It is important to remember that persecution come with the territory for Christians doing what God has called us to do. You are a Kingdom warrior in a spiritual war so expect demonic attacks. Moreover, Jesus tells us we should rejoice and be glad for we are blessed and our reward will be great in heaven.
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:12
“If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” 1 Peter 4:14
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10-12
Many times demons work through unbelievers to insult, attack, degrade and persecute believers. This should be expected and how we respond is of course key to our ability to influence them for God. We know that they cannot understand the word of God without the Spirit of God. All we can do is love them, pray for them and return good for evil
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
“bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” Luke 6:28
It is also important to remember that Satan is a created being under God’s control. He is limited by God as to what he can do to you. Read the story of Job again.
Demons do know your weaknesses, particularly long standing addictions and will challenge you again and again to exploit that weakness. The Holy Spirit will convict you and hopefully repentance is quick in response. Make sure you have a mentor with whom you are committed to confess your sins and will hold you accountable to the path of righteousness.
As we approach the last days before Jesus returns, He has told us that spiritual warfare intensifies. Satan knows his time is short. God uses the time of tribulation to purify His church. Many people who call themselves Christians will fall away and compromise with the world and its changing values.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
But just as Satan intensifies his effort to deceive and destroy, God likewise intensifies His efforts in the natural and supernatural.Joel testifies to this “prior to the great day of the Lord comes”
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” Joel 2:28-29
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.Joel 2:30-32
What happens when humans believe that the world began with a big bang and evolved over billions of years from single celled amoeba to the humans walking the planet today?
For me, It seems absurd that anyone can believe that something as complex, ordered and beautiful as the Cosmos came into being without any meaningful explanation and known mechanism to make it happen. Natural selection and mutations cannot do it and yet this is what is taught in our universities and schools. Moreover, our Creator has gone to extraordinary lengths to reveal the truth about Himself, ourselves and the Cosmos, as revealed by His actions in history, His prophets, His nation (Israel), His Word (Bible) and above all else through His Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
The following is what we will see unfold as we move from truth to chaos.
From the conviction that God is Transcendent—above all and to Whom all must give an account, including governments to the belief that there is nothing Transcendent but ourselves and ultimately our rulers
From the freedom not to believe to enforced state or cultural religion
From churches to re-education centres
From schools pursuing knowledge to schools indoctrinating Satanically inspired nonsense
From the Bible as God’s revelation to us and the source of our formative worldview to the displacement of the Bible from public life
From constitutionalism to tyrannical edict and the emergence of The Antichrist
From healthy individuality to collectivism
From a free market economy to a state-controlled economy and finally the Mark of the Beast
From democracy to oligarchy through the elite establishments of Information, Entertainment, Academia, Politics, Corporations
From mature independence to socialist dependency
From a healthy respect for just law to a belief we are above God’s law.
From unity to fragmentation
From freedom of religion to bondage to the secular humanist religion of the state and then the false prophet
From Biblical family to state-determined family
This is the world Jesus describes prior to His second coming to earth to complete His covenantal promise to Abraham Isaac and Jacob that their Messiah (Jesus) will rule the nations from a restructured and renamed Jerusalem.
Just when we thought it couldn’t get crazier… The most egregious example of speculative excess in the art world… $18,000 for ‘air and spirit’… Signing up to get nothing in the financial realm… Ignorance is not a valid excuse… We’re living in the ‘Age of the Emperor’.
For the past year and a half, collectors have been paying outrageous prices for some truly weird works… first, a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $120,000 in Miami back in December 2019. Then, this past March, an artist known as “Beeple” sold a non-fungible token (“NFT”) of his work – a digital-only collage of 5,000 images – for $69 million at auction. The latest example occurred last month in Milan, Italy… Auction house Art-Rite sold a piece of work by Italian artist Salvatore Garau titled Io sono (Italian for “I am“) for $18,000. With Beeple’s NFT going for $69 million, how does a mere $18,000 sale qualify as egregious excess? The answer is simple… because Io sono doesn’t actually exist. It’s “invisible art.” It’s not there. The buyer got a whole lot of nothing for his $18,000. Instead, Garau issued a certificate of authenticity to the buyer (like the banana-and-duct-tape piece). The artist – and his piece of paper “verifying” it – said Io sono is a sculpture that consists of a 25-square-foot space and that light and climate control are optional.
You can’t sell a certificate of authenticity for something that doesn’t exist without concocting a fantastic story… Garau put together a great one. As he told one Spanish news outlet… You don’t see it, but it exists. It is made of air and spirit.
THE FINANCIAL WORLD – Information from Stansberry Research Digest – Largest USA independent financial research organisation.
Art is the flag of culture. And its excesses are frequently preceded by those in the financial realm, given as it is to stoke the fires of greed.
‘Nothing’ has been on sale in the financial markets for much of the past decade…
The most obvious example is negative-yielding sovereign debt. According to Bloomberg, $13.3 trillion of this debt is circulating around the world these days. Roughly $10 trillion of the total is the sovereign debt of countries like Japan, Germany, Switzerland, and France. (Nearly all the rest is corporate debt.) This is supposed to be the second-safest debt in the world, behind only the debt of the U.S. government. When you buy a bond trading at a negative yield, it means you’re guaranteed to get less in principal and interest at maturity than you paid for it in the first place. In other words, you’re guaranteed to lose money. You’re signing up to get nothing.
Bonds are supposed to be the “smart money”… It’s where savvy investors go to get a much safer return than the stock market. And for a $13 trillion swath of the bond market, that supposedly safer return is a little less than zero today… Nothing. Nada. Zip.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s 2020 Fact Book puts the value of the global bond market at $105.9 trillion. So negative-yielding debt – a guarantee to receive a little less than nothing for putting capital at risk – accounts for 12.5% of a massive global market.
And it’s not just bonds, either. The rational expectation for stocks is a negative average return over the next 10 to 12 years. That’s according to the work of often quoted economist John Hussman, Hussman’s return model suggests the S&P 500 is currently priced to return a 7% loss per year, on average, for the next decade. However, reality is that the market doesn’t simply tick down 7% each year for a decade. It falls 50% or more in a great washout that generally lasts somewhere between six months and two years.
Moreover, many would suggest that a great washout is about to occur or put another way the financial bubble is about to burst. In a Bloomberg interview, GMO’s Jeremy Grantham talked about his asset-management firm’s study of 330 bubbles across all asset classes. As Grantham succinctly put it… the last 12 months have been a classic finale to an 11-year bull market. And he cited plenty of data to make his point during the interview, ultimately concluding… The great bubbles by scale and significance… all accelerated late in the game and had psychological measures that could not be missed by ordinary investors. (Economists are a different matter.)
The data, like today, is always clear, just uncommercial and inconvenient for the investment industry and often psychologically impossible to see for many individuals. In other words, all of us “ordinary investors” ought to be like the child in “The Emperor’s New Clothes” who innocently blurts out that the emperor is naked. That emboldened others to say so… eventually making it impossible for the emperor himself to avoid admitting the truth.
We can all see the truth. Our only remaining task is to acknowledge it and act accordingly. But the great herd of investors just can’t do it. The herd is like the courtiers and other sycophantic hangers-on around the emperor. They’re all scared of his ire and eager to gain his favour , prompting them to proclaim the surpassing beauty of his non-existent clothes.
They’re too vested in continuing the charade to notice that doing so is an unsustainable state of affairs.
The greatest charade perhaps of all is in the cryptocurrency called Dogecoin. Dogecoin was created as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies being worthless, and not only has it taken off, but it’s such a success that second-level joke cryptocurrencies making fun of Dogecoin have gone to multibillion-dollar valuations. An unabashed ode to the culture of nothingness has wound up with a massive valuation… Dogecoin’s market cap peaked on May 7 at $88 billion and still sits above $32 billion today. Its value has crashed over the past six weeks. But even so, that’s still a whole lotta nothin’.
There’s no fraud going on in these instances at all. Folks are saying, “Hey, sign me up. I want nothing and I’ll pay real money for it!” Nothing is the new something.
Any sane person can see that this cannot end well. In fact, it will get so crazy that the world will be crying out for a Saviour, the scene is set for the entry of the Antichrist on to the world scene. His appearance is the most significant prophesied “end times” sign. As I have said many times before there are far more prophecies about Jesus second coming than there were of His first coming. Are you aware of these prophecies? Are you prepared for what is ahead? For Christians it is a time of intense persecution. We are already seeing the “end times” prophesied falling away in the church from the truth of God’s Word and His moral values. Wake up church, God is purifying His church. Sadly, much of the church is like the church at Laodicea which will be left behind to face God’s wrath.
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Revelation 3:15-17
It is the Church at Philadelphia that represents the church that is raptured prior to God’s wrath being poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl Judgements.
“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” Revelation 3:10-11
The Rapture of the Saints prior to God’s wrath being poured out on an unrepentant world with the Trumpet and Bowl Judgements
Popular Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV Show Q & A
One of the most fascinating aspects of this Q & A programme was the tweets that the ABC flashed up on the screen. In that unique definition of impartiality that the ABC has, all of them were hostile or mocking to Martyn and Christianity.
The tweets themselves betray an ignorance of Christianity which is quite shocking. I will list them first so that you gauge the extent and nature of the ignorance.
“ACL needs to follow more of Jesus’ style”
“Who decides which souls need to be saved, Martyn?”
“I don’t want my soul to be saved Martyn. Please keep your beliefs to yourself and stop forcing them on to all of us?”
“We need a law giving us freedom from religion in this country. “
“Actually the Bible says we should ‘love one another as I have loved you’ so let’s not judge”.
“God loves everyone, made in his image. Straight, gay, bi, trans”
I believe this Q & A clearly shows we are in the days Jesus spoke of as representing the godless society that will precede His return first to take believers to heaven prior to His pouring our His wrath on an unbelieving, unrepentant world.
Although we are all made in the image of God, that image is tainted, distorted, perverted and fallen. We all need to be restored, renewed, reborn and there is only one way that can happen: repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. We must die to the old self and be been born again of the Holy Spirit as water baptism so clearly expresses. Only then will we realise that following the Maker’s instructions on all aspects of life not only sex and sexuality is essential for our own good and for the well-being of society. Also, that it is love that compels us to speak as we do.
Over 7 million people across six East African countries are at the cusp of starvation as communities have faced existential threats from violence, flooding, the pandemic and locust infestation, the evangelical humanitarian organization World Vision has warned. Jesus also warned us that ecological disasters will be one of the signs the Father gives us prior to Jesus second coming to earth.
“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them … There will be great earthquakes,and in various places famines and pestilences.” Matthew 24:3-7
According to the charity, which operates in nearly 100 countries, thousands of children could face death or long-term health consequences if the international community does not respond quickly to East Africa’s worsening crisis.
Debebe Dawit, program manager for World Vision’s humanitarian emergency affairs team, recently visited Ethiopia and saw firsthand the effects of poverty in the East African country. He said the situation is “severe.”
“The situation is very severe in East Africa, and particularly Ethiopia. Over 2 million people are in need of food assistance,” Dawit told The Christian Post in a Thursday interview. “Among conflict, COVID-19, flooding, locust infestation, all these are adding [an] additional burden to the community.”
Kenya – The desert locusts have swarmed in Kenya from Somalia and Ethiopia, destroying farmlands. Ravenous swarms threaten entire East Africa subregion. FAO scales up its emergency response with a massive, border-spanning campaign needed to combat locust upsurge in East Africa.
Before the pandemic began, several countries in East Africa faced a widespread desert locust infestation that impacted hundreds of thousands of hectares and damaged croplands and pastures.
Later in 2020, large-scale floods destroyed crops that were ready to harvest, which impacted the food supply for 4 million people in the region, World Vision reports.
Matters have also been complicated by military conflicts — most recently the Tigray conflict — and the rise of Islamic extremism.
In the face of unprecedented global demands for humanitarian funding, crises in East Africa are receiving limited international attention, despite urgent and life-threatening needs,” Joseph Kamara, World Vision’s regional humanitarian and emergency affairs director for East Africa, said in a statement. “We appeal to national governments, regional institutions, humanitarian actors and donors to urgently address the hunger crisis in East Africa and more forcefully communicate its breadth and severity.
CNN’s Don Lemon reacts to the Vatican declaring that God cannot bless same-sex unions with “God is not about hindering people or even judging people.”
Where does Lemon get his ideas about God? It certainly is not God’s Word. God is indeed a judge. And as for the “hindering” comment, I’d just have Mr. Lemon refer to the book of Genesis when God floods the entire earth because everyone acted wickedly 24/7. If a devastating flood that kills every living thing on earth except those on Noah’s ark isn’t “hindering” in the affairs of man, I don’t know what is.
The following Scriptures are just a smattering of the plentiful verses throughout both the Old and New Testament testifying to the fact that God is indeed a judge
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” – Genesis 18:25
“The Lord will judge the ends of the earth” – 1 Samuel 2:10
“Can anyone teach God knowledge, In that He judges those on high?” – Job 21:22
“The Lord judges the peoples” – Psalm 7:8
“God is a righteous Judge” – Psalm 7:11
“God is the Judge” – Psalm 75:7
“For the Lord will judge His people” – Psalm 135:14
“For the Lord is our Judge” – Isaiah 33:22
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” – John 3:18
“He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” – Acts 17:31
“Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead” – 2 Timothy 4:1
We will seen more of this type of man-centered, modern theology purporting to be Christian confidently presenting itself with increased frequency. For example, an openly gay “pastor” recently went viral for claiming Jesus was a racist. This person with the title ‘pastor’ took the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect and sinless life and sacrificed himself on the cross for his people, and reduced him to just another sinner in need of saving.
In the “woke” world we are now living in, even basic truths of the Bible will be abandoned by many because the truth of God’s word simply doesn’t align with the “woke” mantra we are seeing play out today.
“I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 3:2-7
The Great Reset is a proposal by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to rebuild the economy sustainably following the COVID-19 pandemic. It was unveiled in May 2020 by the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles and WEF director Klaus Schwab
As we enter a unique window of opportunity to shape the recovery, this initiative will offer insights to help inform all those determining the future state of global relations, the direction of national economies, the priorities of societies, the nature of business models and the management of a global commons. Drawing from the vision and vast expertise of the leaders engaged across the Forum’s communities, the Great Reset initiative has a set of dimensions to build a new social contract that honours the dignity of every human being beyond geopolitics and involving governments collaboration globally.
Mind you, Klaus Schwab made it clear: ”The fourth industrial (digital) revolution would “lead to a fusion of our physical, digital and biological identity,” – which in his book, he clarifies is implantable microchips that can read your thoughts. Klaus Schwab even suggests Risk Assessment “Brain Scans” before allowing travel. “Active implantable microchips that break the skin barrier of our bodies” will “change how we interface with the world” and force us “to question what it means to be human,” according to Schwab.
A lot of what was said is factual and seems to make good sense. Only one problem it insists our Creator is left out of the solution. In fact, they said that the Judaeo Christian ethic was tried in the West and it failed.
WEF state that there are four reasons why the global system has spun as out of control.
The unprecedented complexity of our global system
The accelerating speed of change caused by the Fourth Industrial (Digital) Revolution
An outdated steering mechanism for global governance
Popular/populistic uprisings/upheaval in many countries, driven by a broad-based popular urge to take back control of society
There are five subsystems that make up the global system
1. The ecological subsystem 2. The economic and financial system 3. The technological system 4. The social system 5. The global political system (geo-political)
Key Solutions
A collaborative approach of global governance that is respectful of multipolarity and diversity
The new global system should be more stakeholder-based
The system should be more sustainable.
The system should be more inclusive.
The system should be more gender-balanced.
The system should be more human-centric.
The future global system should be more ethically based.
The Great Reset -Summary
Change our mindset –if we made it up once, we can make it up again
Create new metrics –measuring what matters will change everything
Design new incentives –you get what you pay for – No private ownership…
Build genuine connection –distance is the danger
WORLD’S DESIRE TO ONCE AGAIN BUILD A GLOBAL KINGDOM WITHOUT GOD
God has already had one Global Reset when he destroyed the world save those eight people on the Ark. Well! God’s Word tells us that another God orchestrated Global Reset is on the way when Jesus returns to this earth to rule and reign with a rod of iron.
“Consider it joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4
This verse is becoming more relevant as we see the “end times” events outlined by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (see verses below), Paul and the O.T. prophets playing out in our time. Christians will be persecuted for holding to the truth of God’s Word.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:9-14
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the authorities and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.” Luke 21:10-15
“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Priest and King).” Hebrews 6:17-20
Many Democrats are calling for Trump’s impeachment and removal from office through Congress, or the Cabinet’s invocation of the 25th amendment. For them, it’s not enough that Trump lost… They want him punished for his transgressions and his supporters humiliated.
If this attitude continues – and it almost certainly will – there will be no national reconciliation. The healing that President-elect Biden claims to bring will emerge as a short-lived fiction and even if he wishes to pursue a moderate course, the radical Left will push him on divisive policies.
Democrats already seem on the brink of a full-scale purge of prominent conservatives from public life. They are pushing to have them kicked off social media, fired from their jobs, and canceled in every possible way. Trump has been banned from Facebook and Instagram at least until the transition of power to Biden on January 20.
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:12-14
The irony is that this scorched-earth approach from the political winners of 2020 will only bring together and energize a badly dejected conservative base.
Nothing unifies people like a common foe, and the expected abuses and vindictiveness of the newly empowered Democrats will spur the GOP to circle the wagons. It will just be a matter of time… we should prepare for things to get even more tense, ugly, and bitter in 2021 which will provide us with opportunities to present the good news of Jesus Christ who alone can put things right and His Word tells us that He will in the not too distant future.
Pope Francis recently announced he would visit Iraq for the first time in early March, 2021. He is scheduled to visit Baghdad, the southern city of Ur and the Christian heartland of Nineveh province.
Iraq’s Christian community has witnessed years of conflict and targeted attacks, forcing many to flee. From 1.4 million three decades ago, its population has come down to an estimated less than 400,000.
Days before Christmas, the Muslim-majority country’s parliament announced that Christmas will now be an annual national holiday.
The Pope’s announcement has sprung hope in Karemlash, a predominantly Christian town on the Nineveh Plains about 18 miles southeast of Mosul and which was once held by the Islamic State terror group.
“We hope this visit can prevent demographic change, preserve the identity of our region, and prompt the government to seriously start rebuilding our areas,” St. Adday’s priest, Fr. Thabet al-Mekko, said, according to AFP. “We’ve started the countdown. We need to feel closer to the Christian community in the rest of the world.”
Responding to the pope’s announcement, Zuhair Mansour, a 50-year-old school principal in Karemlash, said, “It could be the step in building peace in this wounded country.” Martin Banni, the priest at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Baghdad, called the pope’s decision “a great, wonderful Christmas gift.”
Pope Francis claims Islamand Christianity are equal In The Eyes of God
Pope Francis, who has previously called for a “one-world government” to “save humanity”, signed in 2019 a historic covenant with leaders of the world’s major faiths, pushing us much closer to a one-world religion.
Is this proposed visit by Pope Francis to Iraq in March 2021 one step closer to the biblical “end times” one world religion? Could he be the false prophet? If he is we know his end.
“And the beast (Antichrist) was captured and with it the false prophetwho in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” Revelation 19:20
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 