The Last Hoo-rah

Our annual preaching conference finished up last week and my soul was stirred by many of the messages.  Out of that meeting Ill be taking my first Missions trip for one.  In my previous post, I asked the question: Can America Be Turned Back to God.  

My answer, for the long term, is still no.  But one of the messages preached at this conference really stirred me.  The Pastor mentioned fighting for what was right and taking a stand, even if that meant a political one, and he said something about one last Revival before the whole thing collapse and the New Babylon arises.  I don’t know why, but that statement rang true with me.  In the last 18 months, we have had more souls saved and added to our Church than my previous 21 years here, and most of those were our own members who finally saw their lost estate and need for personal repentance, and they called upon the Lord for salvation!  I have had the good pleasure of discipling some of them, and watching God change their lives.  I am seeing God work in my own life in ways I did not expect, and in others as well.

I know that in the end America the Beautiful will fall, and be overrun by this new Babylon.  I still believe that we are watching this new Babylon being built right around us.  Gone are the days of conspiracy theorists talking about a New World Order, and a One-World Currency, etc.  Now Heads of State are talking about it openly, even our own Secretary of the Treasury. 

But having said that, something rang true about this Preachers comment.  I cannot take you to a passage or a scripture and say, see, it’s right here, but then there are no revivals at all mentioned in scripture.  God never said when or where there would be a revival, but He did tell us how they happen:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” – I Chronicles 7:14.  

Brother or Sister, it has never been the majority that moved God, it has always been the few.  True born again bible believers have always been the extreme minority, even in the great nation.  This verse says “if my people” – that’s not the lost, it’s the saved.  What wicked way Brother or Sister, might you have to turn from?

Can there be one last hooray?  I believe there can, and I for one, if God may allow me, would like to be in on it.  I know the coming darkness, I feel it too.  I feel the impending doom of a totalitarian regime that will strip us of all freedoms, and jail God-Called Preachers because of their ‘hate speech’.  I have just settled in my heart that this might very well happen to me, but after counting the cost, it must be worth it.  It is worth it.

The Effectual Fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man availeth much.

Can America Be Turned Back to God?

 

Nope. No chance at all. But wait! , you say, you are one of them bible thumpin' Baptists that's always telling people they need to be born again or face the wrath of God! You must believe you can turn the country around.

No, I don't. I am of that extreme minority that Simeon and Anna were in when the Lord came the first time. They were not looking for a military messiah that would restore Israel, they were looking for the Saviour of their souls. I look to His coming, any day. I hold out no hope that our government can be turned around from its suicide course with socialism. I do not believe the United States will be a world power in the last days, and I believe we are in the last days, even the last hours, and I wait patiently for the coming of my Saviour to take me to my home in Heaven. Make no mistake, I do not enjoy watching the death of what was the greatest nation in the history of the world, anymore than Jeremiah enjoyed watching Israel go into bondage. But I have read the end of the book, and I know that this must come to pass.

I want you for a moment to consider what type of government will be in power during the Great Tribulation. Do you think it will be a great democracy or Republic? I do not. I think it is clear that this will be a totalitarian regime, and that any dissention will be met with swift execution. If all are required to receive the mark of the beast, which regulates their ability to buy and sell, then they effectively control their entire life. I don't pretend to know exactly what that mark will be, but I can tell you there are enough technologies available today to make this a reality tomorrow, if the public would accept it.

However, the thought that America will never be restored does not depress me, it spurs me on, because I know the time is short, and the coming of the Lord is at hand, and whatever impact I am going to have in this world I need to do now. Outside of the Word of God, no one can even hope to make any sense of the insanity of the days which we live in. Any sane and rational person can look at the actions taken by our own Government and know that they have signed the death warrant of the USA. Our National debt is now so large that there is quite literally no way to ever pay it off. We have no had our own rights over our own bodies surrendered to the Government in what they falsely label Heath Reform. We watch as corporations buy and sell governments, and where the only rule of law is the worlds golden rule: In the world, he who has the gold sets the rules. There are forces at work in the world today that have money beyond anything you and I could ever imagine. I borrowed money to buy a house, while they pay cash for a whole country.

So what should you do? If you do not know 100% for sure where you will spend eternity, I would love to tell you how you can in fact know that, just as I do. If you do know this, and you have a biblical testimony of salvation, please tell someone else while you still have the time and the liberty to do so.

The Two Witnesses

Many people teach that the Two Witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 are Enoch and Elijah. They base this primarily on the verse from Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: ". Since Enoch and Elijah did not die, then the two witnesses 'must' (?) be Enoch and Elijah, right ????? Not so fast. Lest go back to II Timothy 2:15 and do some study before jumping to conclusions.

 

Law of Consistency.

The first thing I want to consider is what I call the Law of Consistency. This is the doctrine that the Lord does not change, and His Doctrine (singular) is one consistent whole, not diverse and changing parts. Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 speak to this. We also know that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), so what applies to one applies to all. With this in mind lets look at these two witnesses.

 

Hebrews 9:27 is quickly referenced when justifying the teaching that Enoch and Elijah are the two witnesses, because they were both caught up, and did not suffer death, and threfore must come back to earth to die. Hmmmm………….

 

The Raptured Saints.

If Hebrews 9:27 applies to all men, then I must ask: When do the saints taken out in the Rapture come back to die?

(1Th 4:16) "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (1Th 4:17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

 

1. Death cannot stand in His presence (Jesus never attended a funeral). So, if the saints who are taken out in the Rapture will ever be with the Lord, they will never see death, because death cannot stand in His presence.
   
2. There is no premise, scripture, or principle whereby one can say that the saints caught up in the First Resurrection when the Lord comes in the air will return to die.
   
3. Enoch is a type of the faithful believer, taken out of the world before the judgment of the flood came, never to see death. If these two witnesses were Enoch and Elijah because of Heb 9:27, then there would also be scriptural evidence that the raptured saints would come back and die as well, but this evidence is completely lacking.
   
4. Based on the doctrine of the rapture of the saints, being caught up alive to ever be with the Lord, we can know with certainty that Hebrews 9:27 is not talking about the saved.
   

 

Many in scripture were raised from the dead, and died again:

• John 11:14-44 Lazarus was raised from the dead.
  
• Luke 8:54 Jesus raised a young maid.
  
• In Acts 20:9 Eutychus fell from the balcony, died, and Paul raised him from the dead.
  
• II Kings 13:21 – a dead man was cast into the grave of Elisha and came out alive.
  
• II Kings 4:32-35 – Elisha raised the boy from the dead.
  
• II Corinthians 12:1-2. Paul speaks of dying, and coming back, and yet he died again.
  

 

There is no scriptural evidence or precedent to say that these individuals did not die again, which means they died twice? Does this not contradict our verse in Hebrews? Our text verse in Hebrews say it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this……….

 

Two Forms of Judgment: Krisis or Bema?

The word Judgment in Hebrews 9:27 is the Greek Krisis (where we get our English word crisis). For the believer, Romans 14:10 and II Corinthians 5:10 speak of the Judgment Seat of Christ, and the word judgment used here is Bema in Greek, meaning a 'rewarding stand'. It is not a born again believer that faces a crisis, it is the lost. When you couple this with the fact that the raptured saints along with Enoch will never see death, we begin to understand that this verse is speaking of the lost, not the saved. It is speaking of the judgment those that reject Christ will face, not the judgment the saved will face.

 

So we have firmly dismantled the idea that Hebrews 9:27 is speaking about the saved, and we have unshackled ourselves from the idea that the two witnesses must be Moses and Elijah, so then, who are they?! How 'bout we look at who they are and what they do….

The Two Witnesses are Olive Branches.

The Olive branch is a symbol of Israel, as demonstrated in Jeremiah 11:6, and Hosea 14:6.

Romans 11:13-25 speaks of the wild olive branch (the Gentiles) being grafted into the natural (the Jews). Zechariah 4 is a prophecy of these two olive branches in Revelation 11, and this brings us to the clear understanding that these two witnesses are Jews. Enoch was a pre-flood saint and a Gentile, not a Jew. This is strike two for the Enoch theory, and it narrows our pool to some Hebrews that stopped the rain, and turned the water into blood. Sounds vaguely familiar…..

What Miracles will they do?

Since we have established that these two witnesses must be Jews, how then can we determine who they are? Let scripture interpret scripture.

One witness turns the water into blood. In all of scripture, there was only one person that did that, and it was Moses.

(Rev 11:6) These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Moses smote Egypt, a type of the world, with many plagues. He is the only one in scripture that did this.

 

Elijah is the only one that stopped the rain:

1Ki 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

Jas 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Elijah stopped the rain for 3 ½ years: the exact amount of time that these two witnesses will be on the earth.

 

The Mount of Transfiguration

Last, we have the Lord going to the mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17:3, and of all people who do we find here talking with Him? Moses and Elijah. Enoch is not there. This meeting just coincidentally takes place in the same city that the Two Witnesses of Revelation are eventually killed. Strike three for the Enoch theory.

Summary

Moses and Elijah are the only two people in the Word of God that fit every aspect the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11. They are from the Olive Branch, they did the same miracles for the same amount of time, and they appeared with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. The only reason there is any dispute as to who these two witnesses are is to a misunderstanding of Hebrews 9:27.

 

 

 

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

Since the 1930's, the principles and concepts this nation was founded on have been ridiculed in almost every college in America. No matter where you went to school, you most likely were not taught what the men that founded this nation believed in, and because of that we have a very misguided idea of what the principles which our nation was founded on were.

Public Service was an honor, not a career.  The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators that were truly of the people, and for the people, with the intent that they would serve their term(s), and when their service to their country was finished they would go back to a private sector job with no special or ongoing benefits. Any legislation they passed would directly impact them.

If we ever intend to see that again, and see the Citizens of the United States represented, and not special interests from every side, then 'We the People' need to return our Congressman in the House and Senate to citizen legislators. To do this we the people need to strip them of the perks and benefits that have crept in over the years and return this position to a place of honor, and not a career.

There are several things that I think would help. These are not all original ideas; I have simply boiled them down to a short list of actionable items that could realistically happen if the right people are elected in 2010.

 
 

 1. Term Limits: 12 years only, one of the possible options below.

       A. Two Six year Senate terms

  B. Six Two year House terms

  C. One Six year Senate term and three Two Year House terms

 

The principle here is that public service was never intended to be a career field, so let's remove the possibility of it being one.

 
 

2.  Congressional Benefits Plans are eliminated.

Congress shall not have, nor create, nor participate in, any benefit plan that is not available to the citizens of their State. This includes, but is not limited to, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement, and Investment plans.

 

• The current Health Insurance plan will end 1/1/2012. Congressman can purchase an individual plan from the provider of their choice that is licensed to provide coverage in their home state.
  
• The current Retirement plan will end 1/1/2012. All funds currently in the Congressional Retirement Fund will be placed in the Social Security Fund. Congress will be eligible for the same Social Security benefits as any other citizen.
  
• Any other benefit plans will cease on 1/1/2012 as well
  
• There is no continuation of benefits beyond their term of service. This should be a moot point since there will be no benefits to be carried over!
  

 

After their public service they go back to the private sector just as the Founding Fathers intended them to, with no lifelong benefits. The Principle here is to make this a citizen legislature again.

If all the rest of America, from the small business man to the Union Employee, must renegotiate their contracts from time to time, it is past time that our Representatives have their renegotiated.

 

3. Congressional Pay Increases. Congressional pay will rise each year by the Consumer Price Index or 3%, whichever is less.

No one else in America has the luxury of voting themselves a pay raise, why should Congress. The practice breeds corruption. Since they are of the people, treat them as the people. If Congress passes laws that are damaging to this nation, they need to feel it in their wallet just like the rest of America does.

 

4.
Ban on post-service lobbying. No Congressman may, during or after leaving office, accept employment or income from any lobbying organization. The penalty for violation is forfeiture of all income since leaving office.

The principle we are trying to communicate here is that when your services is done, you are done! You are no different than any other citizen.

 

As long as our Congressman are above the people, they will not make decisions and legislate in a way that is for the people. The office of a Congressman is to be a position of Honor, not of privilege, and we need to restore the office to that place. Make them live by the policies they pass and we will have better policies! If we do not, then we cannot expect our nation to see any improvement at all, regardless what your view of progress is.

 
 

 
 

 
 

The Riddle of Epicurus

Epicurus was Philosopher that lived from 341BC to 240BC.  He taught that death was the end for the body and the soul, and therefore should not be feared, that the universe is eternal, and that events in this world are based on the 'motions of atoms". In essence, he did not believe in a Divine Creator, or any gods for that matter. He was best known for the following riddle:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

In order to find the answer to the riddle, we need to examine the god of Epicurus. Epicurus was a philosopher, a lover of man's wisdom, and he believed that there was no greater power in the world than the wisdom of man. In his riddle he speaks of god, but he did not believe there was a Creator, so why would he write a riddle about someone he did not believe existed. It's like writing philosophy about Santa Clause. So if Epicurus is not talking about the God of Eternity, what god is he speaking of? What was his framework for 'god'? According to his philosophy the greatest power in the world is the wisdom of man, which is authored by man. Therefore man is also the highest authority and thus, his own god. In this riddle, the god Epicurus is speaking of is his own intellect, and when you look at this riddle in light of what Epicurus considered to be god, it makes perfect sense:

Is man willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then it is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

The answers to all of these questions make perfect sense when you look at his riddle in light of what his god was. Man as his own god will self destruct every time, and has no answer for evil. The only way for man to eliminate evil is for man to eliminate man.


The God of Eternity paid for all evil in Jesus Christ. And in His own time, according to His own purpose, He will end all evil as well.

"1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 1Co 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

Wisdom From Solomon

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after." Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

Do we really wonder why this world seems to continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over again? Solomon gave us some words on this subject in the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is about how things are 'under the sun', (ch 1:3), meaning here upon the earth. We see this phrase 27 times in the book of Ecclesiastes, and it is surely the theme of it.

Consider verse 11 "There is no remembrance of former things". You would think that we could look back at history and see the mistakes other nations made that caused them to fall, and not make them, yet as a nation we do not. We are also exhorted to look at people in the bible and learn from their mistakes:

"1Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

God told us why He put so many people in His Word, and showed them as they were, warts and all. He did not cover up their mistakes, but rather, recorded them for our admonition, so that we can do better than they did.

Knowing that by nature you are not inclined to learn from the past, it will make you more aware of the fact that you should, and perhaps you will!

The Ten Toes are Forming

The Old Roman Empire Revised.

In the Old Roman Empire, Constantine married the apostate church and the State in an attempt to conquer the world. He believed that if he combined these two powers into one, he would hold all power. In the revised Roman Empire, we will once again see a marriage of the apostate church, or more properly, the apostate religious system, and the state.

The true church all through history has been an antagonist against worldliness and materialism. This one world religion would be part of the grand scheme, a feeder of the system. The only doctrine of this church will be kum-by- ya feel good message of 'god's' love for you and how he wants you to get all that he has for you. It is the poison that Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Bill Hybles, and sadly many Baptists as well preach from their pulpits. These are but a few of the apostate agents of our day. The non-denomination, non-sectarian message of prosperity 'reaches all', and it satisfies the love of money that the kings want. The world religion will teach people to be covetous consumers which will feed the greed of the bankers and businessmen. II Peter 2:19. II Tim 4:3.

In the Roman Empire of Daniels Vision, the same would apply. Daniels ten toes represent ten kings in Revelation, and those ten kings rule the ten provinces of the world. Traditional thinking in Eschatology was that the European Union was the fulfillment of this passage, and that Rome was the Great Whore. But the closer we get to the First Resurrection the clearer things become. The EU still has 26 member nations, which means there would need to be major wars and conflicts to get that down to 10. This is possible, but even if that happened, it would not make the EU a world government, only a regional one. Scripture is quite clear that this is a world system that all ten kings subscribe to.

I have heard it said that Daniels vision showed that things ended with the Ten Toes, which was the Old Roman Empire, and that there would be no more world kingdoms. I disagree with that statement: The last thing Daniel saw were the Ten Toes. We know this is not 'the end' because God showed us in Revelation that there would in fact be a world kingdom under Satan. So let's go back to the idea that the Ten Toes were the last thing Daniel saw. Daniel was a born again believer in Jesus Christ, and his vision applies to the born again believers that will be on the earth at the second coming of Christ. Some call the event the Rapture, I call it the First Resurrection. They are both the same event. This happens before the antichrist comes on the scene and takes power. Daniels vision is giving us an idea of what will be in place just before the rapture: the Ten Toes. Daniel, if he were alive today, would not be here to see past the Rapture, and his vision was only up to the rapture.



The European Union is the pilot program.

There are several different agencies working as we speak to convert the nations of the world into 10 trade zones. The North American Union would be one of them, as is the EU. I see the EU as the pilot program for this type of world system. They worked through all the bugs of common currency, common trade practices, etc, and this model of governance would serve as a template for implementing this globally.



http://www.clubofrome.org/eng/home/

This is a map of the world trade zones or kingdoms that the Club of Rome (nice name) proposed back in the 70's. There could be a rearranging of a country here or there in Europe and Africa, but for the large part this remains the same. Here we have ten kingdoms that cover the world.



But according to scripture, in this global system the apostate religious system is part of it, not distinct from it. Consider the fact that your Joel Osteen's of the world are preaching a prosperity Gospel, and 'get all you can' gospel, a gospel of covetousness, which falls directly in line with the money based system that will be implemented in the last days.



What form of government would this be?

Let's start by clarifying what it is not: It is not a Constitutionally Protected Republic. When the Antichrist comes, his reign will be totalitarian for sure, but I also believe that it will be a government of covetousness, such as Rome became when it fell. I personally believe the world will get engulfed in socialism, which paves the way for a dictatorship. Socialism breeds dependency, which creates control. Individual liberties are 'sacrificed for the greater good'. Once people are conditioned to accept control, then all that's needed is a dictator to step in, and in this case that will be the antichrist. The EU is already socialist, and if there is any truth to the rumored North American Union, which would be one of the ten toes, then our Constitution will be gutted, and we will be turned socialist even if the people are against it. There is no way Canada is going to give up their Government Health Care, even as bad as it is. This is the nature of entitlements: people think they get something for nothing, and will not let it go. The Israeli Prime Minister lost his seat because he tried to institute a $1.00 co-pay (Israel has zero co-pay). One single dollar for a co-pay and the people voted him out of office. This is the insidious nature of Health Care. Ask the staunchest Libertarian you can find, the biggest Conservative if they will give up their Social Security. Very few would say yes, even though this is socialism. Force Government Health Care upon Americans and once they have it they will never let it go, no matter how bad it is. The first generation that grows up with it will refuse to ever leave it.

Back to the form of Government. We know that the final government it is totalitarian because the Two Witnesses are eventually killed in the streets, and there is no repercussion to that murder. As a matter of fact there is a worldwide party. We also know that you will receive the Mark of the Beast or be executed, and that many of the tribulation saints are martyred. I can also see a class system: The Elites that run it all, and the working class. But the dichotomy is that the working class will not have it bad, they will be quite prosperous, at least for 3 ½ years.

I have a hard time believing that the US Constitution will survive, or that the US will either. Outside of Israel, no nation has the promise of perpetuity. We have seen our lifetime that it does not matter how wicked a ruler is, as long as the people have a miller high life and Monday Night Football, who cares who writes the laws. We have seen a reversal of this since Obama took office. Maybe the LORD will give a reprieve and a few more years. In any case we know that the time of our departure is at hand! Keep looking up!

More to Follow…….