Strong Man Of God Blog

The Man Of Sin

On February 23, 2014 in Bible Prophecy by Robert Kelley

If the tribulation created by global hatred and murderous persecution that leads to “the falling away” is in part the testing of professing Christians as the Lord has led me to previously write, then the foretold “great Tribulation” that follows shortly after at the hands of the “man of sin” is the final exam (Matthew 24:15-22; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, NKJV). The man of sin or lawlessness--“sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4, NKJV)--will seek to finish what is left to be done from the global persecution of Jews and Christians in destroying them, their respective approaches to salvation from the Bible and their tangible property throughout the earth. Faithful Christians will endure in faith and love.

I love when Scripture interprets Scripture and even better when the living “Word,” Jesus Christ, authenticates as true and still to be fulfilled what was written in the Old Testament as He does of Daniel 9:27 recorded in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 (John 1:1-2, 14, NKJV). He treats the outrageously abominable, lying act to declare himself God in the Jewish temple of Daniel’s “one who makes desolate,” Paul’s “man of sin,” John’s “Antichrist” and “beast” (1 John 2:18; Revelation 11:7, NKJV) as literal. Now, if one cannot accept the Lord’s interpretation of His written Word, then he has surely gone off the deep end of arrogance on the same order as the man of sin!

Parenthetically, the Lord, Paul and John’s matter of fact references to what contextually and plainly is a Jewish temple in their prophetic statements are intended to also be taken literally (Revelation 11:1-2). Since the temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, a Jewish temple would necessarily have to be rebuilt to fulfill their prophecies and is one of the reasons ethnic Israel by God’s will and purpose is back in the land again. Given the world’s hostility to Israel, an attempt by them to rebuild their temple will surely mean worldwide condemnation and serious war that would involve nations from more than just the Middle East!

However, in similitude to the world’s sympathy at the end of World War Two that led to the rebirth of the nation, so, at the end of judgments initiated in the revival hot prayers of globally persecuted remnant saints and that are fully recognized as done by God, the world with simmering resistance will allow the Jews to rebuild their temple (Exodus 7:1-5, 8:16-19, 10:3-11; Revelation 8-10). As Daniel foretells, the mortal destined to become the immortal man of sin will broker an uneasy, temporary peace with Israel and covenant that allows animal sacrifice to start up after construction of the temple is completed. He will break the covenant at its midpoint (Daniel 9:27a, b).

The apostle Paul informs us that the unseen reality of lawlessness that will bring forth the man of sin when he is revealed is at work and truly, has been since the angelic rebellion led by Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:5-7). Ultimately, only God has the power to hold back the plans and works of evil until finally, in His timing, in accord with His perfect will, He stops restraining. When God the Holy Spirit stops restraining Satan from carrying out his deceitful plans to unveil “the lawless one” whom Christ destroys at His coming, only then will he come forth to cause the eternal destruction of those that “believe the lie” and lies (Matthew 24:23-28; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, NKJV).

While “the falling away” exposes the true content of every heart, the coming of the man of sin confirms that content (i.e. the sinfulness of sinners who reject God and faithfulness of the faithful to Christ). God will use the resurrected, immortal man of sin who has accepted from Satan the deal Christ rejected (Daniel 11:36-39; Luke 4:5-8) to conduct His final exam among all humanity alive at that time. As absolute world ruler under Satan and with his wrath, the man of sin will move to solidify his kingdom and destroy all real or perceived opposition to his authority to include Jews and Christians (Daniel 7:23-25, 8:23-25; Revelation 12:7-10, 12-17, 13:1-10).

Professing Christians along with the rest of humanity will be thoroughly tested by the three and one half year reign of the man of sin on whether they fully love or at least fear the God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ above all (Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Revelation 13:11-18, 14:6-13). The faithful remnant--aspiring strong men and great women of God--will stand steadfast in their faith and love and receive Christ’s glorious reward (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17; Revelation 7:9-17, 12:11, 20:4). But the final number of impostors, Holy Spirit quenching religionists and apostates will show their true allegiance in bowing to worship the man of sin and be eternally destroyed. The man of sin will fulfill another of his names, “desolator,” and destroy the property of Christianity the religion of men and all others that are considered a threat to his rule and worship (Daniel 11:40-45; Revelation 17:16-18:24).

Tagged With: The Christian's faith and love final exam

How We Get Over

On February 16, 2014 in Black History by Robert Kelley

Listening this past week to the heartfelt singing of Gospel music legend, Mahalia Jackson, as she sang a standard of the genre, How I Got Over, I was joyfully reminded again of the rich legacy of faith in God through Christ reaching back to slavery Christian black Americans have. It is also a recent addition to and on par with the biblical legacy of faith God has bequeathed to His saints the world over who must contend with the foretold rise in satanically inspired oppressive hatred, persecution and suffering of these latter days (Matthew 10:16-26, 24:9; John 15:18-25; Hebrews 11:17-40). This Black History Month, consider how--like my Christian forefathers--we can get over by simple, child-like faith in God (Matthew 19:13-15)!

The original version of How I Got Over was written by black American preacher, Reverend C.H. Cobbs in 1936 and appears as a hymn in The National Baptist Hymnal produced by The National Baptist Publishing Board that serves as my reference. While his original version in words captures something of the pure joy and wonder of entering Heaven after a life he presents in one stanza of being “buked and scorned” and “talked ‘bout sure as your’re born,” Mahalia Jackson belts out a Clara Ward written version in a 1967 Columbia Records release entitled, Mahalia Jackson Sings The Best Loved Hymns Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that more fully emphasizes the suffering.

Ms. Jackson’s unpretentious delivery is filled with all of the pathos and pain of living in segregated America but enduring it by experiencing the comforting, helping presence of Jesus in a faith that finally climaxes with Heaven’s arrival and looking back joyfully amazed at having made it over to where He is in bodily repose. I can see my grandmother, Eunice Campbell, now as I recall her swaying with complete identification to this and other Jackson sung hymns playing on the phonograph when I was a boy in her Seaside, California home. I did not understand then, but I do now and marvel at what strength, hope and perseverance I saw in her and other black Christians that walked with God through their painful experiences by simple, child-like faith.

What makes the historic faith of my Christian forefathers so remarkable beyond its perseverance through the well known brutality and dehumanization of slavery then Jim Crow segregation is that the very people that enforced these evils portrayed themselves as fellow Christians. Of the many corrupt post-Reformation theologies concocted, none was as thoroughly wicked as the justification for enslaving my forefathers and keeping them as slaves than “the curse of Ham” lie that condemned black skinned men to perpetual servitude in white eyes. This and all of the other lies and corruptions of God’s Word used to prop up slavery along with culturally entrenched racism and bigotry that persists to this day¹had to be a tremendous challenge to the faith of my Christian forefathers.

How could God sanction the cruel mistreatment of one group of His children by another group of His children? He could not and did not in His perfect will (Mark 12:28-34; Romans 13:8-10; Ephesians 6:5-9)! However, in His permissive will the Lord allowed those practicing Christianity the religion of men to ensnare themselves with their corrupt justifications of sin so that today our nation crumbles with the collapse of this blatantly false and hypocritical support for evil. Meanwhile, my forefathers were chastened through their suffering rather than destroyed as their sins deserved.² Not by theology of men, but the living presence and power of God summoned to save and help by simple faith did my Christian forefathers endure; for their enslavers (many with evil motives) even proclaimed the Gospel to them and scores believed (Romans 10:6-13; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2; Philippians 1:12-18).

Naturally, all of my enslaved forefathers wanted to be free. A number lost their lives in uprisings and escape attempts. Of the Christians, the largest number among them waited on God for freedom through much tribulation (1 Corinthians 7:21-23; 2 Corinthians 6:3-10). Some were martyred standing in the righteousness of the faith as is portrayed by the Uncle Tom character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin as they waited (Colossians 3:22-25; 1 Peter 2:18-25);³ others died in faith waiting (Hebrews 11:8-16). The joy of freedom when it came was short-lived as a sour grapes mentality throughout the South and culturally accepted racism of the North both endorsed by the loveless, biblically disconnected Christianity practiced by most whites combined to outcast and continue oppressing blacks in terror filled new ways. Yet, simple, child-like faith in God has continued to sustain faithful Christians to this hour.

It is clear that the rebels against God from all hues are pressing into their “hour” granted to them by God to finally finish ripening as grapes for the harvest of His wrath (Psalm 2:4-12; Joel 3:9-14; Luke 22:53; Revelation 9:13-21, 14:17-20, 16:8-16, 19:11-16, NKJV). With reprobate minds and unrepentant hearts the wicked to include unbelieving impostor and apostate family and what were friends will persecute the Lord’s faithful from all ethnicities to the death well before the Antichrist makes his appearance (1 John 2:18-23, 3:24-4:6; Jude 3-11). But like my Christian forefathers during slavery and Jim Crow segregation and the faithful that remain to this hour, we are expected to endure to the end waiting on God in simple, child-like faith (2 Timothy 3:10-15). This is how all of the saints got over in the past and how we get over through the time of the Antichrist (Acts 14:21-22). This is the way of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Jesus Christ.

1 A prime example of culturally conditioned biblical faith is the entrenched and accepted attitudes of racism and bigotry still practiced without thinking by many professing Christian white Ameri-

cans in the churches. This was highlighted recently in a national news article where a coalition of Asian-American pastors and leaders wrote an open letter to white evangelicals urging an

end be brought to racial stereotyping within its ranks (click here to see the article). It is time for professing white Christians that are guilty to face the reality that the smelly skunk of racism in

your midst can no longer be masked by theological subterfuge, force of intimidation and deceitful denial or will you doggedly corrupt biblical Christianity maintaining this evil to the end very
near (John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:10-23, 4:7-5:3; Revelation 22:10-16)?

2 Visit our companion Web Site, www.fromslaverytovictory.org to learn more about this biblically rooted and Holy Spirit inspired understanding of the enslavement of West Africans in Europe
and throughout the so-called “New World.”

3 Click here to be linked to a formerly published article on the from slavery to victory Web Site entitled, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Revisited that refutes Uncle Tom in the famous book as “a sellout”

and instead holds the character up as an aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ!

Tagged With: The Faith Of Christian Black Americans

Robert Kelley's weekly instruction, observations and reflections inspired by the Lord posted each Sunday night.

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