The Last Days Church
The story of mankind's struggles with God is profound. What's next to come? How to identify real God-centered communities in the last days.
You are experiencing the final days of “last days” of this age. Jesus is coming back in the flesh very soon! The Bible gave us a lot of clues about when the end of this age will come, and those signs are all around us! This is very exciting! However, we must wake up
For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. ‘Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:27-34)
There are 4 kids of responses to the “time of the end.”
1) People who deny and refuse to get involved in prophecies regarding the “time of the end.” This is the majority of the world. All 5 largest world religions refuse to deal with “time of the end” because of its complication, fear elements, and in credible diversity. Why do you think Noah preached 120 years, and NO ONE except his family were saved? Same today. (Mathew 24:37)
2) People who obsess over “time of the end” prophecies, theories of interpretation, charts, conspiracy theories, esoteric information, date setting, and predictions. Very often behind this drive there is an obsession for tangibility, idolatrous knowledge, and let’s face it an intense lust for results. Fear creates results, followers, and money. People pay for pleasure and fear.
3) Denominations, cults, and groups who use “time of the end” information to elevate themselves and define WHO IS RIGHT AND WHO IS WRONG. This approach creates a “we versus the rest” mindset that is also very reassuring. Group mind is very powerful.
4) Those honestly accept the main prophetic pillars that point to the “time of the end,” but do not obsess over details. How do you know when you are stepping into a territory not blessed by God? Simple. When 27 other “time of the end” experts are fighting regarding details and they all disagree on the details.
Seek to understand and believe the signs of the times as presented in the Bible. Do not obsessed over details because I promise you, for every detail you believe, someone else will come and tell you, you are wrong!
Satan’s Final Last Days Deception
Your BRAIN, your MIND is the territory the devil seeks; control of the physical just follows the control of your BRAIN.
Look at 2 Corinthians 4:4.
What part of your SELF does the devil blind? Its not the physical eyes, HE IS AFTER YOUR BRAIN, your MIND! He wants to slowly align those 100 billion neurons to work efficiently for him, until he gets total possession. The Greek word for mind is “novhma Noema”, which translates mental thought or perception, that which thinks. Here is where Satan fights for control. All for the purpose of blinding you from the truth of God. He uses a variety of tools, strategies, skills to win the battle of your brain.
How you THINK, the inner-person YOU are, guides your perceptions. Here is where Satan is at work, and here is where the Bible warns us to set our guard. God’s word implores with you to protect YOUR BRAIN against the ways of this world, which are demonic in nature.
Satan and his fallen-angels, through the proxy of fallen-humanity, battle for the control of YOUR BRAIN. When a person surrenders to God, their perceptions change, because the Spirit of God, the presence of God, the Holy Spirit is now GUIDING THE BRAIN, THE THOUGHTS, THE MIND, THE WILL in a different direction. Satan looses total control over their mind. The kingdom of God has advanced on his territory.
“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that NO ONE can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”
While religion, morality and culture define what’s “right” and “wrong”, God always goes deeper! The world says, “Do what your heart tells you. Follow your heart.” That is a creed believed by millions today. It is one of the great cultural myths of the Western world, a gospel proclaimed in many movies and songs and television programs and stories. People spend hours watching movies that promote one of the devil’s most accepted myths! Not only that, what they wouldn’t dare do openly, because of the judgmental legalism and morality they would face, they live, accept, and caress in the depths of their hearts. Thus, their walk with God is incongruent! They follow religion, but in their fantasy world, they follow the devil! God says, “Your heart is deceitful.” Even, when it looks like you are obeying the 10 commandments, and have the truth, and follow the truth, and do the religious stuff. (Rich Young Ruler Mark 10:17-27) Under all of that, there is a deeper reality. The condition of your heart is what God looks at! Your heart matters to God, more than your outward behavior! Your heart must be filled by God’s presence, and His drive, to do His will, then your behavior will reflect it! I don’t believe in judging externals. It is deceiving. Religion does that all the time. Whether it’s adultery, homosexuality, abortion or whatever! Externals are always deceiving. When a person surrenders to God, and accepts Him in his/her heart, God changes people from the inside out. There is peace. There is harmony. The fruit of the Spirit blossoms fully. Galatians 5 We need a higher standard of authority than our heart, our feelings, our emotions. A higher standard of authority than mere opinion from the culture, from morality, legalism, and religion. We must ask God to seek the depths of our hearts. That takes time. It takes a walk with God. It takes listening to God. It takes a commitment to reading God’s Word in its totality. It takes prayer. And above all things it takes a humble heart! The problem we have today is a watered-down gospel. Religion has replaced the radical call of Jesus to look deep into our hearts. That’s why religion is so quick to judge some sins such as adultery, and very, very, very slow to call on the deeper sins of the heart: namely, pride, greed, materialism, money obsession, and insensitivity towards poverty, and injustice. Because of that, many have a watered-down understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, a follower of God. We have Christians who have become so much like the world, that the world doesn’t even want to become like them. Remember Peter? And this is the truth! Have you ever watched Christians in “worldly” circles trying to “fit” and be “cool.”? Here is the truth, Friend. What was considered normal followship of Christ in the first and the second century, before Christianity became an institution, would be considered RADICAL by today’s standards. But that is what we need today: RADICAL FOLLOWERS OF GOD. To put it another way, we need followers of God that are willing to stand for God no matter what. We need followers of God that know that the only real TRUTH is the one God reveals in the heart! God transforms the human heart. The human heart without God is deceiving. I see all day long the results of behavior caused by the human heart. Give God a chance, Friend! Instead of trying to accommodate the Word of God to our changing culture, we need to accommodate our culture to the unchanging Word of God.
What is the Apocalypse?
We live in a time when increasingly numbers of people, from all walks of life, are familiar with the phrase, “time of the end,” or “apocalypse.”
There are 5 things you need to know about the time of the end.
1) The condition of the world before the coming of Jesus. Matthew 24:12
“In the confusion, [time of the end] lying preachers [false religion] will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes." “The love of most will grow cold.” (NIV)
Three aspects deserve attention from this passage.
False religion
The five major religions of the world are infested with errors and erroneous concepts about God. Religion is driving much of the confusion of the world. I define religion: “As the human attempt to conceptualize, systematize, define, anthropomorphize (project humanity on God), use God to drive human behavior, create morality, question Him, (agnosticism), or reject His existence (atheism). All for the purpose to affect human behavior. Religion begins with the human search. A relationship with God begins with Him reaching out to humanity. Thus, He invites us FIRST to let Him love us.
I believe there are followers of God all around the world, who are hearing the voice of God and following Him in their personal lives. These people come from all walks of life, all religions and persuasions.
Chaotic conditions
- Climate change, natural disasters
- Hostilities among nations
- Military or militarized conflicts in the US, and geopolitical regions of the words
- Economic crisis
- Conflicts between the “left” (the majority of the world, poor, oppressed), and the right (1%, 10%, greed, political powers)
- Pandemics
- Hopelessness and loss of meaning
Most people will lose their ability to love, and accept love.
The absence of love will increasingly create the vacum for violence to escalate at all levels. Loveless marriages, divorce, generational tensions, lack of compassion, greed, and demonic forces driving people to do the unthinkable.
Word of Jesus about conditions in the time of the end. Matthew 24
“Later as he [Jesus] was sitting on Mount Olives, his disciples approached and asked him, “Tell us, when are these things going to happen? What will be the sign of your coming, that the time’s up?”
[False religion] “Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people.”
[Armed conflicts] “When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over.”
[Natural disasters] “Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming.”
[Persecution - Violence] “They are going to throw you to the wolves and kill you, everyone hating you because you carry my name. And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other.”
[False religion - Chaos - Absence of love] “In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.
[Key to victory for followers of God] “Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.”
[AntiChrist-Mark of the beast-Religio-political allegiance (Daniel-Revelation)] “But be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the Temple sanctuary. The prophet Daniel described this. If you’ve read Daniel, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you’re living in Judea at the time, run for the hills; if you’re working in the yard, don’t return to the house to get anything; if you’re out in the field, don’t go back and get your coat. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard.
[Chaotic conditions as never seen-God will put an end before the world self-destroys] “This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again. If these days of trouble were left to run their course, nobody would make it. But on account of God’s chosen people, [you, Friend] the trouble will be cut short.
[False religion] “If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. But I’ve given you fair warning. So if they say, ‘Run to the country and see him arrive!’ or, ‘Quick, get downtown, see him come!’ don’t give them the time of day."
[The truth about the Second Coming of Jesus] “The Arrival of the Son of Man [Jesus] isn’t something you go to see. HE COMES like swift lightning to you! Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure that it’s not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds.”
[The Second Coming of Jesus] “Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! [Jesus] IT WILL FILL THE SKIES—NO ONE WILL MISS IT. UNREADY people all over the world, OUTSIDERS to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole. [What a spectacular description]
[SIGNS of the Second Coming of Jesus is what we have, NOT A SPECIFIC DATE. Watch out for obsessive date setting] “Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.
“But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven’s angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows."
[Conditions in the culture by the time of Jesus’ Second Coming] “The Arrival of the Son of Man [Jesus] will take place in times like Noah’s. Before the great flood EVERYONE was carrying on as USUAL, HAVING A GOOD TIME right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They KNEW NOTHING—until the flood hit and swept everything away.”
[The Second Coming of Jesus will happen all of a sudden] “The Son of Man’s Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind."
[Warning from Jesus] “So stay AWAKE, ALERT. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT DAY YOUR MASTER WILL SHOW UP. But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. Be vigilant just like that. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHEN THE SON OF MAN IS GOING TO SHOW UP.”
[I have to confess I get very impatient with people who try so hard to predict the time of Jesus’ coming. You can read books and books of conspiracy theories and ignore what Jesus’ said! NO ONE KNOWS! You have no idea!]
[This is for Pastors and leaders] “Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A PERSON THE MASTER CAN DEPEND ON TO FEED THE WORKERS ON TIME EACH DAY. SOMEONE THE MASTER CAN DROP IN ON UNANNOUNCED AND ALWAYS FIND HIM DOING HIS JOB. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. It won’t be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation."
[I want to be this person. People who tend to obsess about the events of Jesus coming, prediction, date setting, conspiracy theories should be avoided. Do what God has called you to do. Fulfill your purpose. Live every day as if Jesus won’t come for 1.000 more years, be ready as He would come back tomorrow. That’s the key. By the way, most of “time of the end terrorists, and expert speculators” (Pastors, teachers), are making very good money out of scaring people, and satisfying an obsessive, neurotic need to know… ]
[Religious hypocrites] “But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases—abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends—the Master is going to show up when he least expects it and make hash of him. He’ll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.”
Nothing can be more clear than the teachings of Jesus regarding the time of the end.
2) The mark of God’s followers in the time of the end. John 13:35
“This is how EVERYONE will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
Notice it’s not a message, doctrine or a teaching that will tell the world who are God’s people. But the witness of LOVE, compassion, and care.
Followers of God to let God love them, which then enables them to love others, have compassion, and not respond violently to persecution and attacks from the world. LOVE and the absence of it will divide the world in two groups: The majority of the world will be unable to love, and a small minority will continue to respond in compassion, and love to people, regardless of adverse circumstances. Most Jesus said, “will quit loving” (Matthew 24:12)
We are told by historians of the early church called “The Way,” (followers of Jesus. Acts 9:2 is the first mention of this church out of 6 times), that the way in which pagans and secular people KNEW followers of Jesus, was by the way they expressed love. They way they cared for each other. An anonymous onlooker from that epoch is said to have described them as, “Look how they love each other” They were truly a community of love and compassion. Imagine a community of wealthy people and poor, followers of God, who sell all their real estate properties, possessions, expensive cars and take the money back so everyone will have their needs taken acre of. That’s what marked that early church. Capitalism, individualism, and the greed of Wall Street would have shocked them!
I know there are people who think this “love” concept is too soft. There must be some substance, some doctrine that will distinguish followers of God in the time of the end.
To those who worry about legalistic issues, obedience, doctrines, and who “has the truth,” I say, “when you let God love you, you will obey out of love whatever God directs you to do.” Lovers don’t need lessons on how to love. A young mother learns very quickly how to love her baby. Love is a driving force.
3) The specific events to take place between now and the Second Coming of Jesus are revealed to us in the Bible as prophetic statements. God has not left us without information about the time of the end.
- Daniel 11, 12
- The book of Revelation
- Statements by Jesus
- Statements by writers of the NT
There is: 1) a prophetic message in the Bible followers of God must understand, and 2) a prophetic worldwide movement composed by people who choose to follow God. (This is not to be confused with “time of the end terrorists,” paranoid fanatics, conspiracy theories, obsessive date setting, and fear-mongering predictions.) Fear is not from God. Love is (1 John 4:18).
We must keep in mind what matters! The devil is in the details. If you are a follower of God, He will reveal to you what you must do. God will not leave you at the mercy of you understanding volumes of volumes of details. You must know the main sings and be ready to follow God, not the world.
4) There will be a critical decision followers of God will have to make before the Second Coming of Jesus. Revelation 14: 9-11
“A third Angel followed, shouting, warning, ‘If anyone worships the Beast and its image [false religion] and takes the mark on forehead or hand, that person will drink the wine of God’s wrath, prepared unmixed in his chalice of anger… No respite for those who worship the Beast and its image, who take the mark of its name.” MEANWHILE, the saints stand passionately patient, keeping God’s commands, staying faithful to Jesus.”
I believe, rooted in intense study of Biblical prophecies that the world will be called to go back to God, due to the calamities falling upon the earth. In a last desperate attempt to calm the wrath of God, religion will call the masses to go back to church. A Sunday law will be legalized and imposed as a sign of loyalty to God. Except for the fact that “Sunday keeping” is the mark of false religion. Those who observe the commandments of God will be called by God to observe Sabbath (Saturday) as a day of worship. That will signal the beginning of fierce persecution of followers of God by religion and political powers. Make no mistake about Sunday keeping. The Catholic Church has clearly acknowledge from the beginning the Church had the authority to change God’s day of rest for a Church’s chosen day. The Catholic catechism is clear. The reformation kept Sunday among all the reforms, and evangelicals today twist Scriptures, the Bible to say that Sabbath is not abiding for followers of God. I can dialogue with Catholics because the issue is not Sunday or Sabbath (Saturday) but the authority of the church and the Bible. For evangelical Christians the issue is hermeneutical maneuvering, and distortion of the Biblical text.
Just for your information I post one statement which shows that Protestants all follow the Catholic church.
“The Bible everywhere enforces the sanctification of Saturday the seventh day of the week…You Protestants have to admit the authority of the Roman Catholic Church that is branded on you when you observe Sunday because you have no other authority for Sunday but that of the Roman Catholic Church.”- James Gibbons (American Catholic Cardinal, Virginia; July 23, 1834 – March 24, 1921)
5) God’s promise to His people in the time of the end. Daniel 12: 1-3
This is a phenomenal promise for followers of God.
“At that time [time of the end] Michael, [Jesus], the great prince who PROTECTS YOUR PEOPLE, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. BUT at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—WILL BE DELIVERED. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise[a] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
The Bible, in the Book of Revelation, warns us that a POLITICAL-RELIGIOUS LEADER will arise in the LAST DAYS of the history of this world WHO DRIVE THE WORLD INTO A ONE-WORLD RELIGION. This is not a new idea. It was predicted 2.000 years in a vision God gave the apostle John in the Island of Patmos.
“I saw ANOTHER Beastrising out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke. (This “beast” in prophetic terms represents the USA as a world power). IT WAS A PUPPET OF THE FIRST BEAST, (The first beast has been traditionally understood to be the Catholic Church)… (The second beast) made earth and everyone in it worship the FIRST BEAST, which had been healed of its deathblow.” (This last description of the first beast provides us with a historical anchor to know what it means) Revelation 13: 11-18
The deathblow inflicted on the first beast has always been considered the 59 years the Vatican was invaded as a “Papal independent State” and invalidated on September 20th, 1870. The deathblow was the abolition of “church-state” kind of government. On February 11th, 1929, an historic treaty was signed between the Italian Government and the Vatican re-establishing the political power and diplomatic standing of the Catholic Church. Back to church-state kind of government. The agreement signed 70 years ago by Benito Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri, on behalf of the King Victor Emmanuel III and Pope Pius XI, restored the full diplomatic and political power of the Holy See of Rome. And today, all the world indeed “wonders” at the revived power of the Roman Catholic Church, which is the epitome of CHURCH and STATE combined in one institution with ambassadors all over the world, its own bank, government entities, and a major player in global politics all under the headship of a political-religious person, namely, the Pope.
Continues John in the Book of revelation:
“This second Beast (The USA) worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven. It used the magic it got from the Beast to dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an IMAGE OF THE BEST that received the deathblow and lived. It was able to animate the image of the Beast (give power to the first beast) so that it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be killed. It forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead. Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.”
“Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It’s a human number: 666.”
The second beast (The USA) will have the appearance of a lamb (Revelation 13:11), which means it will “appear to be a follower of God.” However, in reality he is an impostor and a deceiver. The true identity of the second beast, is the one of the false prophet. His campaign to unite the world’s religions will ultimately lead people of all faiths to come together for the purpose of WORSHIPING THE FIRST BEAST, THE ANTICHRIST.
This is what you need to catch. The model of church-state government under the papacy, will be implemented in the United States under the direction of the Vatican. That’s what the prophecy says.
Ellen White, prophet of God, said 150 years ago the following:
“WHEN the leading churches of the United States, uniting in such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall INFLUENCE THE STATE TO ENFORCE their decrees and to sustain their institutions, THEN Protestant America will have formed an IMAGE TO THE ROMAN HIERARCHY, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters inevitably result.” (Great Controversy, p, 445)
Only a “political-religious” leader, following the the model of the Vatican, like the United States could fulfill the requirements of having the appearance of a lamb and leading the world in worship.
So believers have been warned in advance to be on the lookout for this movement which I believe is happening very quickly now. Our alarms should be blowing when we see someone taking actions to unite the religions of the world. However, since the Bible does not tell us the dates we are instructed to be on the alert, be sober, aware of the schemes of the devil. We are warned not to be spiritually asleep like those who are in darkness.
The Lord Jesus warned his followers, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13). So those who are committed to obeying God should be paying close attention to the events happening in the world around them.
Today we see a religious leader taking action to unify the religions of the world in ways that are unprecedented. His name is Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis appears to be on a crusade to unite the religions of the world into one. He started fast from the beginning and has not slowed down. Since being elected Pope on March 13 2013, he has launched initiatives to reconcile differences between leaders of every major religion, including longstanding rifts between Christian denominations.
I believe the United States will follow the direction of the Pope in all political affairs, and the direction of the government, beginning September 23, 2015. In fact, I am convinced the next Presidential election will be heavily influenced by Pope Francis’ agenda. The United States will order the world to follow the message of the Pope regarding the following issues:
The environment
Socio-economic issues. Compassion. What could be more “religious” than to cover the poor, eliminate discrimination, and create a sense of openness to all people. Forgiveness for abortion. Forgiveness for divorce.
A message of love and compassion for sinners which will unite all religions. De-emphasize differences and proclaim the love, the mercy and the forgiveness of God.
God’s last message to the world is a message of compassion, love, mercy and grace.
“Legalistic” denominations with cultic tendencies like to speak of JUDGMENT. I believe in judgment. But if the judgment of God is not framed by GOD’S LOVE, His judgment will be used to create FEAR and religious behavior modification which is not healthy. There is a strong confrontation around the world right now between compassion, and intolerance. Intolerance is often used under the umbrella of religion. Ask God to give you a spirit of discernment.
I believe the world will become involved in a “new spiritual revival” like we have never seen before. Under the umbrella or love and compassion there will be great deception and confusion between the TRUE REDEMPTIVE TRANSFORMING LOVE OF GOD, and a SUPERFICIAL RELIGIOUS LOVE AND COMPASSION FOR THE PURPOSE OF UNITY.
The reason why I believe this point is so important it’s because God’s last message to the world is HIS LOVE… Inviting people to LET HIM LOVE THEM, and allowing the transforming power of His grace to follow Him. I have said this for years. THE DEVIL and GOD will preach the “SEEMINGLY SAME MESSAGE” to the world, and the ones who will know the difference will be those who have a RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, away from religion and legalistic dogma.
“All the world needs is LOVE” will sound like true religion. There is false love and true love. You can only be a true lover if you let God love you, FIRST!
There will be great tension between RELIGIOUS LEGALISM on one extreme, (Disenchanted people fighting a religious battle), THE ONE WORLD RELIGION that will influence governments and political moves at all levels, and a true RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD which calls for true loyal love to Him and His commandments, even unto death. Matthew 25:12 is about to begin its major fulfillment:
Due to FALSE RELIGION, (The ONE WORLD RELIGION. Many in the religions of the world will be disenchanted and will open up to God’s love and grace), and the chaos, violence, environmental disasters, and the confusion of the world, MOST people will lose their ability to love and be loved.
- The world will become a jungle of conflict BETWEEN the absence of LOVE on one extreme, and FALSE LOVE, driven by fear, on the other extreme.
- Perhaps a major global attack against ISIS and Muslims who do not surrender to the ONE WORLD RELIGION.
- A possible economic global crash.
- Persecution against those who remain loyal to God, and refuse to follow the ONE WORLD RELIGION.
This message of unity has been the ongoing theme by Pope Francis in meeting after meeting, and nation after nation. Pope Francis has not only sought unity among Catholics, but has ventured much farther than any previous Pope in reaching out to people of other religions. This is a pre-requisit for the second beast, the United States, to call the world to follow the Pope.
“And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.” (Revelation 13:12)
Believers everywhere should be watching and praying, on the alert, sober and fully awake for the devil comes craftily, cloaked as a lamb. Vigilant but not rooted in FEAR, legalism and a judgmental spirit.
Rejoicing because the end is near. Sharing the GOOD NEWS of God’s love with neighbors, family. Loving people, expressing compassion, praying for miracles of transformation. Keeping our marriages and families together under the umbrella of God’s grace, healing power, and LOVE.
The DEVIL and GOD will be preaching the “seemingly same” message in the time of the end. That’s why it will be so confusing. The devil just wants to copy, imitate everything God does. The is the false light.
It’s a misconception to believe that the DEVIL will be preaching LOVE, compassion, unification to the world, while GOD calls his followers to preach LEGALISM, RIGIDITY OF DOCTRINE AND DOGMA. I want you to catch the subtlety of what I am saying.
Don’t put your TOTAL TRUST IN END-TIME PROPHECIES, the fear mongering details some Pastors and churches use to create obsessive addiction to details, and predictions of the end. This is all part of what I call RELIGION. Speculation and conspiracy theories run high in the realm of RELIGION. INSTEAD PUT YOUR TRUST IN GOD. Let God LOVE YOU, and develop a RELATIONSHIP with Him, by surrendering your life to Him! God will never let His people be deceived. Study prophecies for awareness without falling into human obsession!
The prostitute riding the beast. UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE AS ONE CONTROLLING WORLD POWER.
Revelation 17 is delineated into two parts: (1) the vision (17:1–6a), in which John the revelator observes a woman who is depicted as a prostitute riding the beast; and (2) the audition (17:6b–18), in which the interpreting angel explains to John the meaning of the vision of the prostitute and the beast that carries her.
In the vision, John is invited to witness the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, seductively deceiving the inhabitants of the earth (vv. 1, 2). This woman is subsequently identified as “ ‘Babylon the great, the mother of harlots’ ” (v. 5).1 In the Hebrew Scriptures, a prostitute symbolically refers to God’s people in their apostasy (Isa. 1:21; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16; 23; Hosea 3; 4). The portrayal of the prostitute in Revelation 17 shows that she represents an entity that was once faithful to God before aligning herself with the end-time opponent of God and His faithful remnant. Babylon is thus a corporate name for an end-time apostate entity.
Note that the prostitute is first referenced to as sitting on “ ‘many waters’ ” (v. 1); however, when John actually sees her, she is seen as sitting on a scarlet beast (v. 3). This should not come as a surprise due to such a literary feature occurring regularly in the book (see Rev. 5:5, 6). Therefore, the waters and the beast are two symbols that represent the same reality. According to Revelation 17:5, the waters upon which the prostitute was seen symbolize UNION of the civil, secular, and political powers of the world. Remember I spoke about this in my last “Chats.” The book of Revelation points us in the direction of ONE WORLD RELIGION, CHURCH OR POWER that will control the destiny of the world.
Jeremiah 51:13 shows that “many waters” refers to the Euphrates River. Just as the ancient Babylon depended on the Euphrates River for its existence, so will the end-time Babylon depend on the civil, secular, and political powers of the world to enforce its plans and purposes.
Furthermore, the beast stands as a symbol of a political power or system. That the prostitute Babylon sits (or rides) on the beast shows that this religious system will have control over these worldwide political powers at the end of time. End of the separation of church and state, and the “marriage” of state and church in one entity. Thus, the prophecy shows us that at the end of time, there will be a religious-political union when the political powers of the earth will unite with the end-time apostate religious system named Babylon.
The three phases of the beast, The beast that WAS, WHO IS NOT, and WHO IS TO COME.
In the second part of the chapter, John is described as greatly astonished when he sees the prostitute. He recognizes in her the woman that had fled into the wilderness in order to escape the persecution of the dragon during the prophetic 1,260-day period of the Middle Ages (Rev. 12:13, 14). In response to John’s astonishment, the interpreting angel promises to disclose the “ ‘mystery’ ” of the prostitute and of the scarlet beast that carries her as well as their function at the time of the end (Rev. 17:7).
John describes the beast as the one that “ ‘was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss’ ” (v. 8). This identification of the beast brings to mind the divine title “ ‘who was and who is and who is to come’ ” (Rev. 4:8). Thus, this title identifies the beast as a parody of God. However, this tripartite formula also shows that the beast has passed through three phases of existence. This, in turn, links the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 with the sea beast of Revelation 13 (cf. Rev. 13:1 with 17:3).2
- First, the beast “was.”
In other words, this beast existed in the past. The “was” phase of the beast refers to its activities during the prophetic period of 1,260 days or years (Rev. 13:5). The year A.D. 538 marked the beginning of this prophetic period when the church of western Europe, led by the Roman papacy, established itself as an ecclesiastical power and dominated the Western world throughout the Middle Ages. In our time characterized by religious tolerance, such statements can be regarded as harsh and unfair; but the present reality cannot erase the historical facts.
- Second, the beast came into its “is not” phase of existence in 1798 when, as a result of the events of the French Revolution, it sustained its deadly wound (Rev. 13:3).
This brought an end to the church’s oppressive political power. The beast disappeared for some time from the world’s scene, yet it survived.
- Third, with the healing of the deadly wound, the beast will resurrect to life in full satanic rage against God’s faithful people. The prophecy thus shows that the religious-political oppressive system that dominated the world during the Middle Ages will be revived at the time of the end and will dominate the world as it did in the past.
This revival of the beast will fill the inhabitants of the world with awe and admiration (Rev. 13:8; 17:8b).
Therefore, Revelation 17 clearly describes the sea beast of Revelation 13 at the time when its deadly wound has been healed. Upon this resurrected beast, John sees the end-time prostitute Babylon sitting. Thus, the end-time religious system that will play a key role in the final conflict is a continuation of the religious-political power that harmed and oppressed God’s people during the prophetic 1,260-day period of the Middle Ages.
I want you to catch this. Revelation tells us that THE TIME OF THE END WILL BE ALL ABOUT RELIGION. Religion will once again dominate and control politics as it did in the past, even if it’s for a short time.
However, there is a noticeable difference between its power during the medieval period and the time of the end. While the sea beast, representing the medieval CHURCH, was a religious-political power, the SCARLET BEAST is exclusively a political power driven by the religious power. These two are distinct at the end of time.
The Seven Heads of the Beast
The Seven Heads of the Beast
This brings us to our key passage of Revelation 17:9–11: “ ‘Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.’ ”
The text opens with a call for “WISDOM” as a prerequisite to understanding the meaning of the heads of the beast. The wisdom that John calls for here is the same wisdom that was spoken of in connection with the number of the beast (Rev. 13:18). This wisdom refers to spiritual discernment that can only be imparted by the Holy Spirit, rather than through brilliant mental and intellectual ability (James 1:5). Only through this divinely imparted wisdom will the faithful be able to discern the true character of this end-time satanic power.
As we continue to read, we may see that the beast has seven heads like the red dragon (or Satan) of Revelation 12:3. The existence of the beast remains inseparable from its heads. Throughout history, the beast has solely ruled and been active through the agency of its heads. When one of the heads receives a deadly blow, the whole beast dies (cf. Rev. 13:12–14). This brings us to a need for a closer look as to what these heads represent.
“‘The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits’ ” (Rev. 17:9). We see a new symbol added here. At first, we were told that the woman sat on “ ‘many waters’ ” (v. 1), and then, on the scarlet beast (v. 3); now, catch this… the angel explains that she actually sits on seven mountains. The waters, the beast, and the mountains are different symbols for the civic, secular, and political powers (cf. v. 15) that will provide popular support to Babylon as the end-time apostate religious system.
We must keep in mind that Revelation does not deal with INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITIES, whether past or present, but RATHER with systems and world powers—whether political or religious.
The Greek word "oros" means “mountain,”not “hill,” as some translators suggest in order to show that the city of Rome, situated on seven hills, is in view here. However, since the seven mountains in Revelation 17 are successive, they cannot be interpreted in a literal manner. In the Old Testament, mountains often represent world powers or empires (Jer. 51:25; Ezek. 35:2–5; Dan. 2:35). For instance, the kingdom of Judah in the Old Testament is often referred to as Mount Zion (Ps. 48:1–3; Isa. 29:8).
The angel clearly does not refer to literal mountains since he immediately explains to John that these seven mountains actually represent “seven kings” (Rev. 17:10). However, these cannot be interpreted as individual kings, for at least three reasons.
- First of all, we have established that Revelation does not deal with individual personalities but systems.
- Second, these seven kings are equated with the seven mountains—a symbol of kingdoms or empires.
- Third, in the Old Testament, “kings” is another expression for kingdoms or empires (Dan. 2:37–39; 7:17).
Seven Heads as Successive Empires
Based on biblical evidence, the interpretation that makes the most sense is that the seven mountains, upon which the prostitute Babylon sits, stand for the seven successive empires that dominated the world throughout history and through which Satan worked to oppose God.
These empires possessed common traits of religious-political governance and coercion, which they used to cause harm and persecute God’s people.
As the angel further explains to John from his time’s perspective, 5 of these kingdoms have fallen, (WAS), 1 (IS), and the 7th one would appear sometime in the future. As previously explained, this cryptic text has generated numerous speculative interpretations, primarily due to the interpreters’ failure to note that the meaning of these successive kingdoms was explained to John in the context of his own time—not ours. Nowhere in the text does it indicate that John was transported to another time; the angel simply explains to him what he had already seen previously in the vision.
THEREFORE, the key to decoding the meaning of these seven heads lies in the sixth kingdom, which is described as “IS.” This “is” refers to John’s time. John lived in the time of the sixth head—THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The five that had fallen were thus the empires that ruled the world and caused harm to God’s people prior to the time of John: (1) Egypt was the world power that enslaved and oppressed Israel, seeking to destroy her; (2) Assyria destroyed and scattered the ten tribes of Israel; (3) Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and exiled Judah; (4) Persia almost annihilated the Jews at the time of Esther; (5) Greece oppressed and tried to destroy the Jews through Antiochus Epiphanes.
THE SEVENTH KINGDOM that “HAS NOT YET COME” refers to the medieval papacy that, from John’s time perspective, would be manifested in the future from John’s time—after the fall of the Roman Empire. (PAPAL ROME).
The angel further explained that the scarlet beast itself is a part of the phase of the eighth head, the world power that is to come at the time of the end. Yet, it is one of the previously noted seven heads. Although this eighth head is one of the previous seven, it is considered a new power. Which of the seven? Most likely the seventh head, which previously experienced the deadly wound but comes back to life after its wound has healed.
This seventh power will reappear as the eighth head at the end of time and will exercise the same authority as it did during the Middle Ages. During the time of the eighth head, the scarlet beast carries the prostitute Babylon. We now live in the era of the seventh head, for the eighth head has not yet gained its power. However, it will appear on the world scene at the time of the end and will impose its rule on the inhabitants of the earth.
The EIGHT head must remain a “short time”
Current misinterpretations of this phrase have construed the phrase to mean that the seventh pope will rule for a short amount of time. The Greek adjectival word for the temporal phrase “a short time” used here is "oligon," which means “a short time” or “a little while.”
This word (Greek: oligon)is different from "micron," used in Revelation to indicate shortness of time (see Rev. 6:11; 20:3). In contrast, Greek: "oligon" does not indicate a length of time but is rather used in a qualitative sense. For instance, Revelation 12:12 states that having been cast out of heaven, Satan realizes that he has only “ ‘a short time,’ Greek: ‘[oligon kairon].’ But you see, ”this “short time” does not refer to a length of time, for it has been at least 6.000 years, perhaps much more, since Satan’s expulsion from heaven—another way of saying this, is that Satan’s “time has limits,” its has pre-determined time. Just as a person sentenced to death realizes that he or she only has “a short time” despite the fact that the execution may take place many years later.
This same meaning for the Greek word Greek: "oligon" is also found in Revelation 17:10. That the seventh power must remain for a short time does not point to the length of time—a short period of existence; rather, it is a different way of stating that the existence of this power is determined by God (“it must remain”) and that it will come to its end, as is in the case of Satan in Revelation 12:12. The seventh power will receive a deadly wound: an event that took place with the events of the French Revolution in 1798.
Here is my strongest conviction about the time of the end and the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. When understood properly, the prophecies of Revelation have PRACTICAL PURPOSES AND APPLICATIONS: to teach us how to live today and prepare us for the future. NOT THE CREATION OF FEAR, AND SUPERIOR ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE that gives you an edge on the rest of the people. A RIGHT understanding of prophecy will inspire and motivate you to reach others with the gospel of God’s GRACE, not make you denominationally ARROGANT, full of idolatrous certainty. That is not the spirit of God!
“God’s grace is not defined as God being forgiving to us even though we sin. GRACE IS WHEN GOD IS A SOURCE OF WHOLENESS, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, and God’s grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word … it’s that God makes beautiful things out of even my own shit. Grace isn’t about God creating humans and flawed beings and then acting all hurt when we inevitably fail and then stepping in like the hero to grant us grace - like saying, “Oh, it’s OK, I’ll be the good guy and forgive you.” It’s God saying, “I LOVE THE WORLD TOO MUCH TO LET YOUR SIN DEFINE YOU AND BE THE FINAL WORD. I am a God who makes all things new.” ― Nadia Bolz-Weber, “Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner”
I believe there will be two churches in the last stretch of the “time of the end” before the Second Coming of Jesus. “The parable of the sheep and the goats: TIME OF THE END.” Very few Bible students see a prophetic message in this parable.
1) All the world’s issues at a local and global level will all be about RELIGION. You must be aware of this! I know it sounds impossible, but we are slowly moving into that era.
Just a careful listening at the events that took place this week in the USA as result of Pope Francis’ visit, will give you a glimpse of the future.
The issues we face globally are geo-political conflicts, ecological, environmental, financial disintegration, violence, crime, family values, the increasing number of young people who choose to cohabit instead of marrying, issues of sexuality, pornography, drug abuse, injustice, the value of life, death penalty, euthanasia, incarceration, poverty, discrimination, xenophobia, immigration and disease, among the main themes shaping our political, cultural and global debate. You see, Friend, at the bottom of the global landscape, are the spiritual issues, the issues of the heart, the kind of relational life we choose to live.
It’s my conviction that soon or later, all those issues will fall under the umbrella of RELIGION. We are almost there. The 5 large religions of the world are speaking to those issues, and in some instances the conflicts we face are driven by religious motives, particularly in the case of the 3 Abrahamic religions which tend to be religions of violence. I believe Pope Francis this week bundled up together the major issues we face under the big themes of God, church, humanity, life, love, compassion, community and the urgency to “rebuild our home.”
2) There will be a FALSE church with FALSE RELIGION. This is what Jesus and the Bible say.
3) There will be a TRUE church (God’s church) composed by people who LET GOD LOVE THEM, and they respond to God and the world in LOVE and COMPASSION!
First, let me deal with a religious misnomer, which rolls in the hallways of churches, cults, sects, and denominational gatherings which tend to obsess regarding the details of the time of the end.
“Time of the end” experts often tend to define the final conflict of 2 opposite ideologies as a very clear set of beliefs and propositions. They love to do that!
Such perspective provides people and members of those groups what I call an “idolatrous certainty.” What do I mean by “idolatrous”? A false sense of certainty which you worship as an idol. Like you go to an exam knowing exactly what will be asked of you, and you expect to know the answers to those questions. The whole emphasis is on dogma, beliefs, doctrines, behavior, “who is right and wrong,” and LEGALISM! Every word I wrote on my last statement is intended to be there.
What The End Times Are Really All About
The MESSAGE of the false and the true church of God in the “time of the end” will be SIMILAR on the surface. Thus, causing an ocean of confusion!
Does this make sense? There would no confusion if the messages of both churches would be diametrically different, and clearly defined.
Revelation 13:13 (NLT) says that the FALSE CHURCH will perform “astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching.” Unless you are totally in tune with God, in a deep relationship with Him, you will be deceived by these manifestations of supernatural power. How will you know what is from God and what is not?
Matthew 24:24 says, “Fake Messiahs and lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of EVEN THOSE WHO OUGHT TO KNOW BETTER.”
This simply means that the “false religion/church” will not show up with manifestations and messages that are seemingly “contrary” to God’s message directly. It will be a subtle underground form of deception like what the “serpent did in the Garden of Eden with Eve.” (Genesis 3:1).
If God performs miracles, the devil will also perform miracles. If God calls people to worship Him, the devil will also show up encouraging people to worship a “false god.” If God says “I love you” the devil will show up and say, “I love you better!” If God shows up and says, “It’s all by grace and grace alone, the devil will show up and say, “Ok, that means you are free to do whatever you want!” (Playing games with God is called legalism). The devil is a master at deception, lying and confusing the human mind.
Confusion in the End Times
Here is the parable Jesus used to stop all “religious experts” from hurrying up to predict what’s next, and judge motives.
Matthew 13:24-30:
“He [Jesus] told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. [The good farmer is God] That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy [The devil] sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn.”
“When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.”
“The farmhands came to the farmer [God] and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’ “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’
“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’ [Notice the anxiety driving the farm workers. They wanted to clean up the field. They were anxious to define what was good and what was bad! They sound like preachers and religious people trying to define who is RIGHT and WRONG, doesn’t it? Such anxiety, presumptuous, and arrogant sense of superiority is not from God. Read God’s answer to those farm workers (preachers, denominations)]
“He said, ‘NO, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. LET THEM GROW TOGETHER… [please notice the following] UNTIL HARVEST TIME. [Don’t miss the following statement]. THEN… [WHO?, a denomination, preachers, time of the end experts, a religious sect? NO!] “I” [God] WILL INSTRUCT THE “HARVESTERS” TO PULL UP THE THISTLES and tie them in bundles for the fire, THEN GATHER THE WHEAT and put it in the barn.’”
Notice the points of Jesus’ parable. TWO FARMERS: A good one, and a bad one. THE FARM represents the world. THE FARMERS, the workers of the field paid to keep the soil good, watered, and in good condition. THE FARMERS see the difference between the wheat and the tares, and they want to clean up the field. The GOOD FARMER SAYS, “NO, don’t do it!”
Who are the harvesters? at the end of the age?
The original Greek, and most versions such as the NIV, say, “The HARVEST IS THE END OF THE AGE, and the HARVESTERS ARE (Greek: “ἄγγελοί” ) ANGELS” So, the “judgment” of God will happen at the end of the age, and until then, unless you are one of God’s angels specifically sent to be a harvester, you are not responsible for separating the wheat from the tares. Do I make sense?” This is a symbolic image of what will happen at the Second Coming of Jesus.
I believe the subject of this parable is RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE. This is Jesus’ message told to people who were anxious to clean up the field! Have you met any religious person like that?
Religious tolerance is about reserving judgment till the HARVESTERS get the job done. We can till, we can garden, we can nurture, we can water, we can argue about whose wheat is the “wheatiest” or whose thistles is the “thistleiest,” (which is mostly what legalism is all about), BUT judgment of what is fruitless and what is fruitful must be left to the ONE who is greater than the farmers!
God is the only ONE who will perform the final judgment. Don’t take God’s job into your own hands. Aren’t you glad, you are not in charge of pulling the tares from the field?
The 5 parables are prophetic parables because they reveal and conceal the existential reality of the Kingdom of God on earth all the way from the time when Jesus told them to the disciples, to the time of the end.
The language of the 5 parables follows the “agro-bio-linguistic” mindset of the Hebrew/Aramaic milieu. God meant for His people to walk out unto the world and find manifestations of His universal principles in nature. He used the idea of a potter to explain how He wants to shape us. He used the symbol of the bread, light, salt, birds, plants, flowers, trees, soil, seeds, examples of nature. The parables of Jesus are not linear like the Hellenistic culture, but dynamically alive, rich in meaning, multifaceted, and subtle. They are meant to make you think. They are often counter-intuitive. All 5 parables of Matthew 13 profile from different angles the two churches at the “end of the age” prior to the coming of Jesus: namely the CHURCH OF GOD, His followers, and the FALSE CHURCH, those who reject His love.
Wheat and Weeds
Wheat and Weeds
“Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
“Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “EXPLAIN TO US THE PARABLE OF THE WEEDS in the field.”
“He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. [God in Jesus] (Daniel 7:13-14). The field is the WORLD, [not the church] and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. [Followers of God] The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the END OF THE AGE, [The Second Coming of Jesus] and the harvesters are angels.”
The Son of Man [God-Jesus] will send out his angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom [the kingdom of God] everything that causes sin and all who do evil. [Noticed that the harvesters will pull out the weeds first] They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Then the RIGHTEOUS will shine like the sun in the “kingdom of their Father.” Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
The first thing I want you to notice is the fact that THE BAD SEEDS PLANTED BY THE ENEMY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, WAS A MALICIOUS, TERRORIST ATTACK AGAINST THE OWNER OF THE FARM
The second thing I want you to notice is the UNUSUAL PARADIGM OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
The third thing I want you to notice in this parable is the NATURE OF THE WEED.
The New American Standard Bible translation of the Bible makes this point clear. Matthew 13:41 (NASB)
The Son of Man (God-Jesus) will send forth His angels, and they will gather OUT OF HIS KINGDOM (God’s Kingdom) ALL STUMBLING BLOCKS (Those who cause others to fall, sin, block their relationship with God), and THOSE WHO COMMIT LAWLESSNESS. (Those who act, behave, and conduct themselves outside of the LAW OF LOVE)
1) The weeds are described by Jesus as STUMBLING BLOCKS.
Stumbling blocks stop people from pursuing their journey. They slow people down. They cause them to fall. In this particular context the “weeds” make it difficult for the “wheat” to grow. This is a great image of what God’s people face in the open field of a broken world. You may be weed in a marriage. Or someone may be weed in your life. Make no mistake. The devil and the weed will make sure you suffer, slow you down, and get you discouraged.
This very interesting prophetic aspect describes the very demonic nature of the “weeds.”
“Weeds” (people who are not walking with God) make the message of God hard to understand.
Weeds are represented by the suffocating influence of RELIGION, the same way it was while Jesus was on this earth.
Weeds complicate the perception of God. They “doctrinize,” they “dogmatize,” they “theologize,” God! They focus on the dark aspects of the unknown instead of offering hope for the present. They rather be right about a prophetic interpretation than to feed the homeless and the hungry. Their values are upside down.
The farm is supposed to be about life, abundant life. The wheat are organically living and growing to produce a good crop. Yet, the constant intent of he weed is to suck life from the same soil to kill.
The weeds, like cancer cells suck up the life of the body, to kill. They are ANTI-LIFE, but they need LIFE to pursue their ANTI-LIFE movement. :-) No description could be more accurate to describe the presence of demonic forces in the world and the spirit of the bad farmer who planted bad seeds in the middle of the night.
Someone said to me today talking about the book of Revelation, that many Christians read the book and become “beast-centered” instead of being “lamb-centered.” Great linguistic image! The beast is a defeated foe in the presence of the lamb, if you read the last page of the story.
Where people need love and compassion, the weeds plant fear and darkness. When someone speaks of love, compassion, taking care of the poor, the weeds see someone suspicious! “Wonder what this person is all about? Too simple. Only love and compassion? Anything deeper? More substance?”
The weeds long for charts, dark conspiracy theories, and date setting. Where hope is needed the “weeds” crash it with fear. Where truth is called for, the “weeds” edit videos and movies to scare people. The “weeds” are malicious! Their agenda is to bring to a halt the growth of the wheat. They are set on bankrupting the good farmer and His family.
Whatever you do, which discourages people from letting God love them, makes you a weed. The weeds are all about religion and low on relationships. Weeds twist and create a false image of God.
2) The weeds, say Jesus, commit LAWLESSNESS.
The Greek word for "lawless” is "anomos” (a=without; nomos=law; and thus anomos means “without law or lawless”). In the New Testament this word is translated in different ways (“lawless,” “unlawful,” “wicked,” “transgressor”) but it always conveys the basic meaning of “lawless.”
What is “lawless?” Let’s go deeper. “Lawlessness” is limited in its meaning to the context of the Biblical narrative. For you never have a total vacuum of laws. You either have “organizing laws,” “organic laws that enable life,” “purposeful laws,” or you have “destructive laws,” “chaotic laws, that kill life and wholeness.”
You see, Friend, this specific kind of “lawlessness” is the absence of God’s purposeful order, harmony, predictability, and relational wholeness.
What would happen if the law of gravity would stop working? Can you imagine? The absence of such law would creates a vacuum for the law of anarchy, complete chaos, loss of living purpose. You get the idea!
Let me use again the example of cancer. Cancer is simple a “wild cell that chooses to go organically lawless.” A cancer cell goes against the laws of life. But it needs “life” to perpetrate its destructive activity. So it sucks the life of the body and reproduces. If successful, it will drain the life of the body and kill it by a law of destruction.
That’s what the"weeds" of Jesus’ parable are all about. When people talk about obeying the 10 commandments as the mark of God’s people I increasingly feel it’s such a “cheap,” anemic image of something which is much greater. “Weeds” live by different “laws.” The “wheat” grows by the law of purposeful life, which is to produce grain. The “weeds” grow by laws that look similar to the wheat but their purpose is totally different. “Weeds” will entangle the roots of the wheat and kill them if they can.
First. The weeds are the seed of the devil in the farm of this world. They are all over the place mixed with the wheat. God is love. His law is RELATIONAL WHOLENESS OR LOVE. The devil is the anti-LOVE force of the universe. As love creates wholeness, the absence of love creates dualism, fragmentation, DIS-EASE, cancer, and brokenness. The weeds are living in open rebellion to the very foundation of God’s Kingdom. In the Bible that condition is also translated as “iniquity” (Matthew 13:41- KJV)
Here is my second thought. If the “weeds” are “weeding” the field, they are disobeying God’s order, even though they may keep the 10 commandments. Isn’t that an interesting predicament for law abiding religious people? You are lawless according to the law of God’s life and love, if you are wedding the farm. You are on your own. You are operating by your own laws…
The owner of the farm forbids YOU, ANY CHURCH, DENOMINATION OR RELIGIOUS GROUP TO PULL THE WEEDS! So the important question here is not: Who are the weeds? (Which is mostly what religion does), but how do you know if YOU are wheat or weed? History is full of examples of groups and sects that grew up to “clean up the field” and they failed. It’s not God’s purpose. Sometimes God allows a movement to be born for a purpose, for a time, to strengthen the wheat of the field, not to become “weed killers” by turning into a massive corporate organization.
By the way, the religious weed killing business, last I heard, was doing pretty well financially. People pay good money for “weed killing.” :-) You would amazed how profitable the business is. Weed killers feel good when they are busy cleaning the field. They become weed!
- Here is my third thought. If you are “LOVELESSLY” obeying the 10 commandments you may be “LAWLESS.” This comes as a shock to some.
The entire law of God is invalidated by the very absence of what the law is supposed to direct you into: LOVE. The law is a mirror of what matters to God, LOVE! The law is supposed to show you WHOM you need in your life to LIVE forever!
People ask me all the time: “Is it possible to observe the 10 commandments and be lost?” Sad answer. Absolutely. Of course it possible! You can be “good” or “bad” measured by the 10 commandments and still be lost.
LOVE is what distinguishes the lawful activity of the wheat, and the lawless life of the “weed.”
Remember 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3? You can do some pretty amazing things and be very unloving. You can be a moral RAMBO and yet be empty of love.
Remember the “Rich Young Ruler” who came to Jesus? He kept the 10 commandments perfectly! Here was the perfect candidate to expand Jesus’ ministry! The disciples were so shocked… They said, “Jesus, how can this be? If this guy is lost… who can make it?” They were still learning the basic lessons of law obedience," and “life relational wholeness” that only comes as a gift of God’s grace!
There was only one little thing missing in this powerful, wealthy guy’s religious “To Do List.” BE LOVING! He lost it all! (Luke 18:18-22)
- The fourth thing I want you to ask yourself in view of this parable is this: HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE WHEAT OR WEED?
1) Matthew 13:37, says, “The good seed, these are the sons [and daughters] of the Kingdom.
This is interesting. In the parable of the soil, the “seed” is the message of God. (Matthew 13). In this parable of the “wheat” and the “weed,” the “seed” is the very life of God planted in the soil. The DNA of these “seeds” is of divine nature. You have been born of God. You have been declared perfect by God since the times of eternity (Ephesians 1) and you have let God love you. God’s DNA is growing you. You belong to God’s family.
2) The seeds of God are planted in the world. There is no safe nest or castle for “weeds”. God is letting you and I know that we will be growing in the midst of “enemies.” It gets tough out there in the field. There is no safe ground just because you are “wheat.” Weeds abound and God does not encourage you to fight them, debate them or pull them off.
The most effective form of evangelism happens when you are planted in the world not in a pot by yourself or a bunch of Pharisaical seeds! The best mark of a Pharisees or a bunch of them is this: ISOLATION, and a drive to identify, mark, deprive of water, and pull if at all possible the WEEDS out of the farm.
3) If the weeds, are stumbling blocks, make other people fall away from God, and block their relationship with the true God of love and grace, THE WHEAT WILL INSTEAD ATTRACT PEOPLE TO THE AUTHENTIC GOD!
The “wheat” are like magnets of life. I love the stories of Jesus. How He attracted people. The Samaritan woman. The wheat manifest love, compassion, empathy, they walk in the shoes of the broken. They bring the healing of God to the suffering and people who live in the margins of the culture. The wheat speak with the distinctive tone of the God who is a Shepherd.
The wheat are God’s TRUE CHURCH in the world. The wheat DON’T SPREAD FEAR, USE FEAR TO ATTRACT PEOPLE. Fear is not from God. (1 John 4;18) Condemnation is not from God (Romans 8:1)
Shame, condemnation, fear, legalism, rigid rules, an angry demanding God, dogmatism, and a judgmental spirit, are all functions of RELIGION, thus they belong in the category of weeds!
4) If the “weeds” represents “lawlessness,” the “WHEAT” REPRESENT THOSE WHO HAVE LET GOD LOVE THEM, AND THEY ARE ABLE TO RESPOND TO GOD IN LOVE, BY OBEYING HIS LAWS, BY LOVING PEOPLE.
It’s simple. Jesus said, “IF you LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS, not the other way around! (John 14:15). Religion says, keep the commandments to show you love God! God cares about a relationship with you first.
John 13:35 says, “In this, the world will know you are WHEAT, they will know you are MY TRUE CHURCH…,IF you LOVE!” There is is a big IF again! The absence of love immediately reveals you are weed!
Two living organisms, the weed and the wheat, living by different laws: One grows to produce good crop, the other to produce nothing… just make the life of the wheat as miserable as possible!
In the end false religion will not be about false doctrines but the ABSENCE OF LOVE (Mathew 24:12)
the logic of forgiving, enduring, tolerating, LOVING the weeds and allowing them to grow alongside? That’s no logic at all.
This parable has profound implications as to how we approach the people who come to us. If I read this parable right, God calls us to proclaim His message of love, grace, transforming power to ALL alike. This parable reminds me I don’t know who is “wheat” and who is “weed.” I must be inclusive, welcoming, loving, compassionate, merciful, gentle to all people. In fact, as a Pastor I must make sure that “farmers” are not out there pulling “weeds.” Those “farmers” are the darkest secret of churches who consider themselves to be carriers of the “truth of God.” They are the modern Pharisees. They are the ones who want to stone the woman caught having sex. They judge the Zacheous of this world. They are quick to judge the woman who crawls under the table to anoint Jesus’ feet with a mix of perfume and tear of gratefulness.
Let the paradox sink in, for you are in the farm… It’s only the foolishness of the cross that explains this upside down parable of Jesus.
There will be a large visible “church” or world religion that will desperately attempt to save the world, the planet by a mix of religion, technology, science and politics. It’s not hard to believe it, if you are watching the way things are rolling now.
There will be, I believe, a fragmented, invisible, perhaps underground church that will be persecuted for for resisting to worship a false system of salvation.
Do you trust the farmer (Jesus Christ) to keep you healthy, vibrant, alive in the midst of the weeds until the harvest time?
A Warning About the Mark of the Beast
A Warning About the Mark of the Beast
At some point, the Bible seems to predict that managed communism will take over the world, and God’s people are instructed not to conform, but that this will result in much fleshly tragedy.
The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. (Revelation 13:15-18) 1
Being obedient to God will mean the difficulty of not being able to buy and sell. Being able to buy and sell will mean the uncomfortable reality of being at odds with God, and the consequences of this choice. What is it about this mark for God to use such a strong warning?
The most obvious takeaway from this is, do not allow yourself to be physically marked and brought into any sort of slavery to mankind, such as a smartwatch or an embedded chip that monitors your activity and pays you for labor not even if it becomes required by law in cooperation with vaccination tracking. Even getting a vaccination, chip or signing your name to a false contract could be seen by God as giving ownership over to Satan. Your sole dependency should be on God! If you believe in Jesus, you have been bought by the Blood of Jesus and you should never give yourself over to anything that attempts to claim ownership over you. But this also applies to receiving a “mark” in the spiritual realm, receiving a “mark” on the right hand (willful action) or forehead (mindset), or attending a false man-made religious system (such as worshiping the Earth for the sake of climate change). Do not cling to the world, religion or mankind’s systems of control, but instead cling to the kingdom of God and to the true King.
Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to preach to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people; and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God [with awe and reverence], and give Him glory [and honor and praise in worship], because the hour of His judgment has come; [with all your heart] worship Him who created the heaven and the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:6-7, Amp)
Worship can also be obedience, allegiance, attention, even work. So, God takes who we give control/surrender and ownership over our life to very seriously. Only Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is Lord and God is truly worthy of obedience, allegiance, praise, and affections!
The only safeguard against the mark of the beast is to have your name written in the Book of Life. To have our names written in the Book of Life is the greatest honor that can be given to mankind because it is the only way to enter Heaven, and Jesus washing away our sins is the only way to be written in the Book. Learning to walk with God starting now is very important. Practicing to trust in Him for the little as well as the big things of everyday life starting now will be critical. It will be impossible to suddenly trust God at the enforcement of the mark of the beast when one has neglected to do so before then. Time and trust have to be invested in your relationship with God as in any other important relationship in your life, the one with him being the most important. To make a stand for God, even in the face of severe hardship and possibly, death, will require an unshakable faith to endure to the end. Only by Christ’s help are we going to endure to the end. He will provide for us when we cannot provide for ourselves; He will fight for us when we cannot fight for ourselves and, He will deliver us when we cannot deliver ourselves. The following are promises that He will be with us no matter what is coming: [20] “…I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:20.
We have been promised a life which seems impossible when we consider our unpleasant reality on this earth, but thankfully, “The things which seem impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9. What does God have in store for those who choose Him? No more death [4] And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4. [11] …He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Revelation 2:11. [6] Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. [14] Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Revelation 20:6, 14. Eternal life [11] And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. [12] He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. [13] These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:11-13. [23] … the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23. [11] And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 1 John 5:11. [7] “…To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7.
Aliens are Demons
Aliens are Demons
It’s clear that in the last days, there will be much confusion and deception about what is really fact, true and what is false. People will call good evil and evil good. There will be a false light, a righteousness that seems right but lacking in power. The Antichrist will produce lying signs and wonders, manifestations.
Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:14)
Spiritualism, New Age movements, humanism all have their roots in demonic deception of self-worship and self-love. The New Age movement is part of the coming New World Order and may become an official “state” religion. This call will be further strengthened by UFO activity, with a supposed contact with aliens, so that we can be merged with an intergalactic civilization. The New Age Movement is seeking to bring all religions together to homogenize religions across the world and prepare them to receive the One World Church (Globalization of Religion)
In the Book of Enoch it says that the leader of the fallen angels was called Azazel, and he is often identified with Lucifer (the Lightbringer) or Lumiel (‘the light of God’).
The Galactic Federation of Light is the big push of the New Age Movement. Their story, these supposed masters are here to help humanity ascend to the next level. The Galactic Federation of Light is a deception of the evil side, and a part of the grand delusion, they serve both sides.
With one accord the so called ‘aliens’ are calling for a false love, false peace. The so called ‘love’ they are calling for is natural human love based on evolution. This is the grand delusion that Satan and demons disguised as aliens are going to deceive the world with. The mind is the last frontier that man thinks he can conquer. To prove it, God will allow Satan to throw every supernatural power he has at man to deceive them, because they rejected the only way to the truth there was; the strait gate and narrow way. The grand delusion is designed in such a way as to prove to man that he is a “god”. The fallen church will plunge headlong into this delusion, and in fact has already by and large embraced parts of it.
The only way to find freedom from the lies is to love the eternal Word of God and keep it in your heart. People, culture, society changes but God does not.
It’s important to know that Satan is the real enemy behind all the evil ››
New Heaven and New Earth
When the final judgment has been completed following the 1,000-year peaceful reign of Jesus, the Bible says that God will roll up Earth and the heavens like a scroll, and a “new heaven and earth” will appear, with the “New Jerusalem” coming down out of heaven from God. God’s dwelling place will then be among His people on the new earth. His beautiful and eternal dwelling place is described in Revelation 21-22.
Thus will begin a whole new chapter in this story God is writing. We have no idea what happens next, but we can be assured that we will spend eternity with our savior, ruling and reigning with Him as he continues to create and do new things!
“You live fully in Me and now I live fully in them so that they will experience perfect unity, and the world will be convinced that You have sent Me, for they will see that You love each one of them with the same passionate love that you have for Me.” (John 17:23 TPT)
Here is the promise to those who stand firm in times when it seems like everyone is surrendering to popular pressure. “Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalm 37:24
Christ-centered unity in love (selfless compassion) in the true mark of believers in the end-times.
Nothing to fear, Friend! God will protect His people. There will probably be some that will die standing for God. The resurrection of saints will happen shortly after, and we will enter eternity. Are you a follower of God Friend? Are you developing a relationship with Him, so when troubled times come you can hear His voice directing you? Are you spending time with Him in prayer, learning to depend on Him, reading the Bible, loving others?