Two well-known and often quoted verses are Romans 8:28 and Jeremiah 29:1. Sadly, they are often quoted out of context and looked at only in relation to how they can help us in the here and now. This is the case with so many other Scriptures as well. So, let us take a look at both of these Scriptures in context.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
What God considers good may not always align with what we consider good. In fact, we are told numerous times in the bible that Christians “will be hated” and that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (Matthew 10:22 and 2 Timothy 3:12). God uses tribulations for our eternal benefit, just look at God’s dealings with His own nation, Israel. The world’s hatred of us is ultimately working for our good. It’s growing us, changing us, sanctifying us, and making us more Christ-like. Our sufferings force us to let go of idols and seek God above all else. When everything else is taken away, all we have is the Lord.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
This text needs to be read in context, it has nothing to do with God prospering your plans for your life. In fact, it is everything to do with a disobedient nation God sent into exile.
Starting in verse 1 of chapter 29, we learn that the prophet Jeremiah is writing a letter to “all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.” So already, we have a categorical and contextual problem
Jeremiah 29:11 coffee cup
It’s somewhat absurd when we take a verse meant to offer hope to an enslaved race of people and put it on a coffee cup or T-shirt. It’s just simply wrong to say this verse is about me and proclaim it over your life. Having said that, it’s important to mention that while Jeremiah 29:11 may not be about you, that doesn’t mean it’s not for you. By way of being grafted into the people of God, we can identify with this verse and remember that those in Christ are within the perfect plan of God.
Both verses, Romans 8:28 and Jeremiah 29:11 hold up a wonderful truth that God’s people can rest within, knowing God is for us. Still, a temptation remains to promote shallow applications and ignore some of the profound realities that surround these verses. We all need to dig deeper about what it means for God to promise good for His people and how He uses suffering for His glory.
The first book of the Bible, Genesis is the book of beginnings, the opening sentence reads:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”Genesis 1:1
and the last book of the Bible, Revelation is the book of consummation. It truly is the end of the story for this world:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” Revelation 21:1
Despite the fact the Bible is the only book in the world that accurately prophesies future events, few, and I include a lot of Christians in the few, treat it with the respect and honour it deserves.
Major events in God’s dealings with mankind are treated as myths.
The geological column is a general order of Noah’s Flood, but with many exceptions. Most of the column represents rocks deposited/emplaced as the floodwaters were rising on the earth, about 4,500 years ago. Thus the ‘dates’ of millions of years shown on the left side are not correct but are retained to allow conversion between the column and real-time Biblical history. Article from Creation Ministries International (CMI) “Geology documents dinosaurs fleeing Noah’s Flood” by Tas Walker
The worldwide flood of Noah’s day when God destroyed all life on this planet with the exception of those He preserved on Noah’s Ark.
“And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:13
God created the nations by confusing the language. “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11:9
These two catastrophic events demonstrate God is in control of His world and that He does judge it. To believe otherwise is foolish. In addition, God has revealed in His Word, the Bible, that He will pour out His wrath again upon an unrepentant world. In fact, God gives us incredible detail on the “end times” before Jesus returns, particularly on what He allows Satan to do through his Antichrist. God tests His church. It will be refined with tribulation even great tribulation prior to God rapturing the church and He pours out His wrath with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements.
“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
What role will China play in the end times before Jesus returns? The Bible does not tell us much. Most Biblical prophecy majors on the Middle Eastern nations that surround Israel and are hostile and dead set on its demise.
In fact, because China has become Israel’s largest source of imports in 2021 with $10.7 billion, overcoming the previous top spot held by the United States with $8.3 billion, as revealed by Israel’s National Bureau of Statistics last Thursday, China may well support Israel in its battle against its hostile Muslim neighbours.
Considering China has demonstrated its hostility to Muslims living in China’s Xinjiang region this is a reasonable assumption. Teaching Islam at home is a crime in Xinjiang, and many have been arrested in southern Xinjiang since 1995 when the police began enforcing the law. Schoolchildren spend much of their time learning Party theory (Mao, Deng, Jiang) by rote. Clerks in the Executive Administration – a puppet government subordinate to the Party – also spend at least six hours a week studying Party Policy and are required to monitor the mosques every Friday. Names are taken and ages are checked and any mistake by the clerk means their job.
China Overtakes US as Israel’s Largest Source of Imports
With regard to imports, following the United States was Switzerland with nearly $6.6 billion and Germany following close behind.
The United States, however, retained its spot as the top destination for Israeli exports in 2021 with $16.2 billion.
In September, Israel opened a Chinese-operated shipping port in Haifa to increase competition and the country’s status as a trading nexus.
CIA director Bill Burns reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a visit in August that the United States is concerned about Chinese investments, especially in the high-tech sector and infrastructure projects.
The one Scripture that could implicate China in the final battle of Armageddon is the following one although it could also refer to all the Muslim nations to Israel’s east.
“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up,to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.” Revelation 16:12-14
The Seventy Weeks Prophecy of Daniel proves the Messiahship of Jesus. Those of us who believe in Him should recognize the profound degree to which the 70-weeks prophecy both verifies his Messianic credentials, and bears witness to the supernatural foreknowledge, sovereignty, and omniscience of God. Over 500 years before it happened, God told us when the Messiah would come, the first time with incredible accuracy and that He would come a second time. Purposefully there is a gap between the 69th week and the 70th week of the prophecy of an indeterminate time period. Remember, Daniel was told by the angel Gabriel, “Go your way Daniel, for the words, are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” Daniel 12:9
There is no doubt God used Daniel to encourage the exiled Jews by revealing God’s sovereign program for Israel during and after the gentile domination. The “Times of the Gentiles” began with the Babylonian captivity, and Israel will suffer under gentile powers for many years. But God reveals that this period will end and the time will come when God establishes His messianic kingdom on this earth.
“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6
Daniel repeatedly emphasizes the sovereignty and power of God over human affairs.
“The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will. Daniel 4:25
The God who directs the forces of history has not deserted His people. They must continue to trust in Him because His promises of preservation and ultimate restoration are as sure as the coming of their Messiah.
The Seventy WeeksProphecy
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war.
Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”Daniel 9:24;27
The Book of Revelation is God’s revelation to us of the time immediately preceding His second coming to first rapture His Saints, to pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant world and then to return to earth with the resurrected Saints to conquer the Antichrist and His forces and implement His Millennial reign. Revelation effectively unlocks “the words of Daniel that were closed up and sealed until the time of the end”.
Remember that Jesus specifically refers the disciples back to Daniel when He was answering their questions about the “end of the age” and His second coming.
“So when you see the abomination of desolation (Antichrist) spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.Matthew 24:15
Picture a village. Remote, undeveloped, overwhelmed by poverty, and characterized by broken relationships. Where malnutrition, illness, and few positive role models oftentimes leave children extremely vulnerable. And where the perpetual cycle of poverty cripples entire generations, decade after decade.
Aid relief volunteer emotional crying in face of poverty village Africa
Now picture that same village operating as a community. A community characterized by thriving relationships, strengthened families, spiritual richness, economic sustainability, and good health. Picture community leaders and church pastors, once isolated and fragmented, sitting together, in conversation. Learning, talking, and sharing. Eager to connect, encourage, and challenge one another. Eager to love and serve the most vulnerable, to fulfill the Great Commission, and see the next generation renewed, restored, and transformed in Christ.
A unique and innovative model, pioneered by World Relief, fulfills this very vision? A beautifully biblical and thoughtful process by which communities are truly being sustainably changed from the inside out. Where the cycle of poverty is being broken, and communities are beginning to experience a fullness of life, unlike anything they’ve ever experienced?
It’s called the Church Empowerment Zone (CEZ) Model. And it changes everything.
“World Relief helped us to understand we are many parts of one body, and that we have a responsibility to come together in unity and serve the most vulnerable. That we have to be the answer to our own problems. Now we share our community’s burdens. we care for the poor and most vulnerable. We are creating love where the Devil was bringing hate and division. We are bringing the Kingdom of God down to Earth. — Pastor Radolpho”
World Relief’s “Transformation Tree Curriculum” (TTC) focuses on better equipping local pastors—inspiring and faithful servants of the Lord, who are genuinely called to serve with all their capacity and might. They are resourceful, and their strength and enduring spirit bless their communities abundantly. And so we stand with and alongside them, sharing in our knowledge and resources.
Our TTC grounds these leaders in the scriptural calling to care for and shepherd all people. It addresses foundational beliefs concerning God’s compassion for the poor, the root causes of poverty, and our call to love and serve one another. We teach pastors that in order for the vicious cycle of poverty to truly end, value systems, beliefs, and ultimately behaviors must change. We demonstrate that in order for holistic physical transformation to take place, spiritual transformation must first lead the way.
Transformation is catalyzed as these leaders are brought together and equipped, not just as a distribution mechanism, but also as change-makers and kingdom champions. They are developed as true leaders. They are inspired. They learn to shepherd and, in turn, teach others to be shepherds. They are equipped to transform their communities. And they themselves are transformed—as leaders, teachers, community activists, neighbors, wives, mothers, husbands, and fathers.
“We used to see so many of our church members not living out their faith. Since the introduction of the World Relief training, their lives have changed. They are integrating word and deed. Helping one another, praying, and understanding the word of God.” — Aurelie Uwinana, Volunteer Leader
Once foundational beliefs and values are in place, and World Relief staff have served as initial trainers and catalysts, we equip hundreds of “ordinary people” to take part in this great kingdom work. Through our Outreach Group Initiative, we use local church volunteers to reach their neighbors and communities, enabling us to address the deepest of issues that extend beyond the ‘front door’ of the home. Lessons begin with biblical teachings that provide spiritual building blocks for our technical interventions.
Parents are taught about the obligation to care for their children as a blessing.
“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8
Farmers about the honour and privilege of tending to land’
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15
Families about the importance of saving and sharing money.
“On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” 1 Corinthians 16:2
Couples about respect and support for one another.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24
With the building blocks laid and beliefs and values instilled, technical interventions become rooted in powerful scriptural support, and adoption for long-term behavior change becomes possible. We then see the gospel work powerfully through the servants, initiating transformation in their communities because the gospel has become powerful in them and among them.
The Parable of the Wheat and Tares is a rapture timing key. It’s also controversial and misunderstood. Jesus not only explained it to his disciples but told 3 additional parables to help them understand it. The Wheat and the Tares is not only a key to Rapture timing but also to who is saved and who is not, who will be taken, and who is left in the end time. So many theories surround the events of the end times, especially the rapture. How will you know when it is time? What does it look like to live with a hopeful expectancy? In this episode, learn about the timing of the rapture and how to be prepared for the return of Jesus. Nelson reveals that Revelation 14 gives the timing of the harvest and therefore the timing of the Rapture.
Click to watch on YouTube which helps Nelson’s rating with YouTube. This is an important video that you should share with others.
Oscar Amaechina is president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, a group that seeks to take the Gospel and the love of Christ to African towns where people have never heard about Jesus and to make them realize that His return is imminent. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to evangelize the African continent in fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Amaechina told The Christian Post recently about a group of people he once encountered on a challenging mission field in Nigeria.
“We were ministering to people, and some people came to kill us. They confessed that they were there to kill us,” he said. “We saw them with their guns and machetes, and we believed that that was our last breath.”
Amaechina and those with him assumed they would face almost certain death — but then something incredible happened.
Rather than cower, beg, or panic, he and his fellow missionaries decided to do a kind act for the assailants. They provided them with food and resources, and it changed absolutely everything.
“We gave them rice, gave them spaghetti, gave them cream and soup … and they moved away from us,” he told The Post. “They returned, and one of their leaders spoke to us through an interpreter and said, ‘We were here to kill you. Since we are poor, no one has ever given us gifts, but because of these gifts, we want to become Christians.’”
So, not only did Amaechina and the group secure their survival, but they also saw those who came to kill them experience heart change and transformation. He said he “couldn’t believe it.”
“We led them to Christ. It was wonderful, it was awesome, and it was an eye-opener,” he said. “Since that day, we have never resisted showing kindness. There’s power in kindness and love. And that is what we believe in ministry.”
Amaechina’s story is a powerful reminder of the life change that is possible when Christians live out Jesus’ command to “love God and love others.”
Satan has successfully deceived the world into believing that God did not judge the world with a worldwide flood just 4000 years ago now. He certainly does not want people to know that God will pour out His wrath again on a lawless unrepentant world in the not too distant future and yet that is exactly what God reveals will happen in His Word, the Bible.
The Judeo-Christian ethos, based on God’s absolutes which formed the basis of most Western nations, is fast being supplanted by a secularistic, humanistic, arrogantly arbitrary philosophy. This worldview is spreading rapidly. The legal system is a prominent perpetrator of it. The courts are dangerous because they pontificate arbitrarily on what they personally consider to be “good” for society, yet they demand – and aggressively enforce – absolute allegiance to their arbitrary decrees. But what did we expect? The humanistic, secularistic thinkers have merely carried their philosophy to its logical end. They have remained true to their worldview in both words and actions while, unfortunately, Christians have equivocated. They simply have not taken the Lordship of Christ seriously. Instead, Christians have largely shut up their spirituality into a small corner of life, Sunday church, or their Bible studies instead of realising that the Lordship of Christ is to permeate the whole spectrum of life. They have coasted along complacently, often serving up such dogmas as “you can’t mix religion and politics,” or “you can’t legislate morality,” or “we just need to pray and witness to people” – when what they really meant was we just don’t want to be disturbed.” They are content in their “comfort zone.”
Christians are now paying for their negligence. We have permitted the dominance of a philosophy that sanctions the killing of an unborn child for the mother’s convenience. A philosophy that can talk of euthanasia of the aged and a general devaluation of all human life. A philosophy that has euphemised wrong and self-destructive sexuality into “alternative lifestyles.” A philosophy that drives its proponents to unashamedly seek the banishment of all religious influence from the stream of public life, leaving a totally relativistic value system and law. This secularistic worldview has engulfed every area of society that Christians have chosen to ignore – the government, the courts, education, the media. And it is now threatening the areas that Christians naively took for granted as being beyond its reach: the family, the Christian school, and the church. More and more the state is opening the door to restrict the free exercise of our faith through increased regulation. Christians largely sleep on, as it unfolds.
Jesus told us that what we see unfolding in our day is exactly what it will be like before He returns. It will be like it was during the days of Noah, lawlessness will abound. Moreover, He warns us that intense tribulation is coming.
“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
“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.“2 Peter 3:2-6
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.“Luke 17:26-27
“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”Luke 17:8-9
Anne Harley is passionate about seeing the church adapt to the needs of the community. Hear what has been accomplished in Townsville, Queensland Australia. It is only a six-minute video and well worth your time to hear what this veteran has done over twenty years in her city. Unless you connect with people nothing will change. Church buildings are a trap, we must move out into the community to see change.
We need males with the same passion and drive as Anne to step up and take the leadership role that God designed them to have. Of course, if they do not God will raise up the Deborah’s. The following story of Deborah addressing Barak the leader of the army demonstrates who God was using and why. Deborah had a relationship with God. She knew what He wanted to do and trusted Him to do it.
“Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”And she said, “I will surely go with you.Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Judges 4:6-9
Pastor David Jeremiah got it right. Saying Christians are living in a “post-truth world,” last Sunday at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, he urged believers to be bold stewards of God’s Word even as the culture continually rejects it.
Truth, he said, is “little by little just disappearing from our culture.”
“What happens now is people have an end in mind, and they just take the facts and the information, and they manage it to arrive at the end, which they’ve already perceived, what they’ve already determined,” Jeremiah said before referencing the biblical standard: “Truth is objective. Truth isn’t changeable. If it’s true, it’s true. … There’s no such thing as true, truer and truest.”
“We live in a post-truth world, which means the Word of God is more important than it has ever been,” Jeremiah said. “Post-truth means it used to be truth, but it’s not truth to us now. Post-truth is a word that describes our culture today.”
For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Psalms 5:9
In a post-truth world, Jeremiah said, it’s essential that Christians are “stewards of the truth” and “stand up” for the Bible.
Jeremiah referenced multiple verses, including 1 Corinthians 4:1, which calls Christians “stewards of the mysteries of God,” and 1 Thessalonians 2:4, which says believers are “entrusted with the gospel.”
“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” 1 Corinthians 4:1
“For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4
“This is the greatest treasure that we have – apart from our salvation,” Jeremiah said of the Bible. “
The Word of God should be treasured, taught, listened to, and loved. We are stewards of truth.
