HOW TO BE SALT & LIGHT IN A PERVERSE GENERATION

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FIRST & FOREMOST WE NEED TO HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE OIL IN OUR SPIRIT.

“The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.” Proverbs 20:27

Is this the Christ preached in your church? Listen to John McArthur for the true Gospel.

“Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” Mark 9:50  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how shall it be made salty? It is from then on good for nothing but to be thrown out and to be trampled under foot by men.” Matthew 5:13

WE NEED TO BE THE SALT AND LIGHT IN THIS INCREASINGLY DARK WORLD. A WORLD THAT NO LONGER BELIEVES IN THE GOD OF THE BIBLE & AN INERRANT BIBLE.

Reflecting on salt and its many uses can help us in carrying out our assignment as “hidden figures” on our spheres of influence today.

THE FIVE USES OF SALT

1. Preservative

Salt has been a food preservative since ancient times. It is extremely effective in destroying microorganisms that cause food spoilage.

Jesus Christ calls us to preserve morality and stop corruption in our culture. Pastors and God’s people cannot be passive. Standing up to opposition, we have an assignment no matter how disrespectful those we face may be.

Salt does irritate wounds. Think of hate spewing celebrities and protesters wounded by sin. At the same time, we need caution so our actions don’t necessarily grate on people because we’re obnoxious.

2. Source of Flavour

Just as salt adds flavour to food, we are called to do likewise in the midst of an insipid world. Following the ways of God enables us to “rejoice with joy unspeakable” (1 Pet.1:8b) as His ambassadors bringing zest to the world.

Scripture speaks of the “pleasures of sin for a time” (Heb. 11:25) but afterward come consequences that weigh people down in discouragement and depression. Don’t let appearances fool you as many defiant demonstrators and detractors are broken and bitter and need to witness another way. We may be the only Bible that onlookers ever read.

3. Makes One Thirsty

Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). He went on to describe the Spirit-filled life wherein obedient followers radiate His love to a darkened world.

It’s not by accident that bars have bowls of pretzels and peanuts in front of customers to create thirst. Our assignment and privilege is to be a literal pretzel for Jesus in our corner of the world.

4. Uplifts

Salt has a unique quality called buoyancy. When something has enough salt, it lifts objects and people up. Think of the Dead Sea phenomenon, where there’s so much salt no one ever sinks or drowns there. The wicked Roman commander Vespacian once tried to execute slaves by dumping them bound into this sea, yet failed because they floated.

Surrounded by people who are living with heavy burdens, what a golden opportunity we have each day to lift people up by expressing love rather than disdain. We saw this in recent demonstrations where Christians didn’t retaliate when spat upon or punched.

5. Permeates

The Bible directs salty saints to seize the opportunity to engage unbelievers wisely and not withdraw into isolation. God directs us, “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, wisely using the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you should answer everyone” (Col.4:5-6).

I’m personally committed to authenticity ever since God impressed on my heart 40 years ago, “Let it never be said of me that I presented the world a caricature of Christ.”

In our dealings with lost people, we must be calm and confident. May we be so winsome in our behaviour that even when folks disagree with us, they’re left with “the sweet fragrance of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15b).

Closing Cultural Challenge

Ten weeks past the election, millions of people are bitter and some, hateful. If ever we needed composure and be the salt of the earth, it’s now. Jesus said,  “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another” (Mark 9:50).

Humourist Mark Twain once said, “If Christ were here, there is one thing He would not be, a Christian.” Let’s prove him wrong as we behave in the opposite spirit of the world, like the “hidden figures” in the film.

There’s never been a better time for us to be the “salt of the earth.” And remember, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).

Extracts from Larry Tomczak book “Bullseye”.

RAMIFICATIONS OF SAME SEX MARRIAGE

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Listen to Martyn Iles do a great job of outlining the impact Same Sex Marriage (SSM) legislation will have on an individual’s freedom. How fortunate we are, to be able to see the outcome of SSM legislation particularly in the USA and Canada, before legislation is enacted here. Also, how blessed we are that God is raising up individuals of this calibre to represent Christians in Australia. We need to wholeheartedly support organisations such as ACL . You only have to read the vitriolic responses on the ACL website to realise ACL is doing a great job. Pray for them and support them financially if you are able.

TRUMP IS PRESIDENT- WILL HE MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?

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I am not sure why, but the inauguration event reminded me of Jesus statement about the  end times; “But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away (8 people survived), so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Matthew 24:36-39

We are living in a time of unprecedented economic crisis. Politicians have no way of fixing it – debt levels are out of control. Economic collapse is imminent and it will be worldwide. My advice, above all else get right with God, take up His offer of eternal life. There is only one way – Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6. Second, get out of debt.

From a worldly perspective, this report by Vern Gowdie sums up the Trump situation and likely outcome succinctly.

It’s official, Donald Trump is the 45th US president.

inauguration-pics-trump

His inauguration speech was full of patriotic fervour, aimed squarely at his heartland.

He faces a herculean task to ‘Make America Great Again’. This is not the 1950s: the era of low debt, cheap oil, high birth rates, minimal health and welfare commitments, and the US dominating world manufacturing.

That once-young, lean, mean economic machine is now ageing, over-indebted (19 trillion +), bloated with entitlements, loaded up with underfunded private pension plans, and competing against countries that pay their workers 1950s-US wage rates.

As we saw with Obama, rousing, well-crafted speeches are one thing, but taking action is another. Obama was hopeless — public debt has doubled, Obamacare is an expensive joke, and bureaucracies have become bloated.

Trump is over-promising, and will under-deliver…but it will be entertaining to watch.

Gowdie Financial Planning was recognised in 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007, by Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) magazine as one of the top 5 financial planning firms in Australia.

INVEST IN THE THINGS OF GOD – HE WILL REWARD YOU

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An old saying has it that, “You can’t take it with you.” Yeshua (Jesus) contradicted that adage by citing the common Jewish belief that resources given to the needy will be repaid and rewarded in the Messianic Era and the World to Come.

“Treasures in heaven” does not refer to literal treasure stored up someplace beyond the sky; instead, it means “treasure with God.” That is to say, “Invest in the things of God, and He will reward you.”

new-heaven-and-earth

A person who accrues wealth for himself risks losing that wealth. Life is temporary and uncertain. Thieves might steal. Time destroys. Wealth depreciates. James, the brother of the Master, expounds upon Yeshua’s teaching as follows:

“Come now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasures for the last days” James 5:1-3

How does one store up treasure with God? Yeshua says, “Sell your possessions and give alms. Provide yourselves purses that do not grow old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” Luke 12:33-34

A man’s heart (that is, his mind, thoughts and intentions) will be focused on the accumulation of his wealth. If he has accumulated wealth on earth, his mind will be focused on earthly matters, but if he has invested in the things of God, his mind will be focused on matters of godliness.

In the Apostolic Era, the famous convert to Judaism, King Izates of Adiabene, sent an enormous sum of money to Jerusalem for famine relief. His brothers and countrymen criticized him for squandering the family inheritance. His reply, recorded in the Talmud, reveals influence from the teaching of Yeshua:

“My fathers stored up below and I am storing above … My fathers stored in a place which can be tampered with, but I have stored in a place which cannot be tampered with … My fathers stored something which produces no fruits, but I have stored something which does produce fruits … My fathers gathered for this world, but I have gathered for the future world” (Talmud Tractate Bava Batra 11a).

Daniel Thomas Lancaster is a writer, teacher and the Director of Education at the Messianic ministry of First Fruits of Zion (www.ffoz.org),

CORRIE TEN BOOM AND THE RAPTURE

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Corrie understood that the Bible does not teach a Pretribulation Rapture and try and explain it to the Christians in the Middle East and Africa who are already suffering intense persecution.

Isis beheading 21 coptic ChristiansCorrie wrote this letter in 1974 well before ISIS and the horror it is bringing upon Christians particularly in Syria and Iraq.

In America, the churches sing, “Let the congregation escape tribulation”, but in China and Africa and the Middle East the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations.
But I know. I have been there.  We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners.  Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.
Several years ago, I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived, they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.

The fourth day I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, “Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed?  Will I be the next one?”

The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screen less windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches.  I told them a story out of my childhood.

“When I was a little girl, ” I said, “I went to my father and said, ‘Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.” “Tell me,” said Father, “When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?”

“No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train.” “That is right,” my father said, “and so it is with God’s strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need – just in time.”

My African friends were nodding and smiling.  Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing, “In the sweet, by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.”

Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed. I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago, but I must tell you something.  I was so happy that the Lord used me to encourage these people, for unlike many of their leaders, I had the word of God. I had been to the Bible and discovered that Jesus said He had not only overcome the world, but to all those who remained faithful to the end, He would give a crown of life.
How can we get ready for the persecution?  First, we need to feed on the word of God, digest it, make it a part of our being.  This will mean disciplined Bible study each day as we not only memorise long passages of scripture, but put the principles to work in our lives.

Next, we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life-changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is no optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary. Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.

In the coming persecution we must be ready to help each other and encourage each other.  But we must not wait until the tribulation comes before starting.  The fruit of the Spirit should be the dominant force of every Christian’s life.

Many are fearful of the coming tribulation, they want to run. I, too, am a little bit afraid when I think that after all my eighty years, including the horrible Nazi concentration camp, that I might have to go through the tribulation also.  But then I read the Bible and I am glad.

When I am weak, then I shall be strong, the Bible says. Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord, we were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us.  That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through.  No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes.  Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you.  For seventy-six years I have known the Lord Jesus and not once has
He ever left me, or let me down.

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”, for I know that to all who overcome, He shall give the crown of life. Hallelujah!

Are you preparing for Jesus return? In the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 also in Mark and Luke)) Jesus told His disciples what it would be like prior to His second coming, and like Corrie understood, it will be a time of great tribulation when he comes and the angels “will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” We will not experience God’s wrath but we will go through tribulation.

 

GOD APPOINTS OUR LEADERS, INCLUDING DONALD TRUMP

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Rosh Hashanah 2015 to Rosh Hashanah 2016 brought us the 70th year of Jubilee and this unprecedented year of Jubilee brought us God’s choice of Donald Trump as President of the United States and Leader of the Free World.

donald-trump-2Trump at age 70 became elected President of this nation during the Hebraic year 5777. 

On inauguration day he will be 70 years, 7 months and 7 days old.

Because the Electoral College changed some votes it allowed Trump to end up with exactly 77 more electoral votes. 7 is the prime number of God and is why there are 7 spirits of God.

Outgoing president Barack Obama’s legacy-tainting final acts against Israel are an immediate, major proof that the insertion of Trump as President was an act of God. Trump is committed to supporting Israel and was outspoken about his intentions during the election campaign. For America, if Trump upholds his promise to support Israel, it means they will avoid many national catastrophes.

hugo-chavezFormer Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez publicly cursed Israel “from the depths of my intestines” and the next day began to feel intense intestinal pains that became a supremely rare cancer that took him out. In fact, 4 other South American leaders who shared Chavez’s views developed cancer in the same year, yet no one learned the lesson but instead blamed “the CIA” for spraying them with something that caused cancer. Two of those Presidents are now out of office and facing prison.

Israel may be tiny in the natural but it is absolutely huge in the matrix of the spirit world. Every global kingdom assignment begins with a proper reckoning of the preeminent place of Jerusalem and Israel. Every major, false doctrine starts with diminishing natural Israel and natural Jerusalem (“Replacement Theology” etc.). Every Antichrist spirit running among the nations begins with antisemitism at its core. For clarity’s sake, while it is not wrong to want Palestinians to be properly treated, any passion towards Israel giving up land or being furthermore diminished is influenced by an Antichrist spirit, and that’s whether you are a “Christian” or not.

“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, If I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.” Psalm 137:5-6.

For those who would diminish Jerusalem to “Old Testament” importance, remember that this is the very location that Jesus Christ was crucified.  The very idea that God could shed His literal Blood in a literal place and that that literal place could then descend into being only incidentally relevant is beyond comprehension.

There is a reason Jerusalem and its destruction is the desire of every principality. Destruction of Jerusalem destroys the master plan, and it is the master plan of our God that will guarantee Jerusalem’s future. There is also a guarantee that Jerusalem will ultimately be a place that reveals the salvation of God to the whole world—that guarantee is the spilled Blood of Jesus. You cannot understand the significance of the Blood of Jesus if you do not know how to also apply it to the geographical place He willingly shed it.

For more clarity, it is almost insanity to believe that the Blood of Jesus is powerful enough to give us access into Heaven despite our sins, and not believe it is powerful enough to spiritually secure the city and country where it was shed. Jesus does not return, nor does any great end-time objective take place, without Jerusalem and Israel being central to it. To not know that is to be in deception and to remain almost wilfully so. The Scripture is too clear on that and the Holy Spirit is too insistent on that. We will no longer get a “pass” on blindness to this reality. Jesus will literally return to the same place where He left this planet  a little over 2000 years ago. Also, the first parable Jesus told His disciples as a sign of His second coming was The Parable of the Fig Tree. The miraculous reestablishment of the nation of Israel in 1948 was that sign. When we see that happen, Jesus tells us to WATCH, be ALERT to the tribulation that He describes will occur in these “last days”.

  • “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming – in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning – lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to ALL: WATCH!” Mark 13:35-37
  • “So then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert (WATCH) and be sober” 1 Thessalonians 5:6
  • “Be on the alert (WATCH) then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:13

The section on the importance of Israel and Jerusalem to God’s future plans includes sections from a prophecy by Johnny Enlow – 2017 – The Ride of the Reformation Glory Train.

END TIMES ANTICHRIST & FALSE PROPHET

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From Islamic traditions and Muslim scholars, the Mahdi (12th Imam), like the Antichrist is prophesied to be a political and military world leader unparalleled throughout world history. The Mahdi is said to “fight against the forces of evil, lead a world revolution and set up a new world order based on righteousness, justice and virtue”. At this time, according to Islamic tradition, the Mahdi is said to preside over the entire earth as the final Islamic Caliph. Clearly then, we see that the Antichrist and the Mahdi are both described as being political and military leaders the likes of which the world has never before seen. They are both viewed as being supreme religious leaders as well. Muslims believe the appearance of the Mahdi is imminent and many Bible prophesy teachers are watching expectantly for the Antichrist to emerge. Could they be one and the same person.

After examining the Antichrist’s role as a universal religious leader, many Bible prophesy teachers have talked about the coming of the “One World Religion” or the false church which the Antichrist will both create and enforce upon the entire earth.

mullah-in-catholic-cathdralAre we now seeing the beginnings of this “One World Religion”. Here we see Imam Sali Salem recite a verse from the Koran in Rome’s Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, on July 31, 2016. (Image source: La Stampa video screenshot)

A priest in the south of Italy enraged parishioners by dressing the Virgin Mary in a Muslim burqa for his church’s Christmas Nativity scene. These interfaith initiatives are based on the gradual elimination of the Western-Christian heritage in favour of Islam.

The Catholic clergy is probably disoriented by Pope Francis himself; he was the first to allow the reading of Islamic prayers and Koran readings from the Vatican. The Pope has embraced religious relativism when it comes to Islam. He repeated that Islamist violence is the work of “a small group of fundamentalists” who, according to him, have nothing to do with Islam.

For the first time in more than 700 years, Islamic songs resonated in Florence’s Cathedral, the Church Santa Maria del Fiore. Under the famous Dome of Brunelleschi, Islamic melodies accompanied Christian ones. The “interfaith initiative” was promoted a week after the barbaric massacre by Islamist terrorists in Paris at the magazine Charlie Hebdo, and included “Koran is Justice” and other such “hymns”.

Church of England Bishop Harries suggested that Prince Charles’s coronation service should be opened with a Koran reading.

In the US, more than 50 churches, including the Washington National Cathedral, hold Koran readings. Can you imagine Imams allowing the reading of the Christian liturgy in mosques?

Surely, this is clear evidence we are in the “last days” and the prophesied falling away in the church is already happening. We are living in the days of the Great Apostasy spoken of in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.

GOOD ADVICE FOR 2017

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While timely Rhema revelation is uplifting, the church must return to confidence in the logos. The infallible written truth of God’s Word – The Holy Bible.

Looking for Answers pic

When timely prophetic words are given, we should value them highly. However, don’t seek after them. Don’t crave for them. God knows when you need them. What we can’t do without, even for a day, is the Word of God, the Bible. We need for the Holy Spirit to reveal new truths in fresh new ways. Keep a Holy Spirit journal to record these new revelations.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever” (Is. 40:8)
“Forever, O Lord, Your word is established in heaven” (Ps. 119:89)
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35)
I exhort you to open the Word of God daily. The wealth it contains will transform your new year much more powerfully than a low level prophetic word ever will.

Consider some of the following verses and begin your quest to encounter God through his Word. Take note of the promises and also of the conditions associated with them. May the fear of the Lord delight you. May your new year be marked by fresh revelation and trust in God’s mighty Word.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1).

“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways” (Deut. 28:7).

“Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and pay your vows to the Most High, and call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me” (Ps. 50:14-15).

“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Now a slave does not remain in the house forever, but a son remains forever. Therefore if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed'” (John 8:34-36).

“Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

I have listed just a few verses.  Now go ahead and receive the remaining promises in the Bible that are waiting for you in the New Year. There are thousands.

JESUS WARNS US IN ADVANCE – In the Last Days, Sin will escalate and so will God’s judgement.

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Throughout history, even unusual distress has come in cycles, meaning there was always a reprieve. But we are now entering a season in which distress will continually increase. Things will never go back to how they were in the “good ol’ days” of safety and security, whenever that was. The places in the world that refuse Jesus’ leadership will continue to get darker and more chaotic.

Sin will continue to escalate to higher levels. The demonic influence in the earth will increase.

Isis beheading 21 coptic Christians

In the first two-thirds of Luke 21, Jesus paints a vivid picture of the day of the Lord as He goes through the various signs of the times (wars, famines, earthquakes and so on). But in verse 25, He makes a strong prophetic declaration intended to alert us. Amid describing the tumultuous cosmic signs and tsunamis that will come in this season, He also declares, “On the earth [there will be] distress of nations.” This will be a time of distress that is unique in its intensity—the measure of unrest will be unprecedented and unparalleled. It will include financial crises, terrorism, racial clashes, violent weather, persecution and many other things. But what makes this time unique is that the distress will continually increase until the Lord returns.

Because the Lord is an excellent Pastor, He has told His people ahead of time what they should know and do. Throughout His Word—including here in Luke 21, where His instructions are explicit—He gives enough information to awaken our hearts spiritually and prepare us mentally so that we will not be surprised or overwhelmed. Jesus knows the human condition, mindset and capacity more than anyone. He knows that we are prone to overreact when we initially experience distress.  And so, He tells us in this passage, “Be alert! Don’t ignore what’s happening. If you do, when the distress of this day comes—when it hits you all at once—then you will be overcome with fear. You don’t want this to surprise you; there is no need for it to surprise you, for I am with you and can give you understanding. You can interpret the signs little by little as things unfold. My people will be able to understand more and experience more grace even as they observe things intensify more and more over several decades.”

But the important thing He is saying is this: “Stay close to Me.”

Indeed, in each season of increasing distress, we must realign ourselves with the Lord so that the intensity of the distress does not overwhelm us. As we come closer to Him and rely on Him for strength and wisdom, we will grow in understanding of what He is doing and in our dependence on Him. This is not just the safe way to respond; it is the only way God’s people will be able to succeed spiritually in the days ahead.

Mike Bickle is the director of the International House of Prayer Missions Base of Kansas City

HANUKKAH FORESHADOWS THE END TIMES ANTICHRIST

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The template for the coming appearance of the Antichrist is depicted in the events that led up to the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. It is the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22-23) which celebrates the re-dedication of the temple after Antiochus (antichrist) Epiphanes (god manifest) had desecrated the temple with a statue of Zeus (167BC) and by slaughtering pigs there.

At the Feast of Dedication, they light the Menorah (a symbol of Divine light spreading throughout the world). This is exactly what we need to be (a symbol of Divine light), as the world back then got darker, and they called what was good, evil and what was evil, good, so it is in our day. Thankfully, we also see in the events celebrated at Hanukkah, how to overcome evil in these last days. We must be like Mattathias (a Jewish priest who headed up the Maccabees) who refused to worship the Greek gods. Despite not having weapons, nor being trained in warfare, God miraculously gave them victory three times against Antiochus despite overwhelming odds on each occasion. Likewise, if we stand up for God in these “last days” we can expect God to be with us supporting us, as He did the Maccabees.

In answer to the disciples questions about His second coming (Olivet Discourse), Jesus states that when they see the abomination of desolation in the temple referred to in Daniel 9:26-27, it will be a sign that His second coming is near. This event is definitely in the future, but I believe the birth pangs that Jesus also referred to, as signs of His second coming, are underway. When you have time listen to Jonathan Cahn explain these events in detail.