AMERICA IS IN MORAL FREEFALL

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Taken from an article by Dr. Michael Brown  America is in Moral Freefall, Op-ed Contributor The Christian Post, Wednesday, April 03, 2024

In 1944, 9 years before the first edition of “Playboy” was published, Rev. Peter Marshall declared, “Surely the time has come, because the hour is late when we must decide. And the choice before us is plain — Yahweh or Baal. Christ or chaos. Conviction or compromise. Discipline or disintegration.”

In 1959, Prof. Robert Coleman proclaimed, “In a day when unprecedented numbers of people have a form of religion while at the same time, the Church seems unable to stem the rising tide of degeneracy that threatens the land, the question must be raised: Why this paradox? Should not the Church have influence for righteousness in proportion to her numbers? However one may seek to answer this question, it is obvious that what is needed is not more religion, but more power. In short, we need real revival!”

In 2010, David Wilkerson stated that in just over 50 years since the decade of the 1960s, we have become a nation in full-blown, open rebellion against God. Today: We worship the Almighty Dollar. Greed has become our national motivator. Sex is our obsession. Gambling is our national pastime. We are the world’s largest consumer of illegal drugs. We have banned God from our schools. We have declared God off-limits in the public arena.

I am confident that we can go all the way back to the American colonies and find similar, thunderous warnings, speaking of our spiritual apostasy and moral rot. After all, the First Great Awakening, which presupposed a great falling away, took place in the 1730s and 1740s, “at a time when the idea of secular rationalism was being emphasized, and passion for religion had grown stale.”

There’s even a danger of becoming so accustomed to our nation’s precipitous condition that we just yawn at the latest example of our depravity.

Drag queens reading to toddlers with the enthusiastic support of the American Library Association? No big deal.

Thirteen-year-old girls having their healthy breasts removed and 11-year-old boys getting chemically castrated because of short-lived struggles with their gender identity? Nothing to fuss about.

Radical feminists launching a “Shout Your Abortion” movement? No big deal.

Christians being canceled because they dare to hold to their biblically-based values in public? Let’s not get too worked up.

How deadly complacency can be!

That’s why we need to feel the full force of the outrage of the moment, as the President of the United States, himself a professing Catholic, uses his bully platform to mock the followers of Jesus worldwide. First, he announced “Transgender Day of Visibility” on Good Friday. Then, he timed things so that it would be celebrated this year on Resurrection (Easter) Sunday.

Wake up, America! It really is revival or we die — and that revival, that awakening, that coming to life again, that returning to the Lord with all our hearts and souls, repenting of our own sins — must begin with each of us.

To pray it again, “Lord, let the awakening begin with me.

The Bible reveals that God refines His church during the last seven years before Jesus returns first to rescue the Saints. The church of Philadelphia represents the church that Jesus raptures before He pours out His wrath upon an unrepentant world.

Jesus has nothing but compliments for these survivors of the Great Tribulation, his faithful remnant.

“Jesus says, I have set before you an open door, no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial (Rapture) which shall come upon the whole earth (wrath of God).” (Revelation 3:7-13)

“hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown” (Rev. 3:11). There is yet time to fall away and lose their rewards.

SPIRITUAL PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS: AMERICA IS AT WAR

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A great article by S.A. McCarthy. He serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

Every doctrine that Christianity preaches, leftism preaches its own perversion of it. The love advocated by Christianity is rooted in absolute truth, in “Love Himself,” as C.S. Lewis once put it. Leftism advocates “love” unmoored, anchored by nothing more absolute than the weight of fickle feelings and emotions — though, when those emotions are felt, they do reign supreme.

Christianity upholds sacrifice as virtuous — the giving of oneself for the sake of love is the zenith of the virtue of charity. Christ Himself tells His followers, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Leftism also values sacrifice, but never sacrifice of the self, only the sacrificing of others. Abortion is the ultimate example of this warped anti-virtue: sacrificing one’s own child for… financial comfort, a career, no responsibility, or even just consequence-free sex.

Christianity mandates submission to the will of God, accepting His design no matter how painful or difficult. Again, Christ Himself prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). Leftism demands obeisance to the only god it recognizes: the self-centered self. Transgenderism is demonstrative of this: just as Christian martyrs have willingly suffered torture for the sake of their faith, so the confused, self-centered, and self-loathing suffer mutilation and torture for the sake of their own wounded and twisted egos.

Like the dominant Christianity of the Middle Ages, leftism even has its own office of the Inquisition. Those who do not toe the leftist line, who dare to question the new religion’s dogmas, are hounded out of the anti-church. The famed “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is indicative of this. A multi-millionaire and self-declared feminist, Rowling was once a darling of leftist media and political activists. She supported the Labour Party in the U.K. and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Yet as soon as she voiced her concerns over transgenderism, she became a “heretic” to the church of leftism, targeted for disbarment from all the institutions controlled by leftism.

Although leftism is a uniquely 21st century phenomenon, its fundamental principles are nothing new. In fact, God has been dealing with the motivating mindset behind leftism since before the world began. The chief and unifying tenet of the leftist religion — indeed, that of all its precursors and predecessors, also — is naturalism. When first Lucifer said, in the words of the poet John Milton, “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,” naturalism was born. Naturalism is the belief, the assertion that the creature can replace the Creator, that the peasant may, if he slays the King, rule in His stead. It is the hubristic declaration that “God is dead, I am god.”

Satan was the first to declare thus, in his immense pride, galled by the humility of God’s plan to become a man, to take on the form of a mere creature — “these disgusting little human vermin,” as Lewis called them in the character of Screwtape, a hateful demon. He has declared it ever since, leading countless souls astray. In the Garden of Eden, that was the temptation offered by the Serpent: “You shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5). Throughout Scripture and, certainly, throughout human history, that has been the great temptation, the great sin: to be as gods. When Moses ascended Mount Sinai, after God led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, that temptation reared its head and the Hebrews made for themselves an idol (Exodus 32). Even then, the Hebrews fell to worshipping the demon Baal, until the prophet Elijiah proved the supremacy of God and slayed the Baalite priests (1 Kings 18).

Whether in the twilight years of the Roman Empire, throughout the Middle Ages, into the age of discovery, or even now in the modern day, men are tempted to declare themselves God, to worship their own selves over the crucified and resurrected person of Christ, to adhere to their own principles or preachings as supreme. Leftism is simply the culmination of this evil, this unbridled, unrestrained pride, brought to the fore via political prowess and instituted in American culture via institutions long ago captured by the prophets of leftism: Marxists, communists, perverts, abortionists, eugenicists, atheists, relativists, and countless other little ideologues subservient to the Luciferian sin of naturalism.

The current division in America is not ultimately a matter of Left versus Right, of Democrat versus Republican, of communist versus capitalist, but of good versus evil, of naturalism (in the form of leftism) versus Christianity, of the fallen angel Lucifer and his minions versus the crucified and resurrected Christ and the forces of Heaven. The war being waged over America at present is not a matter of differing political opinions but of diametrically opposed religions.

One side says that unborn babies, the most innocent of all persons, may be executed at will, torn apart and unceremoniously vacuumed out of the wombs of their mothers; that children may, on a whim, decide to ingest hormones foreign and unnatural to their bodies before subjecting themselves to irreversible surgeries so horrific that not even the most warped and depraved authors of the 19th and 20th centuries could have imagined them; that procreation is wholly unrelated to the conjugal act, that two men might sodomize one another and call it “love”; that sex-trafficking and child sexual exploitation are just the price to be paid for virtual images of increasingly perverted sex acts, readily available to young and old at the mere click of a button; that a nation has no sovereignty and must be subjected to millions of unvetted, unrestricted immigrants.

The other side says that innocence is worth preserving, that unborn children and their mothers must be cherished and protected from the evils of the abortion mill; that children must be raised to think and think critically, think well, think deeply; that the family is the basic and fundamental unit of society, that the very fabric of civilization would unravel without the family as its basis; that love necessitates self-sacrifice, not self-gratification; that nations have a God-given right to defend their borders and preserve the safety and security of their own people; that Christ is indeed King.

This present war is not between two ideological factions but between powers and principalities, between leftism and Christianity, between good and evil, and between God and Satan. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve… As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

ARE YOU DEAD IN YOUR TRESPASSES AND SINS?

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If you could control the moment you died, what would your last words be? As Jesus hung on the cross, He spoke seven times. The first of His final words was a prayer. But not for Himself. 

“Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Really? They didn’t know what they were doing? 
1. The Jewish leaders plotted Jesus’ death for months. They paid Judas to betray Him. They held a mock trial in the middle of the night.
2. The crowd cried out for His crucifixion. They even chose a murderer to be set free rather than Jesus, the One who had healed the sick, raised the dead, and fed thousands.
3. Governor Pilate knew Jesus was only guilty of making the Jewish leaders mad. He tried to set Jesus free, but in the end, he knowingly gave the order for Jesus’ death.
4. The Roman soldiers spit on Jesus, beat Him, jammed a crown of thorns onto His head, and mocked Him. As they led Him to Calvary, they watched Him stumble, battered and bleeding. When they drove the nails through His hands and feet, the soldiers knew exactly what they were doing. Christ’s agony was real.
5. Jesus’ executioners didn’t know what they were doing because sin and “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Yet, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing” Luke 23-34

If they had truly understood who Jesus was and what they were doing to Him—God’s Son, their promised Messiah—do you think they would have never done such evil? The horror of such actions would have overwhelmed them. Instead, they would have fallen down before Jesus and worshiped Him. 

Apart from Christ, we are all spiritually blind—and spiritually deaf. In the rebellion of our sin, we are no different than the people in the days of Ezekiel, Jesus, and Paul, who have ears but do not hear (Ezek. 12:2; Matt. 13:13; Acts 28:27). In our sinful state, we don’t hear, see, or respond to the truth. 

Unless God opens our eyes to see Jesus and our sin, we will stay as blind and deaf as the dead, because that’s exactly what we are—dead in our trespasses and sins.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1-3 

BIBLICAL END-TIMES PROPHECIES WARN US CHRISTIANS WILL FACE INCREASING PERSECUTION

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In November 2020, a Christian woman in New Jersey named Betsy Fresse filed a lawsuit against Starbucks when the coffee chain allegedly fired her for refusing on religious grounds to wear an LGBT pride shirt as part of her uniform. 

Now Taylor Price, a Christian claims Starbucks fired her after opposing pride promotions, refusing to use trans pronouns.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Trice said she started working for Starbucks because the company offered tuition assistance for Arizona State University’s online program. In 2022, she was fired from Starbucks in Apex, North Carolina, after working for the company for two years.

“Before working at Starbucks, I knew nothing about it except that it was considered a bougie coffee shop,” Trice said. “So I didn’t know that it was a very liberal company.”

In a statement sent to The Christian Post, a Starbucks spokesperson said the company will not comment on this “private employment matter.”

“However, Starbucks has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind in our stores, and we’re committed to fostering an environment where everyone is welcome, respected and valued,” the spokesperson said. “We expect all partners (employees) to abide by company policies and standards, including our anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies.”

According to Trice, the Starbucks where she worked put up a glass wall during pride month in June that described various sexual orientations, saying families with kids would be able to see the display. 

She said that the display explained the sexual attractions of people who identified as “demisexual,” adding that she would have still opposed the display if it said “heterosexual.”

“I just felt like that didn’t need to be added to the decorations,” Trice said. 

Trice said her co-workers got defensive. She believes they thought she was a “homophobic Christian” and became “salty” towards her. 

Another issue with the company concerned a policy requiring her to use the “preferred pronouns” of individuals who identify as the opposite sex.

Trice said that she was willing to call a trans-identifying individual by name or avoid using pronouns, but her faith would not allow her to lie. 

“So, that means if I see you are a man, and I call you a woman, that is lying,” she said. “That is identifying you as something that God did not create you to be. And it’s identifying you as something that Satan wants to identify you as, and Satan’s ultimate goal is to confuse you and deceive you about your identity.” 

Trice said the power of a “small sin” can’t be underestimated.

“So, with all those factors combined, I say, respectfully, hey, ‘I’m willing to call you by your name; I’m willing to avoid using pronouns, but it’s against my faith to lie and say that you are a woman if I know that you are a man.'” 

She told Fox News that managers said customers made complaints against her, such as they believed she wasn’t comfortable with their “identity.” 

“I do not understand because I would talk to everyone there all the time,” she told the outlet. “I was never making insults towards them or anything.” 

Trice said she felt God warned her about what was to come, as the day before her store manager called her into a meeting with the district manager, she had a dream that she was in trouble at work. During the meeting, Trice’s employers informed her that people had accused her of “homophobia.” 

“As predicted, I got fired,” she said. “I’m not saying this to bash my old co-workers or my old manager. I actually had a lot of fun with them, and I love them, and all I want to see is for them to be in Heaven.” 

HOW FAR OFF IS ROBOTAXI?

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Elon Musk recently tweeted that Tesla’s robotaxi will launch on 08/08/2024. This video is from 2022. China is so far ahead of Tesla and Musk in robotaxis and EVs. China is rapidly crushing US E.V. companies. The video below reveals China’s Baidu is already operating robotaxis in Wuhan.

China’s electric vehicle companies have grown rapidly in recent years, becoming major competitors for U.S. automakers like Tesla. 

William Li, the CEO of NIO, said competition in the EV industry is “much fiercer” in China, the world’s largest market for EVs and for automobiles overall.

The fierce competition has spurred rapid development of the industry. According to Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, about one-quarter of passenger cars sold in China last year were all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, compared with about 7% in the U.S.

“China is way ahead of the U.S. in terms of EV adoption,” said Soumen Mandal, a senior analyst for Counterpoint, based in Kolkata, India.

Faced with pressure at home, China’s EV makers are pursuing expansion abroad, especially in emerging markets. Last year, China’s exports of EVs increased 131.8% year on year to around 680,000 units, official data showed. Thanks in part to the surge in EV sales, China overtook Japan as the world’s top auto exporter in the first quarter of this year.

China’s growing EV shipments to Europe have vastly increased its share of the European market. Chinese manufacturers’ share of the Western European new EV passenger car market stood at 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, an astonishing rise from 2019, when China’s share in the total European EV market only reached 0.5 percent. 

Chinese industry leader BYD — a Shenzhen-based company whose name stands for “Build Your Dreams,” which is backed by U.S. investor Warren Buffett — now rivals Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles, including hybrids.

The Seagull, a subcompact hatchback BYD unveiled at the Shanghai auto show, is the cheapest EV in the world, at about $11,000, compared with $25,000 for a Toyota bZ4X and $40,000 for Tesla’s top-selling Model Y.

This article demonstrates how fast China is overtaking the U.S.A. in becoming the world’s leading superpower. Moreover, considering Taiwan’s dominance of the semi-conductor chip market and China’s dependence on microchips it is likely 2024 will see its takeover move on Taiwan. In October 2022, Biden dropped the hammer on China’s semiconductor industry by fully implementing a slew of tough controls on the export of American chip technology to China. This was a painful blow to Xi’s ambitions to rival the U.S. and only increased his need to take over Taiwan.

End times prophecies of wars and rumors of wars are playing out across the world and a possible China and Russia alliance is possible. Jesus said not to be alarmed when you see these things happening they are only the birth pangs.

No matter what wars and rumors of war are going on around us, our mission is the same, and it just so happens that the mission is what Jesus says is a reliable predictor of the end times.

“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 24:14

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ‘AT ODDS’ WITH MAINSTREAM CULTURE

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An increasing share of Americans think their religious beliefs are “at odds” with “mainstream American culture.” 48% of citizens say there is either a “great deal” or “some” conflict in this area, up from just 42% in 2020, according to a Pew Research Centre Survey. The survey also found 29% of Americans believe they are religious minorities, up from 24% in 2000.

Meanwhile, most U.S. adults, 80%, said “religion’s role in American life is shrinking,” a percentage that’s the highest it has been in Pew’s research history. Just 18% expressed the belief faith is gaining influence in American society, with 49% saying religion’s influence is on the decline and that it’s a bad thing, which is unsurprising considering 57% of U.S. adults believe religion’s influence on American life is positive.

Americans’ political affiliations impacted their view of religion and public life. Republicans (51%) said it is important to have a president with the same religious beliefs they hold; just 25% of Democrats said the same. Pew found some interesting statistics regarding this year’s presidential candidates with 13% stating they believe Biden is “very religious” and 4% expressing the same about Trump. Source: Faithwire

Sadly, the majority of the people in the survey who claim to be religious are not born-again Christians who hold a Biblical worldview. Already, most of the denominational/institutional churches have compromised with the world on big issues such as gay marriage and homosexuality. These churches will be among those who thought they were part of God’s church but will be left behind to face the wrath of God. In Revelation 3 each of the seven churches represents the church in each of the seven years before Jesus returns first to rapture His church – the church of Philadelphia. The church of Laodicea is the church that is left behind to face the wrath of God but note they still have the opportunity to repent and be saved.

To the Church in Laodicea

“‘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. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ Revelation 3:15-22

SATAN’S RULE IS COMING TO AN END

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As the deceiver of humanity, Satan has been active in deceiving the church since its inception. He deceives mankind by counterfeiting and corrupting the teachings of God. The apostles encountered it in many ways. Note Paul’s response.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-7

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” Galatians 1:8-9

“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough… And what I am doing I will continue to do, to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 12-15

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” Romans 16:17-18

“I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:29-32

In 2 Peter, Peter describes some twisted versions of Christian truth being taught. Peter explains the “more fully confirmed” truth of the gospel as an antidote to heresy. The gospel is like “a lamp shining in a dark place” (1:19). In chapter 3, Peter focuses on those who scoff at the idea of Christ’s triumphant return and the final judgment. Just as God once destroyed the world with water, he will one day bring his fire to it. In light of this, we should live in “holiness and godliness” as we await his return.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” 2 Peter 2:1-2

Jesus told us that this deception will only intensify as we approach the end of Satan’s rule over the Earth. When he is cast out of heaven He knows his time is short and the angel warns the earth, “woe to you O earth and sea for the devil has come down to you in great wrath“. We have been told beforehand to expect to see the Antichrist and experience the great tribulation that will be the fate of believers and Jews so be prepared.

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” Matthew 24:21-22

Living Eternal Now Ready for Jesus’ Return is available on Amazon as an ebook and trade paperback. If you would like a signed copy then email me ron.careshare@gmail.com and make a donation of $20 on this website and I will post it to you.

“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him... Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Revelation 12:9,12

GOD WILL BE WITH YOU IN THE COMING TRIBULATION

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In a society increasingly pushing liberal agendas, it’s no surprise to see an accompanying escalation in disdain for biblical truth. With the rise of LGBT ideology alone, basic biology is under attack, marriage is mocked, and those who proclaim what Scripture says about homosexuality are labeled as hateful bigots.

 A survey conducted by the Survey Center on American Life released last week found that fifty-four percent of Gen Z adults who left their formative religion are women; forty-six percent are men.”

According to the results, the primary factors that tied into this increase of women leaving the church were a rise in self-proclaimed feminists and self-identified liberals. Participants (65%) in a previous poll by the same group felt “churches do not treat men and women equally,” the authors of the survey results noted. They added that many women in this current climate find “professional ambition and concern with personal success and growth” outweighs their desire to grow in areas of religion or familial concerns, describing the latter categories as “lower priorities.”

What we see unfolding is exactly what the Bible predicted would happen before Jesus returns to restore righteousness. Jesus told us that tribulation will be intense so we should not be surprised. God is in control and He wants us to play our role whatever that might be. Christians can be sure by the Holy Spirit indwelling our spirit that He will be with us in the situation just as Jesus was in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshak, and Abednego. He did not take them out of the furnace, He was in there with them.

“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

We need to get ready to rule and reign with Jesus in His coming Millennial Kingdom.

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron…” Revelation 2:26-27

“And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.” Revelation 19:14-15

ONLY GOD DEFINES WHAT IS GOOD AND EVIL

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God gave us His commandments to define what is lawful. God’s law is Holy. His commandments are Holy, righteous, and good. God defines what is sinful. Moreover, God gave each of us a conscience, an inner sense of right and wrong. One reason is because He loves us, and He doesn’t want us to destroy our lives and the lives of others through our evil deeds. But He also gave it to us to show us our need for Christ. He alone can forgive our sins, change our hearts, and then help us live the way we should.

The conscience is defined as that part of the human psyche that induces mental anguish and feelings of guilt when we violate it and feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts, and words are in conformity with our value systems. The Greek word translated “conscience” in all New Testament references is suneidēsis, meaning “moral awareness” or “moral consciousness.” The conscience reacts when one’s actions, thoughts, and words conform to or are contrary to God’s standard of right and wrong.

When King Solomon rebuked someone who had wronged his father, he said, “You know in your heart all the wrong you did” 1 Kings 2:44

Tragically, our conscience—this inner moral compass that ought to point us to right and wrong—can become dulled and suppressed, and we may not even be able to hear its warnings. Instead, we deliberately choose to do wrong—and the more we do this, the more calloused or hardened our conscience becomes. Some people, the Bible says, “suppress the truth by their wickedness” Romans 1:18

The world is increasingly suppressing God’s truth and is now openly opposed to it. It has embraced evolution and naturalism so that Man can make up His own rules. Christians who hold to God’s values are being treated as bigots and haters. Jesus said that in the last days before He returns this would be the case and we need to prepare for it.

“”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.” Matthew 24:9-12

As Christians, we are to keep our consciences clear by obeying God and keeping our relationship with Him in good standing. We do this by the application of His Word and submitting to the indwelling Holy Spirit’s leading. We need to help those whose consciences are weak, treating them with Christian love and compassion. Don’t give in to cynicism or despair but ask God to help you point others to Christ’s transforming power.

GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS

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Near the end of 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the people of Israel “became impatient” and “spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food’” (Numbers 21:4-5). Such complaining was commonplace, but the ensuing sequence of events is unique — and even weird.

“Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” Numbers 21:6-9

God sent “fiery” serpents with fatal bites as a judgment on his grumbling people. The Israelites then repented; they confessed their sin and named it. Yet God did not grant the relief they asked for — to take the serpents away. Instead, he authorized a strange method of relief: to look at a bronze serpent set on a pole. What a peculiar prescription.

The doubtful might ask, “Really, God? What is that supposed to do? If I’m dying of snake venom, I don’t see what good looking at a bronze statue of a snake on a pole will be.” The nation of Israel certainly didn’t understand. They made offerings to Moses’s serpent as an idol (2 Kings 18:4), apparently thinking the healing power was in the snake. But the power was in obeying God’s word, “everyone who is bitten when he sees it, shall live.” Those who had faith heard God’s Word and believed it. When they were bitten by serpents, they acted in faith, looked at the snake, and lived.

As foreign and arcane as this may seem to American Christians in the 21st century, there is a direct New Testament application of this episode in John 3:14-15, where Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” The Son of Man is a Messianic name for Jesus, and he was lifted up on the cross.

In this parallel, we have the same role as the children of Israel, wandering in the wilderness of this world. We are afflicted not by fiery serpents but by the effects of the curse, and by our sin, and the sins of others. Our sin makes us gross and unlovely, unworthy of any favor from God. By our sin, we profane God’s image in us and pervert his good design for mankind. We deserve both physical death and eternal death for our rebellion against God. But God has provided Jesus as a means of salvation for all who look to him in faith. On Good Friday, Jesus suffered everything we deserve.

For this blood atonement to stick, it must be laid over the theological primer coat found in the following verse, which is among the Bible’s most famous, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This verse makes it clear that the man who was crucified in our place was not only a man but also the Son of God.

Why is that essential? Any regular man would be incapable of dying a substitutionary death because, born of Adam’s fallen race, he would have earned his own death penalty for his own sins. The only effectual sacrifice that could wash away our sins is a sinless one. No descendant of Adam is sinless, and the sacrifice of no lesser creature, like bulls or goats (Hebrews 10:4), can suffice. With no acceptable offering available by human agency, God provided the lamb to take away the sins of the world. (Genesis 22:8, John 1:29).