who yearned for that freedom. But no more can America say they are a source that others in the world look to for leadership, goodness, and freedom grounded in a belief in the moral standards found in our bibles. No, America has replaced the God of the bible with pornagraphy, hedonism, paganism, abortion, sexual perversion of every sort including adultery, homosexuality, and prostitution and most everything that is Anti-God. We have abandoned the pillars of our country that it was founded upon and replaced God as our protector and guardian with a worship of the self, humanism. We are all about pleasure of the self in anyway that our twisted minds have envisioned and feel is right in our own mind. 

 Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

Not to be insensitive to what happened in St. Louis and Fergason, Missouri, but there is a true explanation for what is taking place not just in Missouri, not to mention all the shootings we have had in recent years in various schools,  but all over the country with the current leadership we have.  I realize in American society with Democrat liberals being in charge of our public schools and universities our children have been indoctrinated to only makes them feel good about themselves.  They call it self-esteem but in the process have redefined it away from it original meaning.  They teach it is a right not an earned trait one acquires through trial and error or working for it. 

 There is no right and wrong and it is whatever they think it is.  In other words, they are taught not to accept responsibility for themselves but blame it on something or someone else. This is a huge root cause of the problems in American society.  Now we have a generation of parents (black, white and all races found in the USA)  that have grown up and have children of their own but this teaching still resonates within their very being.

Whose fault is that? Of course, it begins at home with the parents. But where do parents learn it from, their churches? Men and women who even bother to go to church, entrust their salvation to the preacher/priest, to a man to tell them how to live their life. They don't take the time to read God's Word for themselves. They don't know what scripture says about their choices in this life, and the liberalism of the Emergent Church that teach ”Prosperity Gospel” and has dumbed down the masses with a watered down version of the Gospel. They don't preach the unadulterated Word of God. No, they preach a “feel good” gospel of man. These churches entertain, they reach out for more money and they send their congregations home without clear Bible believing values to instill to their kids.

Never mind those that don't even believe in God who wouldn't darkend the door of any church to find God, but those inside are clothed with their own self righteousness and haven't a clue what righteous living is all about. Paul mentioned this in Philippians 2:12 to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."  Each of us are responsible to God for our own salvation. And since we don't know how to obtain the righteousness imparted by God, then how can we teach it to our kids?


LIBERTY TO CHOOSE LIFE OVER DEATH

You reading this sermon, I pray I have hit a cord of recognition in your mind and in your heart. Can this nation continue like we have for the last 58 years? I think you know the answer to that one, if you're honest with yourself, then no, we cannnot.  This nation needs a revival found in the Word of God. It is sorely needed, but has the judgment of God already begun? Look at the heat wave in SW America, or the dryness from no rain, wild fires out of control burning everything in it's path, including people's homes, or the sand storms and the lawlessness that abounds. The bible says that with this God given liberty to do good or evil, comes justice. God is and will enact judgment and justice upon this land spreading to all the world. How soon? By the clouds of impending doom, the signs point to the near future. I propose that it has already started as our children have grown lawless and become mentally unstable to even consider doing such an act as school shootings in the past.

Suicide, as it's been reported, is the number one killer of the young adults 18-30 years old, surpassing trauma of accidents unintentional, to suicides of hopelessness found in our youth. This statistic should make you stand up and say, why? Because of liberty and the right to choose evil over good. It does not have to be so, if we would have chosen wisely and followed our heritage of a God fearing nation. But it comes down to the individual, and by extention to other men who are given the correct choices for a life well lived. In the end, it comes down to YOU. Yes, you that are reading these words. You have the liberty to choose. What is your answer? Will you choose evil or good? To choose evil, just continue being a sinful human being with sin inbred in you from birth. It doesn't take any effort on your part to become evil. Men, by nature are evil. Jeremiah,

9  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”(Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Man is instilled with the nature to do evil, who can know it? Meaning who can understand why men do evil? God knows the reason. He will try each man and will know what he is made of. You see, God knew all along that men would give into the evil nature. They couldn't help themselves. They were born to sin. This sin separates them from the only Hope they have for living a fruitful life here in the present, and living for all eternity in the presence of the One who only wishes to love them. What separates them from God? Sin and evil done because of liberty to choose. Men have tried to be good in their moral character. Upright in their thinking and believing they can save themselves, if they can just be good enough. If you think that, then you have the liberty to be deceived.


But God had a plan to reclaim what Satan has stolen. In the Garden of Eden, Satan won out over man rebelling against the Laws of God, for a time. God knew that men would NEVER be good enough on their own to enter back into a relationship with Him. But how could God get rid of the sin that permeates all of us?

God in His matchless wisdom knew that it would take a perfect sacrifice to satisfy what men had done in liberty to sin. It would require payment for that sin, in justice. Remember, the payment for sin requires justice. To accomplish this, as no mortal man could redeem himself, God knew that He would have to become a human being, clothed in mortal flesh and become that sacrifice in justice to reclaim what had been lost.

7  “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”(Romans 5:7-10)

That was God's plan. He sent His only Begotten Son, which was God in the flesh to become a servant like unto His brethren. John speaks of Him in John chapter 1:

1  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2  The same was in the beginning with God.
3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”(John 1:1-5)

God's plan was to perform a blood sacrifice that would satisfy the payment for sin done in liberty, with justice. To make a choice to understand, to believe that God did send His only begotten Son to die for our sins, your sins, my sins is the epitomy of LIBERTY. He doesn't want your devotion because He forced you to do so. He wants your love and devotion because you chose to do so.

Can you work good enough to earn this salvation? No, nothing you can do can make it right. It's not of anything done as requirement of mankind's strength and ability, but an act of Grace and mercy given as a free gift by God to a sinful, mortal individual rotten to the core with a mark of death upon it's soul. God made is so simple, many miss this act of faith:

9  “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”(Romans 10:9-11)

We have the liberty to choose. We can choose evil, which is easy. Or we can realize that we are completely lost and unable to save ourselves. We can humble ourselves and present ourselves before a Holy God and accept, by faith, God's provision of His only Son as the substitution of what we deserved for our liberty to commit sin...which is death. Hebrews,

12  “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”(emphasis mine) (Hebrews 3:12-15)

Jesus said that “no man cometh to me, unless the Holy Spirit draws Him, and I will raise Him up in the last day”. John 6:44.

We must understand that we cannot do anything good enough to save our miserable hides. It is not in us, and it is not our nature. But God sends His Holy Spirit to each of us who will listen. He won't bang you over the head, but He will speak to you in a “still small voice”. That is God putting into the spirit within you that He wants you to come home. Come home to the God, the Only God who loves you. The God who made you.

God allows evil because of liberty and if there wasn’t anything but His own way imposed on us what profit would there be for Him or what glory could He receive but only in and of Himself, nothing genuine.  No, God doesn’t want robots to love Him but he put a heart and mind within us with the ability to freely serve and love Him if we so choose with all of that heart and that is the only way He would have any of us.  He is the eternal God and creator and as for us…

 James 4:14: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

This life is fleeting. Evil is all around you, drowning each of us if we allow it to do so. Take that God given liberty and choose today life over death. Accept the payment for sin in the God/man Jesus Christ while the invitation is open. It could close without warning.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoevery believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life”. (John 3:16)

This is pastor Mike Taylor, praying God's salvation found in Jesus Christ, comes into your life. If you need counseling, prayer, or just a listening ear email me at pastormiketaylor.yahoo.com,

God bless you, till we meet at Jesus Feet.