The Lifted Veil
Prepare yourselves dear friends for this will be the most somber article I've ever written. This may challenge and stretch you. It may make you uncomfortable and your stomach twist, but you need to hear it—if not for yourself, then for those you know who are far from God. I have called upon the LORD to give me the words to say and I have faith He will.
No ears will be tickled with this article, but there is certainly hope for those who believe.
I pray that God will give me His words and that through His words we may all be shaken out of our slumber. I pray that all I'm about to share is grounded in the truth of God's word. I'm going to shoot very straight with you and with myself about the world we live in. There will be no comfort found here unless you are personally persuaded that Christ rose from the dead and is coming again.
The Christian life is something of an enigma. On the one hand, it's ecstatic joy mingled with great expectation and the constant expectancy that we will soon see and experience, face to face, the promises we believed by faith when we first accepted God's gift. The Bible's vivid descriptions of God's unveiled glory and the grandeur of Heaven stir our hearts and fill us with extreme longing. To be surrounded by ineffable light, clothed in immortality, and perfected forever in the presence of God is far too much for words. To finally cease from all anxiety and all the tribulations of life, and to no longer have even a single doubt of faith ever again is what we Christians are hoping for. We know, by faith, that this hope will truly come to be. I know where I'm going even though I haven't seen it yet. I will, with my own eyes, behold Christ's glory.
On the other hand, that longing goes unmet day after day and week after week. We toil and pine away in the grind of life. Sicknesses beset us, our beloved family members age, and our loved ones long gone slowly turn to dust. Our minds are littered with the daily news of violence, untimely deaths, and a world far askew of anything resembling biblical morality. Killers and traitors run rampant, babies are torn limb from limb, and our faith is continually mocked. Justice and deliverance never seem to come. And in the midst of this death and decay we lift up a song of praise to God hoping beyond hope that this momentary mountaintop experience will finally become one that doesn't cease. We blink and hope that when our eyelids next roll up we will be beholding God on His throne.
As if this dark world wasn't challenging enough, we seek fellowship with like-minded believers, but often find only people wearing a religious mask. So often they feel unrelatable because they won't share their struggles. They won't tell you who they really are and how they're really doing. From outside appearances they're Jesus Himself, but the word of God they claim to believe in says their righteousness is but a filthy garment. They can't be salve for anyone because they say they've never needed salve themselves. I find the kind of faith they express, to be, to some extent, unreal. But I'll tell you about my faith.
My faith has kept me from the edge of suicide multiple times, helped me endure a broken childhood and adolescence, enabled me to persevere through chronic breathing issues, stomach issues, and clinically-diagnosed childhood trauma, depression, and ADHD. It's conquered struggles of sin and kept me struggling against areas still unconquered. My faith keeps me praying for those whom I love that are far from God, still trapped in chains of darkness.
And this faith, which is not my own, has enabled me, the most unlikely and broken of people, to endure withering attacks and criticisms from people in and outside the Church who mock at God and what His word plainly says. I am one of the shiest and meekest people you might meet yet God has led my path into newspaper and TV interviews, writing to thousands of people, and sharing the gospel with a multitude. I have nothing whatsoever to brag about. Actually, it's downright shocking to me that God would choose to work through someone whose flesh is as corrupted as mine. I'm even more shocked that after I've continually failed Him He still pulls me back to my feet, recommissions me, and tells me: "Go!"
So I go.
And here is the message: if you do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that He died for your sins and rose again you will die in your sins. And for most of those living today, that death will not occur in the present Age of Grace. This is the generation that will witness Christ's visible return to earth and those with faith in Him now will escape years before.
"One more turn." These three words have been heavy on my heart. Soon the earth will have turned on its axis one last time before everything changes. One last sunrise. One last night. And then there will be no going back. No more days of blissful ignorance. No more moments to ignore God. All who are left will be forced to deal head on with the Bible's claims and the reality of a world where everyone is their own god. You have never known darkness and terror like this.
Most people close their ears to bad news. Even most of those who call upon the Name of Christ. No one wants to hear the cynic. And when a warning is given, the alarm goes unheeded. Even worse, the spiritual warnings that many Christian leaders have given are fundamentally flawed—pushing people toward trust in self instead of trust in the One who is Himself salvation. These warnings leave you disoriented, confused, and hopeless. Not so the warning I'm about to give. There is great hope and a clear solution for yourself and those you love, but we must first see the darkness of our present reality in order that the light of hope is magnified. Reality is far darker than we can imagine, but the light is infinitely brighter. It is already piercing the darkness and is about to pierce it through to death. The darkness will flee at the light.
That is the message of modern Therapeutic Moral Deism (aka modern progressive Christianity). It's also the message of the world. The world is hungering for spiritual truth. People long for good to win. It's just that what they think is good isn't good. Do you want the truth if it means pain now? Or do you want falsehood if it means comfort now and much worse pain later? The world is full of Esaus who'll lose everything for a bowl of stew.
The world as we know it will end in fire. You have friends, family, and coworkers who will be tormented in the Great Tribulation and dissolved in the fire of God's wrath in Gehenna. Some won't repent (e.g., convert) now to escape, but will repent later after the Church has been removed. The post-rapture repentant will be starved to death, slayed by swords, and beheaded. They will be saved by faith as we are, but their physical torment will be much greater.
But the unrepentant, just as they are doing today, will chase their own illusions as long as they still breathe. Even after the veil begins to lift and millions are taken straight to the Throne Room of God, they will still seek each and every excuse to believe it was caused by something—anything—other than the single most plausible explanation: an all-powerful, self-existent God doing exactly what He promised to do in His word. Aliens or the Large Hadron Collider—even judgment on the disappeared—will all be offered as possibilities. Their excuses will reveal peoples' two deepest intentions, which are to keep themselves from acknowledging that 1. God is in control and they are not, and 2. their sins demand justice.
As Christians we do have moments of joy. We do laugh and sing. But overall, we are broken and repentant over the darkness in the world and the darkness still present within—in our flesh. We long to be free of this world (which is passing away) and from these bodies of sin and death.
Occupy until He comes, yes, absolutely. But that should only ever be secondary to looking up. And "occupy" doesn't mean stay busy about your pleasures and plans. It means be busy about God's business. Overall, this is not the time for pleasure and greatest rejoicing, yet so many Christians think that it is. They're wrong. Dead wrong. This is the time for spiritual sobriety, lamentation, and putting on one's sackcloth (whatever that might be). This is the time to be using every means possible to tell someone the message of good news that we preach. Tell someone by word-of-mouth, social media, letter, radio, or some other way, but tell someone. Consider the lost and rend your hearts and not your garments for their sake. Those around you are perishing.
As Ecclesiastes tells us, there is a time for everything under Heaven: "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..." I do have moments of joy now, great joy in fact, but now is my time to weep and mourn. I'll be laughing and dancing in Heaven.
Everyone wants everything their heart desires now (and I'm no different), but it just doesn't work that way. I can't emphasize this enough: Heaven is the very best. You can't have everything you want, but you can have everything God promises, which, while you can't understand or feel it now, are things so much more pleasurable and desirable than whatever it is you think you want from this dark world. Trust God. Consider your aching and longing heart. Don't hide from reality. Things are not yet the way they should be. You'll run yourself ragged, never filling up to satisfaction, if you aim for earth. Aim for Heaven, though, and you will experience joy in Heaven for which God-breathed Scripture says is incomprehensible and will make you to never be hungry again.
This world isn't Hades, but it isn't much better either. We do still catch small glimpses of God's glory. His light still shines through as if through pinholes in a curtain, but since the time Satan swindled our first parents out of their dominion of earth, a spiritual veil has covered our reality. We can't see beyond it. Metaphysics is gathering evidence that we live in a 10, 11, or 26-dimensional universe, but our present experience is limited to only height, width, depth, and time.
Something terrible happened approximately 6,000 years ago to break off our access to the whole—and so we lost face-to-face access to God. Heaven now seems so far away. What seems "real" and ever-present is this dim and gritty "natural" world. But it's now so much less than what it was. This is a world in darkness:
Multitudes of children are slain in the womb, grocery shoppers are mowed down by gunfire, wicked hypocrites control the reins of power, and most have to toil for their bread. The faithful are mocked, maligned, and persecuted, and the filthy seem only to gather more and more. Children are bullied and molested, women are raped, and men are shamed for being men. Rarely does right win.
Many die young. Most toil through school and career, saving up only to have material blessing while aged and decrepit. Cancer, heart disease, war, and death. Loved ones lost, friends abandoning. This isn't cherry-picking the bad, this is pointing out what all will experience at some point in this life. This dark world is not where one should find their Heaven. If this is your Heaven then it's the only Heaven you'll ever know, but if this is your hell then it's the only hell you'll ever experience. Choose wisely. The choice is easy. The cost was paid for by God Himself. Adam and Eve got us into this mess by one bad choice, and you can get out by one right choice.
Mockers who routinely question biblical morality often point to the Global Flood as evidence of God's apparent lack of righteousness. How could God indiscriminately kill everyone on the planet? The answer is actually very simple: they were not God's children because they did not believe in Him. They were violent, evil trespassers who had invaded a place that God Himself created exclusively for His children. They were the ones actually doing the indiscriminate killing, and even worse—persecuting and killing the righteous. The righteous are those who believe in God and are thus His children. Contrary to the opinion of the wolf of Rome, not everyone is God's child. The Bible could not be more clear on this point. The children of God are those who have faith in Him and thus have His Holy Spirit. It's as Paul wrote to the Romans: "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God."
We learn from the Genesis account of the Flood that the hearts of the people whom God destroyed were "continually evil" (Gen. 6:5) and the earth had become corrupt and was "filled with violence" because of them (Gen. 6:11). These thieves had broken into God's house. They had broken down the door to pillage, plunder, rape, and destroy. They were guilty and deserving of death and God was fully within His rights to do what He did. In fact, He was proven righteous, because He did not let the guilty go unpunished. He also delivered the righteous (Noah), rescuing him and his family from the destruction down below. He was carried away to safety in a wooden vessel, entering into it through a door. In our day and age the wooden vessel is the Cross, to which believers cling for forgiveness, and the door is Christ through whom we have access to our Father in Heaven (Jn. 10:9; Rev. 4:1).
We are not told in the Bible how many were killed in the Flood. It might have been a billion or more. Apocryphal sources put it much lower, suggesting there may have been less than one million humans alive at the time for whatever reason (violence? abortion? the Nephilim?). Either way, we can only guess.
But here's something we can know: the very people who scoff at God for His righteous act of judgment are actively defending an equally destructive global cataclysm of their own doing that has no justification whatsoever. It's called abortion. The violent murder of billions of innocent babies through poisoning, beheading, dismemberment, and crushing.
Historians say abortion and infanticide have always been around and I don't doubt that, but what is now an unquestionable fact of history is that human depravity in the 20th century via the eugenics movement has increased this by orders of magnitude. What was once an uncommon tragedy has become a routine occurrence, a holocaust that makes the entirety of World War II pale in comparison.
One million are murdered in the U.S. every single year via abortion. 50 million around the world. Over two billion have been slaughtered worldwide since Roe v. Wade in 1973. This massacre may actually exceed the loss of life during the Global Flood. Only, again, it's a loss of innocent life whereas the Flood was sent to destroy guilty, violent, unbelieving intruders.
The capital 'T' Tribulation is yet to come, but believers already persist in their faith in the midst of much trial and tribulation. Whether it be persecution amidst the world's demonic morality or sickness, loss, doubt, and death—we keep going. But the greatest struggle is not with sin outside, but sin still within, in our flesh, and the wolves among us who lurk within our ranks. There are two kinds of wolves in sheep's clothing in our midst: the legalists and the lawless. These are typified in the gospels by Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Pharisees were the proud and self-righteous condemners who worshiped the Law rather than Christ. They thought doing the right things made them right with God and when Jesus showed up and told them that the only way they could find life was by believing in Him and His message, they condemned Him and had Him put to death.
The Sadducees denied the truth of Scripture and twisted it to fit their contemporary, Hellenized lifestyles—just like many of the Christians today who justify whatever beliefs and behaviors they want by twisting Scripture. They didn't believe God's words.
"Narrow is the way" doesn't mean "hard to make it is the way." Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light and in Him we find rest for our weary souls (Mt. 11:28–30, Heb. 4:9–11). The Christian life has its hardships and difficulties, but salvation itself isn't one of them. Jesus paid the entire price for our salvation. He died not just for some of our sins, but for all of them (Rm. 4:25; 1 Pt. 2:24; 3:18; Col. 2:13; Heb. 10:11–12). We are justified before God by faith alone in Christ alone. "Narrow is the way" means that the way is exclusive and focused. Jesus Himself is the Way (Jn. 14:6). The way is narrow because the doctrine of salvation through Christ alone is narrow. Few there are that find it. The only way to Heaven and eternal life is through faith in Christ and the sufficiency of His propitiation and resurrection.
In a nutshell, the history of the Church is the story of believers keeping the hope of the gospel alive while continually fighting against the deceiving spirits that have infiltrated its ranks. These deceiving spirits teach either law without grace (legalism) or grace without faith (lawlessness).
The legalists (epitomized by the Pharisees) pay lip service to the gospel, but effectively deny the Atonement. They ridicule Believers who preach the simple gospel message and pressure Christians to abandon grace and go back to the Law (Gal. 5:3–4). They lay burdens on their brothers that no one can bear and hold them to standards that they themselves violate. And as far as unbelievers are concerned, legalists shut the door of salvation in their faces.
The lawless (epitomized by the Sadducees) pay lip service to Christ, but they twist the gospel in many ways because they don't really believe it. Often they deny the literal resurrection of Christ, which must be believed for salvation (Rm. 10:9). They run after the world and the lusts of the flesh and twist Scripture to justify themselves. They don't consider sin to be a real trespass against God and therefore don't recognize their personal and desperate need for forgiveness and reconciliation. Often times they even believe that Jesus is just one of many ways to Heaven.
What I believe God has shown me over the years is that the legalists hate the gospel because of the excesses of the lawless, which they perceive to be evidence against grace. The lawless hate the gospel because of the hatred, vitriol, and condemnation coming from the legalists. They both err and miss the truth because they associate the truth with the other side.
What both sides have in common is that they have a form of godliness, but deny its power. They believe parts, but not all of Scripture, and they both deny the truth and power of the gospel.
You see, there are two sides of the unbelieving coin. Two lanes on the broad road to Gehenna. One side is populated by legalists who trust in themselves. They are thieves and robbers who try to sneak into Heaven rather than going through the gate, which is Christ (Jn. 10:1). The other side is filled with atheists and the grace-twisting lawless, alike. Unbelievers from the lawless side of the road reject the truth of the resurrection, but many from both sides of the road, who claim to be religious and even "Christian," reject the gospel by rejecting the atoning aspect of it. They claim to believe Jesus died and rose again, but they don't understand or believe that His death is their only propitiation.
We live in a darkened, cloak-covered world and it can be exceedingly difficult to tell truth from fiction, and reality from lies, but Christians must endure these attacks and learn to discern these wolves and the traps they set.
I used to question God's love for me when I considered just how many people have lived. There have been tens and tens of billions of people throughout history, so how am I special? There have been billions of Christians since the Church first began. How can any particular one of us be a special and uniquely loved child of God who Himself is a Father of billions?
Yet God's word is clear: He does indeed love each one of us with the ultimate love—a love that leaves the 99 to rescue the one. A love that caused the lover to lay His life down. Jesus would die for just one sinner.
How can this be? We can never measure or comprehend God's love, but two things have helped me to understand His love a little better:
First, the birth of my second child. From personal experience I've come to realize that attention and focus are most assuredly divided since I'm a finite human being and can only do so many things with my kids at once. There is only so much of my attention to go around. But love is most assuredly not divided. I don't love my firstborn any less even though I now have two children. God's love is not divided even though He has a very, very big family. Furthermore, God is omnipresent and His resources unlimited, so His attention is not divided like our own.
Second, if you don't feel very special to God, consider this: God is infinite and His power unlimited. If He so chose He could create an infinite number of children, but that's not what He has chosen to do. Several billion children may seem like a lot, but that number will always be infinitely less than the number He could have created. What that practically means is that when He formed you in your mother's womb there were an infinite number of other possible persons He could have made that will never be made, because He chose to make you. You will always be infinitely special to Him. That means priceless and irreplaceable, which is why He would send His only begotten Son to die in your stead.
But God's priceless and irreplaceable children are presently being mocked, persecuted, tempted, and killed. Whereas the Jews were the world's poor and tormented in the 1930s and 40s, today it's the world's Christians—especially convictional, evangelical Christians. The world's political and societal power is largely turned against us.
More Christians are persecuted and martyred for their faith each and every year than any other religious, ethnic, or minority group. By some measures (e.g. Voice of the Martyrs) over 100,000 Christians are slain per year in martyrdom. A much greater number are thrown into prison and a still even larger number are persecuted by employers, school faculty, and governing authorities; millions are abandoned by unbelieving families; tens of millions are mocked, ridiculed, and shunned for their religious views.
I assure you, God will not let His precious children endure this forever. His justice will come swiftly. "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Pt. 3:9)
After the soon-coming rapture, persecution of believers will be thrown into overdrive. This new crop of Christians will be "marked" by not taking THE Mark. And they'll be forced to dwell in squalid, ghetto-like conditions as they're starved and killed. I can't help but think of a scene from Schindler's List that is forever seared in my memory of a little Jewish boy hiding in a latrine from Nazis. The Nazis had their mark—the swastika—and unbelievers during the Tribulation will have theirs. And those who don't take the Mark will be severely, severely persecuted.
We tend to romanticize future events, even horrible things like the Tribulation. We talk about this and that happening—seals, trumpets, and vials—angels, demons, and plagues—as if it were a fantasy novel. But it's not. It's a soon-coming reality that will effect billions of very real individuals, most terrified and confused. Nothing that has come before will compare to the torment of this period of time. It will be the greatest global calamity in history.
Christians have warned about the coming Mark of the Beast for generations and now it's almost here. I remember back in 2015 watching videos percolating out of Sweden that showed an entire business chipping its employees in their hands. I could see back then that public opposition to the precursor technology of the Mark was quickly evaporating. And now the secular world is altogether embracing it—even to the point of chip implants in the right hand.
Via corporate initiatives and private bio-hacking, more and more people are becoming completely normalized to the idea of marking one's hand or head to buy and sell. The normalization is to such an extent that few nowadays, besides Christians, would resist at all.
We're already seeing the decorations for mid-Tribulation events going up. How close must we be?
This question is now more important than ever. Christians, myself included, are now routinely called hateful and bigoted whenever we share about our faith and convictions. Why? Because the world wants love, but doesn't know what love is. They have a wrong definition.
To the world, love is two-fold: it's one's passions/desires and it's acceptance of others' passions/desires. "Follow your heart," the mantra found in just about every Disney movie ever made, is what love means to the world.
But that isn't love at all—it's just emotion. It's just a fleeting urge. In fact, the great irony of ironies is that what the world defines as love (following your heart and not interfering with someone else doing the same) is quite literally the exact opposite of true love.
True love isn't a feeling, it's a sacrificial decision to care for another at the expense of oneself. Your feelings will almost always lead you away from love and toward self-preservation. But true love will always lead you to move Heaven and earth for the well-being of your beloved. Love isn't tolerance, it's intentionality. And it isn't desire, it's sacrifice.
Love is the husband who cares for the helpless, Alzheimer's-plagued wife who can offer nothing in return and doesn't even remember his name. He stays with her through thick and thin instead of putting her away.
Love is the mother nursing colicky newborn twins all night long, night after night, while struggling with postpartum depression. What she really wants is for just one night of good sleep and a shower, but her love overrides that longing.
Love is the prodigal's father, hoping and praying day after day that his son will come to his senses and return home—leaving his life of sin behind.
And love—true love—is the God who would endure constant suffering and temptation for over 30 years, just as we suffer, yet endure without sin on our behalf, dying an exceedingly brutal death to save our souls from destruction. "Greater love has no one than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends." (Jn. 15:13)
In terms of our witness in the face of scoffers calling us "haters", the practical application of our love is to continue speaking the truth winsomely, calling all to repentance, and turning the other cheek. Speaking the truth is a loving thing to do. Urging someone you care about to forsake a sin is compassionate. Sharing the gospel and warning someone of the reality of God's coming justice is, indeed, love.
Paul defines for us what love is:
The world says following your heart is loving and stopping someone from following theirs is unloving. The Bible says love "does not insist on its own way."
The world says it is unloving to judge sin. The Bible says love "does not rejoice at wrongdoing."
The world says you can fall in love and fall out of it and that you don't need to love someone who doesn't love you in return. The Bible says love "bears all things... hopes all things... [and] never ends."
We live amidst much clamor and confusion and virtually everyone you encounter realizes that things aren't the way they should be. In fact, it would seem that many unbelievers are even coming to realize the world is coming to some sort of apocalyptic showdown. The slew of apocalyptic movies and TV shows, coupled with incessant media fixation on catastrophic global warming expose this fear inherent in the hearts of those in the world who lack faith in the God who casts out fear. Yet despite their recognition that there is a right and a wrong and things aren't yet right, they still reject God. And many do it because they don't want their deeds to be exposed. Many others reject Him because it's difficult to reconcile how an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God could permit such incredible and atrocious evil and suffering. Theodicy will always be the greatest source of doubt for those both inside and outside the Church—until God restores and reconciles all things.
Believers must explain how a loving God can permit evil and suffering, but atheists must explain everything else, because the evidence of God's existence and the particulars of His biblical revelation are undeniable.
In the midst of this crooked and perverse generation, we must remain salt and light. The time is exceedingly short. We will not remain the light in the earth for much longer. Darkness is coming. And until the darkness comes, we have a unique and fleeting opportunity to share the great hope that is within us and to desperately plead with the world to be reconciled to God.
As we get closer to God's day of reckoning and even closer still to our own day of redemption (for those of us who believe in Him), let us be sober, focused, and not distracted from the mission at hand. Have you noticed how so much of the wickedness that has been under wraps for decades is now being revealed for what it is? Whether it be the secret recordings of Planned Parenthood workers or the new trial of Jeffrey Epstein, more and more is coming out. And have you also noticed how fewer and fewer Christians are on the fence? They've been forced to either go all in on progressive, pseudo-universalist Patheos and Prosperity Gospel theology, or get back to the gospel. These things reveal that God is beginning to draw back the curtain and lift the veil. All that was hidden will come to light. At first this will be very painful for earth dwellers, but when Christ returns with His Church, Edenic paradise will be restored and justice will reign.
Keep going my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. And those reading who haven't yet come to believe the hope that we have: now is the day of salvation. Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and you will assuredly be saved. Hold this conviction very, very tightly and never let it go. The time is near.
No ears will be tickled with this article, but there is certainly hope for those who believe.
I pray that God will give me His words and that through His words we may all be shaken out of our slumber. I pray that all I'm about to share is grounded in the truth of God's word. I'm going to shoot very straight with you and with myself about the world we live in. There will be no comfort found here unless you are personally persuaded that Christ rose from the dead and is coming again.
On the other hand, that longing goes unmet day after day and week after week. We toil and pine away in the grind of life. Sicknesses beset us, our beloved family members age, and our loved ones long gone slowly turn to dust. Our minds are littered with the daily news of violence, untimely deaths, and a world far askew of anything resembling biblical morality. Killers and traitors run rampant, babies are torn limb from limb, and our faith is continually mocked. Justice and deliverance never seem to come. And in the midst of this death and decay we lift up a song of praise to God hoping beyond hope that this momentary mountaintop experience will finally become one that doesn't cease. We blink and hope that when our eyelids next roll up we will be beholding God on His throne.
As if this dark world wasn't challenging enough, we seek fellowship with like-minded believers, but often find only people wearing a religious mask. So often they feel unrelatable because they won't share their struggles. They won't tell you who they really are and how they're really doing. From outside appearances they're Jesus Himself, but the word of God they claim to believe in says their righteousness is but a filthy garment. They can't be salve for anyone because they say they've never needed salve themselves. I find the kind of faith they express, to be, to some extent, unreal. But I'll tell you about my faith.
My faith has kept me from the edge of suicide multiple times, helped me endure a broken childhood and adolescence, enabled me to persevere through chronic breathing issues, stomach issues, and clinically-diagnosed childhood trauma, depression, and ADHD. It's conquered struggles of sin and kept me struggling against areas still unconquered. My faith keeps me praying for those whom I love that are far from God, still trapped in chains of darkness.
And this faith, which is not my own, has enabled me, the most unlikely and broken of people, to endure withering attacks and criticisms from people in and outside the Church who mock at God and what His word plainly says. I am one of the shiest and meekest people you might meet yet God has led my path into newspaper and TV interviews, writing to thousands of people, and sharing the gospel with a multitude. I have nothing whatsoever to brag about. Actually, it's downright shocking to me that God would choose to work through someone whose flesh is as corrupted as mine. I'm even more shocked that after I've continually failed Him He still pulls me back to my feet, recommissions me, and tells me: "Go!"
So I go.
And here is the message: if you do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that He died for your sins and rose again you will die in your sins. And for most of those living today, that death will not occur in the present Age of Grace. This is the generation that will witness Christ's visible return to earth and those with faith in Him now will escape years before.
"One more turn." These three words have been heavy on my heart. Soon the earth will have turned on its axis one last time before everything changes. One last sunrise. One last night. And then there will be no going back. No more days of blissful ignorance. No more moments to ignore God. All who are left will be forced to deal head on with the Bible's claims and the reality of a world where everyone is their own god. You have never known darkness and terror like this.
Most people close their ears to bad news. Even most of those who call upon the Name of Christ. No one wants to hear the cynic. And when a warning is given, the alarm goes unheeded. Even worse, the spiritual warnings that many Christian leaders have given are fundamentally flawed—pushing people toward trust in self instead of trust in the One who is Himself salvation. These warnings leave you disoriented, confused, and hopeless. Not so the warning I'm about to give. There is great hope and a clear solution for yourself and those you love, but we must first see the darkness of our present reality in order that the light of hope is magnified. Reality is far darker than we can imagine, but the light is infinitely brighter. It is already piercing the darkness and is about to pierce it through to death. The darkness will flee at the light.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
- John 1:5
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Joy and Lament
They say to the seers, 'See no more visions!' and to the prophets, 'Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.'
- Isaiah 30:10
That is the message of modern Therapeutic Moral Deism (aka modern progressive Christianity). It's also the message of the world. The world is hungering for spiritual truth. People long for good to win. It's just that what they think is good isn't good. Do you want the truth if it means pain now? Or do you want falsehood if it means comfort now and much worse pain later? The world is full of Esaus who'll lose everything for a bowl of stew.
The world as we know it will end in fire. You have friends, family, and coworkers who will be tormented in the Great Tribulation and dissolved in the fire of God's wrath in Gehenna. Some won't repent (e.g., convert) now to escape, but will repent later after the Church has been removed. The post-rapture repentant will be starved to death, slayed by swords, and beheaded. They will be saved by faith as we are, but their physical torment will be much greater.
But the unrepentant, just as they are doing today, will chase their own illusions as long as they still breathe. Even after the veil begins to lift and millions are taken straight to the Throne Room of God, they will still seek each and every excuse to believe it was caused by something—anything—other than the single most plausible explanation: an all-powerful, self-existent God doing exactly what He promised to do in His word. Aliens or the Large Hadron Collider—even judgment on the disappeared—will all be offered as possibilities. Their excuses will reveal peoples' two deepest intentions, which are to keep themselves from acknowledging that 1. God is in control and they are not, and 2. their sins demand justice.
As Christians we do have moments of joy. We do laugh and sing. But overall, we are broken and repentant over the darkness in the world and the darkness still present within—in our flesh. We long to be free of this world (which is passing away) and from these bodies of sin and death.
Occupy until He comes, yes, absolutely. But that should only ever be secondary to looking up. And "occupy" doesn't mean stay busy about your pleasures and plans. It means be busy about God's business. Overall, this is not the time for pleasure and greatest rejoicing, yet so many Christians think that it is. They're wrong. Dead wrong. This is the time for spiritual sobriety, lamentation, and putting on one's sackcloth (whatever that might be). This is the time to be using every means possible to tell someone the message of good news that we preach. Tell someone by word-of-mouth, social media, letter, radio, or some other way, but tell someone. Consider the lost and rend your hearts and not your garments for their sake. Those around you are perishing.
As Ecclesiastes tells us, there is a time for everything under Heaven: "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..." I do have moments of joy now, great joy in fact, but now is my time to weep and mourn. I'll be laughing and dancing in Heaven.
Everyone wants everything their heart desires now (and I'm no different), but it just doesn't work that way. I can't emphasize this enough: Heaven is the very best. You can't have everything you want, but you can have everything God promises, which, while you can't understand or feel it now, are things so much more pleasurable and desirable than whatever it is you think you want from this dark world. Trust God. Consider your aching and longing heart. Don't hide from reality. Things are not yet the way they should be. You'll run yourself ragged, never filling up to satisfaction, if you aim for earth. Aim for Heaven, though, and you will experience joy in Heaven for which God-breathed Scripture says is incomprehensible and will make you to never be hungry again.
- - -
A World in Darkness
This world isn't Hades, but it isn't much better either. We do still catch small glimpses of God's glory. His light still shines through as if through pinholes in a curtain, but since the time Satan swindled our first parents out of their dominion of earth, a spiritual veil has covered our reality. We can't see beyond it. Metaphysics is gathering evidence that we live in a 10, 11, or 26-dimensional universe, but our present experience is limited to only height, width, depth, and time.
Something terrible happened approximately 6,000 years ago to break off our access to the whole—and so we lost face-to-face access to God. Heaven now seems so far away. What seems "real" and ever-present is this dim and gritty "natural" world. But it's now so much less than what it was. This is a world in darkness:
Multitudes of children are slain in the womb, grocery shoppers are mowed down by gunfire, wicked hypocrites control the reins of power, and most have to toil for their bread. The faithful are mocked, maligned, and persecuted, and the filthy seem only to gather more and more. Children are bullied and molested, women are raped, and men are shamed for being men. Rarely does right win.
Many die young. Most toil through school and career, saving up only to have material blessing while aged and decrepit. Cancer, heart disease, war, and death. Loved ones lost, friends abandoning. This isn't cherry-picking the bad, this is pointing out what all will experience at some point in this life. This dark world is not where one should find their Heaven. If this is your Heaven then it's the only Heaven you'll ever know, but if this is your hell then it's the only hell you'll ever experience. Choose wisely. The choice is easy. The cost was paid for by God Himself. Adam and Eve got us into this mess by one bad choice, and you can get out by one right choice.
- - -
The Man-made Cataclysm
Mockers who routinely question biblical morality often point to the Global Flood as evidence of God's apparent lack of righteousness. How could God indiscriminately kill everyone on the planet? The answer is actually very simple: they were not God's children because they did not believe in Him. They were violent, evil trespassers who had invaded a place that God Himself created exclusively for His children. They were the ones actually doing the indiscriminate killing, and even worse—persecuting and killing the righteous. The righteous are those who believe in God and are thus His children. Contrary to the opinion of the wolf of Rome, not everyone is God's child. The Bible could not be more clear on this point. The children of God are those who have faith in Him and thus have His Holy Spirit. It's as Paul wrote to the Romans: "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God."
We learn from the Genesis account of the Flood that the hearts of the people whom God destroyed were "continually evil" (Gen. 6:5) and the earth had become corrupt and was "filled with violence" because of them (Gen. 6:11). These thieves had broken into God's house. They had broken down the door to pillage, plunder, rape, and destroy. They were guilty and deserving of death and God was fully within His rights to do what He did. In fact, He was proven righteous, because He did not let the guilty go unpunished. He also delivered the righteous (Noah), rescuing him and his family from the destruction down below. He was carried away to safety in a wooden vessel, entering into it through a door. In our day and age the wooden vessel is the Cross, to which believers cling for forgiveness, and the door is Christ through whom we have access to our Father in Heaven (Jn. 10:9; Rev. 4:1).
We are not told in the Bible how many were killed in the Flood. It might have been a billion or more. Apocryphal sources put it much lower, suggesting there may have been less than one million humans alive at the time for whatever reason (violence? abortion? the Nephilim?). Either way, we can only guess.
But here's something we can know: the very people who scoff at God for His righteous act of judgment are actively defending an equally destructive global cataclysm of their own doing that has no justification whatsoever. It's called abortion. The violent murder of billions of innocent babies through poisoning, beheading, dismemberment, and crushing.
Historians say abortion and infanticide have always been around and I don't doubt that, but what is now an unquestionable fact of history is that human depravity in the 20th century via the eugenics movement has increased this by orders of magnitude. What was once an uncommon tragedy has become a routine occurrence, a holocaust that makes the entirety of World War II pale in comparison.
One million are murdered in the U.S. every single year via abortion. 50 million around the world. Over two billion have been slaughtered worldwide since Roe v. Wade in 1973. This massacre may actually exceed the loss of life during the Global Flood. Only, again, it's a loss of innocent life whereas the Flood was sent to destroy guilty, violent, unbelieving intruders.
- - -
Wolves Everywhere
The capital 'T' Tribulation is yet to come, but believers already persist in their faith in the midst of much trial and tribulation. Whether it be persecution amidst the world's demonic morality or sickness, loss, doubt, and death—we keep going. But the greatest struggle is not with sin outside, but sin still within, in our flesh, and the wolves among us who lurk within our ranks. There are two kinds of wolves in sheep's clothing in our midst: the legalists and the lawless. These are typified in the gospels by Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Pharisees were the proud and self-righteous condemners who worshiped the Law rather than Christ. They thought doing the right things made them right with God and when Jesus showed up and told them that the only way they could find life was by believing in Him and His message, they condemned Him and had Him put to death.
The Sadducees denied the truth of Scripture and twisted it to fit their contemporary, Hellenized lifestyles—just like many of the Christians today who justify whatever beliefs and behaviors they want by twisting Scripture. They didn't believe God's words.
"Narrow is the way" doesn't mean "hard to make it is the way." Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light and in Him we find rest for our weary souls (Mt. 11:28–30, Heb. 4:9–11). The Christian life has its hardships and difficulties, but salvation itself isn't one of them. Jesus paid the entire price for our salvation. He died not just for some of our sins, but for all of them (Rm. 4:25; 1 Pt. 2:24; 3:18; Col. 2:13; Heb. 10:11–12). We are justified before God by faith alone in Christ alone. "Narrow is the way" means that the way is exclusive and focused. Jesus Himself is the Way (Jn. 14:6). The way is narrow because the doctrine of salvation through Christ alone is narrow. Few there are that find it. The only way to Heaven and eternal life is through faith in Christ and the sufficiency of His propitiation and resurrection.
In a nutshell, the history of the Church is the story of believers keeping the hope of the gospel alive while continually fighting against the deceiving spirits that have infiltrated its ranks. These deceiving spirits teach either law without grace (legalism) or grace without faith (lawlessness).
The legalists (epitomized by the Pharisees) pay lip service to the gospel, but effectively deny the Atonement. They ridicule Believers who preach the simple gospel message and pressure Christians to abandon grace and go back to the Law (Gal. 5:3–4). They lay burdens on their brothers that no one can bear and hold them to standards that they themselves violate. And as far as unbelievers are concerned, legalists shut the door of salvation in their faces.
The lawless (epitomized by the Sadducees) pay lip service to Christ, but they twist the gospel in many ways because they don't really believe it. Often they deny the literal resurrection of Christ, which must be believed for salvation (Rm. 10:9). They run after the world and the lusts of the flesh and twist Scripture to justify themselves. They don't consider sin to be a real trespass against God and therefore don't recognize their personal and desperate need for forgiveness and reconciliation. Often times they even believe that Jesus is just one of many ways to Heaven.
What I believe God has shown me over the years is that the legalists hate the gospel because of the excesses of the lawless, which they perceive to be evidence against grace. The lawless hate the gospel because of the hatred, vitriol, and condemnation coming from the legalists. They both err and miss the truth because they associate the truth with the other side.
What both sides have in common is that they have a form of godliness, but deny its power. They believe parts, but not all of Scripture, and they both deny the truth and power of the gospel.
You see, there are two sides of the unbelieving coin. Two lanes on the broad road to Gehenna. One side is populated by legalists who trust in themselves. They are thieves and robbers who try to sneak into Heaven rather than going through the gate, which is Christ (Jn. 10:1). The other side is filled with atheists and the grace-twisting lawless, alike. Unbelievers from the lawless side of the road reject the truth of the resurrection, but many from both sides of the road, who claim to be religious and even "Christian," reject the gospel by rejecting the atoning aspect of it. They claim to believe Jesus died and rose again, but they don't understand or believe that His death is their only propitiation.
We live in a darkened, cloak-covered world and it can be exceedingly difficult to tell truth from fiction, and reality from lies, but Christians must endure these attacks and learn to discern these wolves and the traps they set.
- - -
Ghetto Trash
I used to question God's love for me when I considered just how many people have lived. There have been tens and tens of billions of people throughout history, so how am I special? There have been billions of Christians since the Church first began. How can any particular one of us be a special and uniquely loved child of God who Himself is a Father of billions?
Yet God's word is clear: He does indeed love each one of us with the ultimate love—a love that leaves the 99 to rescue the one. A love that caused the lover to lay His life down. Jesus would die for just one sinner.
How can this be? We can never measure or comprehend God's love, but two things have helped me to understand His love a little better:
First, the birth of my second child. From personal experience I've come to realize that attention and focus are most assuredly divided since I'm a finite human being and can only do so many things with my kids at once. There is only so much of my attention to go around. But love is most assuredly not divided. I don't love my firstborn any less even though I now have two children. God's love is not divided even though He has a very, very big family. Furthermore, God is omnipresent and His resources unlimited, so His attention is not divided like our own.
Second, if you don't feel very special to God, consider this: God is infinite and His power unlimited. If He so chose He could create an infinite number of children, but that's not what He has chosen to do. Several billion children may seem like a lot, but that number will always be infinitely less than the number He could have created. What that practically means is that when He formed you in your mother's womb there were an infinite number of other possible persons He could have made that will never be made, because He chose to make you. You will always be infinitely special to Him. That means priceless and irreplaceable, which is why He would send His only begotten Son to die in your stead.
But God's priceless and irreplaceable children are presently being mocked, persecuted, tempted, and killed. Whereas the Jews were the world's poor and tormented in the 1930s and 40s, today it's the world's Christians—especially convictional, evangelical Christians. The world's political and societal power is largely turned against us.
More Christians are persecuted and martyred for their faith each and every year than any other religious, ethnic, or minority group. By some measures (e.g. Voice of the Martyrs) over 100,000 Christians are slain per year in martyrdom. A much greater number are thrown into prison and a still even larger number are persecuted by employers, school faculty, and governing authorities; millions are abandoned by unbelieving families; tens of millions are mocked, ridiculed, and shunned for their religious views.
I assure you, God will not let His precious children endure this forever. His justice will come swiftly. "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Pt. 3:9)
After the soon-coming rapture, persecution of believers will be thrown into overdrive. This new crop of Christians will be "marked" by not taking THE Mark. And they'll be forced to dwell in squalid, ghetto-like conditions as they're starved and killed. I can't help but think of a scene from Schindler's List that is forever seared in my memory of a little Jewish boy hiding in a latrine from Nazis. The Nazis had their mark—the swastika—and unbelievers during the Tribulation will have theirs. And those who don't take the Mark will be severely, severely persecuted.
We tend to romanticize future events, even horrible things like the Tribulation. We talk about this and that happening—seals, trumpets, and vials—angels, demons, and plagues—as if it were a fantasy novel. But it's not. It's a soon-coming reality that will effect billions of very real individuals, most terrified and confused. Nothing that has come before will compare to the torment of this period of time. It will be the greatest global calamity in history.
- - -
No Hesitation
Christians have warned about the coming Mark of the Beast for generations and now it's almost here. I remember back in 2015 watching videos percolating out of Sweden that showed an entire business chipping its employees in their hands. I could see back then that public opposition to the precursor technology of the Mark was quickly evaporating. And now the secular world is altogether embracing it—even to the point of chip implants in the right hand.
Via corporate initiatives and private bio-hacking, more and more people are becoming completely normalized to the idea of marking one's hand or head to buy and sell. The normalization is to such an extent that few nowadays, besides Christians, would resist at all.
We're already seeing the decorations for mid-Tribulation events going up. How close must we be?
- - -
What is Love?
This question is now more important than ever. Christians, myself included, are now routinely called hateful and bigoted whenever we share about our faith and convictions. Why? Because the world wants love, but doesn't know what love is. They have a wrong definition.
To the world, love is two-fold: it's one's passions/desires and it's acceptance of others' passions/desires. "Follow your heart," the mantra found in just about every Disney movie ever made, is what love means to the world.
But that isn't love at all—it's just emotion. It's just a fleeting urge. In fact, the great irony of ironies is that what the world defines as love (following your heart and not interfering with someone else doing the same) is quite literally the exact opposite of true love.
True love isn't a feeling, it's a sacrificial decision to care for another at the expense of oneself. Your feelings will almost always lead you away from love and toward self-preservation. But true love will always lead you to move Heaven and earth for the well-being of your beloved. Love isn't tolerance, it's intentionality. And it isn't desire, it's sacrifice.
Love is the husband who cares for the helpless, Alzheimer's-plagued wife who can offer nothing in return and doesn't even remember his name. He stays with her through thick and thin instead of putting her away.
Love is the mother nursing colicky newborn twins all night long, night after night, while struggling with postpartum depression. What she really wants is for just one night of good sleep and a shower, but her love overrides that longing.
Love is the prodigal's father, hoping and praying day after day that his son will come to his senses and return home—leaving his life of sin behind.
And love—true love—is the God who would endure constant suffering and temptation for over 30 years, just as we suffer, yet endure without sin on our behalf, dying an exceedingly brutal death to save our souls from destruction. "Greater love has no one than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends." (Jn. 15:13)
In terms of our witness in the face of scoffers calling us "haters", the practical application of our love is to continue speaking the truth winsomely, calling all to repentance, and turning the other cheek. Speaking the truth is a loving thing to do. Urging someone you care about to forsake a sin is compassionate. Sharing the gospel and warning someone of the reality of God's coming justice is, indeed, love.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast [materialism and selfies, anyone?]; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way [follow your heart?]; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing [tolerate sinful lifestyles?], but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things [that are true and of God!], hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a
Paul defines for us what love is:
The world says following your heart is loving and stopping someone from following theirs is unloving. The Bible says love "does not insist on its own way."
The world says it is unloving to judge sin. The Bible says love "does not rejoice at wrongdoing."
The world says you can fall in love and fall out of it and that you don't need to love someone who doesn't love you in return. The Bible says love "bears all things... hopes all things... [and] never ends."
- - -
This Little Light of Mine
We live amidst much clamor and confusion and virtually everyone you encounter realizes that things aren't the way they should be. In fact, it would seem that many unbelievers are even coming to realize the world is coming to some sort of apocalyptic showdown. The slew of apocalyptic movies and TV shows, coupled with incessant media fixation on catastrophic global warming expose this fear inherent in the hearts of those in the world who lack faith in the God who casts out fear. Yet despite their recognition that there is a right and a wrong and things aren't yet right, they still reject God. And many do it because they don't want their deeds to be exposed. Many others reject Him because it's difficult to reconcile how an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God could permit such incredible and atrocious evil and suffering. Theodicy will always be the greatest source of doubt for those both inside and outside the Church—until God restores and reconciles all things.
Believers must explain how a loving God can permit evil and suffering, but atheists must explain everything else, because the evidence of God's existence and the particulars of His biblical revelation are undeniable.
In the midst of this crooked and perverse generation, we must remain salt and light. The time is exceedingly short. We will not remain the light in the earth for much longer. Darkness is coming. And until the darkness comes, we have a unique and fleeting opportunity to share the great hope that is within us and to desperately plead with the world to be reconciled to God.
- - -
Conclusion
As we get closer to God's day of reckoning and even closer still to our own day of redemption (for those of us who believe in Him), let us be sober, focused, and not distracted from the mission at hand. Have you noticed how so much of the wickedness that has been under wraps for decades is now being revealed for what it is? Whether it be the secret recordings of Planned Parenthood workers or the new trial of Jeffrey Epstein, more and more is coming out. And have you also noticed how fewer and fewer Christians are on the fence? They've been forced to either go all in on progressive, pseudo-universalist Patheos and Prosperity Gospel theology, or get back to the gospel. These things reveal that God is beginning to draw back the curtain and lift the veil. All that was hidden will come to light. At first this will be very painful for earth dwellers, but when Christ returns with His Church, Edenic paradise will be restored and justice will reign.
On this mountain He will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
He will remove His people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
In that day they will say,
'Surely this is our God;
we trusted in Him, and He saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in Him;
let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.'
- Isaiah 25:7–9
Keep going my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. And those reading who haven't yet come to believe the hope that we have: now is the day of salvation. Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ and you will assuredly be saved. Hold this conviction very, very tightly and never let it go. The time is near.
Gary, I can picture your inspired fingers flying on the keyboard as you wrote this!
ReplyDeleteSomber message for the unsaved. Deep yet hopeful message for those who have made Jesus the Lord of their life. I'm still taking it all in...
"We're already seeing the decorations for mid-Tribulation events going up. How close must we be?"
Thank you Lyn. This one was very heavy on my heart. I know it's a bit scattered, but there were a few different things I wanted to say.
DeleteScattered? Not even close brother, I thought it was perfect, and well put together. I think you did a wonderful job of putting a mirror in front of us. Many of us are feeling exactly as you are, and some of us just don't know how to put it in to words. You just did that for us. You said at the beginning of your article that you called upon the Lord to give you the words to say, and you had faith he will. Mission accomplished.
DeleteAgreed Chris O. Thank you Gary.
DeleteThank you Chris. (:
DeleteAmen, brother Gary. Amen.
DeleteSoon, very soon all of this will come to a sudden and violent halt. Indeed, there will be no turning back from the abrupt stop that will be the RR. My wife and I talk of this and get rather emotional. It's hard to see all that is happening and not be moved.
I remember studying the effects of a thermonuclear detonation over Portland, Oregon, the major city near my childhood home during the height of the Cold War. Would it be possible to survive? How badly would we be effected at our home 30-miles away? Where would I hide?
Those are the days when I was certain I would not live to see 1990. We would all perish in nuclear war.
Today I see the terror being constructed in an arms race of so-called "super-weapons" -- this time knowing the destination of all who pedal fear and death. We, my wife and I are sickened by the news where truth is exchanged for lies. Greed and lust for wealth justify murder and slavery and for what?
The enemy really tries to beat us down, but if you get down to it, we are soldiers fighting on the front-lines. Every day my wife and I dawn our armour and gather our weapons and do battle against an enemy that sews lies and deception. Our weapons are sewn in personal stories, testimonies, that are Spirit-filled with life, light and the encouraging truth that comes from faith, hope and love rooted in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Today, Portland, Oregon and cities like it across North America are my battleground; showered with His encouraging message and truth that makes an impact in the hearts and lives of the people we reach. Of the final outcome I am confident and steadfast in my faith...
GOD WINS.
Dear, dear Gary. It's unfortunate that most of us who read this site will already know and understand the truths you've stated and not find them overly opined at all. Indeed, I was not at all offended to read what many of us have come to know and realize these past years: the dark is rising. Evil is rampant. Blatant wickedness rules the day. Truth is truth.
ReplyDeleteIt's also unfortunate that we've become on the one hand somewhat desensitized to the wickedness around us. What once would have shocked and terrified is now just another news story.
But, on the other hand, some of us do recognize the doings as Biblical signs of the times and do pay it heed – at least in that regard.
Yesterday I was reading an article on Rapture Ready about concerns regarding the "Two State Solution". Apparently a lot of Christians have been writing to Trump and warning him not to "divide the land". My first thought was that yes, God said not to, but also that it WOULD happen. In fact, it's already happened numerous times. Not quite sure how to state this, but sometimes I read about events happening, understand their connections to end times events, and see them as just that – SIGNS - rather than considering the events personally and from a more compassionate perspective.
There’s sooooo much going on, it can be overwhelming. It’s almost an act of self-preservation to not take it all in. When I do, all I want to do is cry and apologize to God for our senseless depravity and wonder how He can stand to not just obliterate us!
The ONE thing the awareness of the times we are living in does do is motivate sharing the Gospel with others. Almost desperately. Is it just me or does anyone else find that kids, millennials, raised in the Church, are the ones most likely to refute it? There’s a particular hubris among many of them – sort of a no thanks, I know about God, but what’s He ever done for me and look at the mess He’s ALLOWED to happen sort of attitude. If there is a God, then He’s seen more as a “higher power” and responsible for all the worlds’ ills. Very few know about or believe in the devil as more than a joke. Any facts about prophecies and events relative to scripture are not to be listened to. They know it all already. They don’t know why they believe what they do, but I am WRONG to tell them otherwise. I have my truth and they have theirs – sheesh! Hopefully, they will have time AFTER the Rapture of the Church to remember what they’ve been told and to accept Christ as their Savior.
PRAY.
I definitely have to struggle with desensitization. There is such an intensity to things now. And so much wickedness I could spend whole days weeping if I wanted to, so instead, I tend to get distracted and numb out with life. The Spirit refocuses me time and time again.
DeleteStudying prophecy and in particular, realizing how close we are the end of the age and what that means for those far from God, is hard pill to swallow.
There is great joy in knowing our personal redemption is near, but there is sickness in grief watching this world collapse in on itself.
"So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but 'in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.'" I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour."
- Rev. 10:9-10
"There is great joy in knowing our personal redemption is near, but there is sickness in grief watching this world collapse in on itself." Well I have no more grief over this cancer of a world collapsing than I would over satan cast into the pit. Godless rebellion has consequences. Moreover, there is NO lamenting the collapse of the Godless world for thus is the spirit of Lot's backward looking wife. Finally the joy is not just our personal redemption but ALL the redeemed in His presence reaping the Grace of Glorious God in the Highest forever!
DeleteThat was a very good article. Somehow I had never made the correlation between the Ark and the Cross before.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the aborted babies makes me sick.
Yes, it's gut-wrenching. Justice is coming.
DeleteThe Ark is interesting, not only a prelude to the Cross, but also a symbol of the rapture since Noah and his family were lifted up in it above the earth below (and they entered it 7 days before the Flood hit).
Oh how that breaks my heart, it's so sad, all those babies, the pain they must have went threw, no one to help them. My heart cries out to God! Please Lord, come soon, please Lord make this stop! I just want to go home Lord Jesus, I just want to be with you Lord, please come get your children!
DeleteQuoting you, Gary,
Delete"The Ark is interesting, not only a prelude to the Cross, but also a symbol of the rapture since Noah and his family were lifted up in it above the earth below (and they entered it 7 days before the Flood hit)."
AMEN!!
Reading your response caused me to look back at my study time-line. Seven (7) days before the beginning of the 2,550 days is Hoshana Rabba, Shimini Atzeret on the Ecclesiastic calendar and two (2) solar years to the day after the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) and beginning of the "sign of the Son of Man" (Matthew 24:30 ESV) on 9/21/17.
NOTE: The purpose of my time-line study is to dig deeper into Scripture and not come to a date or dates. Dates are a by-product of study as the pieces of the puzzle we are given through Scripture are assembled.
I did not see the connection between the ark and the cross either.
DeleteAlso Pastor Rich that timeline reminds me of how my first son was born on the 21st September 2017 and how amazing that was too me when I found out about the Revelation 12 Sign and Yom Teruah
Hi Rebekah!
DeleteMy wife's birthday is September 23rd. I never knew how special Yom Teruah was until I really started digging on its history and special place in God's heart that,
"This day is holy to the LORD your God;
do not mourn or weep." (Nehemiah 8:9 ESV)
10 Then he said to them, "Go your
way. Eat the fat and drink sweet
wine and send portions to anyone
who has nothing ready, for this
day is holy to our Lord. And do
not be grieved, for the joy of
the LORD is your strength."
(Nehemiah 8:10 ESV)
It sure sounds like a special day doesn't it? Well, if you're like me and believe that on M6D30 or what we would call Tuesday, September 11, 0003 BC is the day that Christ was conceived -- born to life in the womb of Mary. If this was indeed the day, and I believe it was and have a study model to show why, then our Lord and Saviour came to this place on the eve of Yom Teruah!
If true, no wonder the day is so special to God!
Happy Birthday to your son! I pray you enjoy an extra special celebration!!
PR
Thank you Gary, brother in Christ.
ReplyDeleteThank you lending your heavy heart (probably like many others). Things seem to be winding down (yes I know, rather just heating up for most). We all have our own tribulations which make us 'question' this blind faith thing, certainly tests it. When all else fails, however, all one has to do or know (with assurance) is everything we are reading/ hearing/ witnessing is falling into place, as the Bible has foretold. Those seemingly insignificant books (Amos, Hosea, Haggai) from 2,600 yrs ago are alive and have YET to be fulfilled.
Watching Tu B'Av ahead...the great Jewish 'wedding' day during the last harvest themed moon of the year.
"Those seemingly insignificant books (Amos, Hosea, Haggai) from 2,600 yrs ago are alive and have YET to be fulfilled."
DeleteYes, indeed.
Thank you Gary for another Holy Spirit inspired article, and for sharing so much of yourself in it.
ReplyDeleteYou have been a beacon of light to us all, and I just want to say thanks for obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit to write these articles.
For me the main highlights of your article are as follows:
ALL CHILDREN OF GOD: NOPE!
I agree, that humanity are not all God's Children, we are all God's creation, but we are not all his children, frighteningly because we all are born with a sin nature, we are initially children of the flesh, or in a not so nice way to put it is: we are Children of the devil until that moment when we identified ourselves as sinners in need of a savior, and then believed the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ alone through his blood sacrifice on the cross, and then, and ONLY then at that very moment we become Children of God, and his HOLY SPIRIT comes and lives inside of us. That is a hard pill to swallow. But only something that I was only thinking about recently and mentioned on one of the comments posted over at Rev12daily.
THE SONG OF PSALM 77:
That song was absolutely beautiful. Such a beautiful voice, practically had tears slowly streaming down my cheeks.
THE VIDEO OF THE GUY GETTING MICRO-CHIPPED:
That video of the guy getting micro-chipped, I thought it was very poignant, that the clip ended with the statement "Can you see the Light" unfortunately they don't otherwise they would not be welcoming getting chipped in their right hand with open arms!!
PS
I have shared your wonderful article with my wife, who gave as usual a non-interested look, of "oh your still sending me links of bible stuff / end times stuff. Which I am sure, she will never read until the Rapture happens.. Very sad..
I also shared it with my aunt, who is a Christian and is looking forward to the soon rapture, in the hope that she might know someone who is lost, and who would benefit from reading it.
Blessings to you brother.
Thank you for the kind words and feedback, brother. And thank you for sharing. I will pray for your wife!
DeleteThinking back to the Psalm 77 song, it's a reminder to me that modern Churchianity steers clear of songs of lament. I wonder why. Rose-colored glasses, perhaps. And too many hearts invested here and not in Heaven.
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ReplyDeleteThank you! Fixed.
DeleteSo glad to know someone else is unexplainable sad. Have cried myself to sleep, cried while doing housework or just driving the car. So tired of not seeing the things we as a Church should see, tired of burying people and sick and abused children not even to mention the 3,000 aborted a dzy. I do not know how the Father stands the stench. Man I wanna go home
ReplyDeleteAmen! I have these same thoughts!
DeleteYou've come to the right place. We're lamenting here and ready to go home. In the meantime, we'll bring Him some praise in the midst of this darkness and hopefully pull along a few stragglers into the ark.
DeleteEvery aborted baby is in Glory. Take some comfort. Moreover, yes children are abused & worse things happened to people in concentration camps, genocidal countries, slavery, etc. WELL Christ hung on a cross bearing the unimaginable. WE do NOT get off planet earth without pain & suffering that is much less than the Savior. Fortunately we know where we are going like Paul who took JOY in all things.
DeleteThankyou, and blessings, Unknown.
DeleteRemarkable and spirit breathed brother... AMAZING testimony for Christ. Thank you fine brother! Barry
ReplyDeleteThank you Brother Barry!
DeleteAmen and thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have said here, but all we can do is what we have been called to do. I have met many people out in the streets that may not go to a church building but want to know about God and Jesus. If we share our testimonies then we can at least bring the gospel to many. God does not live in a house made with hands, and the scriptures encourage us to go out into the highways and the byways, and social media such as blogging is a great way of sharing and interacting with both believers and non believers.
I went completely haywire in my younger days but have found that having empathy has given me sympathy with many people I have met. I have also had a near death experience and have even come across people that this has comforted who have lost loved ones. I was 28 when this happened and that place was reality, my 28 years of life was like a dream.
The Word of God can not go out and return to Him void, so as long as one plants and one waters then God will always add the increase. God bless you as you continue to do what you have been called to do.
Hi Brenda, have your posted your near death experience somewhere? I would like to hear it if possible?
DeleteBlessings!
Good thoughts Sister. I would be interested in hearing that too.
DeleteHi both,
Deletemy near death experience is written on the right hand side bar at the top of my blog . Just to mention that seven years after I had that experience, when I was baptised in Adelaide Revival Centre, I came up out of the water speaking in a language I had never learned and I started to write poems which just dropped into my head, and came from my experiences in the Lord. At the end of one of my poems were the words 'And when you've learned your Father's ways, each day to you revealed, then you too will show the world just how My love is sealed.'
It was as if I was being spoken to of the future by God, and not long after I came across a young lady who introduced me to blogging.
Hi again,:-)
DeleteIf you scroll down on my blog to 16th January 2017 there is a post called 'My testimony' which you can listen to and hear some of the poems and songs given to me by the Lord being recited and sung.
God bless you both.
Thanks Brenda!
DeleteThank you Gary, for once again penning our hearts and thoughts; our emotions and prayers. Daily I wrestle in my spirit against the steady increase of darkness and evil that is moving like a thick fog. It confronts me at my work - many times I do not want to encounter it! But when I get close, and look into the eyes of those struggling with evil and sin (some who don't even realize it), I say (When GOD gives me an opening), "There is an answer and HIS Name is Jesus."
ReplyDeleteThat's the perfect response. I struggle getting tongue-twisted in the moment... the Spirit has to do all the work.
DeleteThank you Gary and more importantly even thank you Lord Jesus for working in and through Gary to write this article. Please Father draw many to Jesus and grant them salvation before the clock strikes midnight and help us who believe to still spread the fragrance of the knowledge of your Son all around us. Thank you Father. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
ReplyDelete"and help us who believe to still spread the fragrance of the knowledge of your Son all around us."
DeleteBeautiful prayer. Amen and maranatha.
"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere." 2 Corinthians 2:14
DeleteSo very well said, as always, Gary. Yes, dark but very, very real. My experience these days is "living in a black and white world" knowing there is light to come and to live in forever, but as the light is continually withdrawn from the every day experience of this earth we must strive to remain fixed and steadfast on our Hope of Glory, Jesus the Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. I, and those who believe as I do, must continually push ourselves to put one foot in front of the other in order to live and share what we know and long for with all our heart, soul and mind. Dark, yes, but comforting to know there are others who see and experience this present age as I do. Blessings - Sherry
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful to have friends like you and others here who feel the same. It's a blessing to walk together. Almost home.
DeleteHi Sherry. Nice to see you are still walking along here with us..
DeleteThanks Charlie, I'm usually here - just reading, listening, praying and with a heavy heart. Gary has summed up my feelings far better than I ever could. It is just appalling so many cannot or will not see what we see. Blessings, Sherry
DeleteAt https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/135227/iran-warns-of-war-if-zionists-enter-the-persian-gulf/ "Iran Warns of War if ‘Zionists’ Enter the Persian Gulf"
ReplyDeleteMore sabre-rattling.
Delete"A dire vision has been shown to me: The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused." (Isa. 21:2)
Dear Unsealed "Family". I have visited this site for several years (in silence) - the articles and comments have helped me grow in my faith and given me such amazing teaching and understanding. I thank you all for that. But Gary, this is the first article on this site that has brought me to heart rendering tears - it has taken me several hours to read it in full. I live in England and the walk can be very lonely at times. Most people, even in my church fellowship, think I am deranged and fanciful. They roll their eyes when I bring up anything to do eschatology. I thank our Heavenly Father every day for directing me here. I pray our Lord's Blessings, Strength and Protection on you all. Maranatha!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for chiming dear sister, I pray you will again.
Delete"and the walk can be very lonely at times."
Oh yes, very lonely indeed. Or at least it often feels that way. We can all walk together to help bear one another's burdens. Are you on Facebook? If so, check out this post from Jaco Prinsloo: https://www.facebook.com/jaco.prinsloo.315/posts/10156609636602404
Thank you so much Gary for your kindness in replying. I have just read Jaco's post that you referenced, and although it has set me off crying again, I feel comfort knowing this loneliness is shared by so many dear brothers and sisters in Christ. God Bless.
DeleteHi Jackie,
DeleteI loved watching Liverpool take down Barcelona and enjoyed hearing the fans chant/ sing "you'll never walk alone.." but what truly saddens me is the times we are in and folks are just so wrapped up in their football and just clueless as to what lies ahead. While passionate and wonderful for L'Pool, I highly doubt we could get those same fans together for the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.. kinda like a Palm Sunday to Crucifixation Day kinda thing. We'll celebrate you one day but then the next...
Maybe a little off track here but "Loneiless" and "Walking Alone" prompted my thought of you over in England with the Reds.
Charlie in DC - what an amazing, loving and faithful God we serve. You would have had no idea when responding to my post how our Heavenly Father and His Holy Spirit were using you to convey a message of encouragement and hope to a tired Sister in Christ.
DeleteI am a "Scouser", that is I was born and raised in Liverpool and still live in the Merseyside area!! The song "You'll Never Walk Alone", recorded by Gerry and the Pacemakers, is indeed the anthem for the city of Liverpool and her "red" team :D
Thank you Charlie - you and I have been mightily Blessed. Praise God
Gary,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say thank you for all that you do my dear brother. I too am sooooo thankful for finding this site and walking this journey with you guys. I have been increasingly been looking to nature for analogies of the things of God... one comes to mind in relation to the struggle so many of feel while waiting for our blessed hope in this age of utter depravity...
Envision a morning with thick fog. You can't see much more than 10' in front of you. A tree here or there, perhaps part of your house or car. Then you look up and you see a bright round circle. It is filtered by those low clouds, but it is those same low clouds that make it possible to look directly at it. Only then, in the midst of the fog, can you stare at the sun and not be blinded. Similarly, it is now, in the midst of the disorienting fog of all the lawlessness, legalism, depravity and all surrounding sin... in the midst of that only God can penetrate and with this filter His glory actually easier to take in. Yes, we may be able to stay close to only those things that are closest to us during this time (just like how we can see a tree or car in front of us) but as the fog thickens its grip on this world our only hope will continue to be The SON can we penetrate anything that surrounds us. And even if those clouds get so thick that we can't even see the actual circle, we know it is there by all of the light illuminating the day. So even now, even if you can't feel Him or see Him... you know He is there by the simple fact that you are on this site reading about the things of God. Without God drawing us to the Jesus this small act of faith on our part would not be possible.
John 6:44
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day."
Thank you brother Brad. You're my partner in faith. Apparently we have a little bit more mission to accomplish.
DeleteThat's a good analogy, btw. God is ever-present and His light is always shining even if this present darkness conceals our view of it.
Hi Gary. Just like Jackie, I am an "invisible" reader of this site. I look forward to the posts, considered a temporary joy amidst the pain as I wait to go Home. Similar to other site family members, I am reminded daily that so many of my family and friends may have to endure the pure horrors of the tribulation, including my husband. I used to share my faith with him, but over the years I find myself hiding my faith from him due to the mocking and ridiculing. All I can be for our son is a good role model and I can only pray that it will be enough so that he will accept Jesus into his heart before the true trials begin.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate all that you, Pastor Rich, Hillary, and others do for those who come to this site - most notably your humility and vulnerability. I pray that you continue to share yourselves and your research until it is time to leave.
Maranatha, J.E.
Thank you J.E. I will lift your husband and son up in prayer.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Christian Life: https://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?id=0F85
ReplyDelete1. Go to E
2. Scroll down to Experience of Life, The
In 32 years of Christianity, I can count on one hand with fingers left over book on par w/ the above.
Your article is spot-on, but read the book.
Thank you Gary, for this much needed article. We are all weary. Many thanks for the link Ben. I've already found two books to chew on. It's 37 years for me Brother.
DeleteThank you both. I've read some about Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. I think they're mentioned in a really good book I recently read called The Underground Church (best insight into the underground Church in China you'll read).
DeleteHere's a link, btw, directly to the book you cited above: https://www.ministrybooks.org/SearchMinBooksDtl.cfm?id=082F
Thank you, brother. You have captured what so many of us are feeling right now. It is getting very difficult to press on and move forward, but by God's grace, we get up and get through another day.
ReplyDeleteAnd I completely resonate with your comments on "Therapeutic Moral Deism" (a.k.a. progressive Christianity). Man, you'd think that a Christian would want to see Jesus...like yesterday. But, sadly, it is just not "pragmatic" to speak of His any-day-now, imminent return as a bonafide reality. Where's the return on that investment? (2 Pet. 3:4).
There is no security apart from Christ. Period. Just this morning I had to remind myself that only in Christ will I find true security and peace and courage. We have no other Rock (1 Sam. 2:2).
Salvation belongs to the LORD! He owns it and gives it out freely to whom He so chooses. You and I are eternally blessed.
DeleteTMD - a form of godliness, but denying its power. A great many people believe in God, but few have the genuine conviction that Christ is their only means of being reconciled to God.
Again, Thank you Gary!
ReplyDeleteReading Jeff's comment reminded me of a sermon I have to write on sinking sand. We've just returned from a short holiday at the beach. Standing in the surf with the concurrent coming and going of waves moves sand under foot that makes me loose balance. It's hard to stand in isn't it?!
But imagine standing on rock?
The waves come and go but your stance remains firm thanks to the rock you stand upon. The ONLY rock I can rely upon is Christ Jesus. Thanks for reminding me to write that sermon Jeff!!
:)
PR
Ok, sinking sand and the firm foundation of Christ are bringing to mind two favorite songs:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LByZtKPfBb8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju3Absdz3Hg
No doubt you'll be referencing Matt. 7:24-27 in that sermon, right Pastor Rich?
DeleteBINGO!!!
DeleteYou both hit the nail on the head! : )
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
In Him, my righteousness, alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
Amen!
Gary, you’ve captured and clearly articulated what so many of us are feeling. Knowing we’re not alone in our struggle and longing for Him helps all of us to continue forward in fellowship. I was greatly encouraged reading this and thank you so much for your honesty, transparency and love for Him and all of us. God Bless you dear brother.
ReplyDeleteGary, I am a long-time reader of your website and have always gained much and been blessed by posts from "UNSEALED" when they arrived in my inbox. But this one, Gary, was especially driven by the Spirit of the LORD, and probably in light of the extreme times that are now on the horizon, and because of the weariness of many of God's faithful and called-out ones. Thank you for listening to that Still Small Voice within.......Very Good Article!
ReplyDeleteHi Gary. It is the best I had ever read among all your posts. I had just read and realized you posted this on 12th August which is my birth date. The best gift I have received in my life time.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have been following this website for quite some time from the year 2017 until now. To be frank, every time I feel awakened after reading your post and it is full of God words. Of course I may not fully agree with you for certainty when it comes to God's word interpretation which we need to be careful and understandable. I know human being is not perfect and has its own limit there. Always pray for Holy spirit to guide and lead to the truth. Gary you please keep it up. I think it is time for me to be appeared myself for the first time on this post. Say hi, my name is Frankie J and I am from Malaysia. I'm glad to meet you all brother and sister in Christ.
No doubt, time is short and God timing will eventually reveal everything on His purpose just as He revealed Himself to the world and died for our sins so that we can receive eternal life. The most precious gift and promise He gave to us. Always tell ourselves we don't deserve to have, God loves us too much and He does not want everyone to perish but having eternity life. Brother and sister, we are one body in Christ and let's spread the Gospel to anyone out there who is eager and feel thirsty for His words. Until reaching the numbers of harvest and the time will come.
We have seen a lot of events which have been fulfilled from Heavenly sign, the revival of Jews and reestablished of Israel Nation, recaptured of Jerusalem and recognized of Israel as capital. All events happened in according to divine numbers which listed in Bible. A very masterpiece of consequences that replay again for the Jews, Israel and Jerusalem. There is a last thing which Jews lack of and sooner this will open eyes in front of everyone in the world; Rebuilding of so called third temple. The glory of God will shine everywhere in Jerusalem once the temple has been built. Last one thing, be prepared ourselves as awaken watchers.
My thanks to you Gary for this thought provoking article. You have managed to sum up a perfect global definition on the state of the world today. I'm getting to the point where I am afraid to watch the news on TV at night for fear of yet another mass shooting/stabbing or other monumental violence that seems to be taking over the entire planet. I have been coming to Unsealed.org for several years now because you all make me feel like I belong. I truly feel like all of my brothers and sisters in Christ are here. While we may have differing opinions here and there for the most part I have learned so much from all of you in the articles and comments and I truly thank you all!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to reach out to Jackie D in the UK as I know how you feel. I too live in a household where I cannot discuss my faith let alone eschatology. My husband is not a true believer in Lord Jesus and often mocks and ridicules me for my faith and for my belief in the Rapture.
I also had a near death experience at the age of 28 where my physical body died for several minutes and could not be resuscitated. During this time, while medical staff ran around frantically, I was kneeling in front of Lord Jesus and he told me things. Much of this I could not remember consciously upon awakening but what I did remember was the look of absolute love and adoration in his eyes. He told me that I had to return for now but in time he would come back and take me with him. I have held onto this experience for 31 years now. In the interim, I have had several prophetic dreams that I believe are about the Rapture. They all involve a huge Sun like orb, trumpet blasts that are incredibly loud and in the final dream I had on August 27, 2016 the giant Sun like orb called out to me by name with what sounded like many voices at once.
As hard as these times seem, it is nothing compared to what is coming upon this world. I so want to convince my loved ones that Lord Jesus is coming and it's going to happen soon but sadly my words fall upon deaf ears. This only adds to my angst. It is true that the narrow path is difficult and will be so until Lord Jesus comes for us. I accepted that challenge when I chose to give Lord Jesus my heartfelt faith and gratitude for his sacrifice and gift of eternal life in Him. As I always end each prayer to Lord Jesus - "with You I am everything, without You I am nothing!" Blessed be everyone.
I forgot to mention this article I found in the news yesterday. Just another planetary sign of His imminent arrival: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/lightning-struck-near-north-pole-why-strange/
ReplyDeleteThis event marked a significant transfer of Spiritual energy to the Northern army of God.
DeleteGary, this article is spot on. I struggle with grief for the unborn day and night. I wake up praying that women change their minds. I think the church is so asleep on this issue. I have spent my life educating people the importance of voting and that this is the way God has given us to fight. My husband and I have been so politically punished beyond your imagination for standing and exposing corruption and declaring Godlessness. i believe the time is here but yet we are still here. We are hanging on by a thread waiting for Christ's return!
ReplyDeleteGary, may God bless you and continue to speak through you. Thank you for being a light in the midst of the darkness.
ReplyDeleteDon't shy away from what God has revealed, too others or to you, and never forget the the ultimate truth: Jesus died and rose again, humility and ascenn-tsion, once and again. There is no Judgement but the Judgement of God. Find God's heart in scripture and reality and there you will see the truth of delayed yet coming judgement. Justice shall prevail, love will win clothed in White before the Chrystal, Sapphire, Emerald throne. You may find a truer Christian in the "Un-Christian." Who in this day will be the Judge? Mercey is in, especially for the innocent and those clothed in love. Enter through the heart of the Moon in order to access Deity. Fear is the beginning of wisdom, but not the end. True Love, personified by Jesus. I, for one, will not condemn for I believe in such a Jesus. Heaven within, heaven in your midst. Standing on love is solid Ground.
ReplyDeleteGary, I also would like to thank you for the article that helps us to see things around us in Gods light and with divine compassion for the lost and a righteous wrath against all ungodliness at the same time. It is good that your articles show both Gods love and severity otherwise it would be half true but now it is very well balanced indeed. But I always wonder how you get the right pictures and video's to clarify your points. I sure that must be Gods provision to do your work well. All glory to God.
ReplyDeleteSeraphina, thank you for sharing your testimony with us. I am always moved and touched when I read testimonies of people who had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus especially if it draws other people to repentance and faith in Christ.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGary, when we open the homepage unsealed.org your article has a red header: "As in the days of Noah". But when I click on your article I see that title no more. Anyway, "As in the days of Noah" reminded me of the gospel message that is hidden in the names of the ten generations from Adam to Noah. After some research I was surprised to see this explained by a credible source no less than Chuck Missler. See article here: https://www.khouse.org/articles/2000/284/ And you had a video of him in this article too. Can't be a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteTo summarize this point: Adam means "man". Seth means "appointed". Enosh means "mortal". Kenan means "sorrow". Mahalalel means "The Blessed God". Jared means "Shall come down". Enoch means "teaching". Methuselah means "His death shall bring". Lamech means " The despairing". Noah means "rest or comfort". To put is all together is the gospel message: Man appointed to mortality and sorrow. The blessed God shall come down teaching. His death shall bring the despairing rest and comfort.
To focus on Methuselah. His name means "His death shall bring" or more freely translated: "When he dies it shall come". This was fulfilled in that Gods judgement of the flood came in the same year Methuselah died (the 600th year of Noah). While Methuselah was alive the judgement could not come and God was showing his great longsuffering so that Methuselah became the oldest man ever.
Somehow I felt there could be a link between Methuselah (969 years old) and Billy Graham (99 years old). Both preached to their generation. After Rev. Billy Graham has completed his very long ministry of mass evangelism, and died at the significant age of 99, the great tribulation will come on those who have not repented after such a clear presentation of the gospel. And maybe the rapture will come within one year after his death like in Methuselah's case? Somehow I'm hoping that!
INTERESTING SKIES on this TU B'AV, 2019
ReplyDeleteFor those who are watching the heavens and enjoy the LORD's poetry in the stars we have some interesting conjunctions happening in advance of the Fall Feasts on this Tu B'Av, 2019.
Right now Venus is hidden in the Sun as it transits behind and around in its orbit as they approach Leo. Mars is already in Leo at Regulus (king star) also on the far side of the Sun from us. Mars was one of the crowning stars of the R12S and this year marks its first return to Leo since the R12S.
On the coming Sabbath, Saturday, August 17, 2019 Mercury will be in the Beehive Cluster. Mars will continue in conjunction before Regulus (king star) in the Constellation Leo with Venus (the bright morning star) will be hidden in the Sun as they approach Mars and Regulus. None of this will be visible to the naked eye -- you'll need software to see it.
The moon and Neptune will be in conjunction in Aquarius as Uranus (Heaven) still resides in Aries (Ram). Jupiter and Saturn remain high in the night skies on either side of the galactic plane.
This fall will see the return of Mars, Mercury and Venus in Leo to crown Virgo. Having said that, they will be on the wrong side of the Sun to create a repeat sign of 9/23/17.
You can interact with a model of our solar system at www.solarsystemscope.com or via your favourite app or software. Sky Guide is my choice for quick observations on my iPhone.
Enjoy!
PS> Did anyone notice that the Dow Industrial Average plunged 800 points on the eve of Tu B'Av? Isn't that interesting?! I'll leave it to the curious to dig on that one...
Pastor Rich, where could I find interpretation of symbolism for stars and such? I mean, you say things like "Venus in the sun" or "Mars in the Beehive" and that doesn't mean anything to me since I don't know what Mars or the Beehive cluater is supposed to represent! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSherrill777,
DeleteGood question! The most basic answer is to start with the Bible. We know that,
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech, and night
to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there
words, whose voice is not heard.
...and the Spirit continues to teach us through His Word; so the Bible is your first and best source of information. Historic and social context are another source; being a student of Hebrew culture.
Youtubers are not the best place to get your information. Not unless you know the sources of their information as being accurate and reliable.
I have found that it is as much a science as it is an art learning all of this. It requires heart and humility. A soft, teachable heart that seeks the LORD first and is eager to learn as much as a critically thinking mind that questions and weighs what you find.
James says it best,
5 If any of you lacks wisdom,
let him ask God, who gives
generously to all without
reproach, and it will be given
him.
(James 1:5 ESV)
That pretty well says it doesn't it? But if you ask, do so in all faith and humility as James continues. Be a student of not just James or the Psalms but of all the Bible in your pursuits.
Okay, how about something more specific?
Venus in the sun.
Is Venus mentioned in the Bible? Search for it. If so, do you believe it represents anything? Do Jewish traditions or Scripture provide context or meaning? What are known scientific facts that we can quantify? How about the Sun? What may it represent? Can either the Sun or Venus be shadows of something greater?
(Hint: Venus is also known as the "Morning Star")
Do we see stars in the Bible? If so, where and what do they represent? What function(s) do they serve?
There are so many questions one may ask with the first question always being rendered to the LORD Himself in prayer.
I tend not to go to Youtubers for my information. Sometimes you can find interesting leads there but you've got to be good at digging on their claims to confirm or debunk them quickly.
The Holy Spirit Himself is your first best teacher. Look to Him first.
Excellent! :)
ReplyDeleteGary, did you ever watch Chuck Missler's - The Encroaching Darkness?
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJXwGy222E
Just a great article, Gary. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned how so much evil that has been under wraps for so long is now being exposed, and it certainly is. Not only that, however, but here lately some high-profile Christian leaders have been very publicly questioning and renouncing their faith (be it genuine or otherwise).
Quote of the Day:
"The Christian life has its hardships and difficulties, but salvation itself isn't one of them."
I am so stealing that.
I just have to put this on your web site! I have listened to this song many many times in the past few weeks. I hope your readers can find the beauty, simplicity and soon coming reality of this song:
ReplyDeleteYoutube: When I get where I I'm going by Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton. Please listen to the whole song. I can't get enough of it. I hope it blesses you all as much as it has me.
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ReplyDelete"This is the generation that will witness Christ's visible return to earth and those with faith in Him now will escape years before."
ReplyDeletePlease define "this...generation".
But even before I read your response, I expect that I will be here one day after your definition of "this generation" passes; in the same way that I'm still here after September 2017.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but "this generation", or words to that effect, are already in the Bible. And yet we're all still here.
The trauma you've experienced is evident in your post. I truly hope you find peace. But drawing a line in the sand, as you've done with this post, will not heal your wounds. Harold Camping also drew a line in the sand.
Your suffering has nothing to do with Christ's return. Many Saints have suffered with no expectation that Christ would return in their day. What makes you any different?
Live for today.
23 Let us hold fast the confession
Deleteof our hope without wavering, for
he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how to
stir up one another to love and
good works.
25 not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but
encouraging one another, and all
the more as you see the Day drawing
near.
(Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV)
The Sunday Times about the Brexit. At https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/operation-chaos-whitehalls-secret-no-deal-brexit-plan-leaked-j6ntwvhll "Operation Chaos: Whitehall’s secret no‑deal Brexit preparations leaked The Sunday Times obtains the government’s classified ‘Yellowhammer’ report in full". A no deal Brexit is expected to cause shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
ReplyDeleteWhat has the Brexit to do with the Rapture and antichrist coming to power from Europe?
MIDEAST PEACE PLAN RELEASE
ReplyDeleteTrump says Mideast peace plan likely released after Israel elections
Quoting, i24news.tv,
"US President Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters that the long-awaited Mideast peace plan likely won't be unveiled until after Israel's September 17 national elections, but bits and pieces may be revealed beforehand."
Gary, I only wish to reiterate what others have stated here. I'm unable to give their comments and encouragements a thumbs up since that function is not built in. So I will say, now that I have had some time to read this, your words are timely and perfectly stated. This reads like a well-crafted book and needs to be on every night stand. I long to tell everyone this truth. Oh that they will listen and know that we come in love! I'd want someone to tell me this if I didn't know it. Truth is urgent and critical in spite of the specious difficulty in accepting it.
ReplyDeleteThis is from Grace Through Faith and so fits: "...above it all stands God’s Law, and like gravity we’re subject to it even if we deny it. Even those who fight most strongly against God’s Law do so with increasing irrationality, as if knowing at some level that it must be true. What this means is that the time is rapidly approaching when the Personification of the Law, the only one ever to keep it, will return to administer it with an iron scepter (Psalm 2:9) in a world that has gone mad with rebellion. And when He does, we’ll finally have peace."
ReplyDeleteJenny, "a world that has gone mad with rebellion". How very apt; touche.
DeletePhillipians 4:8 "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
ReplyDeleteDon't let the world drag you too far into negative thoughts. My advice: take time to tune out the world and focus on Christ. We cannot save the world, and we're not supposed to. We cannot do the work of the Holy Spirit. How any of us is saved is a part of the mystery. We get to participate in the process, but we are not doing the actual saving. We need to remember that.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight."
Depression is another device of the enemy, and it is a powerful one. I speak from experience. Keep your eyes on Christ. He is coming soon!
Good Advise, thank you Brother (or sister), We cannot save anybody. We are just seed planters, and some times seed waterers. But the growth comes from the LORD. Those who have been pre-destined to believe the gospel. Will do so. Blessings to you.
DeleteHEAVENLY PIN-POINTS: A SIGN OF OUR TIMES?
ReplyDeleteThese are the skies above Jerusalem right now as the Sun sets on Israel. Our Sun is in the constellation Leo and is joined by an heavenly host in a rare and spectacular way.
[image width="100%" height="100%" src="http://www.firstflightmedia.com/unsealed/IMG_8495.jpg"/]
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech, and night
to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there
words, whose voice is not heard.
(Psalm 19:1-3 ESV)
The heavens are in an interesting season. The Sun is spinning its way around to the constellation Leo and coming into conjunction with Regulus. Mars has returned to Leo for the first time since the R12S. Both Sun and Mars are in conjunction with Regulus right now! But that's not all. Venus is still hidden in the Sun as it passes behind our star in its orbit. Mercury is between the Sun and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer on its return toward Leo.
That's like a triple conjunction of Regulus!
But wait, come the end of the month of August, Sun, Super Black New Moon, Mars, Mercury and Venus will all be congregated such that they make a line across the inner solar system. You can see this alignment in programs like Sky Guide or for FREE online using Solar System Scope.
Here's a screenshot in case you've been missing out!
[image width="100%" height="100%" src="http://www.firstflightmedia.com/unsealed/SCR_0001.jpg"/]
Friday, August 30, 2019 will see the second of three Super Black New Moons of this season. They occur about every 33-months and although not directly visible, you can see how close the Moon is to Earth once it becomes visible as a waxing crescent.
New moon festivals and the sighting of the new moon are part of Scripture and Hebrew tradition. They are well worth investigating on the way to understanding the meaning, purpose and symbolism(s). It's all a clock-work in the sky -- a system set in motion by our Father for which nobody can alter.
What are they saying?
I am asking those questions too.
For your study and prayerful consideration,
PR
I posted this on the Rev12 blog but wanted to add it here too.
ReplyDeletehttps://pjmedia.com/faith/shocking-report-persecution-of-christians-worldwide-close-to-genocide/
Beautiful, eloquent, convicting, hopeful, filled with the love of Christ! Thank you Gary!
ReplyDeleteI keep returning to these a lot lately:
ReplyDelete___
Daniel 8:27
I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days.
Then I got up and went about the king’s business.
I was devastated by the vision; it was beyond understanding.
___
Psalm 37:10
A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
___
Proverbs 8:35-36
For whoever finds Me finds life
and obtains the favor of the LORD;
but he who fails to find Me harms himself;
all who hate Me love death.”
___
Revelation 3:8-12
I know your deeds.
See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut.
For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.
Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead.
I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.
Because you have kept My command to endure with patience, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
I am coming soon.
Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it.
Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.
___
Even so, Come soon Lord Jesus! <3
I too have suffered childhood trauma, CPTSD and suicidal ideation. I was dramatically saved and filled witb the Holy spirit 25 years ago. I hate this world and i hate this life but at least i am clear why things are this way and assured of the hope in Christ to come. Thankyou for sharing this, bless you brother.
ReplyDelete