The Scourge Of Racism
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After many years in and among churches around our nation, it is very clear to me that zealous Christian men sold out to Jesus and Kingdom work are truly a small minority. Many church pastors have resigned themselves to this situation as a norm not willing to accept any responsibility for being in major part, the cause of it in the practice of Christianity as a powerless, manmade religion. In contrast, however, one of the important common characteristics the Lord Jesus and His Spirit-filled apostles had was zeal for God and Kingdom work! Clearly, those already in Christ must be revived first, if more men will be restored to God in these last two minutes of the game!1
Many of the relative few Christian men that make up our nation’s local churches are typically content in their own minds that they fully satisfy any requirement by the Lord to serve Him by doing church works. These are works churches create with at least some biblical basis generally for anyone of any gender such as teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir or ushering. They also make up gender specific activities such as meal prep and service, hosting teas and sewing clubs for women. As a token acknowledgement of their unique skill sets, men by default are to do building repairs, custodial chores, clean up, yard maintenance, heavy lifting, security etc.
These works are standard to local churches settled down in brick and mortar buildings as they have developed over the centuries practicing biblical Christianity or manmade forms of it as religion. The majority of long standing churches operating in religion today, carryout in sinful human strength and tradition what are their dead works; works that are faithless and without the Holy Spirit’s power as they ignore the Lord’s call to repentance and revival (Revelation 3:1-6)! Their few men do what is expected of them while sitting spiritually zoned out on the bench with not a flicker of desire to get in the King’s game contrary to even the natural passion of men to compete!
A number of more vibrant churches recognize they should be doing something more with men. So, they also offer their member men all of the same traditional opportunities for church works and add a regular fellowship breakfast, annual golf or basketball tournament, denominational men’s conference or foreign mission trips. A relative few engaged in church facilitated or at least endorsed “outside” ministries experience the Lord’s joy and power in their service. Still, the remaining majority sits the spiritual bench; passively content to show up to worship and participate in an activity or two as their presumed acceptable service to the Lord since this is all the church requires.
But while practicing biblical Christianity in Kingdom driven churches men should step up to do all of the needed works and participate in ministries of the brick and mortar house, the more “weightier” calling and assignment of God should not be neglected (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42, NKJV). For church leadership and men alike should be utmost concerned about what God considers “acceptable” service in His sight (Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 5:8-10; 1 Peter 2:4-5, NKJV). Do you not believe God’s prophetic Word that in these last two minutes brick and mortar churches will be thoroughly destroyed as many around the world already have been (Revelation 17:16-18:8)?
What then will become of church works? In the fiery persecution of that hour, do you think a choir will be formed to sing in the ashes? No, brethren, think righteously as our Lord instructed (John 7:24)! So, then, God has called men to salvation and restoration as aspiring strong men of God in the image of His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29)! As assignment from God, every restored man is to be engaged zealously in the Kingdom cause, work and warfare to restore other men through the Gospel along with teaching and mentoring them in the faith and biblical manhood to the end as Christ and the apostle Paul also exemplified (Matthew 4:17-22; 10:16-39; Luke 23:39-46, 24:46-49; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:11-6:20; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Timothy 1:12-2:7; 2 Timothy 2:1-13, 4:6-8).
Anything less than carrying out God’s assignment is disobedience which in His eyes is also sin, lawlessness and unrighteousness (Genesis 3:9-11; 1 John 3:4-9, 5:17). If men sold out to Christ in obedience are in the minority as I have seen and statistics bear out, then the majority of professed Christian men in and out of the churches are guilty of disobedience!2 Therefore, those that are not impostors or Christ denying, willful apostates should immediately repent and be revived by the Holy Spirit! The lack of your pastor and church’s participation, endorsement or permission (which if needed, flee since you are in a cult) is irrelevant! The assignment has come to you personally from the Lord Jesus Christ, the highest Authority (Matthew 28:16-18; John 20:21-23)! Get off the bench!
1 As the Lord led, I launched 2017 crying out to and warning pastors and churches to come to terms with this inescapable truth. Read the January three part Blog, In God’s
Revival Men Are Restored, under the category, The Cause.
2 Statistical data on the absence and low participation of men in the churches is ubiquitous! I cite them in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics available in the
Strong Man Store or you can certainly quickly Google for example, “statistics on men in the churches.”
Faithfully proclaiming the Gospel and witnessing Christ as written in the Bible (Luke 24:44-47; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4), all faithful Christian men boldly labor to restore other men beginning in their own families and wherever the Holy Spirit leads (Acts 8:1-5).3 Anxiety about this is reduced by remembering the mission is simply to proclaim what we know from the Word and our own experience with Christ if given the opportunity, not to convert folk! Our work is finished upon rejection and we move on (Luke 10:1-16). When a man does come to Jesus, while local churches still exist he should be taken or directed to one for baptism and sound instruction in the faith and biblical manhood.
Woe to any pastor that does anything other than encourage and begin to teach and personally mentor newly restored men in the faith and biblical manhood or delegate this to another faithful man right away! Given the deteriorating times, if a newly restored man has no pastor or biblically sound church that can be found from one in a house to a larger, brick and mortar building, then the man who led him to Christ should take responsibility to give some instruction and at least baptize him if possible (Acts 8:26-40). Otherwise, the newly restored man should be told to earnestly seek the Lord for a maturing Christian man to teach and mentor him in the faith and biblical manhood (Acts 9:1-19).
Satan’s intense offensive drive in these final two minutes of the game will eventually become widely violent in America, the West and globally well before his Antichrist arrives on the scene (Matthew 24:9). His objective is to hatefully eliminate Christians from the earth as impediments and destroy as many Jews with much of the rest of humanity as possible before certain defeat by Christ at His return! In the meantime, laboring faithfully in the Lord’s Kingdom cause, work and warfare to restore men and standing firm in the faith will require all that God has designed and equipped restored men as aspiring strong men of God in the image of Jesus Christ to be!
Truly, in the thick of our two minute drill, all restored men in Christ must seriously honor His instruction as I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and follow His example (Matthew 16:24-25).4 For as a Son, He made pleasing the Father in Selfless devotion and doing His will the core ambition of His earthly life (Psalm 40:7-8). As a Disciple of His Father, the Lord Jesus absorbed and gave Himself over fully in obedience to His instruction as well as trusted Him for help (Isaiah 50:4-9). With a Servant’s heart, Christ endured the scorn of those who rejected and gave Him over to violence and death in order to pay for our sins (Isaiah 52:13-53:12).
In my book, I also point out how the result of Christ’s uniquely Personal work and warfare in God’s Kingdom cause brought salvation and restoration to the world! Commissioned by Him, our work and warfare in the Kingdom cause is to ensure fellow humanity beginning with men as a first priority hears the Good News of Christ’s triumph on our behalf (Romans 10:14-15)! Then, only after this do we baptize and teach those that repent and believe. So, as faithful sons of the Father, disciples of Christ and servants to God and humanity we press with selfless ambition to carry out our mission; willing even to suffer and die in it because with Christ’s heart, humanity is precious to us.
From the earliest times, men have fought and died in wars for all manner of purposes. It is in the hearts of men to face death for even ignoble causes they believe in. How can we not believe in the noblest of causes; that of God’s Kingdom cause, work and warfare in this present age to save and restore, since we who are saved and restored are grateful beneficiaries? There is also the not so small matter of seeking the greatness of God’s promised rewards for laboring to the point of physical death in His Kingdom cause, work and warfare beginning with the resurrection to immortal glory Christ already has (Matthew 5:10-12, 16:25-27; Romans 8:12-18; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; 2 Timothy 4:6-8; James 1:12)! Of course, in all of this I speak biblically and not as a passive religionist.
As a result, in biblical Christianity character matters! Through much adversity, God builds Christ’s character in restored men aspiring to be strong men of God in His image as eternal identity and in order to work, war and make our defensive stand for the Kingdom to His glory on this mortal side of endless life. Again, I go into more detail in my book. However, in this space, know, for example, Christ’s holy character including zeal, courage, strength, humility, obedience and tested faith of which He is “the Author and Finisher,” is fully demonstrated in His life and ministry (John 2:13-22, 18:1-11; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 5:5-9; 12:1-2, NKJV). God also equips us with the Holy Spirit’s strength and power along with the battle proven armor of Christ (Ephesians 6:10-20)!5
3 Our faithful sisters work cooperatively with their Christian husbands to reach their children. Then, their priority is female family members and other women. Obviously, having been led to Christ by a woman, I am not teaching a woman can never share the Gospel with or witness to a man (John 4:27-30, 39). I give only God’s general rule of priority. However, as it concerns mixed gender group instruction in the faith and one on one mentoring of biblical man or womanhood, the Bible gives God’s ancient, unmistakable instruction (1 Timothy 2:11-14; Titus 2:1-5). The fact I am compelled to make any clarifying statements at all shows the devastating negative impact the rebellious feminist worldview has had on the psyche of many professing Christians (who are made to feel in a biblical worldview such as I teach, women are overlooked in God’s program--what a lie from Satan!) and how far from God’s Word they are. O, my faithful sisters, you have your full part in all that pertains to the bib- lical faith, service, tribulations and glories to come in Christ!
4 You can learn details about my book on its dedicated page at the strong man of God Web site.
5 Learn more about men and causes in the five message CD Series, I AM A Man as well as the war strategy and armor of God by way of my four message Series, We Are At War! available in the Strong Man Store.
The repentance and revival of guilty professed Christian men (includes leaders) in and out of the churches is urgently needed to get them off the bench and into the King’s game during these final two minutes! From revival will come the fresh fire, zeal and power through the Holy Spirit to engage in the Kingdom cause, work and warfare to restore men on an increasingly hostile field of play and referees that unashamedly cheat as agents of the other team! All of what biblical manhood entails and the whole armor of God will be required. As in days of old, our God will also soon do more to support us in foretold, undeniable wonders only He can do in the sky and on the earth!
As the Lord has led, in other recent blogs I have already written in summary form the primary reasons guilty professed Christian men are in sin before Him.1 The bottom line is they want to do their will and not His. The consequences are many; not the least of which is men as God’s chosen leaders are being destroyed taking families, churches and communities out with them! Too, the catastrophic swirl of the foretold, latter day global rebellion as an unstoppable offense is pushing the spiritually weak and constantly compromising defense of professing Christianity backward. Our team bench is spiritually dehydrated and distracted in many ways including by religion.
Repentance and revival among professed Christian men is God’s righteous and only remedy for those seated on the bench and sinfully not in the game! In their present sinful state, they are as the “old wine skins” in the Lord’s famous parable (Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22, NKJV). He teaches that new wine cannot be put into an old wine skin lest in the fermentation process, it bursts, is ruined and the wine spilled out. But new wine is put into a new wineskin so that both are “preserved.” Moreover, He adds in Luke’s version, having tasted the old wine, one does not want any new wine right away because it is felt, ‘“the old is better,’” (Luke 5:33-39, NKJV).
Like Israel--the Lord’s first audience of application for old wine skins, professed Christian men active in and spiritually deadened by unbelief, disobedience and sinful distractions cannot without repentance receive the new wine of Jesus as Lord and the Holy Spirit’s fresh fire. They must first become new wine skins through repentance and all brokenness before God as He has plainly and graciously taught in His Word (Psalm 51:1-17, Isaiah 57:15; Hebrews 4:14-16; 1 John 1:5-2:2)! By the way, as with individuals, so, churches! No professed Christian or church can get right with God and become new wine skins ready for new wine without heartfelt repentance (Revelation 3:1-3)!
Remaining in sin is not an option. For unless professed Christian men on the bench do repent, hardness of heart sets in. They are finally destroyed in God’s judgment because their sinful way is better to them; living in the deceit God’s love will sweep them on into Heaven anyhow (Ezekiel 18:24-32; Luke 6:46-49, 12:42-48; Romans 2:1-11; Galatians 5:16-21, 6:7-8; Hebrews 3:7-19, 10:26-31). However, after heartfelt repentance and God’s forgiveness, the repentant gladly welcome Christ to reassert His Lordship in and the Holy Spirit to freshly fill their hearts as new wine in all personal spiritual revival (Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 7:9-11; Revelation 3:19-20)!
Hungry for God, revived Christian men immediately return to such disciplines of the faith as daily Bible study and prayer. They also leap up off the bench ready to get in the game and testify about their revival! As the Lord leads, they tell what great things God has done for them and witness Him in all grateful joy to saved family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and anyone else including fellow men the Holy Spirit brings near (Mark 5:18-20). In such encounters, they find themselves not only testifying to what the Lord has freshly done for them in repentance and revival, but about Jesus, the Savior and Gospel of Him whose sacrifice has made it all possible! Finally, with the Spirit’s fire burning freshly in their bellies, they yearn to serve the Lord as when they were newborn in Him.
Surely, revived pastors are eager to once again stand to lead by example in testifying of and proclaiming the grace and mercies of God to His flock; urging all to follow in their footsteps. They fast; they pray, enlisting other leaders and whoever will to join them in calling on the Holy Spirit to fall fresh on that local assembly of believers as repentance is urged of all. New vision comes to them from the Lord and they are ready to abandon the dead works of selfish ambition and the traditions of religion. In their new Kingdom vision, revived pastors see the value and the Lord’s priority of restoring men; men that after proper instruction in biblical manhood will restore their families and lead the way in restoring other men that will shore up a faltering defense on the field of play.
1 Read all the July 2017 blogs, but especially Pastors In The Two Minute Drill and Churchmen In The Two Minute Drill under the category, The Cause.
The earth is the field of play in a game that started millennia ago in Eden and as a result, has been the longest ever in existence! In that first quarter of four, Satan scored first by enticing Eve to sin, then, through her fatally for all, Adam; bringing on them and their progeny God’s promised penalty of spiritual and physical death. But God promised a Deliverer to come that would crush Satan. The quarter ended with a cataclysmic flood as judgment, though, a godly line was preserved through Noah. In the second quarter, God called a man of faith He named Abraham into the game and through him brought forth a special people from whom His Anointed would come in a future day.
The children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were enslaved 400 years by Satan in another stunning score and what appeared to be a knockout blow to any divine redemptive plans. But God came down and with mighty wonders and judgments brought His people, Israel, out of bondage. He gave them His Law and brought them into the land He had promised Abraham. However, they were not faithful and the second quarter ends with their being sent into captivity as judgment. While dispersed from the land in the opening of the third quarter, God reiterates His promises of salvation and good toward the people and their land even giving them a timeline through the prophet, Daniel.
God the Son and Word took Human form in the seed of a Jewish virgin named Mary and was born in the time, manner and place His prophets had foretold. As a Man, Jesus Christ preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and offered Himself to the people as God’s promised Deliverer. He was rejected and put to death by crucifixion in what appeared to be another satanic score impossible to overcome. But God raised His Son from the dead after three days! Before returning to Heaven, the Lord commissioned His immediate disciples and all to come after them to preach Him and restoration through the forgiveness of sins in all the earth beginning at Jerusalem first, Israel’s eternal capital.
As He had promised, the King sent the Holy Spirit down to His chosen apostles and disciples and they immediately commenced the Kingdom cause, work and warfare in the Gospel at Jerusalem as He commanded. Many in Israel were restored. However, as foretold by the Lord, within forty years Jerusalem and its second Temple were destroyed and the people scattered to the nations because the majority that included religious leaders, rejected the Gospel. This ended the third quarter. From His throne in glory, the King continued to oversee, direct and give revelation to the work and warfare of His cause through His apostles as the fourth and final quarter opened.
In spite of great opposition, persecution and adversity from Satan and the world system he rules especially in the first three hundred years, many were restored among the Gentiles. Indeed, the spread of biblical Christianity on offense along side of Satan’s strategically initiated corrupted religious forms of it was in dominating fashion throughout the whole earth as the centuries rolled by. In fact, at this very hour generically speaking, Christianity is the largest religious group on earth! Even so, after nearly two millennia and now, clear biblical prophetic signs given by Israel’s prophets, the Lord and His 1st century apostles, we are in the final two minutes of the game.
The greatest of these signs has been the return of the Jews to their ancient land and the re-establishment of the sovereign nation of Israel in 1948. On cue, Satan’s team of demons and deceived mortals went on offense and launched another hateful uptick in violent hostility toward Jews and the Jewish nation (Hitler’s Holocaust had only ended three years before its rebirth). Also, violent persecution of Christians and destruction of church property was intensified until now, it has reached unprecedented proportions especially in non-Western lands. But from all societal sectors in the West too, enmity toward biblical Christianity and all the religious forms retaining its morality is increasing; riding on the foretold rising tide of rebellion that mushroomed in the 1960s (Psalm 2:1-3).
Truly, while here in America the 2016 national election swept an administration into power friendly toward Christianity, this will prove to only be a temporary interruption to what has been the openly aggressive trend to squash its historic influence on the nation. Governments at all levels across the land as supposedly non-partial referees defiantly side with those in education, business, the culture, media and all rebels against the divine order and biblical morality. Siding with them too are many professed Christians who name their faithful, ostensible brethren as being among society’s “deplorables.” In the face of this massive, evil offensive drive, the freshly revived are to join already faithful Christian men laboring to restore men; persevering and standing firm on defense against it!2
2 Our defense is not about attempting to preserve Christianity’s historic dominant influence, values or morality in our nation or world. We are to focus on calling men to re- pentance and faith in the biblical Gospel for salvation as the King’s charge while ourselves holding to all He commands in His Word to the death! Read the September 11 and 18, 2016 two part post, American Culture’s Religion, followed by the December 4 and 11, 2016 blogs, Now Is The Day Of Salvation and Professing Christian Ra- cism Is Sin Too all under the category, Call To Repent.
“Get your head in the game,” coaches in all sports may be heard to firmly bark at a player that is not focused because of being distracted and making mistakes as a result. Spiritually speaking, “get your head in the game” is what the Lord Jesus is patiently, yet, insistently urging guilty pastors, other leaders and the churches they serve in this critical last two minutes before the world as we have known it in this present age comes to its end! Distracted by selfish and worldly motives in ministry and religion, they are not watching the unfolding of prophetic fulfillment or the corresponding clock indicating time is short. Kingdom work and priorities are not taking center stage as a result!
The Lord Jesus has set His Kingdom agenda in this present age as going into all the earth to preach the Gospel, make, baptize and teach disciples as He has equipped us with the Holy Spirit and gifts to do (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 4:7-16)! In accord with the divine latter day prophetic emphasis and Christ’s focus and example, the first priority of His agenda is men so they may be restored and in turn, restore their families as I have written in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and many other places (Malachi 4:5-6; Luke 1:5-17, 3:1-6, 5:1-11).1 This is the work with men as the priority we are to be fully engaged in until He returns (Luke 19:1-27).
Of my greatest sorrows in doing this Kingdom work and surely the Lord’s exasperation (Mark 9:14-19), however, is seeing great numbers of men and boys come to or rededicate to Him, but having very few churches for one or another mostly sinful reasons that I can send them to for quality discipleship and instruction in biblical manhood.2 These reasons include pastoral self-preoccupation, disinterest, lack of Kingdom vision and priorities through the practice of religion and tradition, fear of offending women, holding to a rebel feminist worldview, fear of virile men and exposure as spiritually weak and inadequate, racism, pride, envy, ignorance and no financial incentive to name some.3
I have also approached pastors and churches to stand with and support us in doing nothing but what is of the Lord’s Kingdom cause and work in the Gospel to restore men. Most of their reasons remain rooted in carnality and disobedience as distractions and keep them from doing so. Of course, some demonically inspired quick thinker will say, “Just because we have not supported your Ministry, does not mean the Lord is displeased with what we have chosen to do for Him.” And again, the Holy Spirit quickly reminds us all that stewards are not in a position to set their own agenda for what they have been entrusted and are insubordinate when they do (Matthew 25:14-30)!
Certainly, having been one, I understand that until now, a relative, faithful few local church pastors and their leadership teams might have said no to us because they act in obedience to what they have understood the Lord has directed them to do Kingdom-wise. The truly Kingdom minded, though, discern the importance of all Kingdom work and as we still do at this tiny Ministry, set aside a tenth of our income to support others doing what we are not! As a result, even among this group of pastors we are told no mostly because of an internal, often arrogant myopic focus that unless it fits their view of worthy, are in control or benefitted in some way, they will not support other ministries.
The pastors and church leadership teams in the majority, however, do not even have a vision for doing any Kingdom work much less its divinely insisted latter day return to restoration through the Gospel and priority of men or a budget! Thus, not having their heads in the King’s game at all because of distractions, they are set in church maintenance mode first which makes saying no to our Ministry doing Kingdom work easy. Once more, someone will say, “How can you ever expect pastors to support your work when you criticize them?” It is not with malice, but the heavy heart of the Lord in tears of love at times that I speak the truth and hope for repentance leading to revival among pastors (2 Corinthians 7:8-12) who in Christ’s image, should lead the way as team captains by precept and example in these last two minutes (Mark 10:32-34; John 12:26, 21:15-22; Hebrews 13:7).
I know that a few pastors bound by the human traditions of religion mean well, but all operate out of the same spiritual ignorance Israel’s religious establishment had when they called for Christ’s execution instead of receiving Him as their Messiah (Acts 3:11-17; 1 Corinthians 2:6-8). God in great patience gave those leaders a generation to repent from their ignorance before unleashing His wrath upon them and the entire nation at the hands of Rome in A.D. 70. There is no excuse for such willful ignorance among guilty pastors today, who want me to believe this or do that jumping through hoops before implying falsely they might do God’s will with men or help us. Like the proverbial frog in the pot, they do not realize God’s foretold judgment of His house first is in progress (1 Peter 4:17-18)!
Pastor, you will give an account! Your distractions of carnality and disobedience leading to dull hearing and lapsed watchfulness are destroying not only men’s lives, but churches in this final two minutes of the game (Luke 12:35-48; 1 Corinthians 3:1-23)!4 Business as usual church may have worked before what is almost unanimously understood as a post-Christian paradigm now in the West, but never again. And how will you justify your sinful distractions to King Jesus at His judgment seat (1 Corinthians 4:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11)? Let the willing that are guilty repent and get your heads back in the game before it is too late! Also, support ministries like ours already in the game! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, “Who is on the Lord's side?”
1 My book in Print and E-Book editions is available in the Strong Man Store as well as all major internet booksellers including Christian Book and Rainbow West Christian Supply. For related Blogs, read the three part, In God’s Revival Men Are Restored, posted January 8-22, 2017 and all others this year under the category, The Cause.
2 Take a look at the number of churches listed on our Web Site Ministry and Church Link Page after seeking to engage pastors with Strong Man Ministries since 2005!
3 Read my two part Blog, Christianity The Religion Of Men, under the category, Instruction, the September 25, 2016 Blog, A Leadership Caused Failure and the October
2, 2016 post, Gifted With A Prophet’s Heart both under the category, Call To Repent for an elaboration on manmade religion as a significant hindrance to quality disciple-
ship and teaching of biblical manhood conducted by pastors in the churches.
4 Read my sobering August 23, 2015 Blog, Babylon Is Falling! under the category, Bible Prophecy and the two referenced in the footnote along with the related climatic
September 13, 2015 post on the coming end of the local brick and mortar churches as we have known them, Praise For The Lord God Almighty! under the category, Glory To God!
Now, totally “enraged,” Satan readies his fourth and goal play against God’s faithful who overcome him in spite of death (Romans 8:18, 31-39; Revelation 12:11, 17, NKJV). Calling forth a global government made up of and blending together a greatest hits traits list of human kingdoms from the past, Satan takes advantage of mortal Antichrist’s assassination as a ruler from among them when he with God’s permission resurrects immortal (Revelation 13:1-3). “The beast” proves his immortality to the world by killing God’s two, heretofore, unstoppable witnesses (Revelation 11:7-8, NKJV).12 God immediately calls His final timeout for the magnitude of the moment and what is to follow.
Out of total contempt for God’s two witnesses the unsaved world will not even allow them to have a proper burial; letting their dead bodies lay in the Jerusalem street where they were slain for three and one half days. As it turns out prophetically, those hours shortened days symbolically show the time in years the world has left! A world-wide celebration like festive Mardi Gras and secular gift giving Christmas fills the days (Revelation 11:9-10). To the absolute terror of all the celebrants when the days end, God resurrects His two witnesses immortal and they ascend to Heaven “in a cloud” at the command of a “loud voice” from there as their enemies watch (Revelation 11:11-12, NKJV).
While the terrified unsaved world is briefly muted, God’s faithful rejoice in and glorify Him for His display of the power that fulfills in micro with the two witnesses--and later, the 144,000 celibates after the false prophet, what He has promised to do widely for all His saints (John 11:21-27, 38-44; 1 Corinthians 6:14, 15:20-23; Revelation 13:11-12, 14:1-5)! Truly, this preview of their future renews and energizes their faith and hope in Christ since they also know with the foretold immortal Antichrist on scene, their lives are in certain peril. Within the hour God’s two witnesses ascend to Heaven a “great earthquake” occurs in Jerusalem. “A tenth” of the city collapses and seven thousand people are killed. Awestruck survivors give glory to Heaven’s God (Revelation 11:13, NKJV)!
The judgments of the sixth trumpet and second woe are now concluded as is timeout on the field. The third and final woe is “coming quickly” with the sounding of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:14, NKJV). Before the Antichrist can move to consolidate his grip on world power, in a classic divine act of “declaring the end from the beginning” so His faithful are encouraged from Scripture, the seventh angel sounds his trumpet (Isaiah 46:8-11; Revelation 11:15-19, NKJV)! This seventh trumpet and third woe announce in advance the eternal triumph of God and Christ’s Kingdom over this world’s kingdoms through all that is about to unfold in the dawning Day of the Lord!
All that is written in the Bible concerning the Antichrist--his supernatural support from Satan, breaking of the covenant with the Jews that allowed their Temple sacrifice to God, his self-exaltation to deity, blasphemy against the true God of Heaven in His Temple, military and destructive exploits--come to pass over the foretold three and a half year period called “Jacob’s trouble” and the “great tribulation” (Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15-25, NKJV).13 This includes his persecution sweep across the earth in Satan’s fourth and goal play warring against the saints martyring millions standing faithful and that scores giving his team the lead (Daniel 7:19-25, 8:23-25, 11:36-39; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8; Revelation 13:4-10). The world is now very dark spiritually and teems with angry demons.
The demons openly display their supernatural power as delusion toward the end of upholding Antichrist’s lie of being God (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). While the Kingdom cause labor of the faithful to restore men openly has ended, God out of His amazing grace sends an angel to deliver the Gospel globally one more time (John 9:4; Revelation 14:6-7). Of joyful note during this time is God’s judgment of Christianity the religion of men; that great harlot of confusion formerly inspired of Satan and destroyed by Antichrist seeking to obliterate all things Christian and any other rivals to his worship (Revelation 14:8, 17:1-19:4).14 Near the end of his reign of desolation, Heaven readies to catch up the saints and God to express His millennia long held wrath (Revelation 14:14-15:8).
Suddenly, in rapid succession four of seven angels pour out their bowls of God’s wrath at the end of Antichrist’s reign directly on those with his mark and the earth he controls. They stubbornly refuse to repent here or after; blaspheming when the fifth bowl brings universal darkness (Exodus 9:8-10, 10:21-23; Revelation 16:1-11). The sixth angel pours out his bowl on the Euphrates river to dry it up for armies from the east to cross as God assembles all the nation’s armies to Israel’s Armageddon (Psalm 2:4-12; Joel 3:1-17; Revelation 16:12-14). To this point, His scattered faithful remnant has been impacted only by a temporary lack of food, fresh water and the sun’s heat. With only seconds left in the game, the tiny team on the field waits on Christ to come praying (Psalm 143).
They are encouraged by Him to keep faithfully watching lest they give up and be put to shame by their unbelief as the armies of the world finish gathering at Armageddon (Revelation 16:15-16). Then suddenly, as the Lord foretold, His sign appears in the darkened sky and He gloriously descends with an audible shout, voice of an archangel and trumpet of God calling for all His saints to join Him in the clouds by resurrection, translation and ascension (Matthew 24:29-31; 1 Corinthians 15:50-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 5:9-10)! His elect Jews safe (Isaiah 26:20-21), the seventh angel pours out the final bowl of God’s wrath (Exodus 9:18-26; Isaiah 13:6-13, 30:30, 42:14-15; Revelation 16:17-21). The game ends in Kingdom victory when the feet of Jesus touchdown on the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 38:1-39:8; Zechariah 9:11-17, 14:1-7, 12-15; Revelation 19:11-20:3).
(This Labor Day I salute God’s faithful men that understand our Kingdom cause labor in the Gospel to restore men is not in vain-1 Corinthians 15:57-58!)
12 See the August 7, 2016, blog, Wicked Immortals And Their Bodies, under the categories, God’s Creatures and Bible Prophecy for informative background instruction about the Antichrist’s immortal body.
13 Read the February 23, 2014 blog, The Man Of Sin, under the category, Bible Prophecy for additional details about the Antichrist.
14 Destruction of the outward forms of Christianity the religion of men is foretold in Bible prophecy as the Lord leads me to write about in an August 23, 2015 blog entitled, Babylon Is Falling! under the category, Bible Prophecy.
Shortly after the greatest of all revivals commences, while earth’s inhabitants are going about their noisy routines, Heaven briefly goes quiet from its normally thunderous worshipful activities. As reported by the apostle John, the solemn silence in Heaven is a prelude to the divine warning judgments about to be unleashed on earth that lead finally to wrath. This time has come urged by the prayers of all the saints in both locales that are fragrant to God. In dramatic fashion, seven trumpets are given to seven angels that blown in Heaven, signal God’s actions to take place and countdown His coming Day of the Lord on the earth (Psalm 34:15, 119:126, 141:1-2; Revelation 6:9-11, 8:1-4).
The angel that had ministered the prayers of His saints before God, now, fills his censer with fire and throws it to the earth. Suddenly, there is a global wonder in the sky of loud noises, booming thunder, fierce lightning and a quake that rattles the entire planet at once! In an instant, God’s response to the prayers of His saints who have waited millennia for Him to act occurs and creates the fitting fear and alarm among humanity very clear “acts of God” should elicit (Revelation 8:5). Quickly recovering from the suddenness of this terrifying event and emboldened all the more, the faithful ratchet up their Kingdom work and warfare and stiffen their resolve to stand on the Lord’s side!
The seven angels prepare to blow (Revelation 8:6). The question of whether there is a God for all but the most cynical in denial is answered after the first four angels sound their trumpets of judgment (Revelation 8:7-12)! These “third” judgments fully demonstrate God’s control over nature and the cosmos as well as His ability to destroy all when and should He desire.9 Thus, as with the plagues upon Egypt, God’s first four judgments are meant to awaken unsaved mankind and their rulers to His superior reality. After graciously giving the unsaved an opportunity to repent and believe the Gospel to be saved (Ezekiel 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9), timeout on the field ends.
With the atmosphere still filled with smoke and the stench of death from decaying sea life, many will be those including non-remnant Jews and professed Christian religionists that willfully harden their hearts against the Gospel like Pharaoh who was not impressed with God’s display of power and resisted Him (Exodus 5:1-2).10 So, in support of His two-fold elect God will repeat another thing He did in Egypt: make a distinction between His people with the mark of the Holy Spirit and those without Him in the first of three woes an angel has warned about (Revelation 8:13). The game resumes with the first and goal attempt by Satan’s team to run its favorite persecution play against God’s faithful and Jews when immediately the fifth trumpet sounds.
Confusion ensues and the play is stopped dead in the backfield as God’s judgment summons Satan to release demonically controlled creatures that painfully sting only those without the mark of the Holy Spirit for five months; members of his own team of deceived mortals (Exodus 8:20-24; Revelation 9:1-12)!11 The pain is so great the unsaved want to die, but cannot do so. The temporary nature of this judgment and woe once more shows God’s grace and willingness to save. Though the faithful continue laboring to restore men, the results are negligible because instead of being humbled by their pain, the unsaved persist in their sins. The sixth trumpet sounds (Revelation 9:13-15).
Knowing plainly who God’s faithful are, Satan’s team is about to blast up the middle on its second and goal murderous play to steam roll into the end zone when reinforcements foretold from ancient times suddenly take the field (Joel 2:1-11; Revelation 9:16-19). The play is turned back by God’s army with a major loss of yards as one third of unsaved mankind then on earth is killed and eternally condemned! Humiliated, nevertheless, the now fully heart hardened remainder of unsaved mankind defiantly refuse to repent from their sins (Revelation 9:20-21). However, they are weary of God’s judgments and are reluctantly ready to concede to another of His demands through the Jews.
In echo of His demand of Pharaoh by way of Moses, God declares to the world rulers of the day as spoken to me and through the passionate insistence of Jews, “Let My people go worship Me at the Temple built on Zion’s hill for that purpose,” (Exodus 8:25-32)! God then calls His second timeout to allow the necessary details of His demand to unfold. Those details include the successful negotiation efforts of the still mortal Antichrist that result in Daniel’s seventieth week and the Temple worship covenant (Daniel 9:24-27). John is told by an angel there will be no more delays in the days just before the seventh trumpet sounds (Revelation 10-11:2). The game resumes with Satan carrying out a third and goal persecution screen pass play intended to harm the Jews in particular.
However, two men suddenly appear in the defense; God’s foretold two witnesses His faithful and worldwide Jewry recognize in the familiar plagues they freely bring on the earth to validate their prophetic utterances, glorify God and take out enemy blockers coming against them and Israel. They serve the first half of the seven year Temple worship covenant (Malachi 4:4-6; Revelation 11:3-6). During this period, Satan has trouble in Heaven too since the holy angels have made war against and defeat him and the heavenly hosts of his team; casting them to the earth. In “great wrath,” he presses the screen pass play that is stopped short of the original line of scrimmage by another divine miracle reprise from the days of Moses (Numbers 16:23-33; Revelation 12:1-16, NKJV).
9 I have referenced the judgment of Revelation 8:12 in a number of blogs over the years mostly noting the chaos it will cause when for His two-fold elect’s sake as foretold, God shortens the end time days (Matthew 24:22; Mark 13:20) by making a day sixteen instead of the twenty-four hours humanity has known from creation. Read the July 27, 2014 blog, God Of Order under the category, Instruction, to learn that while this judgment is a blessing to God’s two-fold elect and all mankind because mortal life will be preserved, in the immediate face of its jarring suddenness, the world is thrown into debilitating fear, stress-filled be- wilderment and disorder (Luke 21:25-26).
10 God’s 144,000 elect Jewish remnant will not accept the Gospel either because their repentance and complete conversion by His will awaits Christ’s Second Com- ing (Zechariah 12:10-13:1) lest they lose their mortality required for their promised experience of David’s kingdom restored (Jeremiah 23:5-6). However, they will not be hostile to the Gospel or its messengers who they understand like them, enjoy the Holy Spirit! By the way, this all being true, the teaching that the 144,000 are Gospel evangelists cannot be equally true.
11 The world’s love of fictional horror and hideous monsters to scare themselves is surely behind this judgment too which in perfect and real divine justice, painfully terrifies the unsaved!
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