Those who had conquered the beast. Revelation 15:2

Posted on 11/05/2015 by remso

The Apostle John described what he saw – good news mixed with bad; bad only in the regard that those on the earth at this time will have to endure more tortuous wrath.

Question: What do you believe? If you are “non-religious” – meaning you refuse to take part in any religion, as you are a religion unto yourself, then you either have no idea what to believe; or, you merely refuse anything that conflicts with you personal moral standard. You noted that I said you are a religion unto yourself, that is because you have a moral standard upon which your personal religious system is based. To prove you have a moral standard consider a few examples and ask yourself how you would honestly react:

To someone raping your wife or little daughter?
If someone stole your drugs or personal belongings?
To someone trying to kill you?

Why would it matter to you? It matters because you have a moral standard and there are some things that are just not right, even to you.

The next, and obvious question is, upon whom or what do you base your moral standard, because all standards have some baseline of good. Think about a particular food you like to eat; have you had some that causes you to think back on it with fondness? Of course you have. It then becomes the standard upon which you decide if something called by the same name is good or not, because you have a baseline upon which you judge something.

Since you have a moral standard, then do you declare that standard to others? If you contrived your own standard for living, it may sound something like this, touch my stuff and I will kill you. Admittedly, there is no attractive draw to your religion, but it is a common mantra among those who also include the idea that what is yours is mine.

(I wanted to sound like Norm Geisler: normangeisler.net, or Ravi Zacharias: RZIM.org, giving you a clear, profound definition, but I did not have time, nor do I have the enthusiasm to do so. I kept thinking about man left to his own inclinations, because that seems to the theme without God. Most believe that they are making the decision to be or do good on their own, however scripture does not tells us that.)

Gen 6:5-7 LITV And Jehovah saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day long. (6) And Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved to His heart. (7) And Jehovah said, I will wipe off man whom I have created from the face of the earth, from man to beast, to the creeping thing and to the birds of the heavens; for I repent that I made them.

Genesis chapter 6 describes man making his own decisions, and it was not good. Sure there were exceptions, like Methuselah, Enoch, and Noah’s family. But do you realize that the entire time Noah worked on that ark he was telling people about the character of God and what was coming. They all had the option of joining him. How many followed Noah and God? NONE.

The obvious point I am making here, is that God is the moral standard, and if you were honest, you would admit that you know that. I know you know that because an aspect of the original sin was to know good and evil. Since God is good, then you do know Him and are going to be held responsible for that knowledge. Doesn’t that just suck!

God did an amazing thing for the people who walk upon this earth; since they choose to ignore his moral standard, something he knew they would do, he sent his own son to die in our place, on a cross, at the hands of the Jewish high priest, just as prophecy said he would. God had to do that because Adam, the first man, chose to flex his own moral standard and apparently tweaked our DNA. From that moment forward we all had a preference toward doing our own thing, some just take it farther than the others and in time they are killed or caught.

So this amazing, unselfish act by God, bought us out from under the penalty of that brokenness we have within us. We no longer have to pay the penalty of death for our sins (as far as God is concerned), but we now have to make a decision, what will we do with the Son who died on our behalf. We have to either accept this Jesus, as the Son, the Sacrifice, and the Savior, OR, we reject him.

And this brings me back to my question, what do you believe?

If you believe that Jesus Christ is your salvation, that is a good thing, that makes you a follower, and as a follower, we have the promise that he will come again (soon) and extract those that are his out of here before God pours out his wrath upon those that have rejected Him. The bad news is that Jesus himself said that those who choose to follow him will have tribulations in this world. There is no escape from the evil that people will commit, and much of that will be in the name of their religion. And there is little relief, for most, from the pains of scratching out an existence. Yeah, I know, there are always exceptions, but the filthy rich will have their day of judgment as well – I see them described in my bible as well.

In my last post I focused on verse one of Revelation 15, (NIV) “I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues–last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.” I noted that this does not give the reader any precise time frame, but if we are to read chronologically, this is a continuation of the wrath, but when it is done there will be a glorious end.

This seven years of wrath if filled not only God’s judgment being poured out on earth, but the extreme violence that man can and will do upon their fellow-man.

Inserted into this pain and destruction are three verses that exude God’s magnificence.

Rev 15:2-4 ESV And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire–and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. (3) And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! (4) Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Reflection of fire in glass

This sea of glass mingled with fire might be the same as Rev 4:6 AMP And in front of the throne there was also what looked like a transparent glassy sea, as if of crystal..” However, they are clearly different in description.

“and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.”

Who do we see standing beside the sea of glass?

“Those who had conquered the beast the and its image and the number of its name”

We need to stop and ponder this a moment. What is one of the first things prominent within this sentence?

“Those who had conquered the beast”

Why should this demand any special consideration?

As followers of Christ, just as the disciples were, what is our method of operation? To answer that you need to consider what James and John were willing to do.

Luke 9:52-56 ESV And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. (53) But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. (54) And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (55) KJV But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. (56) For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

(Take note: Infiltration and the watering down of something to the point that you no longer hold that belief tightly, but merely accept what you hear as truth, is subtle. An example of this just presented itself to me as I was looking at translations, trying to find one that clearly conveyed the destructive nature of James and John’s question, while demonstrating the true nature and character of God – that Jesus was living out in front of them. If you paid attention, you noticed in the verse above that I switched translations when I got to verse fifty-five. Why do that? Because in the ESV, which I use with frequency, it merely says: “But he turned and rebuked them. (56) And they went on to another village.” Why, it might as well tell us that they stopped to pick daisies along the way. The ESV stripped the power right out of the moment, and it eliminated your ability to see the true nature of not only God, but our mission here on earth.)

A second verse to take note of comes from Matthew’s gospel.

Matthew 10:16 AMP Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves.

Jesus never told us to be mindless, spineless sheep. We do however have the admonition to be wary, and strangely, wise like a serpent. Since we really only have the one serpent for an example – Satan in the garden, his actions prove that he listened and thought through some of God’s reasons for the purpose of watering them down with some twisted logic.

(The Greek word for wise, as used by Matthew, also means thoughtful, or discreet.)

How do I apply that to my life as a believer?

Paul had something to say about that.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 KJV (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds😉 (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

So you are to analyze what is being said. Not only what the “world” dishes out, but anything the “Church” tosses out as truth, as well. Things sometimes sound logical. As I pointed out, this twisting of the truth worked for Satan.

(Since the church is really the people that comprise it, then the admonition is to pay attention to everything thrown at you. Your ability to judge quickly is in proportion to your understanding of God’s Word, and that only comes through your thoughtful reading of scripture.)

Look at the words again: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God”

Casting down – is the Greek word kathaireo, and it gives us two levels of approach “to lower (or with violence) demolish”. Some things just need to be pushed down and out-of-the-way, but some ideas and teachings need to be destroyed and demolished. Keep in mind that we are using God’s word as the basis for assessment, not our opinion.
Imaginations means to reason. No one is asking you to stop thinking. Just stop thinking on things that destroy God’s character and diminish his love for you, because God will never stop loving you, and you certainly can’t destroy his character. You take in enough garbage and you might destroy how you think about God, and your own good will toward him.
Every high thing – are the things man has lifted up. At least once a week I hear about a “pastor” or a collection of them, exalting some new governmental atrocity, as though God had changed His heart and we are to now accept it as normal.
That exalts itself against the knowledge of God – This seems to imply that it is raising itself up. The Greek word also defines the word as exalt self. Any thinking person can take this two ways, and neither are good in the context of this verse.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 goes on to tell us to be “innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves.” Doves seem to do little else besides eat and make cooing sounds. The question really is, how do I blend all these attributes in one package: Wary; wise, and harmless in appearance? My answer to that question is, just allow God to deal with that in us. That is why we have His Word and the Holy Spirit – remember: the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you into all truth.

John 16:13 KJV Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Again, our passage in Revelation 15:2 says, “Those who had conquered the beast the and its image and the number of its name”.

Of the thousands in the Middle East who have been tortured and lost their lives, how many were victorious or conquered the beast? It is hard to perceive of any, unless of course standing their ground, and not denying the name of the Lord is really what we are talking about here.

The problem is, the human mind does not perceive conquering in that way; it sees the beast as done away with and gone. Where is the problem with that? The problem in seeing this as a destruction of the beast lies in the fact that the beast is only truly dispatched when Jesus returns to earth and physically casts the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire.

What then does it mean to conquer?

Since conquer is the Greek word nikaō / nik-ah’-o, and means to subdue (literally or figuratively): – conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory.

It becomes a little easier to see that we do something to that effect when we apply some faith to our lives.
One last thing on Revelation 15:2. It speaks of conquering not just the beast, but the image, and the number of its name.

The beast does not even present itself until the church is removed from the earth. Okay, fine, I will show you.

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ESV (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (8) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

[The word restrain was also translated as let or letteth. Let is old English for hinder, prevent. In Greek it is katecho and means to hold down (fast). Much like a policeman might.]

How does one conquer what they cannot see?

Let me explain. In Revelation 13 we get a tremendous amount of information, however, it is rather cryptic, and like the decoder rings we used to get as children, you have to decipher the code by going back through scripture, comparing terminology.

By the time we get to Revelation 13:11 we have already seen a multi-headed beast arise from the sea. While this aspect of the sea throws some people, by doing our homework we find that it merely means a vast quantity of people spread over a wide area. Verse 11 presents us with another beast, but it rises out of the earth. Again it is coming out of a people group, but the earth tells us that it is from a locale. While these things play a role, the important for people living during this time period (the seven years of God’s wrath and judgment) is what it does.

Revelation 13:11-18 ESV (11) Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. (12) It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. (13) It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, (14) and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. (15) And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. (16) Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, (17) so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. (18) This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

If I only consider the imagery of the first and second beasts I have no way of visualizing what I am looking for outside of some bizarre mythical characterization. I will give you some clues to understand this mess.

Beast number one – Revelation 13:1-2 GNB “… Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads; on each of its horns there was a crown, and on each of its heads there was a name that was insulting to God. (2) The beast looked like a leopard, with feet like a bear’s feet and a mouth like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his own power, his throne, and his vast authority.” The prophet Daniel had problems with this as well and he asked for an explanation. What he got was that it was empires and the Babylonian empire was the first. So, in this form, it is ruling bodies or governments.
In Revelation 13:3, one of its heads sustains what the world perceives as a mortal wound. In other words the world thinks this ruling body is dead. Why would the “world” care, unless it affected their economy, or was a threat to their safety. Well there was an entity like this. It started around 640 A.D., and continued being a thorn in the world’s flesh until 1924. This was the Islamic caliphates; the last being the Ottoman empire.
Out of this particular empire – No, scripture does not specifically label the empire, but we have some great clues – comes a spokesman, (a mouth.) This is the Antichrist we see in scripture. (A common description of this spokesman says that he makes a seven-year peace treaty with Israel, and therefore we look for someone to do that. But that is not what scripture tells us. It says he makes a seven-year treaty with many. We just assumed that Israel would be included. The things that have alerted the Christian community is the fact that America leadership has turned its back on Israel, while making treaties with the sworn enemy of Israel – Iran. Someone is making treaties for something we never thought we would see is Russia and China inserting themselves in Syria.) Some have speculated that the American President Obama is the Antichrist. I do not think so, but the White House posted a picture on their twitter account showing Obama holding a crown, and there is a bow lying on the floor in front of his feet. This is symbology that we see in Revelation 6:2. Those that republished the photo say that it is photoshop’d but note that the White House may be trying to say something by publishing it.
The second beast – another man who quickly represents all that the beast is and wants – rises up from the earth. If we are talking about the Muslim world, then I suspect this person will come out of one of those nations. So in a sense the beast out of the earth represents someone more local for the Muslim community. Therefore I anticipate this man coming out of the Middle East.
This second beast – Islam calls him Jesus, just as we do – shows up around the 1260 day mark of the time of God’s wrath. Because of the signs he performs, he is believed by many, and he causes many to convert to Islam. He will also create an image of the beast. Remember how the beast is introduced to us as a seven headed monstrosity. Since these multiple empires have a common theme, that theme may be Allah. Allah was a creation of Muhammad, therefore no one knows what he looks like either. Nonetheless, this “beast” makes an image, animates it, and causes everyone to worship it. Those refusing to worship the beast, the image, and take its mark, are killed.

So I am overcoming a beast, which I am not even sure what it looks like, and, its image and number of its name.

Because of the chronology and the known entrance of the second beast, I can guarantee that these who are portrayed as standing around the sea of glass mixed with fire, were well aware of who each of these enemies are. Since I kinda covered the image aspect in the bullet-ed overview section, I want to talk about something I noticed, and it is this phrase – the number of its name.

Our first encounter with this cryptic description is found in Revelation 13. I want you to see the typical representation first and then the Amplified because in a strange way, the Amplified may shed a little light. However I cannot explain either of these adequately, and this playing with numbers is Gematria and confusing at best.

Revelation 13:18 ESV This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Revelation 13:18 AMP Here is [room for] discernment [a call for the wisdom of interpretation]. Let anyone who has intelligence (penetration and insight enough) calculate the number of the beast, for it is a human number [the number of a certain man]; his number is 666.

As I pondered this phrase: “those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name,” it occurs to me that this could convey the number, in total, of those who march under the orders or name of this entity/beast. Since this verse 15:2 makes no directive to interpret “the number of its name” I felt compelled to look up the Greek words.

number

G706 – arithmos/ar-ith-mos’

From G142; a number (as reckoned up): – number.

of his name

G3686 – onoma/on’-om-ah

From a presumed derivative of the base of G1097 (compare G3685); a ?name? (literally or figuratively), (authority, character): – called, (+ sur-) name (-d).

If the central core of the multi-headed beast we see in Revelation 13 is Islam, then the name may well be Allah and the rules of engagement come from the Qur’an. The number, and as we can see from the Greek, is a calculated quantity. The implication of that is an overwhelming quantity. Is this starting to make sense to anyone? An overwhelming quantity of people, submitted to Allah, running around the world, killing anyone who does not submit.

Wow, that sounds like Islam to me.

Ask yourself why any of this is important. If, you are a believer, and not just the person who says, “I go to church”, but you have an active exuberance for Christ. That means you personally know, the one who died on the cross and rose again, fulfilling God’s promises so that you might have an abundant life. It also means you have a lively hope in his return which is specifically to catch his church away. That catching away is intentional so that those who are part of that church, and still alive here on earth at that time would not have to go through the wrath that is coming.

If by some chance, the rapture has come and you are reading this, then know this – His love and arms are still extended to you. The Holy Spirit of God is in the earth drawing you to him. Accept his love for you, turn your life over to him, and you will be received into the kingdom. That’s the good news. The bad news is that some crazed group of people will probably kill you for taking a stance for Christ instead of the god they are pushing. Stand your ground and shortly you will find yourself standing before the one who has loved you since the beginning of time.

Posted in End times, Hope, Prophetic, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged antichrist, Belief, Bible, Christ, conquer, end times, God, Holy spirit, Islam, Jesus, Martyred, rapture, Revelation, Saints, the beast, victorious | Leave a comment

“for with them the wrath of God is finished.” Revelation 15:1

Posted on 10/22/2015 by remso

Seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

This may not be as exciting as some of my other posts, but I wanted to continue to migrate through Revelation. I am disregarding the admonition I got from Bible Study Fellowship, that “no one really understands the Revelation.” While that may be true, I refuse to accept that. I believe that the Revelation was meant to be understood, even more so today, and, If I approach the book with the attitude that I can understand it, then I will be ahead of the game.

I got some good news, and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first? That always cracks me up when my grandson says it. It does not matter what you say, he is going to tell you what he wanted you to hear.

seven angels with seven plagues
which are the last
for with them the wrath of God is finished

Revelation 15:1 ESV Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

Is this the same as what we see in Revelation 8?

Revelation 8:7 ESV The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

There are seven angels once again, but no it is not. In Revelation 8:7 the destruction is announced with trumpets; for now we are looking at seven golden vials, and this is seen in Revelation 15:7.

Just to make the statement, “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished”, could give one the impression that the fury of God was just getting started. It started alright – we saw that back in chapter six – but now it will end; when it will end is not that clear because God does not give us calendar dates to go by.

“Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.”

Another sign – allos – a different sign, different from the others.

in heaven, – ouranos – the sky

great – megas – exceedingly big

and marvellous (amazing), – thaumastos – wondered at, causing amazement joined with terror. In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter used this word thaumastos when he said, “we were called out of darkness into his marvellous light”. We were called into a light that we will look on in wonder.

“another sign in heaven, …, seven angels with seven plagues,”

Seven angels, with seven plagues, filling the sky with such a display that you stand in awe trying to take it in. The oddity is, what they bring is not good, and yet is an indicator of the end of God’s wrath being poured out upon Israel, and the nations.

Consider that phrase for a moment – The end of wrath (how my hearts longs for an end to the violence and we, here in America, do not even know what violence looks like) – and yet, when Jesus returns to earth (physically) he comes with a sword and an army. At that time the blood of those who withstand him, will flow in the streets. Is that not an aspect of his wrath? Perhaps, however I cannot exclude this scenario from the wrath, yet at this point it is directed at those who are specifically fighting against Yahweh.

So many want proof that I am not just making up these concepts, and others have deeply ingrained misunderstandings, refusing to accept truth, even if they are shown from the Word, but here goes any way.

Rev 19:19-21 ESV And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. (20) And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. (21) And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

Pay attention to the words – “the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.” So we are seeing Christ and the armies of heaven, coming against armies amassed against him. Verse 21 tells us that the armies are the slain.

We see in Zechariah 14:16 ESV – “Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.”

This particular battle, Armageddon, does not eliminate everyone, and we know this because we see survivors among the nations who are made to come every year and take part in the feast of Tabernacles. They are made to bow. Refusal costs you the rain, and a second refusal ends in a plague that consumes you almost instantly.

There are so many other scriptures that I can give you to show that there are many that are deemed without the Lord, that go into the millennium.

His name is Jesus. He will either return shortly, for those who await him, or you can be caught up in the wrath poured out upon the nations and Israel. I would get to know him now, while we still have his grace being poured out upon the earth. Ask him to make himself real to you. It’s like reserving your seat early.

Posted in End times, Prophetic, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged angels, Armegeddon, Book of Revelation, end times, Great Tribulation, Heaven, Jesus Christ, last days, prophecy, the wrath of God | Leave a comment

The question was asked, is the Holy Spirit still involved in the earth after the rapture.

Posted on 10/13/2015 by remso

“Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.”

The question was asked, is the Holy Spirit still involved in the earth after the rapture.

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ESV (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (8) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

While many translate this passage with the word “he”, that word improperly conveys the sense that we need to understand.

Dake’s commentary tells us: “The only argument used to prove that Holy Spirit is the hinderer of this passage is the pronoun he. It is believed that the church could not be referred to as he because it is the bride of Christ; that the church is spoken of as a virgin, a woman, and that it is referred to by feminine pronouns.

On the Contrary, the Church is:

Not referred to by feminine pronouns
Never symbolized by a woman
Never called the bride of Christ

Revelation 21:9-10 ESV Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” (10) And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
The church is called a man

Ephesians 2:14-15 ESV For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (15) by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

Ephesians 4:13 ESV until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
The body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 KJV (12) For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:27 KJV (27) Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Ephesians 1:22-23 KJV And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (23) Which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all.

Colossians 1:18 KJV And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Colossians 1:24 KJV Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Since we are “in Christ”, then it safe to assume that as he is, so are we in this world, and Christ is a man. Yes, I realize that this is a simple answer but to the educated with a Berean attitude, it works.

Dake’s conclusion, and mine:

The hinderer of lawlessness must therefore refer to the Church being taken out of the world.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 Murdock (6) And now, ye know what hinders his being manifested in his time. (7) For the mystery of the evil One already begins to be operative: and only, if that which now hinders shall be taken from the midst;

Now, there is no denying the Holy Spirit plays a role in empowering those who are willing to do battle against a formidable opponent, but it is possible, and you are not alone; there are others like you, with a comparable spirit and they are standing with you against the enemy being unleashed in full force.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSewiB8O18Ty_cAcBTsPzwI9iHRvyeLGAqtA87SGktBC2j0Jbs9AA

The Holy Spirit like a dove

Just because the Church gets removed from the earth does not mean that the Holy Spirit gets removed as well. Allow me to make my point.

Peter stood on the day of Pentecost and quoted from Joel chapter 2. He did not quote the entire chapter, it was not pertinent, but there was certainly a context even to what he quoted, and yet by unction of the Holy Spirit he stated that this prophecy had been fulfilled in the hearing of the Jews and visitors in Jerusalem that day. What did he say?

Joel 2:28-29 ESV “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. (29) Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

Is this what we see today, God pouring out his spirit upon all flesh? It does not seem like here in America, but it is happening, as Muslims are coming to Jesus in record numbers.

What then is the context of Joel 2?

Joel 2:1-2 ESV Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, (2) a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

Joel 2:10 ESV The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Joel 2:30-31 ESV “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. (31) The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

What the Prophet Joel spoke of is the end of time; the time of judgment upon the earth. Considering the number of volcanoes spewing columns of smoke into the air, and smog so bad that many Chinese cannot even see the sun, where are we in this time-table?

Since the Holy Spirit saw fit to use the Hebrew for the Holy Spirit (ruach) wouldn’t it be appropriate to think that the Holy Spirit continues doing its work during the seven-years of wrath as well, and we can see this in Zechariah’s prophecy.

Zechariah made an interesting prophecy:

Zechariah 12:10 ESV “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

When the Jews put him on the cross, did they mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, or over a firstborn? No, they mocked and laughed him to scorn. So obviously Zechariah is talking about the end of time, when they shall physically see him once again.

What is it that causes them to mourn? It is a spirit of grace and mercy. Does that come from anything other than the Holy Spirit? No. Isaiah the prophet used the word ruach as well.

Isaiah 59:21 ESV “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

As convincingly as we discovered that it is the Church that hinders the Antichrist from erupting upon the world, we find that the Holy Spirit of God is still a vital aspect of the end times. There are examples to be found showing people being drawn to God, the Father.

John 6:44 ESV No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

I can hear the whining now, “You said the Holy Spirit is an aspect of the end times, and yet you are talking about ‘the Father who sent me’ drawing them.” Let me ask you, how many names does the Father have? In Genesis 1:1 he is called Elohim.

‘ĕlôhı̂ym – el-o-heem’ – Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God.

So God, the Father is a plural God, therefore He sent the Holy Spirit, and we know that because people are still drawn to the Father.

We try to attribute the drawing to an act of the Holy Spirit, but search for that combination of words and you will not find it. You will however find things like:

John 12:32 KJV And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Now we have two references of being drawn and they are both from John’s gospel. One speaks of Jesus doing the drawing, while the other speaks of God the Father doing the drawing.

Now which is it?

1 John 5:8 BBE There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood: and all three are in agreement.

Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” So this goes for the Spirit as well. They are in complete unity and operation.

Avoid the time of wrath if you can, enlist now. Romans 10:9 ESV because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Posted in End times, Hope, In Christ, Prophetic, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Apostle Peter, Body of Christ, Christ, end times, Faith, God, God's word, Holy spirit, Jesus, last days, Pentecost, Prophet Joel, rapture, Scripture, the church, thoughts | Leave a comment

To every nation and tribe and language and people. Revelation 14:6-7

Posted on 10/10/2015 by remso

One of the aspects of Revelation chapter 14 is the feeling that we have been thrown back to minutes after the rapture once again.

Why would I say that?

Because if you walked through chapter 13 with me, then you saw the beasts come full force against Israel and the world. The timing of chapter 13 puts us well into the seven year-period, beyond the halfway point. The false prophet is causing all to take the mark, worship the beast, and worship the image that talks, refusal to do so means death.

Since we all seem to read Revelation with a chronological mindset, we get confused when we hit some of the terminology that Chapter 14 gives us. Let me show you what I mean.

Walk with power on the earth.

Revelation 14:3-4 ESV “…, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (4) It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, …”

Key phrases are:

“before the throne”
“who had been redeemed from the earth.”
“Redeemed from mankind”
“as first fruits for God”

These are all phrases that tell me that something else has happened before the 144,000 got placed here.

Revelation 7:2-3 tells us that:

“…another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, (3) saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

I point this out because it demonstrates that the 144,000 are marked prior to God unleashing his wrath upon the earth. That wrath is an integral aspect of the seven years that everyone likes to improperly call the tribulation. Death at the hands of evil men is also an aspect of the seven-year period, and it is possible that these have met their fate at their hands.

So with verses 6 and 7 of Revelation 14, we are pulled backward to the beginning of that seven years.

“Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:6-7 ESV)

I made the statement to an acquaintance from church that there is nothing holding God back from returning for his church. He angrily replied that not everyone had received the gospel (apparently in written form) and Jesus could not come yet. Isn’t that funny how we think we can tell God what he can do? I responded to his rant with my version of Revelation 14:6-7 by saying God had that problem covered as an angel will fly around the earth preaching about Jesus. Sadly, at that moment, I could not give him scripture, so I don’t think he was moved enough to believe it. (Paul had a similar problem in that he was preaching what we now call the New Testament, but he was preaching it to Jews who staunchly held to the Old Testament. One group, called the Bereans, went back to their synagogues and searched for these things Paul said and proved them for themselves.

In what?

The Old Testament and they found them to be true and therefore believed. You need to look things up in scripture when you are not sure if what someone says is true. Then you can believe or reject it as garbage.)

Sadly, for those living during this time of God’s wrath, the atrocities will be beyond words, and that is just the violence that people will commit against each other.

“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come,”

Think about that, a time to fear God, but it is also a time to give him glory.

Who is he talking to?

These are those who did not make the cut, those that allegedly never heard the gospel message and those that flat-out rejected him. Let’s break this down a bit more.

We, religious, tend to say that those who are left have no chance. This group, according to Matthew 25, sits beside many of us in church. Some belong to religious groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormon church. I can just about guarantee you that a few of them actually believe in Jesus Christ as the savior. Just for the sake of argument, let’s assume that they don’t. In a quick instant, these various groups will come to the realization that they were misled. I suspect the rapture of the church will be an eye-opening moment, as well as a deep sense of grief when so many realize that they missed the chance for the grace of God.

Having missed the rapture, what options are left to you?

Get something clear in your head. You have been forgiven through Christ’s death on the cross, but you chose not to sign onto the team. Ask Him into your life just as people have begged you to do for years now.

Jesus told us that in this world, you will have tribulations, and since you have now found yourself in the seven years of God’s wrath on earth, I suggest you strap yourself in for the ride of your life.

Islam is going to rise up as the dominant world religion, and they will not tolerate anyone outside of Islam breathing the same air as themselves. They will try to kill you, and if you make it to the halfway point of the seven-year period, it only gets worse.
I believe that most of the major nations are deeply involved in things like Agenda 2030. Therefore, they, too, will try to reduce the global population. That is one of the reasons that there are guillotines at the FEMA camps scattered across this nation of America. (I originally published this in 2015, and sadly, due to my naivete, I did not realize then that all the medical procedures that have been shoved down our throats, along with destructive events like fires, are all meant to force you to need and submit to big government influence and enforce the so-called need to have a global economy that allows them to track and control every move you make.)
Marshall law will be declared, and people will be shot. As I made mention, religion will be made illegal under penalty of death. (Again, I published this in 2015. Eight years later, Michigan’s legislators passed a bill that makes it a felony to misgender another human being. Followers of Christ, who lean heavily on the Bible, have many scriptures that speak against homosexuality as a disgusting sin. In time Christians will be tracked down and killed.)
Oh, and the hundred-pound hailstones and earthquakes among the mix that are meant to kill people.

Joel chapter two says that in the last days that God would pour out his spirit upon all flesh, and then you shall do mighty and amazing things.

Joel 2:28-29, 32 ESV “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. (29) Even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my Spirit. (32) And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

The general impression I get is that the world continues to find the hope that is in Jesus during a rather hopeless time.

Have you ever thought about why Christianity has developed such skillful apologists – those who go out and argue on behalf of God?

It is because the Bible, God’s Word, is provable and real. Jesus spent a great deal of time telling the disciples, and us, that all things are as he said, and then – just as he said – he allowed the Jewish leadership to kill him for the purpose of paying our debt and then rising again – just as he said – to give us the assurance that there is an eternity with the Father.

Look, I get it. The Christian church has not provided many great examples to follow, and because God will have taken those of us who know what a passionate life looks like out of here – you may not have a clue how to act. I am telling you that this time you will find yourself in is not the time to act like a pansy. You are going to be in warfare. If there is no one else to lead you, then there will be two witnesses from God who show up in the streets of Jerusalem, follow their lead, and do what they do.

You have a voice; use it. Put your faith in Jesus Christ, for there is power in the name of Jesus that will never change.

Part the waters when necessary;

Declare healing over the sick and wounded;

If necessary, call fire down from heaven, in the name of Jesus, upon those who wish to harm you.

If you find yourself here during this time – do it. All the rules will have changed except God’s, and He empowered those who put their trust in Him to do exceptional things. Determine now to walk fearlessly through this earth. Oh, they will eventually kill you, but in that instant, you will be with the Father.

They either bow to the God you serve, or they die trying to harm you. When they came to take Elisha captive, he cooked two regiments with fire from God. The third bowed before the God of Elisha’s and begged him to come with them. Elisha chose to come with that man. It is your choice.

Find a copy of the movie The Matrix; there is a scene in which Neo figures out what he is capable of. You, too, are capable of acting like the prophets of old. There is nothing to stop you. Use the power in the name of Jesus and change the course of rivers if you must.

Better yet, try living that way today.

Posted in End times, Hope, Prophetic, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Book of Revelation, Christ, Faith, future, God, Heaven, Holy spirit, hope, Jesus, last days, prophecy, prophet, rapture | 1 Comment

The 144,000 – Revelation 14:1-5

Posted on 10/07/2015 by remso

Stained glass showing Lamb of God with vexillum and chalice, from chapel that used to be part of a convent (now a Baptist church and school complex) in El Cajon, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Can I admit that this subject has brought me much irritation. At the last church I attended the pastor taught on Revelation but he made everything in the book symbolic of something, That might not have been a problem, however he never bothered to define where he got this information. Which leads me to say this, don’t make statements, trying to pass it off as truth, without providing evidence for what you are saying (This is called conjecture and makes you a false teacher.) Write with the determination of providing two or three witnesses.

Although my former pastor attributed all of Revelation to symbology, that certainly does not make it the case. However, symbology, history, analogy, and types can not be excluded. It is all in there, and must be considered. I will try to help you understand it.

The 144,000

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. (Revelation 14:1-5 ESV)

Sometimes I like to work from the assumption that I just stumbled upon a section of the bible. If you attend church then you are aware that you constantly sit by those that never open their bibles. How can you know that? Just listen to the statements they make and questions they ask; anyone who has read their bible, would never ask the questions many of them do.

Assuming you were that person and were directed to Revelation 14: 1-5, how would you come to understand what you were reading?

Some quick keys to understanding Revelation.

Maintain the attitude that this is meant for you to understand. If you do not understand then humble yourself and get a book to help. Of the thousands out there, I strongly suggest The Islamic Antichrist, and the Mideast Beast, by Joel Richardson.
Know this, the Apostle John was an evangelist to the Jewish community (yes I am taking liberties in making this statement, but the evidence is there.) That means that he wrote in a language that meant something to the Jewish readers of this letter. The symbols, such as a lamb that had been slain; the beast with seven heads that we see in Revelation 13, and even the 144,000 are intended to strike an immediate and scriptural chord within the heart of a Jew.
While the book itself is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, it is also prophecy. Prophecy covers a tremendous amount of ground from the past to the future. But prophecy to a Jew is repeatable patterns, not flash and bright lights. Remember, no one in the old testament was convicted on the basis of one witness alone; God knows the heart and therefore demands witnesses. This works the same with prophecy. You will find these same phrases – if you look for them – scattered throughout the Old Testament in the writings of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and so many others.

With that said, let’s dive in. We will attempt to take this verse by verse.

Revelation 14:1 KJV And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

There was a time that I would not have had any idea how to interpret this without some help. Fortunately those days are gone, but maybe it does not need interpretation as much as it needs an understanding. As a young reader, with the understanding I had, I read it as a literal event.

You find the first reference to these Jewish men in Revelation 7 and there God holds back destruction while he marks them. Because I had nothing to show what that marking aspect looked like, I just took it and ran with it.

Now I find them, and God, standing on Mount Zion.

Do a word search for the phrase “Mount Zion” and you will find 21 verses, most of which are found in the Old Testament – the Torah and the Tanakh.

One of the first I found is:

And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this. (2 Kings 19:30-31 ESV)

This is one of those prophecy establishing word pictures that a Jew would have picked up on. In case you do not know, Jewish boys are made to go synagogue to learn and memorize the law and prophets. This is accomplished by age twelve as an aspect of their transition into manhood.

While Isaiah 10:12 says nothing about the 144,000 who are standing on Mount Zion the following verse indicates what happens after the Lamb conducts business. (Conducting business seems very polite considering that the Lord comes back to kill all those who would dare fight against him.)

Isaiah 10:12 ESV When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

Apparently his interactions with the 144,000 come before he finalizes the punishment of the arrogant king. If you have read the Revelation before, then you are aware that at the end of the seven-year period the Antichrist and the False prophet are thrown into the lake of fire – forever.

The IVP Bible Background Commentary tells us that:

“Mount Zion was the Temple Mount (sometimes loosely encompassing all Jerusalem), thus applied to the heavenly temple in the present (Rev_11:19) but pointing to the new Jerusalem of the future (Rev_21:2), a hope shared by nearly all ancient Jews, who longed for the restoration of their city and its sanctuary.”

And this is backed up by the Prophet Isaiah:

And it is literal, for it is where the Lord of hosts will reign.

Isaiah 24:23 ESV Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.

However, Mount Zion is also symbolic, as John also sees the 144,000 before the throne, which causes us to include the throne as an aspect of Mount Zion.

I find several things grabbing my attention as I read Revelation 14:1.

Revelation 14:1 KJV And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

“I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand,”

Knowing that Jerusalem will be destroyed, I see a remnant coming out of Jerusalem, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. Does this tell us that there will only be 144,000 survivors, and that there will only be Jewish men? Not at all. We are told by the prophet Zechariah that one-third of Israel survives.

Zechariah 13:8-9 KJV And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. (9) And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
“a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand.”

From this I can learn that John is seeing into heaven, because that is the only place in Revelation that the Lord appears as a lamb.

Revelation 5:6 KJV And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Other prophets describe him as a lamb: Isaiah 53:7-8; John 1:29, John 1:36; Acts 8:32; 1Peter 1:19-20

“with him an hundred forty and four thousand,”
One might make the assumption that they are with Him in heaven and are therefore resurrected. Scripture gives us no clear insight on this.
“having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”

I covered God marking people earlier in this post. Cain was marked to protect him. Interesting isn’t it.

What else can I know about these 144,000.

Our first occurrence finds them in Revelation chapter seven.

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: (Revelation 7:2-4 ESV)

Should you decide to read this in your bible, you will find that the specifics about them go on to verse eight, and describes 12,000 taken from designated ancestral groupings (tribes) of Israel. How vital that is to our understanding I do not know. What is important to me is this: “they come from every tribe of the sons of Israel.” There are no lost tribes.

I have come to see that my former pastor was not alone in his thinking, as others apparently think these 144,000 are merely symbolic. I believe my former pastor is a fairly intelligent guy, but if you cannot backup your statements with some solid evidence then you need to shut up, and he did not. Having read several commentaries on the 144,000 I believe I can see where he got what he was preaching, however that does not make it right; and if you are a student of the bible, you can find it very annoying.

Here is what the IVP Bible Background Commentary, and a few others imply:

The Sealing of 144,000 Servants – One can take the 144,000 either consistently literally (literally twelve thousand male Jewish virgins from each tribe—Rev_14:4) or consistently symbolic (the spiritual people of God, not literally 144,000). (Those who take the number but not the ethnicity, gender and sexual history literally are inconsistent.) Against taking it literally is Revelation’s usage elsewhere of “servants” (Rev_1:1; Rev_6:11), suggesting that they constitute the whole of the saved community (Rev_7:3-4). But whether they represent the innumerable multitude of Rev_7:9 or the restored remnant of ethnic Israel remains debated.

A few questions about the logic of these 144,000 being entirely symbolic

If this group was entirely symbolic, why would you have to protect them from four angels that are here to harm the earth? The act of harming the earth is an aspect of God’s wrath upon the nations, and the Israel for rejecting him. God is protecting 144,000 “virgin Jews” (this may have some symbology also, such as those that have not rejected God.)

If, the 144,000 represents the “whole of the saved community”, and the general consensus is that the saved community will be caught up, then why would you need to protect them from bad things that happen after the rapture? You wouldn’t would you; there would be no need. So that really does not make sense does it.

However, if the number was representative of the martyred who are slain for their testimony, then we have a problem with that logic as well, because God does not protect them from harm, and protecting these marked ones is a common assumption (I am sure that we get this idea of protection from God marking Cain). In neither chapter seven or fourteen do we see them protected, but merely designated for God. Another assumption, and quite possibly a good one, is that they function on earth as witnesses, but most specifically to the Jewish community. That would make sense but there is still nothing to show that they are excluded from harm, nor is there anything that indicates how long they stay here on earth after they are marked. I am bringing this up because I have heard all kinds of speculation espoused adamantly as religious folk try to push their theories and understanding off for truth.

“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (Revelation 7:1-3 ESV)

These angels are released with the express purpose of destroying the earth. And yet, just prior to this destruction, God intentionally seals 144,000 Jewish men.

It seems John’s attention is pulled back to heaven because of a voice, a voice like a mixture of sounds.

Revelation 14:2-3 ESV And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, (3) and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

Almost as soon as they have been sealed, we find them redeemed from earth. The implications are that they are no longer on earth. This again demonstrates our assumptions. It seems fair and logical to build a chronological timeline and place them on it. The problem is God controls both the timeline and calendar on which it is based, and scripture does not always lay things out so clearly for us. Sure, there are many points in which specifics are detailed such as: Israel’s release from Babylonian captivity, or the Messiah’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but we have no clear point at which we can say the rapture comes here and therefore all these other things can find themselves a spot on our timeline.

Revelation 14:3-4 MSG and the harpists singing a new song before the Throne and the Four Animals and the Elders. Only the Hundred and Forty-four Thousand could learn to sing the song. They were bought from earth, (4) lived without compromise, virgin-fresh before God. Wherever the Lamb went, they followed. They were bought from humankind, first fruits of the harvest for God and the Lamb.

“lived without compromise”

How do I relate to that? We were all born into a corrupted nature, therefore it seems impossible to imagine someone living without compromise.

Zephaniah 3:13 KJV The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

We already know that some will try to assign these characteristics symbolically to the church. If you try to assign the characteristics of these chosen Jews to the church, it simply does not fit because they have too many human characteristics, therefore I will cling hard to a literal interpretation of the 144,000.

Consider an irony.

God has written His name on their foreheads, and no, we do not know what that looks like; who will be able to see it (we know these four angels can see it); or how it gets there. However, Satan/the beast goes around trying to copy God’s idea, by having people marked that have converted to a worship of the beast. (Again, I point out that I believe this is Islam doing this and the beast is Allah.)

One of the things I tell people, is that the Apostle John fully intended for his writing to strike the ears of Jewish converts. You can pick up on this idea because he uses terminology and symbolism found throughout the law and the prophets; books any Jew would have been forced to memorize by the time they were twelve.

One example of this marking of the head is found in the Prophet Ezekiel’s writings where judgment could not begin until the foreheads of the righteous (those who mourned over the sin of their land) were marked.

Ezekiel 9:4-5 ESV And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” (5) And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.

Another example of marking a person comes from Genesis.

Genesis 4:15 ESV Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.

We still do not know what that mark looked like, but the imagery is well entrenched in the Jewish mind. It is a shame that it is not in ours.

Another thing that we are in a loss to figure out, is when these are brought before the throne.

We like to assume that they are protected from what ever comes, but you do not see that in scripture. Many seem to believe that they will serve as witnesses to the world. If they do serve in that function I believe it would be to the Jews. However there is no clear time frame between their being marked and finding them before the throne.

and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:3 ESV)

Considering that this song is for them alone, I see no reason to lose sleep over what they are singing.

It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

Revelation 14:4 ESV It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb,

They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. This is the relationship that we were designed for – sheep in love with the shepherd.

There may be a clue about the timing of their departure from earth, because it says they are first fruits. If they, in a sense, are like the first offering of many. Not that we are directly going to be sacrificed, but then God can do what he wants with us, can’t he. Because this takes place within the framework of the seven-year period, then the implications of those being offered up as an offering to the Lord would apply to anyone coming to Jesus Christ during this time. They are called the martyred saints.

The 144,000 are blameless before the throne of God.

Revelation 14:5 AMP No lie was found to be upon their lips, for they are blameless (spotless, untainted, without blemish) before the throne of God.

Two things catch my attention when I consider this. Those that are in Christ were first forgiven – no longer guilty for the sin nature that was handed down to us (that happened on the cross.) Over and above our own personal compulsions, this sin comes through being born into the earth. So to will we who have turned out lives over to Jesus Christ stand blameless before the throne. Now, what did these Jewish men do to get such a status? I think the obvious answer lies in our relationship with the shepherd.

Posted in Thoughts on scripture | Tagged 144000, Assyria, Bible, end times, future, God, Israelites, Jesus, Jews, last days, Mount Zion, prophecy, Revelation | Leave a comment

Men speaking twisted things – a commentary on false teaching.

Posted on 10/04/2015 by remso

When Paul was saying his final goodbyes to the elders from Ephesus, he warned them to pay careful attention to themselves. Why? Well he answers that question:

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Acts 20:29-30 ESV)

The aspect that should get our attention and cause us the most alarm, because it is so subtle, is this part that says, “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things.” The translations run the gamut from perverse to just plain wrong.

The scariest part of this is the subtlety of the situation. Because this person comes from among us, we do not expect them to fill our eyes and ears with perversion. Is it a perversion like pornography is a perversion? No, it can be a subtle twisting of the gospel, or the occasional adding of words as though they were part of God’s original thought. Allow me to give you an example.

I attend Bible Study Fellowship.

I have always had the impression that anyone who attended BSF was into a university level bible study; I know I am, but what I have found is that there are both skillful members and those who do not open their bibles, but because we have guided questions we are all able to get to a comparable result when we answer.

However I have met with a problem that comes from the top. My expectations were dashed with our recent reading assignment which was generated by the high counsel in Texas.

We were directed by the “homework” to read Deuteronomy (13:1-5;18:18-22). These texts , they allege, “offer five key tests for a true prophet.” If this seems like a fair statement to you, then you need to know it seemed fair to me too, and I was interested in finding out what they had to say; that is until I read the statements that they derived from these verses.

“He must be an Israelite” (18:18).

On the worksheet my immediate response was NO! Now, why would I have that understanding? Because I read my bible, but I was willing to go to the source given, as should you, as I need to be humble and I am human capable of error. So allow me to show you what that verse says:

I will start with the old school version.

“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brothers, one like you, and will put My words in His mouth. And He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him.” (Deuteronomy 18:18 MKJV)

I am struck by some obvious questions as I read this.

Who is doing the talking?
Who are they talking to?
Who are the brethren?
Does anything about this place limitations upon prophecy?
And what is the context of the conversation?

None of those questions can legitimately be answered based upon this scripture alone. As you might surmise, the answers to the questions are there in scripture, and if I were writing out the statements I would have directed you more appropriately.

On my computer I have about forty translations of the bible. The majority say something comparable to the what I have shown you, and of those, none say anything to indicate that prophets have to be exclusively an Israelite.

If you have the ability to do a comparative look at scriptures, as I do, then you can find one that fits your theology, and the God’s Word bible is one of those. Check this out:

Deuteronomy 18:18 GW So I will send them a prophet, an Israelite like you. I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. (This translation is comparable to the Living Bible, which was written simplistically so the authors grade school children could understand. I would not base my life on it, but at times it works.)

Does that make it right? They have taken a word that has the potential to be translated as not only brethren, but countrymen, and distant relatives. If this verse is speaking of Jesus, and I truly believe it is, then is it true that God raised up another prophet that was an Israelite? Yes. Does that mean that the limitations of the phrase, “an Israelite like you” is proper? No, and when you look at this verse in the majority of the translations, you do not get a sense of limitation, but freedom and potential. Sadly, potential is not what BSF wants to convey. They – like radio teacher Hank Hannegraf – apparently want you to believe prophecy is only through scripture and that there is no one walking this earth today speaking as a prophet.

He (the prophet) must pronounce his predictions in the name of the Lord. (18:19)

Allow me to start off with a little piece of wisdom. If you do the religious thing, and say, “thus saith the Lord” you have just placed a pre-qualifier upon what you say and there is no way to separate the man from the message. God gives stern warnings about people who attribute something to God when he did not give the message. It is highly possible that you are just speaking out of your own personal frustrations in a desire to make things go your way. Try using phrases such as: I believe I hear this in my spirit; I think I have a Word for you. Let them be the judge of whether it is from God. Besides that, I can assure you that God has already been speaking to them and he has only sent you to confirm his Word to them.

The passage they refer to is this:

Deuteronomy 18:19 ESV And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

If the word was legitimately from God he will make it come to pass, and hold the recipient responsible for not appropriately responding to it. It is not your job to make anything happen.

This verse has nothing to do with you, and is very much wrapped up in Jewish tradition. Lighten up just a shade. If you think you are a prophet know this, God is not and will not ask you to carry a sword, and like Samuel the prophet, go hack up a king. We are walking this earth – wise as serpents, and gentle as doves.

He (the prophet) must be able to predict the near and distant future. (18:22)

This is another example of impossible demands, that make either think acting in the prophetic is hopeless, or certainly not for today. In a few minutes you will see that BSF twists the word of God to convey that the man must conform to the message. They take this from Revelation where it says:

Revelation 19:10 ESV “ ….. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

This verse merely conveys that God’s Words, coming out of your mouth, are in essence, the spirit of prophecy. You do not have to jump through hoops to speak prophetically to people. I can almost assure you that if you are listening to the Holy Spirit, that He will surprise even you, as the recipient will say, how did you know that?

God has always chosen the broken to lead his kingdom. His character has not changed, and I can say with confidence that there is no such qualifier that says you “must be able to predict the near and distant future.” The verse they try to pull this out of is:

Deuteronomy 18:22 ESV when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

So you finally get bold enough to speak out; perhaps declaring that someone you care about who could have no children will have a baby. Sadly, it does not happen. That just means that it was not from the Lord, but out of the concern of your heart. I get it, and so does God, but God does not have to work according to our plans and hopes. And nothing says that God would not hear you and because he is God respond anyway.

When the prophet Samuel walked this earth, my bible says, that none of his words fell to the ground. EVERYTHING he said came to pass, even the simple quiet curses we fling about, like damn this or that. He was so zealous for the Lord that he hacked up King Agag when Saul, Israel’s King would not. When he quietly went to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, the elders, out of fear asked, “do you come in peace?” They legitimately feared him. You do not need people fearing you, you need them seeking you out, but they should certainly respect the God you serve. That will only happen when you live a consistent life in front of them.

His signs and wonders must be attributed to the power of the Lord (13:1-2)

Initially it sounds good, why it’s probably even sound wisdom to attribute what you are saying, to the Lord. Are you sincere? Do you attribute what you saying, before or after you say it?

Look at the verse and tell me if it says what BSF claims it does:

Deuteronomy 13:1-2 ESV “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, (2) and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’

Let’s tear the verse apart and see.

“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, (2) and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass

Our admonition was not to fear the prophet if what he says does not come to pass, but in this case his word did come to pass. There is the strong possibility that this guy is among you and up to this point, trusted.

“and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,”

The context of the verses is not about a demand that your signs and wonders must be attributed to God, as it is about leading people away from God.

His words must conform to the message or principles of previous revelation (13:2-5)

Let’s just assume for a minute that you walked into the room and this person is prophesying. Number one: you may have missed his introduction where he said, this is from the voice of God. However you do catch the part where they say, a meteor will blow up over Tanguska Russia tomorrow, and it does, but you have no knowledge of what the message was, or of any previous revelations. How could you possibly find out that this person conformed? You couldn’t, so they must be trying to tell us that the prophet must conform to some message from God’s word, or some underlying principles that must be mined from God’s word, that somehow align with what this person said.

Let me give you a hint. There is nothing new under the sun, nor is there nothing new under God’s Son. What does that mean? While there are exceptions to everything, such as a word of knowledge that is given to a person where God has given you some current or past information about that person. You won’t find that information in the Bible, but generalized statements about how God feels about us, his people, and future events are very detailed in scripture. Since the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy, then speaking God’s word over someones life is very scriptural, proper, and safe. In this case you would clearly be conforming to the message and earlier revelation.

Now, can we find this in the scripture reference given:

Deuteronomy 13:2-5 NIV and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” (3) you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. (4) It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. (5) That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.

First thing I want you to see, is that there is a context for everything, and in this case they have cut the context out, so let’s include it.

Deuteronomy 13:1 NIV If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder,

So a person speaks over the audience about a potential future event. Some find that weird, but it is perfectly legitimate. Television personalities have made prophesying a bit of a joke, but they can still be okay.

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place”. This alone should command respect, or at the least, attention. Now if it did not come to pass, then we do not have to fear them. Does that mean if the thing comes to pass we are to fear them? No, the word also means to respect.

Unfortunately this takes a dark and sinister turn.

“and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” So this so-called prophet has another motive. Do we have examples of things like this in scripture? Certainly.

Acts 13:6-11 shows us, not only someone on the inside, but when you ask, did he “conform to the message or principles of previous revelation.” The answer is clearly NO, and yet he was identified by Saul/Paul as a false prophet. Since we have this improper demand to judge a persons prophetic “gifts” based upon BSF criteria, then how could Paul come to a decision so quickly, as he did not have these written guidelines? An obvious answer to this lies in testimony of locals, the character of Bar-Jesus, and Bar-Jesus’ own words and actions (we like to think of this combination of things as fruit, and the man’s fruit was rotten.)

Acts 13:6-11 ESV When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. (7) He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. (8) But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. (9) But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him (10) and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? (11) And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.

Bar-Jesus/Elymas did that one thing that is clearly laid out for us as something to warn and alert us; he tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Deuteronomy lays out a course of action for such men, but Paul prophesy’s a blindness over Elymas for a season. Did Paul’s response conform to the message or principles of previous revelation? Perhaps but you have to dig to find a directive like that.

One other thing that challenges this directive “conform to the message or principles of previous revelation” comes from what we know about Elisha, the prophet.

2 Kings 2:23-24 ESV He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” (24) And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

Boys mocked him, and for that “he cursed them in the name of the LORD.” Not everything is so cut and dried.

Since point number (5) directs us to think a certain way – “his words must conform to the message or principles of previous revelation” – let’s ponder that a moment. Clearly that is not the case in Revelation 13:11-14. While the verses give us multiple images to tangle with, the bottom line is this, this is the false prophet that we are warned about in scripture.

Revelation 13:11-14 MKJV (11) And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. And it had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon. (12) And it exercises all the authority of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and those dwelling in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. (13) And it does great wonders, so that it makes fire come down from the heaven onto the earth in the sight of men. (14) And it deceives those dwelling on the earth, because of the miracles which were given to it to do before the beast, saying to those dwelling on the earth that they should make an image to the beast who had the wound by a sword and lived.

Because of the miracles which were given to it to do, it deceives those dwelling on earth. Watch how deep this goes.

Revelation 13:16-17 ESV Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

When you sort out all the implications of what Revelation 13 is showing us, ultimately God is in control and allowing this all to happen because He has a purpose. The character that empowers this person directly is the dragon – which you should know because you read – is Satan himself. Now, is Satan going to comply with BSF rules or God’s demands? No, he is going to do the opposite. (Note: there is power in the name of JESUS, and every knee must bow. Let that empower you.)

When we talk about the idea of “conforming to the message or principles of previous revelation”, this has Jewish tradition written all over it, because to the Jew, prophecy is pattern. What does that mean to us – the New Testament church? It means that the Apostle John knew full well that he was writing to Jewish converts, and that they were not going to give up the richness of their Jewish heritage. It means that what we see here in Revelation 13 had to have already presented itself on at least one other occasion, and it had, and we find him in Daniel 7:25.

Daniel 7:25 KJV And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Alright, so you read this and now you are saying, Daniel 7:25 does not define what we see in Revelation 13. It does if you understand that Islam has its own set of prophecies, and fully expects a Jesus to come and save them as well. Their Jesus (I am pulling this from Wikipedia):

“ʿĪsā ibn Maryām; English: Jesus, son of Mary is considered to be a Messenger of God and (the Messiah) in Islam. To aid in his ministry to the Jewish people, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles (such as healing various ailments like blindness, raising the dead to life, casting out demons, etc.) which no other prophet in Islam has ever been credited with, all according to God’s will. According to the Qu’ran, Jesus, although appearing to have been crucified, was not killed by crucifixion or by any other means. This view disagrees with the foundation of the Gospel. Instead, the Qu’ran says “God raised him unto Himself,” which happens to agree with the Gospel message of Isa ascending into heaven.

Jesus mission – According to Islamic texts, Jesus was divinely chosen to preach the message of monotheism and submission to the will of God to the Children of Israel (banī isrā’īl).”

So the Islamic Jesus will “preach” the message of submission to the people of Israel. Since we know that Islam demands only a submission to Allah, then this “Jesus” will demand submission also. How would that work out since they are not allowed to be “friends” with the infidel? It is said in Islam that this “Jesus” is a Jew from the Levitical tribe and is a priest. That means he is already here and probably in training to serve in the new temple. Since he is a priest, and a respected Jew, causing Israel to turn away from God and serve other gods should be relatively easy. Since he is a priest serving in the temple, it should be easy for him to desecrate the temple, set up the image of the beast, and because he is empowered by Satan, cause that image to speak, call fire down from heaven, command the rain to return, and do what ever is necessary to impress and delude Israel. Islam considers this man the enforcer of Sharia law (ISIS, it seems, is doing that right now.) Sharia is the law that demands the death of the infidel (anyone outside of Islam.) Perhaps you can understand why God gives this character the title of false prophet, as he is everything bad wrapped into one package, and he comes from inside.

I opened with these words from Paul:

Although the false prophet seems to be blatantly obvious, he will spring upon them suddenly, after having been groomed slowly. But what about the not so obvious that is destroying and weakening the body of Christ from the inside.

It is not all so blatant, it comes from bastions of biblical learning like Bible Study Fellowship, where men go to learn a more excellent way. It comes from the local bible study teacher who twists God’s word so that it conveys the message he wants to push, such as what lousy sinners we all are. It comes in a way that teaches people to think improperly about God, never learn what His character is, and then spread that hatred to others. It teaches people to believe that God cannot be understood, and that ultimately His character, if filled with mercy, is beyond our comprehension.

Since God himself said:

Matthew 18:12-14 ESV What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? (13) And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. (14) So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

How dare you preach anything else.

Posted in Cult teachings, Deception, End times, Hope, Prophetic, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Bible, Book of Deuteronomy, Cults, deception, God, God's word, Holy spirit, hope, Islam, Israelites, Jesus, last days, Moses, muslim, prophecy, prophet, Scripture | 3 Comments

It had two horns like a lamb. Revelation 13:11-18

Posted on 10/01/2015 by remso

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.

This aspect is another that gives people grief.

Some information that might help you understand. The Apostle John is not writing mysteries meant to be hidden from the church. They are hidden from those that chose not to ask what things mean, and they tend to remain hidden from those who do not understand that John’s target audience was Jewish converts. I will prove my point.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” (Revelation 2:7-9 ESV)

The Spirit has him writing to churches. You do not need to have a conversation about Jews and their traditions unless they are a part of the equation, and in Smyrna, they were. The IVPBBC states, “The strength of the Jewish community in Smyrna is well attested.”

Another example from James which will show us how widespread the Jewish converts were comes from James 2:2. It is cloaked thanks to the translators who seemed to push their motives upon us.

James 2:2 ESV “For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,”

Translated for the Gentile reader, we see nothing wrong with the word assembly. People assemble themselves together frequently. However, when this was written by James, he actually wrote the Greek word for synagogue. He did not do that inadvertently, thinking that in time it would be filled with Gentile believers. He, too, was writing to Jewish converts.

sunagōgē – an assemblage of persons, the majority of which are Jewish in origin.

Now, isn’t that something? Paul used the same word (sunagōgē).

If they are calling it a synagogue, then what do they expect to find there?

Jewish converts, but not only that, converts that are integrating the richness of their newly found Messiah into the heritage that makes them special (and we ignore that.)

Who were the two Apostles that seemed to be called to the Gentiles?

Peter – who seemed to end that mission shortly after going to the Centurion’s home, and Paul. Paul initially made all his forays into the synagogues, so it is safe to say that in the beginnings of the church, the direct impact was on the Jewish community. When hardcore traditionalists came around trying to demand that Gentile converts be circumcised and follow other Jewish traditions, Paul took his arguments straight to the council of elders in Jerusalem for a decision.

And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days’ God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between them and us, having cleansed their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:7-9 ESV)

Notice the terminology Peter uses as he distinguishes between the Jew and the gentile. Years later, Peter is still referring to them (the gentiles) and us (the Jewish community).

There, in the Jerusalem council, the decision was made to acknowledge freedom but stay away from blood:

Acts 15:19-20 ESV Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God (20) but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

The synagogue of Satan?

Pastor John MacArthur says this of the – synagogue of Satan. With the rejection of its Messiah, Judaism became as much a tool of Satan as emperor worship.

Think about this for a moment. You should be able to see how Judaism could become a tool of Satan. It was the thing (a zeal for the law) that motivated young Saul/Paul to chase down converts, then beat, imprison, and in Stephen’s case – stone them to death.

When Paul had trouble on his missionary journeys, where did most of it come from?

The Jews, but not just any Jew, for some of his converts were synagogue leaders. Look at this.

Act 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

This is not the act of people who merely cannot understand. They are choosing not to buy into this Messiah thing Paul preached. How many of them were around when Jesus spoke of God as his Father? This statement would have been blasphemous in their hearing if it was not true, but it was. They chose to be unbelieving Jews and therefore combative in their resistance to truth and change.

Since I have told you this, you now need to start thinking like a Jew – A Jew that has a reasonable comprehension of the Old Testament (something that would have been required of a Jew.)

Are you beginning to get the idea that our lack of studying the scriptures has done little more than hurt us?

Now maybe we can understand what John was trying to convey.

One other thing. (I need to state this upfront, even though you will find it in the text again.)

To the Jew, prophecy is a pattern.
When someone operating in the role of a prophet declares something, all we can do is hold it in the back of our minds. Of course, that all changes if the impact should be immediately seen. Later on, another prophecy comes and validates not only the first prophet but the word itself. (There are parameters upon which to judge a prophecy, the biggest is – is it trying to lead us away from God to serve other gods.) The Jewish mind understood all of this. They are not impressed with the waving of hands and fancy words, and the Apostle John knew this as well. That is why in almost every case (some are harder to find than others), these are words that have been spoken over the Jews on a previous occasion.

We are focusing on Revelation 13:11-18.

“Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.” (Revelation 13:11-18 ESV)

- Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth

Since our first beast rose out of the sea, and we know that the sea represents people, we can learn that the first beast comes out of an environment that is more widespread. This second beast, rising out of the earth, demonstrates that he is from a more localized area, but where?

- It had two horns like a lamb

If you are not a farmer, then you probably do not know that sheep have horns. We just went to the county fair. This year they had four sheep with horns, and two of them were massive.

To the Jewish convert, the perception that this means deception is immediate.

A lamb with horns

The fact that it is like a lamb establishes that it is representing itself to some degree, as Jesus did, at first gentle and caring, but then at the three-and-a-half-year mark of the seven-year period – watch out.

If we were Jewish converts, what would be our immediate association?

Perhaps Genesis 22:8, where Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb ..” The idea of the slain lamb as a way of removing sin was scattered throughout the Torah and a common practice for the Jews. However, the impact of the slain lamb – in tradition – was a good thing, and we already recognize that there is a horrendous deception coming. We all also have the imagery seen earlier in Revelation and that explicitly Jesus, the Messiah standing there.

Revelation 5:6 ESV And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

A deception that no one would have seen coming.

Islam is looking for a Jesus as well.

I wrote this post in 2017, but about two years ago, I had no clue, and I struggled to comprehend this just like everyone else. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit saw fit to put Glenn Beck (he used to be on Fox news and now has his own internet show) before my eyes. Glenn had the author Joel Richardson on the show, comparing Jesus to Islam’s Mahdi. To say the least, I was shocked. Within minutes I ordered the book Joel had written called, The Islamic Antichrist, and it changed everything for me.

Now you can see how you have to humble yourself to learn on occasions, for according to their prophecies, the false prophet, although they do not call him that, will be a Jew of the lineage of Aaron and therefore allowed to be a priest. He will also declare himself to be a Muslim, bow to the Mahdi (the Antichrist), and do significant signs like calling fire down from heaven, raising the dead, and causing it to rain again. All this will cause many to turn from God and follow this second beast. The deception will be great. He will also be the enforcer of Sharia; this coincides with the tribulation becoming greater. Considering what we have seen, how could tribulations become greater unless it is in the number of killings. Islam will proactively begin killing anyone who is not a Muslim.

- and it spoke like a dragon

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

It speaks like Satan – the deceiver.

Let this sink in. He presents himself as peaceful, almost like Jesus, but he speaks like Satan. And. in case you hadn’t noticed, Satan does not present himself like the garbage we see in movies; he is subtle and seductive. Eve found that out – that is until Satan goes into fury mode.

Revelation 13:6 ESV “It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.”

Revelation 12:17 ESV “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.”

I wanted you to see that Satan can and does become furious. The idea of making war on “her” offspring will be developed as we go.

- It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence.

This is a timing issue, and it is difficult to be precise.

What does it mean to be precise when you are God, the creator of time?

We know that there will be a seven-year period of destruction upon the earth, and the clock seems to start with the removal of the church from the earth (the rapture). There seems to be an immediate entrance of a “world” leader. Islam calls him the Mahdi, the 12^th or hidden Imam, the leader of the global Islamic caliphate. We call him the Antichrist or the first beast.

This entrance of the second beast – the one that has horns like a lamb – seems to be at the midpoint of the seven-year period.

Why say that?

Because there is a rapid escalation of events at the mid-point and, though we will go into more depth shortly, our false prophet who has operated quietly in the temple, suddenly gives himself over to this Mahdi, performs the signs, and steps up as the enforcer of this disgusting and bloody sharia law.

Everyone seems to know that the Antichrist will sign a peace treaty. We keep saying it will be with Israel, but scripture says, is that it will be with many. That may not include Israel. My guess is that none of us would have thought that Russia and China would be in Syria fighting against Isis. Russia believes that defending Bashar Assad is key to defeating Isis, while President Obama is set on removing the Syrian President from power. (There are many good theories on what this is all about, and most have to do with the Federal Reserve Bank.) So, while the Antichrist may be juggling aspects of his worldwide deception, this second beast steps up and handles the enforcement aspect for him.

- and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.

This Jew turned Muslim, temple priest turned desecrater, deceiver on a grand scale, makes all the earth worship the first beast.

I need you to consider the description of the beast once again.

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. (Revelation 13:1-3 ESV)

Multi-headed, with ten horns and seven heads, it looks like a leopard, a lion, and a bear. However bizarre this thing seems to be it is given a mouth; in other words – a spokesman – the Antichrist.

In the world of clues, this is huge, “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed,” First, there is no such animal; second, Daniel plainly defined the Babylonian empire as the first of these heads. Historically we know that the Medo-Persian empire was the second, and the Grecian empire was the third. Since we now know, we are looking at empires and not a human as the head, what one empire fits this description better than any other? The answer is the Ottoman empire, and the world thought they were finally killed off in 1924. Guess what? They came back to life in 1979 with the Iranian revolution.

Considering how peculiar this “beast” is, what image would you make for it?

Perhaps you would focus on the “mouth.”

This is not so clear, is it?

Whatever this guy decides, he will make an image of it and will demand that all the inhabitants of earth worship it.

I used to think that it would be impossible to effectively force the world to worship a man or an image and take some form of a mark. While I could see how Islam might have dominion over the Middle East, you would never be able to enforce this nonsense over a Modern nation.

But what have we seen in the last couple of years?

An Islamic invasion, first in the European nations, and now President Obama (he was the President in 2017 when I wrote this) wants to take thousands of them into this nation. Thousand of people that we now know were interspersed with veteran Jihad fighters, and that what they are doing is a form of Jihad/warfare. Combine that with Islam’s gradual infiltration of government (another form of Jihad) while they are making quiet inroads into establishing Sharia law as the law of the land. At that point, they will give themselves free rein to slaughter outsiders – infidels.

- It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people

What has been going on all this time?

Let me point something out that most do not catch.

“And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.” (Revelation 11:3-12 ESV)

God sends his two witnesses.

There is speculation on who they are, but is it really that important that we know who they are?

What is important is what they do, what they say, and when they get here. I happen to believe they show up right after the rapture, and here is the significant reason – they stop the rain. Why is that a big deal because this second beast, the false prophet, causes the rain to come back again? They also perform signs, and the false prophet mimics those also. Remember that I said that prophecy to the Jew is a pattern. Well, what happened immediately after Moses brought each plague upon Egypt? The sorcerers in Pharaoh’s court copied exactly what Moses and Aaron did. Pattern!

and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth,

Look at what it prompted Jesus to say:

If this man is as Islam describes: A Jew; of the lineage of Aaron; a priest in the new temple; a man who is respected/revered, and then does all this stuff, working signs, causing it to rain; telling elite Jews that all along they have followed the wrong god and that Allah is god, not Elohim. What will that do?

It will cause many to be deceived. Look at what it prompted Jesus to say:

Matthew 24:4-5 ESV And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. (5) For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

This part, “the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast,” puzzles me, for it implies that he has to have permission from the beast to do the damage we see. Consider once again what Islam believes about this guy:

The Subordinate Of The Mahdi

Borrowed from the website:

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/JR/Future/ch06_the_muslim_jesus.htm

“At this time, Jesus descends to meet the army of the Mahdi, which will be preparing for battle. It will be just before the time of prayer.

Muslims will still be preparing themselves for the battle drawing up the ranks. Certainly, the time of prayer shall come, and then Jesus, son of Mary, would descend.

Based on the relevant Hadith, Islamic scholars seem to be in universal agreement that the Mahdi will ask Jesus to lead the prayers. Jesus will then refuse this request and will defer instead to the Mahdi to lead the prayer.

The Messenger of Allah said: A section of my people will not cease fighting for the truth and will prevail until the Day of resurrection. He said: Jesus son of Mary would then descend, and their [Muslims’] commander [the Mahdi] would invite him to come and lead them in prayer, but he would say: No, some amongst you are commanders over some.

The important element here that needs to be stressed is that Jesus will then pray behind the Mahdi as a direct statement regarding Jesus’ inferiority of rank to the Mahdi.

Jesus Christ will decline the offer and invitation of Imam Mahdi to come and lead the Muslims in prayer and say his prayer behind Imam Mahdi. Jesus (peace be upon him) will come and will perform the obligatory prayers behind the Mahdi and follow him. (Jesus) will be following the Mahdi, the master of the time, and that is why he will be offering his prayers behind him.”

Jesus, The Faithful Muslim

“After Jesus returns, in keeping with his identity as a faithful Muslim, he will perform the ritual pilgrimage to Mecca called hajj: The Prophet said: Verily Isa ibn Maryam shall descend as an equitable judge and fair ruler. He shall tread his path on the way to hajj (pilgrimage) and come to my grave to greet me, and I shall certainly answer him!”

Jesus Will Institute Islamic Law

“While the Mahdi, as the Caliph (vice-regent) and Imam (leader) of the Muslims, is clearly seen as being a superior to Jesus, Jesus is still said to be a leader of the Muslim Community. According to the Islamic traditions, Jesus’ primary purpose will be to oversee the institution and the enforcement of the Islamic Shariah law all over the world.”

So Islam believes that their version of Jesus will be subservient to Islam’s Mahdi. This is clearly NOT THE SON OF GOD. Do you also begin to get a grasp of why God calls this time a time of wrath, fury, anger, and destruction?

And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

“It,” this second beast, the false prophet, is allowed to give breath – life – to an image. An image of something we cannot legitimately define as yet.

If you have never been to Disneyland, Walt’s engineers used audio-animatronics and built a very good replica of Abraham Lincoln. When you walked in, this big puppet would be sitting with his eyes closed as though he was resting. Within seconds he would open his eyes, stand to his feet, greet you, then begin to give the Gettysburg address, with all the corresponding motions you might expect.

I do not know what this image will look like; perhaps it will be a hologram of the Mahdi himself so that people believe that the Mahdi is giving them commands. Regardless, the outcome will be deadly for those who refuse to comply with the demands this image will make.

Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

If you think about how Islam deals with infidels, they are not that high-tech, are they?

This idea that outsiders cannot work freely in an Islamic-controlled land is not a new concept. Look at what the Qur’an says:

Qur’an (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

Headband exalting Allah as god, and Muhammad as his messenger.

A young Brit who has joined the Mujahid in London, and wears an armband to signify which team he is on.

A young Brit who has joined the Mujahideen in London and wears an armband to signify which team he is on.

Jews, forced into the ghettos of Poland, were given marks, and they were not allowed to do anything without the yellow star that said Juden on them. Few realize that there were many colors used to denigrate people groups under the direction of the Nazis.

A puzzling aspect of this prophetic word is the reference to this 666 indicator and how it is the number of a man. For a moment, I thought Walid Shoebat sounded good, as he described how it looked like the Arabic symbols meaning there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger. I am not sure, and I am not willing to play with Gematria. So if there is one thing in Revelation that throws me for a loop, it is this 666 stuff. We already know it is a man; I am confident that it will be someone fulfilling the role of the Mahdi; they will head the restored Islamic caliphate, but who it is, is anybody’s guess. For a few minutes, I thought Princip Erdogan of Turkey was going to take the lead in this role. We should not rule him out.

The passage reads:

This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Contextually, John had just finished speaking about the image of the beast being set up, but as I said, we have too many options to define this as yet.

Your best bet is to stay ready, on God’s side. Start by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You do that by turning your life over to Him and asking Him to come to be the center of your life. Then work on trimming off the bad fruit you have grown. Jesus Christ knows how to do that.

Posted in bible study, Deception, End times, Islam, New World Order, Prophetic, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged antichrist, deception, end times, false prophet, Gentile, God, Islam, Israel, Jesus, Jews, last days, muslim, prophecy, rapture, Revelation, the image of the beast, the mark of the beast, the second beast | Leave a comment

Those who keep the commandments of God. Revelation 14:9-12

Posted on 09/25/2015 by remso

I believe strongly that I serve a God of mercy.

How do I know that God is a God of mercy, especially when verses like Revelation 14:10 prove that God will send many to a burning, eternal hell? I know because he has shown mercy to me.

Do I have other evidence? Certainly, and some of it comes from Matthew 25:31-46. It is rather long and I do not want to take up the extra space here, so I implore you to take the time to read it on your own. The synopsis goes something like this:

Before him will be gathered all the nations

You need to understand that there are only three people groups as far as God is concerned. The Jews, the nations, and the church. Since the church should be gone at this point, our religious minds tend to think that after the rapture there is NO ONE left on the earth that has a standardized relationship with Jesus Christ, and that is true. Now that does not exclude the innumerable number that come to acknowledge Him (in the face of death) and are resurrected as Saints and reign over the earth with Jesus during the thousand years.
This gathering of the nations takes place at the end of the thousand years and includes all the dead throughout time.

You might ask, how do I know that? Use a little logic. The church, those who had a relationship with Jesus Christ, both living and dead, get retrieved at some point. (Matthew 25 points out that not everyone sitting in church gets retrieved.)

Who then is left on earth? Most of the Jews, those from Matthew 25 who did not take this seriously enough and had no oil left in their lamps, and all those who have chosen to ignore God’s call to obtain His mercy. Those who reject God are considered the nations, it is that simple. In truth, anyone of those can switch sides: A Jew can become part of the church, and get this, people can come out of the nations and join themselves to the church – and most of us would never know it, as this action is not always advertised.
“he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

A sheep and a goat

A goat on a sheep

And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you …. And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
Did you pick up on the term righteous? Did you see what made them righteous, doing something outside of selfish motivation. They helped people, and in so doing they “did it to Jesus himself.
“but the goats on the left”

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Now that I busted up your theology by demonstrating that God is merciful – even to those who do not fit within the religious framework – we can move on to the passage at hand.

“And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” (Revelation 14:9-12 ESV)

As I pointed out in my earlier post there are three parts to this equation we simplistically call “taking the mark”.

If anyone worships the beast
and (worships) his image,
and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,

“he (the person that caves and does all three) also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, …. and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. …the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Having made this decision you will have effectively signed your life away.

Now here comes the part that is hard to understand: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”

Why even put this statement in here? God did it for a reason. This is another place you find God’s definition of a saint and it shows that they by their actions have demonstrated their allegiance to God and a faith in Jesus. Another reason may have much to do with the pressure that will be put on you to sell your soul. This is not a foreign concept to the Jew, for Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. You must understand that to the Jew, prophecy is pattern, not flash and advertising.

Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:31-34 ESV)

Have you seen some of the gory pictures that come out of the Islamic nations? They are hanging Christians and chopping people up with chainsaws; I do not want to ruin your meal so I am not going to show you those pictures, however, I have on occasions, asked the question, what would you do if they torture your kids in front of you? Would you deny Christ? It’s hard to even think about.

The passage says, “those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” The word keep means to to watch over, to guard. The implications can be varied, but the idea here is focused on some pressure being put on you to give up your inheritance, much like Esau. What then does it mean to you? If you do not have a backbone now, how will you stand under pressure? You need Jesus!

Posted in End times, Hope, Prophetic, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Bible, Christ, end times, God, God's word, Islam, Jesus, Jews, last days, prophecy, rapture, receives the mark, Revelation, Scripture, worships the beast | Leave a comment

What do we religious folk always say? Revelation 14:9

Posted on 09/22/2015 by remso

What do we religious folk always say? Don’t take the mark, you will go to hell because of it!

It was not until recently that I heard someone read this verse with distinction; it was then that I understood that there are three parts to this unforgivable betrayal.

(Revelation 14:9-12 ESV)

Here is what will happen if:

you worship the beast

What is it to worship? Worship here is the Greek word proskuneo – (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, that is, (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): – worship.

Where do we see this? People bowing to the pope, and Muslim men commanded by the Qu’ran, bow three times a day to Allah.

Bowing to Allah. They do this three times a day, where ever they are.

Spain’s King Juan Carlos kisses the ring of Pope Benedict XVI at Madrid’s Barajas airport
and you worship the idol

How does one portray the worshiping of an idol made to signify or resemble the beast, especially when the beast has the potential to be a demon (Allah), an ideology (Islam), or a man (the Mahdi)?
and have the mark of the beast on your hand or forehead.

Islam is not that high-tech that they will use chips; seeing as the United States government has sold its soul to be in the New World Order, they will demand chipping to buy and sell, but you have not sold your soul to the devil unless you also worship the beast and the idol.

Let me try to show what you might be dealing with:

Wearing a burka to show compliance.

A young Brit who has joined the Mujahid in London, and wears an armband to signify which team he is on.

– Wearing a Burka to show compliance

– Note the white guy, wearing an armband which states, There is no god but Allah, …

#3 Shows you the fashionable head bands you can choose from.

– Fashionable headbands, again denoting that there is no god but Allah…

Here it is September 15, 2015. The age of civilized man in a high-tech world. We are on the brink of nuclear destruction once again, and people, as usual, are fleeing tyranny by the thousands. Germany claims they can take in 500,000 refugees. There is only one small problem, we are taking in the bad guys right next to the decent and worthy. So how do the incoming refugees reward and thank the Germans? They hang banners on the overpass that say, “All your children will pray to Allah, or die!” See the image included.

Demonstrating their gratitude for sanctuary, the Muslims hung this banner that says, all your children will pray to Allah or die.

I cannot say with a certainty that many of the things we see in Revelation are not already upon us. I can say with a certainty, that we are not under God’s wrath. The trigger for that is when the church is lifted from the earth. The book of Hebrews, in chapter nine, tells us that He is coming for those who are awaiting his return. I can tell you that many in church scoff at me, and say the same standard, thoughtless line we have heard for generations, people have said that He is coming for two thousand years. I suppose for me, it is the ability we have to pay attention to the signs, and they are all around us. If he comes while you are not looking for him, then you will have to endure what is to come. I really do not want you to have to go through that.

Try this: Tell him your sorry; that you are not in control, and you would like him too come in and take over. Tell him that you understand that Jesus Christ died for you and that you have a hope in heaven with the Father.

He will come into your life and make you His own. You will still have the right to make idiotic mistakes, and you will, but you can know that you still belong to him, just as I did.

Posted in Apostasy, Deception, End times, Prophetic, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Bible, Christ, deception, end times, Islam, last days, mark of the beast, Pope, prophecy, rapture, Revelation, Scripture, the image of the beast, worship the beast | Leave a comment

Babylon the Great – the long version. Revelation 14 verse 8.

Posted on 09/21/2015 by remso

Of the imagery we find in scripture Babylon is another that gives people grief.

If we try to define the Babylon we see in Revelation we have to ask, what is it and what are the implications for us?

Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

(Revelation 14:8 ESV)

Can I obtain a clue from the passage itself?

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, ..”

God had used Babylon to punish Israel for ignoring the Shemittah (times of rest and restoration), because of this they went into captivity for 70 years and might play a role in its utter destruction. Thanks to the interactions we have between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, we know that during the reign or Nebuchadnezzar Babylon was great. Daniel – in explaining the statue dream to Nebuchadnezzar – told him that he, as representing Babylon, was the head of gold.

Daniel 2:37-38 ESV You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, (38) and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all–you are the head of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar’s statue

Considering that Nebuchadnezzar had threatened to kill all the wise men if no one could tell him the dream and what it meant; it was probably the wiser choice to say, you are the head of gold. However this is not the case anymore.

Can we make the connection between a Babylon that was once great and the modern-day world? No, so greatness carries a different connotation these days.

Babylon, having served its purpose, was to receive God’s wrath.

Jeremiah 51:29 ESV “The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

Babylon today, surrounded by the city of Mosul in Iraq.

When you read this it is easy to say, “that happened and therefore does not apply to today.” We see this same logic applied to the temple of the last days. Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple and Israel saw that happen in 70 A.D.; yet his words also applied to a time in the distant future where there would be a third temple. Therefore these words about Babylon could just as easily apply to a future time, a time which I happen to believe is upon us now.

You might not be aware that Saddam Hussein, the late “president” of Iraq, was attempting a restoration of Babylon. He built one of his fortress-like residences on a hill just outside of Babylon along the Euphrates. Chuck Misler – author, evangelical Christian, Bible teacher, engineer, and former businessman. – told us that while active combat missions in Iraq were still ongoing, the military was running high-speed communications cables into Babylon. Does any of that literally mean that Babylon, as a city, would be resurrected to greatness? No, therefore we should be looking for something else, something more symbolic. I believe the key phrase here is “her sexual immorality”.

American soldiers at Babylon

Read more: http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/magnificent-ishtar-gate-babylon-001866#ixzz3mNsCBziH Follow us: @ancientorigins on Twitter | ancientoriginsweb on Facebook

A modern recreation of the famous Ishtar Gates of Babylon

Clearly Revelation 14:8 is speaking about a sensuality, and there is nothing sensual about the region in which Babylon is built. So the context has more to do with something spiritual. Bel Marduk might fit that bill.

“…she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

Since things seemingly went well for Daniel, we assume that all went well for Israel. We also assume that Babylon was just a beautiful, fun-loving place, but that was not the case. If you think about the fact that they threw Daniel’s companions into the fire, then its easier to understand that evil lurked in the background.

Babylon was conquered by successive empires, of which two are clearly defined: The Medo-Persian, and the Grecian empires. It is clear that something happened.

Now, what do we do with this cryptic sentence – “…she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” Apparently we know far too little about Babylon because Revelation focuses rather intently on the words sexual immorality.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke a word against Babylon:

Jeremiah 50:1-2 ESV The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet: (2) “Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say: ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.’

Commentary from the IVPBBC: Bel and Marduk. “The title Bel was applied to the supreme god of the Akkadian pantheon, which until the beginning of the second millennium B.C. was Enlil (the patron of the city of Nippur). After the emergence of Babylon as the chief city of Mesopotamia, the title was transferred to its patron deity, Marduk. Evidence of this succession to divine supremacy can be seen in Marduk’s prominent place in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish and in the prologue to the Code of Hammurabi. In both instances, Marduk is said to have achieved the rank of chief god through his combative powers and the will of the other gods. The name Bel Marduk then continues to be used by the Assyrians and the Neo-Babylonians, and his New Year’s festival is the celebration of the renewal of fertility and life (see comment on Isa_46:1). Even the Persian king Cyrus looked at his own accession to power and the capture of the city of Babylon as having been achieved through the assistance of Bel Marduk. Connections in the northwest Semitic pantheon with Bel are to be found in the name Baal, also translated as “lord.”

Now again, the question is, how do I perceive and apply this?

Mark Hitchcock, in his book The Second Coming of Babylon, states rather simplistically, “The city and the tower (of Babylon^*) represent the two aspects of Babylon that continue today: political power balanced against rebellion and apostasy.”

One can only speculate that the tower looked like this at some point

Mark Hitchcock continues, “The city they built represents the political unity of the city of Babylon. Babylon was a literal place, ruled over by a literal king who exercised political power over all the inhabitants of the world.”

I had to think about this idea of political unity for a moment.

Babylon, a lasting global political power!?

I already pointed out that God decreed devastation upon Babylon. Common sense should tell you that Babylon’s ability to persist has to first be spiritual.

Many years after its establishment by Nimrod, and after the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon is captured by Cyrus, but this line from the IVPBBC is very telling:

“ Even the Persian king Cyrus looked at his own accession to power and the capture of the city of Babylon as having been achieved through the assistance of Bel Marduk”

The generations of Noah

We are introduced to the beginnings of Babylon in Genesis chapter 10, when we are told about the generations of Noah. The son of Ham was Cush, and Cush fathered Nimrod.

Let’s explore this for a minute.

Genesis 10:8 ESV Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.

“He was the first on earth to be a mighty man”??

The word mighty in the Hebrew is: gibbôr powerful; by implication warrior, tyrant: Another instance of the word gibbôr used to depict a mighty man comes before the flood, and describes the Nephilim upon the earth.

Genesis 6:4 ESV The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

Most do not believe Nimrod to have been a giant as much as he was of a reckless ferocity.

Reckless ferocity – What names come to your mind? Og, the king of Bashan who may have been 13 feet tall; how about Genghis Khan, or Vlad the impaler.

How did Nimrod become the first on the earth to be a mighty man when clearly the earth was filled with violence and there were giants or mighty men prior to the flood?

Genesis 6:10-13 ESV And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (11) Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. (12) And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. (13) And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 9:9 ESV “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,

Genesis 10:1 ESV These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

So Noah and his generations are the fresh start. It only took three generations for everything to go sour again.

Nimrod was the controlling authority and driving force behind the tower of Babel. That may or may not be the case, but it is clear that all known inhabitants were of the same mind and direction.

Genesis 10:8-10 ESV Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. (9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” (10) The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 10:8-10 fills in a few blanks, for it tells us that Nimrod founded the towns of Babel, Erech, Accad (the Accadian race) and Calneh. All in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 11:1-4 ESV Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

I want to you to see something before we move on.

Genesis 11:4 LITV And they said, Come, let us build a city and a tower with its head in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, that we not be scattered on the face of all the earth.

If you are anything like me, then for years you read a verse like this and said, how nice, never grasping the depth of what is happening here. It is not as simple as it looks and requires that you dig a little.

God has yet to state that he will scatter them, but they almost seem to be prophesying over themselves by declaring: “that we not be scattered on the face of all the earth.” As you know, that happened.
If we hear of someone who made a name for himself, there are generally admirable thoughts associated with that, like having a beautiful park named after that person. However there are those that were not so admirable, like: John Wayne Gacy, Charlie Manson, or Ted Bundy. They certainly made names for themselves.
Here in America we have Donald Trump. He happens to be running for President, but he has his name plastered on many things he has built. The height and design are not necessarily the issue, and there is something more implicated in Genesis 11:4.

let us build us a city H5892 – (a place guarded by waking or a watch)

and let us make H6213 – accomplish

for ourselves a name H8034, – the Name (as designation of God)

I get the sense that they were trying to make their own name or god.

“Babylon also represents false religion.”

According to Mark Hitchcock: “The first organized false religion has passed down from Babylon into all other false religions of the world. Their tower symbolizes the religious unity that dominated Babylon.”

The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the Old Testament tells us: “The central feature of these early cities in southern Mesopotamia was the temple complex. Often, the temple complex was the city. The temple complex in this period would have been comprised of the temple itself, where the patron deity was worshiped, and, most prominently, by the ziggurat. Ziggurats were structures designed to provide stairways from the heavens (the gate of the gods) to earth so that the gods could come down into their temple and into the town and bring blessing. It was a convenience provided for the deity and his messengers. These stairways were featured in the mythology of the Sumerians and also are portrayed in Jacob’s dream.”

By the way:

The Hadron collider, often called CERN, has goals: “Two of the major goals for CERN is to collapse and break apart the God Particle that creates and maintains our physical world and to tear a hole through the veil that is the barrier protecting our physical universe from the unknown, non-physical universes and other non-physical dimensions believed to be located outside our physical universe.”

So one might conclude that CERN, in a sense, is just another ziggurat attempting to bring the gods down to earth.

John Walvord summarizes the Babylonian religious system:

“Nimrod, who founded Babylon, had a wife known as Semiramis who founded the secret religious rites of the Babylonian mysteries, according to accounts outside the bible. Semiramis has a son with an alleged miraculous conception who was given the name Tammuz and in effect was a false fulfillment of the promise of the seed of the woman given to Eve (Gen 3:15).”

“Various religious practices were observed in connection with the false Babylonian religion, including recognition of the mother and child as God and of creating an order of virgins who became religious prostitutes. Tammuz, according to the tradition, was killed by a wild animal and restored to life, a satanic anticipation and counterfeit of Christ’s resurrection.”

Walvord adds:

“Babylon then, is the symbol of apostasy and blasphemous substitution of idol-worship for the worship of God in Christ”.ⁱ

As to this last quote. Nimrod probably had no concept of Christ, so I do not think it is fair to pin that on him. However, since God found Noah to be favorable (there is a tremendous mystery about this man having to do with the heritage that might intrigue you, but I do not have the time here) you might assume that Noah had a strong concept of who God was. Keep in mind that any knowledge of God had to be verbally passed to the next generations. As the generations begin to rebuild something very dark creeps in and Noah curses one of his sons. It did not take that long for one generation to essentially move away from God. Project this idea three generations ahead and we have Nimrod.

The worship of Baal

Isaiah 21:9 LITV And, behold, here comes a chariot of a man, a pair of horses. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And He has smashed the graven images of her gods to the earth.

There is a clear sense of multiple gods. The prophet Jeremiah identifies two of them: Merodach and Bel.

Jeremiah 50:2 LITV Declare among the nations, and make them hear, and lift up a banner. Make them hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is broken in pieces, her images are put to shame, her idols are broken in pieces.

From John Gill’s commentary: “Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth,…. These are names of the idols of Babylon. Bel is by some thought to be the contraction of Baal, the god of the Phoenicians, called by them Beel; so “Beelsamin” (h), in the Phoenician language, is Lord of heaven: but rather this is the Belus of the Babylonians, who was a renowned king of them, and after his death deified; whom Nebuchadnezzar, according to Megasthenes (i), calls Belus his progenitor, and by whom Babylon was walled about. This idol is, no doubt, the same with Jupiter Belus, who had a temple in Babylon with gates of brass, and which was in being in the times of Herodotus (k), as he reports. This name is sometimes taken into the names of their kings, as Belshazzar or Beltesbazaar. Nebo was another of their idols, an oracular one, from whom, by its priests, prophesies of things future were pretended to be given out…”ⁱⁱ

Back to Mark Hitchcock’s book – The Second Coming of Babylon.

“From the beginning then, Babylon was both a town and a tower, a city and a system, a place and a philosophy. We will encounter this same twofold depiction of Babylon later when we look at Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18.”

From the beginning Satan has been at war. Sometimes it is hard to tell who he hates the most – God, or those that follow after him. After Satan deceives the woman we have God saying:

You and this woman will hate each other; your descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15 CEV)

Hitchcock defined this epic struggle like this:

“The situation at Babylon in Genesis 10-11 played right into Satan’s plan. While he is not mentioned by name, we can be certain that the old serpent introduced in Genesis 3 was working feverishly to energize this rebellious plan. In this setting he could influence and direct world affairs through one man.” …. “He could be ‘god’ in the eyes of all men, through occult worship and practices. After all, this is his desire.” ….. “The masses could also be converted to his false religion, with little to stand in his way.”

Make no mistake, God is, and has always been in control. Man, living in the illusion that he is in control, found out differently, for God came down and confounded their language, and scattered man across the face of the earth. Thus ended the first global community.

As Mark Hitchcock puts it:

“Globalism was put on hold.

But Satan wasn’t finished.

He set out immediately to bring the world back together so he could control all of it once again.”

“In a sense, human history is the story of Satan working to bring man back to Babylon under his rule. This will finally happen according to Revelation 17 and 18. Both the city of Babylon and the false religion system of Babylon will be resurrected in the end times.”

So in trying to understand what Babylon is, keep this passage in mind.

Jeremiah 51:29 ESV “The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

Babylon, Iraq, 1932

We are looking at power structures, guided by the gods of greed and sensuality. Look around you. If you watch television sensuality is shoved down your throats on a daily basis – you want, you need, you cannot live without. Power structures, however, are sometimes hidden in plain sight. Examples are: the NWO, Illuminati, the Bilderberg group, and men like George Soros. Our musical and entertainment icons are constantly flashing Illuminati symbols at us.

Kanye and Jay-Z flashing an Illuminati sign.

I am telling you, you need Jesus Christ, because this is all coming to head quickly, and I foresee nothing but pain coming upon the earth.

*Emphasis mine

iJohn F. Walvoord, “Revelation” in Bible Knowledge Commentary, ed. John F, Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, Ill: Victor Book, 1993), 2:970-71.

iiJohn Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible; Dr. John Gill (1690-1771)

Posted in Apostasy, End times, Prophetic, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Babylon, Bible, Bilderberg group, end times, false religion, future, Illuminati, last days, Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar, New World Order, prophecy, Revelation, Saddam Hussein, Scripture, sexual immorality, Whore of Babylon, ziggurat | 1 Comment

A Voice in the Wilderness

Those who had conquered the beast. Revelation 15:2

Inserted into this pain and destruction are three verses that exude God’s magnificence.

How does one conquer what they cannot see?

So I am overcoming a beast, which I am not even sure what it looks like, and, its image and number of its name.

“for with them the wrath of God is finished.” Revelation 15:1

Seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

I got some good news, and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first? That always cracks me up when my grandson says it. It does not matter what you say, he is going to tell you what he wanted you to hear.

The question was asked, is the Holy Spirit still involved in the earth after the rapture.

To every nation and tribe and language and people. Revelation 14:6-7

The 144,000 – Revelation 14:1-5

The 144,000

Consider an irony.

Men speaking twisted things – a commentary on false teaching.

It had two horns like a lamb. Revelation 13:11-18

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.

The synagogue of Satan?

A deception that no one would have seen coming.

Those who keep the commandments of God. Revelation 14:9-12

What do we religious folk always say? Revelation 14:9

Babylon the Great – the long version. Revelation 14 verse 8.

Now again, the question is, how do I perceive and apply this?

Babylon, a lasting global political power!?

The generations of Noah

We are introduced to the beginnings of Babylon in Genesis chapter 10, when we are told about the generations of Noah. The son of Ham was Cush, and Cush fathered Nimrod.

“Babylon also represents false religion.”

The worship of Baal

Isaiah 21:9 LITV And, behold, here comes a chariot of a man, a pair of horses. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And He has smashed the graven images of her gods to the earth.

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A rebuttal to a post I made several years ago. Revelation 13:7

We need to have an enthusiasm for the rapture. Scriptures to back up a pre- tribulation rapture.

A commentary on John 1:45-46. We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph

Answers for Rick. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22.

Scriptures that speak to our knowing, within a tight window of opportunity, when Jesus will return for His bride.

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Inserted into this pain and destruction are three verses that exude God’s magnificence.

How does one conquer what they cannot see?

So I am overcoming a beast, which I am not even sure what it looks like, and, its image and number of its name.

Related articles

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Seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

I got some good news, and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first? That always cracks me up when my grandson says it. It does not matter what you say, he is going to tell you what he wanted you to hear.

Share this:

Related articles

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Share this:

The 144,000

Consider an irony.

Related articles

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Related articles

Share this:

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.

The synagogue of Satan?

A deception that no one would have seen coming.

Related articles

Share this:

Related articles

Share this:

Share this:

Now again, the question is, how do I perceive and apply this?

Babylon, a lasting global political power!?

The generations of Noah

We are introduced to the beginnings of Babylon in Genesis chapter 10, when we are told about the generations of Noah. The son of Ham was Cush, and Cush fathered Nimrod.

“Babylon also represents false religion.”

The worship of Baal

Isaiah 21:9 LITV And, behold, here comes a chariot of a man, a pair of horses. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And He has smashed the graven images of her gods to the earth.

Related articles

Share this:

Translate

Email Subscription

Top Posts & Pages

Blog Stats

Recent Posts: A Voice in the Wilderness

Archives