At the end of the day . . .

Daniel 2: [27] Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;
[28] But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

"There are two things to take from that. One is the 'latter days' is talking about prophecy; bringing prophecy to a conclusion," says Richard Jordan.

"But it also tells you that the dream Nebuchadnezzar sees are those kingdoms; Babylon all the way to the Second Advent were the latter days.

"That's the reason the Book of Hebrews would start: [1] God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

[2] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world

"Well, how can the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John be the last days when we think of the last days as the Second Advent? Because the whole of that 'fifth course of judgment' that begins with Nebuchadnezzar is the last days. The whole of that fifth course is called the 'day of the Lord.'

"Now, a day in the Bible has parts to it. In Genesis 1 when you see a day--the morning and the evening were the first day. So, a day has at least two parts in Genesis 1. In John 11 Jesus says there are 12 hours in a day and 12 hours in a night; the two parts.

"Mark 13:35 says there are four watches in the night. So a nighttime is divided into four sections. Four and four is eight so now you have a day divided into eight parts. My point is that a day in the Bible can have a lot of parts to it. It's a time period.

"In Genesis 1 it's a 24-hour day. The 'day of the Lord' is a lot longer than 24 hours, but it has parts. That's why it can start with Nebuchadnezzar and go all the way to the Second Advent of Christ.

Acts 2: [16] But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

[17] And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
[18] And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
[19] And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
[20] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:

"The pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 tells them they have come to a particular point in the last days and that's when the Spirit is going to be poured out from on high."

*****

"That issue of time. That's not the issue of, 'Well, it's 8:20 and I need to be sure that by 9 o'clock I've done these things.' It's not just the moment that you're living in.

II Timothy 3:1: [1] This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

"That's more than just a date on the calendar; it's the times in which we live.

"There's an illustration of this in I Chronicles 12: [32] And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

"The world you live in is designed by God to work on systems of cycles. They work in 80-year cycles, the average lifespan, then the 80-year cycles work in 500-year cycles, which work in 1,000-year cycles and there's this repetition in the cycles.

"The 'times' is the issue of where you are in the cycle. Ecclesiastes 3: [1] To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

[2] A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
[3] A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
[4] A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
[5] A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
[6] A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
[7] A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
[8] A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

"Paul says to redeem the times because the days are evil. The cycles that we live in are evil; the days of the times of the cycles are evil."

Harlot sell-out system

 totally unexpectedly fell asleep at computer last night. new article tonight--in meantime:

"Revelation 16: [1] And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

[2] And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

“There’s this spot that develops in these people as a curse; it’s leprosy back in Leviticus 13. They take 'the mark of the beast' and then God marks them.

“Revelation 3: [4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
[5] He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

“Go back to Jude 12: [12] These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

“Over and over (II Peter 2 is another place) this issue about the spots and the garments spotted is talking about participation in the Antichrist religious system and the program involved in the worship and the submission to the Antichrist," explains Richard Jordan. "They have a whole tapestry of religion. By the way, the garments are called 'vestments.'

“In Mark 12 they’re called 'long robes.' You know anybody that goes around in a certain kind of dress that involves long black robes of religious distinction? People who call their priest ‘father’ as in Judges 17?

“People get mad at me sometime over Revelation 17. They like to say it’s the Roman Catholic Church. It’s not; it’s Baal worship and you don’t find Baal worship just in the Roman Catholic Church. For sure you find it there, but it’s not only there.

“When it says in Revelation 17:5, [5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH, she isn’t the only harlot on the block.

“All of the religious system is a harlotry system; it’s a sell-out system: Sell out the truth and go and get involved in that.

“Jude 1:22 is saying, ‘Judgment’s coming on that thing, so some you’re going to meet with compassion, and with others it’s the fear of that judgment coming that will get them, and you’re going to have to have discernment to understand where the brethren are in order to minister to them in an effective way.’

"All of this stuff is the functioning of what will go on in the Trib and every verse in the Book of Jude takes you back to the Old Testament--you could teach the book forever and just about teach all the Old Testament prophetic scripture because it draws on them so much.

“They’re going to fear the wrath of that fire. Zachariah, when it says ‘as a brand plucked from the burning,’ is looking prophetically at the nation Israel being restored from the Babylonian captivity back into the land. Zachariah is there with the return remnant.

“In Amos 4 you get the same kind of situation. Beginning in verse six, it goes through the history of Israel and what’s happened to them. In verse 12: [12] Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

“That’s talking about the fact that the fifth course of judgment is coming on the nation and God’s going to come and take them away into captivity. This is before the captivity; Zachariah is after.

“Notice what’s said about them in verse 11: [11] I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

“Every time God would rescue Israel from one of those courses of judgment it was like, ‘Here comes the fire, the judgment, the consuming wrath,’ and He pulls them out like a firebrand plucked out of the burning.

“All of that is a picture prophetically of the last installment of that judgment, which is the 70^th Week of Daniel in the tribulation period.

“Deuteronomy 4: [19] And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
[20] But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

“When God formed the nation He took them out of what He calls an iron furnace. That goes back to Genesis 15 when Abraham saw that vision. Israel is under satanic captivity.

“Remember that in the Exodus all 10 of those plagues were aimed at the gods of Egypt. When God brought Israel out of Egypt that was a religious contest, not a military contest. That was not a ‘who is the biggest guy on the block?’ contest.

“Listen, the Adversary has always said, ‘He might be the most powerful, but I’m the one who ought to exercise the power. I’m the one who ought to tell Him what to do with the power.’ The issue has never been a contest between God and Satan over power. It’s always been an issue about wisdom.

“If you’re the most powerful guy on the block you can be a bully. That doesn’t qualify you to properly exercise the power and the argument with the Adversary’s been, ‘Are you smart enough to do it? Are you really the one who has the best plan?’

*****

II Peter 2 uses Balaam as a prime example of what goes on with the covetous, false teachers who line up as the personification of the satanic policy of evil.

"They wind up in the last days under the ministry of the Antichrist, who rides to power riding the horn (Revelation 17)--riding the system of religion to power and these people are right in there with him," explains Jordan.

“The passage says: [13] And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

[14] Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
[15] Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

[16] But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

“You see how it says, ‘Spots they are and blemishes’? The other time that’s used is in I Peter 1 when it says the Lord Jesus Christ was ‘without blemish and without spot.’ They’re the exact opposite of Christ.

“James 1:27 says, [27] Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

“That issue of ‘spots’ has to do with a sore spot, literally, that comes up on their body for having taken ‘the mark of the beast.’ Revelation 16 describes it as a grievous running sore like leprosy. Revelation 3:4 says, [4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

“This stuff’s talking about how they're part of this polluted religious system that promotes, through the false prophet, the activity of the Antichrist and they wind up with the judgment of that, and in the midst of that judgment don’t even understand.

“Still deceived, still dead to see it, sporting themselves, reveling. ‘Sporting’ means you’re trying to call attention to yourself. That’s the depths of sin’s dominion. They’re under the total, complete control of sin.

*****

“You know where the defilement comes from? In Luke 6, he talks about ‘an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.’

“Luke 11 tells us the ‘light of the body is the eye.’ It’s not just the issue of the external; there’s something inside of you and it gets contacted. Luke writes, [34] The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. [35] Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

“That’s II Peter 2:14! He says they have ‘eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin.’ These men in II Peter succumb to that; they’re not like Job who said, ‘I’ve not looked upon a maid to sin.’

“They’re like Christ was warning people in Matthew 5 about: ‘If you LOOK you’ve committed adultery in your heart.’ I mean, they literally can’t even look without sinning; without it triggering thoughts inside of self-consuming, self-indulgent sin. Completely captivated by it. It’s a heart problem.

“When it says they’re ‘beguiling unstable souls,’ that word ‘beguile’ is translated from a word that has to do with people who would go out and put out bait in a trap to catch people. The problem is in the soul; hearts not stabilized and fortified with some sound doctrine.

“Balaam made a deliberate choice to go the wrong way when the right way was known to him and he loved the wages of unrighteousness for money’s sake. These folks pose as prophets yet they teach ‘license’; they teach false doctrine for the sake of money.

“Old Man Bob Jones used to say, ‘When it doesn’t make sense, there’s a buck in it somewhere,’ and there will be in this. That’s one of the reasons in the law, God told the leaders of Israel not to take gifts. Notice adultery and money are two things that go together in these passages. You’ll see in Micah 5 that those are two sins people are judged especially for."

How do you chain an angel so he can't get away?

Here's a short one and will have a longer article tomorrow for certain:

God asks Job, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding."

"Where was Job when God laid the foundations of the earth? he didn't exist; man didn't exist then.

"God asks, [5] Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? [6] Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 

"This is talking about when God constructed the earth in the universe. By the way, you see how He says in verse 6 'whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened'? 

"Job knew the answer to that one. Job 26:7: [7] He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

"Did you know that scientists didn't know that until the 1800s? All the great minds of the universe all thought that the earth was 'resting on the back of Atlas who's standing on top of a turtle swimming in the sea.' Some primordial, universal sludge. That's the brains of the universe, you know. The bright people, is what they thought.

"Job is the oldest book in the Bible; in fact, that's the oldest book anybody knows about anywhere. You're 15-1,600 years before Christ. The first book in the Bible and God tells you something about the structure of the heavens.

"You don't have to be afraid of just letting the Bible be what it is. I'm looking for a structure and I got a verse that tells me it's going to be like a tabernacle. A tent. It says it's going to have sides to it and they are going to be like a curtain. But it's a special kind of a thing.

"In Genesis He talked about 'darkness is upon the face of the deep.' This deep here, by the way, is a container and what's in it is water.

[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

"One of those plagues in Egypt was darkness. When God put Abraham to sleep in Genesis 15, in order to cut the covenant with him, Abraham experienced what the text calls 'the horror of great darkness.' Abraham literally experienced what it is to be under the control of satanic authority. Well, God does that with Egypt.

Exodus 10:21: [20] But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

[21] And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

"When you've got darkness that you can feel, that's pretty thick darkness. I showed you those verses about 'the day of the Lord' being a day of thick darkness.

"What God was doing in Egypt was demonstrating the satanic authority over that nation.

[22] And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:

"That's why in the Book of Jude it says these angels that sinned are being held in chains of darkness for the day of judgment. How do you chain an angel up so he can't get away? You put him in absolute, complete darkness.

[23] They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

"Do you think that meant they had Bic lighters or Eveready flashlights? No, the light that was in their dwellings was the light of the glory of God. It was a special light. God put it there. God's glory was engulfed by that darkness, but in Israel His glory was there.

"That's what God does in Genesis 1. He comes down into that darkness and turns on the light. 

Job 38:4: [4] Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

"Notice the terminology here. Everything God describes is the terminology of a building contractor."

Final insights afoot

Dr. David J. Linden, a dying neuroscience professor (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute) explained how he has a rare form of heart cancer found inside his heart wall, prohibiting its surgical removal and resulting in him being given only 6 to 18 months to live.

Among other things he said in his radio interview with NPR, the human brain is hardwired not to grasp the totality of our personal death.

Here is an excerpt from a piece I found he wrote for The Atlantic:

"The deep truth of being human is that there is no objective experience. Our brains are not built to measure the absolute value of anything. All that we perceive and feel is colored by expectation, comparison, and circumstance. There is no pure sensation, only inference based on sensation.

"Thirty minutes fly by in a conversation with a good friend, but seem interminable when waiting in line at the DMV. That fat raise you got at work seems nice until you learn that your co-worker got one twice as large as yours. A caress from your sweetheart during a loving, connected time feels warm and delightful, but the very same touch delivered during the middle of a heated argument feels annoying and presumptuous, bordering on violation.

"If someone had told me one year ago, when I was 59, that I had five years left to live, I would have been devastated and felt cheated by fate. Now the prospect of five more years strikes me as an impossible gift. With five more years, I could spend good times with all of my people, get some important work done, and still be able to travel and savor life’s sweetness. The point is that, in our minds, there is no such thing as objective value, even for something as fundamental as five years of life.

"The final insight of my situation is more subtle, but it’s also the most important. Although I can prepare for death in all sorts of practical ways—getting my financial affairs in order, updating my will, writing reference letters to support the trainees in my lab after I’m gone—I cannot imagine the totality of my death, or the world without me in it, in any deep or meaningful way. My mind skitters across the surface of my impending death without truly engaging. I don’t think this is a personal failing. Rather, it’s a simple result of having a human brain.

"Because our brains are organized to predict the near future, it presupposes that there will, in fact, BE a near future. In this way, our brains are hardwired to prevent us from imagining the totality of death.

"If I am allowed to speculate—and I hold that a dying person should be given such dispensation—I would contend that this basic cognitive limitation is not reserved for those of us who are preparing for imminent death, but rather is a widespread glitch that has profound implications for the cross-cultural practice of religious thought.

"Nearly every religion has the concept of an afterlife (or its cognitive cousin, reincarnation). Why are afterlife/reincarnation stories found all over the world? For the same reason we can’t truly imagine our own deaths: because our brains are built on the faulty premise that there will always be that next moment to predict. We cannot help but imagine that our own consciousness endures.

"While not every faith has explicit afterlife/reincarnation stories (Judaism is a notable exception), most of the world’s major religions do, including Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, and arguably, even Buddhism.

"Indeed, much religious thought takes the form of a bargain: Follow these rules in life, and you will be rewarded in the afterlife or with a favorable form of reincarnation or by melding with the divine.

"What would the world’s religions be like if our brains were not organized to imagine that consciousness endures? And how would this have changed our human cultures, which have been so strongly molded by religions and the conflicts between them?

"While I ponder these questions, I am also mulling my own situation. I am not a person of faith, but as I prepare for death, I have a renewed respect for the persistent and broad appeal of afterlife/reincarnation stories and their ultimately neurobiological roots. I’m not sure whether, in the end, faith in afterlife/reincarnation stories is a feature or a bug of human cognition, but if it’s a bug, it’s one for which I have sympathy. After all, how wonderfully strange would it be to return as a manatee or a tapeworm? And what a special delight it would be to see Dena and my children again after I’m gone."

******

Here is an outtake from an old study on our eternal life and I will have a new post tomorrow: 

“It’s not true to say there’s no time in eternity. That would mean there’s no events. Time is the way you measure phenomena and the distance between events. If you don’t have time, there’s no movement. In the eternity in God’s presence there is movement. So there has to be time in that sense," explains Richard Jordan.

“What there is is endless time in eternity. The Bible talks about world without end. Eons without end, that type of thing--ages to come.

“Here’s the part about that that thrills me: ‘That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.’ (Ephesians 2:7)

“There’s more than one age and in each age you’re going to show the exceeding riches of His grace. That means in this age, you’re going to show the riches of His grace, and in the next age, you’re going to EXCEED the demonstration from before. Every age will be more exceeding in the demonstration of His grace.

*****

“I use an illustration about Adam and Eve. Adam goes out and gets supper. He works in the Garden and comes home with a bushel of peaches and says, ‘Sugar, I think you’re going to like these. I ate one and they’re good.’ She says, ‘Man they are!’

“So the next day she takes those peaches and says, ‘You know, I bet if I sliced these up and put a little sugar on them they’d be even better.’ Adam comes home and says, ‘Man, these peaches are better than the ones yesterday!’ This is just exceeding good. So the next day, Eve bakes them and makes a peach cobbler. That’s better than the sliced peaches. It’s sort of goes like that.

“We’re going to have this endless exceeding, and what’s going to happen is ‘in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ So you’re just going to learn more about Him and appreciate Him more, value Him more, and you’re going to think it couldn’t get any better, and in the next stage, it’s going to be even better. You’re never going to stop learning more about Him."

(new article tomorrow)

Pharoah: 'We're going to annihilate these people'

(new article tomorrow)

Isaiah 10, talking about the Antichrist, says: [5] O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

[6] I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
[7] Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

"God is using Isaiah to communicate to this Assyrian, and in this passage He's not talking about the historical Assyria," explains Alex Kurz.

Isaiah 10:24: [24] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

"You see this connection between Assyria and Egypt? The first head of that dragon is the Egyptian empire; it's Satan's assault and salvo against God's wisdom in creating a nation through Abraham, and just because God takes somebody out of his land, Satan in turn plants his guy and he's an Assyrian.

Exodus 1:8: [8] Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

"By the way, this Pharoah is not named; he's nameless and that's interesting because the Antichrist is nameless and yet there is a number associated with him--the number of the beast and all that.

Verses 9-10: [9] And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

[10] Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

"What is this Pharoah, the Assyrian, worried about? There's impending war. Fear has stricken the dragon; he sees what God's doing out there and that Assyrian rises up to ensure that this people don't continue to multiply.

"So what does he do? Verses 15-16: [15] And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

[16] And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

"Here's the second interesting parallel. There's an extermination policy that this Assyrian Pharoah implements. It's that every first-born son . . . Tactic No. 1: Kill the son.

"We read in Revelation 12 about a two-pronged extermination policy. The first phase is, 'Kill the newborn son.'

Verses 4-5: [4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

[5] And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

"Under the time past, historical Pharoah, an Egyptian who rises up because of the threat of the fruitful, multiplying nation of Israel, says, 'Policy No. 1: Kill all the male children.' Antichrist is seeking to kill the man child as soon as it's delivered.

"You remember when the Lord Jesus was born and the Roman government and any boy two years old? 

"For Phase 2 of the extermination policy of Pharoah go to Exodus 14. The first phase didn't work because God in His wisdom raised up that fair child called Moses.

"Satan plants an Assyrian in Egypt and what does God do? He implants a Hebrew in the Egyptian government. You see God's sense of humor? Not in the sense that this is funny stuff, but God says, 'Okay, give me your best shot. Go ahead.'

"Satan thinks he's pretty slick. He says, 'You know what, I'm going to implant the empire in that area,' and God says, 'I'll just take one of my own and I'll plant him in the Egyptian government.'

"You can't confound God and don't forget this dragon thinks he's wiser than anything, and he thinks God created him for the specific purpose of wielding equal authority in the universe.

Exodus 14:9: [9] But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.

" 'I'll let your people go,' could very well have been two million Hebrews that God's leading to the edge of the great sea and what's Pharoah seeking to do? 'We're going to annihilate these people.' What's going to happen in the future?

*****

"Phase two of this extermination policy is described in Revelation 12: [13] And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

[14] And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

"Some interpret that eagle to be an airplane but no, it's a person. Whoever came down in the shape of a bird? The Holy Spirit. In the first coming of Christ, the Holy Spirit came as a dove. Peace on earth, good will to men. And when Israel crucified her King, the dove becomes a what? A bird of prey. He's an eagle.

"Just as God supernaturally delivers His people back there in history past, when the nation is right there on the water's edge, God's going to do the same thing again. In that second phase of this extermination policy, you have this dragon who's pursuing the nation out there in the wilderness.

[15] And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
[16] And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
[17] And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

"She will be supernaturally provided for, which is what God did in the past. God splits open that sea, great walls of water, the nation's delivered. So again, what happened in the past is going to be repeated in the future."

Jonah is a whale of a tale? Hardly

A woman I work with shared with me a while ago that she was once a Sunday School teacher. The other week I made a reference to Jonah in the whale and she responded, and I paraphrase, "I look back at teaching about that story and I wonder if I didn't tell the kids something to cause unbelief." Her meaning was she questioned whether the Bible story was really true and she wasn't spreading falsehoods.

*****

"The fact is, Jonah was a real person and the things in the Book of Jonah are real historic narratives; they're real historic events and not 'made-up stuff.' It's not a fable, it's not a dream, it's not a parable; it's historic reality," says Richard Jordan.

"Jonah is probably one of the most maligned books in all of the Bible. People just don't like it for a lot of reasons. They say, 'It wasn't a whale.' That's the big thing. They say, 'He didn't really die.' And God forbid that he had been resurrected.

"And, you know, 'It's a favorite children's story but it's an allegory.' Like I said, it's called a legend, a myth, a fable, religious fiction. Anything just to reject the miraculous part of it, and the reason for that is the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew 12 and Luke 11, says Jonah is a picture of Him and so the Book of Jonah is more than just historic narrative. There's some doctrine being taught in the Book of Jonah; Jesus said that Jonah was a 'sign.'

Matthew 12: [39] But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

[40] For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
[41] The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

"That's a statement by the Lord Jesus Christ that validates the historical validity of Jonah. It also demonstrates something about the doctrinal impact of the Book of Jonah.

*****

"Jonah is sent to Nineveh; Nahum is going to be sent to Nineveh. Between them is Micah who has a message about some things that are going to go on between those two issues. There's about 100 hundred years, historically, between the time of Jonah and then when Nahum prophesied.

Nahum 1:2: [2] God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

"I mean, this thing is not going to be good for Nineveh. If you look at the very last verse of the book, Nahum 3:19: [19] There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

"What's wrong with Nineveh they're not going to get over? God's just going to wipe them out. In Nahum it's, 'Woe to Nineveh,' but in Jonah, God says, 'Go to Nineveh.'

"Jonah was sent with a message of repentance and the people do repent. What happens with Nahum is he goes with a message of, 'There's no ability to repent.'

"There's two different things going on in the ministry of these two men, separated by a period of time. Nineveh repents, then they apostasize again and then there's no hope for them.

"Now, Jonah didn't want Nineveh to repent; he wanted God to destroy Nineveh because Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria and the Assyrians in Jonah's time were beginning to be arch enemies of the nation Israel.

"He didn't want Nineveh to gain any military prowess. Eventually they did, and eventually it turns out to be the Assyrians who carry the northern kingdom, where Jonah is, off into the fifth course of judgment and captivity. So, Jonah wants God to wipe them out to take away the threat.

Jonah 4: [1] But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

[2] And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
[3] Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

"Jonah says, 'I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I knew you were going to do that. I knew if they heard that message and got right you'd forgive them; you'd let them off the hook and not destroy them! That's why I fled! I knew how you are.' 

"You go to Nahum and God goes from gracious to jealous. Where Jonah would say He's merciful, Nahum says He's a revenger. Where Jonah says He's slow to anger, Nahum says, 'Yeah, He's slow to anger but His patience has run out. He's over with it; it doesn't last forever.'

"Where Jonah says He's got great kindness, in Nahum it's, 'Hey, forget the kindness stuff; His patience is over with. He's not weak; He's powerful and He's going to come and do it.'

"So, when Jonah says God's going to change His mind about destroying them if they repent, in Nahum it's, 'Tough apples, dude, it's over with.' There's the contrast.

"Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, is eventually going to be the nation that carries Israel off into Babylonian captivity and it's going to be one of the nations that's used as a picture of the Antichrist. Some of the most clear, prophetic prophesies about the course and career of the Antichrist are under him in the capacity of the Assyrian.

"There's some doctrine being taught in the events in Jonah that, when you see them you see a prophecy about a future Jewish evangelist who goes out and preaches to the nations. It's really not just a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's a picture of the nation Israel itself.

*****

David writes in Psalm 139: [1] O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

[2] Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
[3] Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
[4] For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
[5] Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

"Jonah quotes the Book of Psalms seven times and would have known the psalms of David. He would have known you can't go to sea, or anywhere else, and get away from God," explains Jordan.

"So when it says Jonah flees the presence of the Lord, it's not so much that he's trying to get away to a place where God isn't; he knows that's not possible.

"His idea was, 'If I can get out of the land of Israel, then that spirit of prophecy that's on me won't be on me anymore.' What he's doing is running from the ministry; from his prophetic office, the position he's been given as God's witness man in the earth.

I Kings 17 begins: [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. [2] And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, [3] Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

"That idea of 'before whom I stand,' is, 'I'm His messenger.'

II Chronicles 29:11: [11] My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.

"Jonah's trying to get out of the ministry, which is exactly what His nation had done.

"There is hard, physical evidence of the Phoenicians visiting the North American and South American continents, the new world, before the time of Christ. There's evidence that they had sailed the whole planet.

"Solomon used these folks in his kingly activities. I Kings 10:22: [22] For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

"King Hiram is a Phoenician king with his Phoenician navy. You can get gold and silver from a lot of places, but to get apes and peacocks you couldn't do that in the Mediterranean.

"Tharshish is as far across the Mediterranean as you can go. It's a city of Spain. What Jonah's trying to do is get as far away from Jerusalem as he can get, which is the other end of the Mediterranean and he's on a boat that will take him as far away as Africa and perhaps East India.

"It took three years for these ships of Tarshish to make their circuit. That's the reason they came to Solomon every three years.

II Chronicles 9:21: [21] For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

"You had to go around to Africa to get the apes and to India to get the peacocks, meaning these ships went long, long ways. My point to you about Jonah is he's trying to get out of town and he's serious about it. He's willing to go as far away as he can to get out of the ministry.

Jonah 1: [3] But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. [4] But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

"Any time you leave the Lord, you know which direction you're going? Jonah is in such a hurry he doesn't even take time to get a passenger ship; he gets on a freighter, a merchant ship with a bunch of mariners. He takes the first berth out of town and he paid the fare.

"Listen, when you depart from the Lord there's a price to be paid and you know who's going to pay that? You see, there's a lot of preaching and spiritual application in these verses.

"Hebrews 12 says God chastens His sons, so He's going to chasten Jonah. He's going to deal with him and He's going to deal with him in afflictions. Now the great storm is a type and picture of what Israel will go through in the tribulation.

Jonah 1:5: [5] Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

"Jonah's gone down into the bottom of the ship and he's in a deep sleep. He just keeps going down, down, down, down. Get to chapter 2 and he's going to go down to the bottom of the mountains, go down to hell. He's on a real slide down.

"When it says he's in a deep sleep, that's the opposite of the Lord Jesus when He's in the ship and it's tossed at sea and His disciples ask, 'How can you sleep when we're fixing to perish in this storm?'

"Similar storm as in Jonah, a picture of the tribulation, but their problem was Jesus said, 'We're going to go to the other side,' and then He went to sleep because He was trusting the will of His Father about where they were going and He wasn't worried about it.

"Now, Jonah's sleep is a sleep of exhaustion. He's a guy running from God and he's completely worn out. Have you noticed we live in an exhausted world? When you run pell-mell from God in your own way, doing your own thing, that's where you wind up."

(new article tomorrow)

Who's the guy sitting on the red horse?

Here's a short outtake from a study in Zechariah 1 and will have a new article tomorrow for sure:

"It isn't smooth sailing for Israel when they go back into the land. There's still the opposition, the danger, the seduction to try and go back and worship in the idolatrous system that got them into captivity to start with.

"In the midst of all that danger Zechariah sees these visions. The nighttime is a picture of the fifth course of judgment, the time of Jacob's trouble, but in the midst of all that darkness there's still the light of God's Word, because the word of God comes to Zechariah. It came to Haggai. So even in the midst of the darkness they have the communication of God's Word still.

"The sun goes out and the darkness doesn't go away til the sun comes back. In Malachi 2, when it describes the Second Coming of Christ, Malachi says it's like the s-u-n of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. In the Bible, a day is first the evening and then the morning. As Psalm 30 says, 'Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.'

"Christ is still on exile and we literally are spiritually in a world of darkness. Paul calls it 'this present evil age.' We live in darkness, but we still have the light of God's Word and that's a great encouragement.

"So Zechariah sees a guy riding a red horse. He's standing among the myrtle trees and then there's these red horses speckled in white. He does exactly what you and I do; he says, 'I got no idea what that is.'

"You might say that a lot when you study Zechariah. There's a lot of scratch-your-head kind of stuff in this book where you go, 'I'd sure like to know what that's all about.'

"Zechariah had a humble heart; that's one of the things you learn about him. He confesses his ignorance and says, 'What is it?'

"The angel says, 'Okay, I'll show you.' Now, if you want to see an understatement, look at verse 10: [10] And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

"You read that and say, 'Huh? How did that answer all that?' Well, the answer is this is what they're doing.

"It's fascinating to notice how he says 'the man that stood among the myrtle trees.' So the guy back in verse 8 . . . [8] I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

[9] Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

"The man on the horse standing among the myrtle trees in verse 11 is the angel of the Lord: [11] And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

"The angel of the Lord, more often than not in the Old Testament, is really the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, His pre-incarnate appearance.

"The word 'angel' in the Bible really means 'an appearance.' I know most of the time you're told it means 'a messenger.' That's because the Greek word 'angelos' is the word 'angel' in English and it means message.

"But in Scripture it's more 'the presence.' Here's the presence of the Lord, and so we're dealing with the Lord here as the guy sitting on the red horse.

"He's going to be communicating to them and when He does, the other riders on the horses answer Him. That term 'walking to and fro through the earth,' is a very special kind of concept in the Bible that has a specific meaning to it." 

Special quaking; kings cry for rocks to fall on them

"What's described in Nahum is how God's going to avenge His people against their enemies at the Second Coming.

Nahum 1: [4] He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

[5] The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
[6] Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
[7] The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

"My goal in looking at some cross references to this passage is to try to give you a little bit of sense of what's going on in some of these prophetic passages," says Richard Jordan.

Revelation 16: [12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

"Involved in the wrath of God being poured out is going to be this thing about drying up rivers and one of the rivers He's going to dry up is the Euphrates.

"Somebody asked me about the passage in Exodus when they came out of Egypt and God congealed the sea and caused them to pass over and then have Pharoah fall into that. There's one of these openings in the Red Sea that goes down into the bottomless pit and the same thing is in the river Euphrates.

"Another one, if you go to Psalm 106:5: [6] We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

[7] Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

"That's what He's talking about when He says He's going to rebuke the sea and make it dry. He's going to do in the future what He did in the past.

Verse 8: [8] Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

[9] He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

"He's literally going to dry up some of those waters. When you do that, partly it's going to be so some people can get across, and part of it's going to be because there's some angelic creatures in those places that He's going to be judging.

Psalm 89: [9] Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. [10] Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

"Come over to Matthew 8: [23] And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

[24] And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
[25] And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
[26] And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
[27] But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

"Jesus was demonstrating that He's the Jehovah who's going to come and deliver Israel and He does exactly what Nahum and Psalm 89 and so forth tell you.

"Every miracle that Jesus Christ performed in His earthly ministry was a miracle to teach and confirm God's Word to Israel. He demonstrates to His 'little flock' in that little ship that He's the one who can rebuke the sea.

"When it says in Nahum 1:5 that 'the mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence,' come over to Haggai.

"All this stuff about earthquakes that Jesus talks about, they're not talking about the little things we have around the world today; the shifting of the tectonic plates and that kind of stuff.

"I love that thing about Matthew 24 and Luke 21 where they talk about earthquakes and people say, 'Oh, must be a sign of the times--Jesus said when you see these things happen . . .'

"They're not the sign of the end but all the sensational types go and try and make them that. This is a very special kind of a quaking at a special time. Haggai 2: [6] For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

[7] And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

"That shaking is going to have an impact that EVERYBODY notices. 

Haggai 2: [21] Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

[22] And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

"When He sets up His kingdom, part of it is He's going to shake all the earth. It's that stuff over in Job 38 about shaking the wicked out of it and those earthquakes take place when Christ comes back.

"Jesus told them about it in Luke 21: [25] And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

[26] Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

"If you shake the earth, one of the things that happens is a tsunami. When He talks about the sea and waves roaring, the earthquake's got everything sloshing back and forth like water in a bathtub.

"Isaiah 24 is a chapter about the coming of the kingdom and the effects it has on the land of Palestine:

[17] Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
[18] And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
[19] The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
[20] The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
[21] And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
[22] And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
[23] Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

"In other words, you can hide all you want to but you're not going to get away. This is in connection with Him coming to set up His kingdom and He comes through the heavens, shakes Satan and all his host out of heaven and down to the earth, and then He comes to the earth and shakes the earth! 

"Deuteronomy 32:22 says He sets on fire the earth and it burns down to the lowest hell. In Isaiah 34, the land of Idumea is turned into pitch and that pitch burns right down into hell itself.

"By the way, Nahum is the 34th book in the Bible and Isaiah 34 corresponds with the Book of Nahum. 

Isaiah 34: [8] For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

[9] And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
[10] It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

"Literally that land is set on fire. Right there at Bozrah, right south of the Dead Sea where Sodom and Gomorrah were and that's where one of those passages goes right down into hell.

"The shaft that goes down into hell there is literally going to have the earth excavated out of it (melted out of it) and it's going to be open and they'll be able to see right down in there.

"You see in verse 10 where it says 'it shall not be quenched night nor day'? In chapter 66, Isaiah repeats that, talking about people standing there looking down into hell. Jesus quotes it in Mark 9, about it being a place 'where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.'

"Now, these things aren't taking place all the time. There's a specific time that Nahum is thinking about, talking about and prophesying about.

"In Revelation 6, that sixth seal, the kings of the earth cry for the rocks to fall on them and it says "who shall be able to stand?":

[15] And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
[16] And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
[17] For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

"Revelation 7 says He's going to seal 144,000, that little flock in the tribulation, and they'll be able to endure. So the answer to who can abide the fire that Isaiah 33 talks about is the Believing Remnant.

"But in Nahum, the issue is on how He's going to focus on Edom, the source of that ancient, perpetual hatred. He's going to focus on the Assyrian, the Book of Nahum, and He's going to focus on the Babylonian, the Chaldeans, and He's going to wipe out all of the satanic policy of evil that has used these nations to destroy Israel and oppose His purpose."

(new article tomorrow)

Deal with devil unenforceable contract

(sorry for delay--new article tomorrow for certain)

In Isaiah 28, the people say to the Lord they've made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, which is similar to making an agreement with the devil:

[15] Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
[16] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
[17] Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
[18] And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

"What Israel says is, 'Look, God, you can't punish us, you can't scourge us, because what we did is we went to death and hell, we had a conversation with them, and we entered into an agreement that they're not going to harm us', " explains Ohio Preacher David Reid.

"Is God who created the universe stuck with that? Does He say, 'Well, I was going to judge Israel but I didn't know they had a contract; I guess I can't.'

"In verse 18, God says, in other words, 'I'm not interested in whatever agreement you think you made; I've decided to invalidate it and your agreement with hell shall not stand.'

"What God's doing is disannulling their illegal contract and their covenant with death and hell. Israel was going to face God's judgment and there was no way out of it.

"So, let's say you're an unbeliever who's communicated with the devil and you do enter a deal and, as part of it, he promises to give you whatever you lust after and you promise not to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

"What happens if you get the riches and the worldly fame, or whatever it is you're interested in, and you then decide, 'You know what, I promised in the contract that I wasn't going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but you know what? I'm just going to do it; I'm going to believe the gospel and become saved.'

"Satan says, 'Wait a minute! I gave you wealth and fame. You can't do this! We've got a deal!' What would happen? You want to believe on the Lord but he says you can't? We understand the contract is illegal and unenforceable.

"I Timothy 2 says: [3] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; [4] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

"God would save the entire world if the world would believe. If every single person on the planet decided to believe the gospel, God would be thrilled. He would save every single one of them.

"Does the devil negotiate individual contracts with people? God is omnipresent, meaning He's everywhere. Satan is not. Satan is a created being limited by time and space. He can only be in one place at one time.

"Think with me. The CEO of a fast-food company's job is not to run the drive-through; he's to set policy for the entire company. His responsibility is broader than working with one customer. 

"I Timothy 4: [1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

"Satan wants to damn the whole earth, not by, 'I'm going to sit down and negotiate a contract with this person and tomorrow I'll negotiate one with that person.' He'd never get through with the billions of people on earth.

"What he wants is 'doctrines of devils' that can be repeated and taught, aired on the radio and published in books, so that those doctrines can damn millions and millions and millions of people and that's what false doctrine does.

"II Timothy 2: 26: [26] And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

"Satan doesn't negotiate with people; negotiations are for those you can't just overwhelm. Satan takes them captive. A snare is used to trap. He has traps he's set where they grab hold of people.

"If you have the really powerful, superior army you can just secure your objective by force; you take it. What Satan does is he takes people captive; he doesn't negotiate with them.

"II Corinthians 4: [3] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: [4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

"What did the devil do to damn people? Did he negotiate contracts, or did he blind them so they couldn't see the light of the glorious gospel and be saved? He doesn't need bargaining power. If one party has all the force, all the power, they don't need to negotiate; they just exert their will and take them captive.

"In Matthew, when Christ was tempted in the wilderness and, of course, Christ didn't sin, what did Satan do? He said, 'If you do this, I'll do that.' You know why Satan had to try to negotiate a deal with the Lord? Which one of them had more power? 

"Colossians 1:16 tells you that all things were created by Him and for Him. He's the enteral God; Satan is a created being.

"The Lord Jesus Christ created Satan. Satan couldn't go to Christ and overpower Him; he had no ability to do that. The only thing he could do was try to deceive, sweet-talk and persuade the Lord into some sort of a deal, and what did the Lord say? 'Not going to happen; not going to do it.'

"Satan offered the Lord the kingdoms of this world and you know what the Lord said? 'You don't need to give them to me; I'll take them when I want.'

"Satan says, 'No, I'll give them to you right now, Lord, let's do a deal!' The Lord's like, 'I don't need any thing you have. In my perfect timing I'll take what I want and you can't do a thing about it.' That's where Satan tried to enter a deal and the Lord said, 'Not interested.'

"So can a Believer sell his soul to the devil today? I don't think so; there's no verse in Scripture that says anything of the sort and the agreement would be an illegal contract. It wouldn't be enforceable because all you have to do to be saved, it doesn't matter what you've done in the past . . . there's no unforgivable sin in the dispensation of grace. All you have to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."

Knowing who your transforming agent is and where He comes from

"Lucado preached a heretical view of the Holy Spirit…referring to the Holy Spirit as a female, referring to Him as 'the mother heart of God.' "  Post by Marsha West on Christian Research Network's website 

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Christian megastar author and commentator (with 242 books!!), Max Lucado, who supposedly suggests you invite a priest over to your house for personal communion celebrations, tells Ainslie Earhart on FOX News the other day, and I summarize: 

"People are ready to throw in the towel they are so stressed and depressed, but there's an answer the Holy Spirit empowers."

Here's an outtake:

Lucado: "Get out of bed, get on with life, get busy about the right things in the right way; the power to face the unexpected, unwanted passages time. Power, this is what Jesus promised then and this is what Jesus promises still. How's your power level?"

Earhart: "The same God yesterday and today, right? The Holy Spirit is such a mystery to people. How do you explain that and what is our fascination with the Holy Spirit?"

Lucado: "And well the Holy Spirit should be a mystery. He is unlike anything that we have ever known or seen, so if anybody ever says, 'I've kind of cracked the code on the Holy Spirit,' distance yourself from that person. You need to be in reverential awe of the Holy Spirit. Jesus described Him as a wind, which is to say, we don't know where He comes from or where He's going."

In contrast, here's a study from my church:

“When the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit, it uses terms and descriptions that describe the personality; a person, not an influence. Not some power that emanates from God, but a PERSON who IS God.

“As the Divine Person, the Holy Spirit is an ever-present loving member of the godhead who dwells in you," explains Richard Jordan.

“Paul says in Ephesians 4:30, ‘And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.' That's the emotional response of a personality.

“Having knowledge is a characteristic of a person. I Corinthians 2:9-11 says, [9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
[10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
[11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

“Romans 8:27 talks about the mind of the Spirit: [27] And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

“God exercises a will that comes out of a thinking process which makes choices in relationship to what goes on. He searches and that’s the action of a person.

“Galatians 4:6 says, ‘And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.’

"The Spirit of God cries; He speaks. Acts 13:2 says, [2] As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

“The verse says He talks; He speaks. That’s describing a living, breathing, real person!

“Romans 8:16 says, ‘The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’ He can testify. Romans 8:26 says He intercedes for us. These are all things that happen when you’re a person.

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"Jesus, in John 15:26-27, says, [26] But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
[27] And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

“The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. Notice, there’s God the Father, God the Son and then the Holy Spirit all in one verse. That’s the godhead; that’s the tri-unity.

“I John 5:6-7 says, [6] This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
[7] For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

“That verse tells you the godhead is made up of God the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. They’re one; they’re all three God.

“By the way, prior to the incarnation, to the Creation, the name of the second person of the godhead was the Word. You see that’s a capital ‘w.' That’s His name.

"John 1:1 says, [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“If the Word was God, He’s God. If He’s with god, that means they are separate but they’re both God. We’re in room here with skaddles of people; we’re all equally human but we're also distinct and individual persons.

“If you can understand that, you can understand the godhead. In the godhead there are three distinct, individual people who all share equally the essence of deity, like we all share the essence of humanity.

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“By the way, you see that expression the Holy Ghost? That title is only found about a dozen times. Only one time is Holy Spirit a name. In Ephesians 4, when it says that ‘holy Spirit of God,’ the word holy is not capitalized. That’s an adjective, not a proper noun. That’s a description of the function, not his name. Now, His name is the Holy Ghost.

“In Luke 11:13 (‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’) That’s the only place that says Holy Spirit with both in caps. All the other times the word ‘holy’ is not capitalized and it’s not describing His name, it’s describing His function.

“If you take the word God and the word host and you contract it, you get the word ‘ghost.’ It’s describing the Spirit as a person. We think about Casper the Ghost, throwing a sheet over a person for Halloween, but the idea is there’s a person under that sheet and the term ghost is describing not a spook, not a spirit that runs it--it’s talking about a person.

"Here is a person who contains all that it is to be God. He’s a Spirit. God is a Spirit.

“He’s how God the Father and God the Son work in their creation. When you go through your Bible and look at where it talks about Him being a Spirit, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, that is consistently a reference to the function, the working; what He’s doing.

“These are not just titles thrown out and used indiscriminately; they all refer to different activities and different functions that the Spirit of God is working in our lives.

“That’s why it’s important in Ephesians to see that when he says holy Spirit, He’s the Spirit designed to produce holiness. He’s the spirit designed to produce the life of Christ you’re set apart to in your salvation. His function is to produce that life.

*****

"I John 5:1 says, [1] Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

"Jesus, in the Upper Room talking to His apostles. says in John 16, [12] I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

“That capital ‘s’; that’s Him. Now He’s the Spirit of truth. He’s going to be the one to communicate truth to you. When He comes, He’s not going to be talking about Himself; ‘He’s going to be talking about me,’ Christ says.

“When you hear people sing, ‘Sweet Holy Spirit come,’ He didn’t inspire that kind of singing. He inspires, ‘Come Lord Jesus,’ and, ‘Worthy is the lamb.’ That’s His focus, so it isn’t that we are omitting Him when the focus is on the Father and the Son. What we’re doing is demonstrating His thinking; His activity. We’re honoring His work and His function.

*****

“When you study Scripture, one the great titles you learn from God is ‘Jehovah.’ It’s in Bible with the word ‘Lord.’ Jehovah can refer to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

“There’s a verse where the Holy Spirit is called God. Acts 5:3-5 says, [3] But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
[4] Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
[5] And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

"Exodus 16:7 says, [7] And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?

“This is Moses chiding Israel for their murmuring about wanting something to eat and drink. He says, ‘For he hath heard your murmurings.’

“They murmured against Jehovah. Hebrews 3:7 says, ‘Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice.’

“This time when He speaks, He actually writes it down. I mean, He’s a person. Who’s the me? The Holy Ghost.

“Who did Exodus tell you they were tempting and proving? Jehovah. Who does Hebrews say they were tempting? The Holy Spirit. Which was it? It was both. Why? Because they both share the same title.

“In Isaiah 53, it says, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ Jehovah laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ our iniquity.

“In Zechariah 12:10, Jehovah says that ‘when I come back, they’re going to look upon me, Jehovah, whom they pierced.’ Who’s that? That’s the Lord Jesus.

“Jehovah God the Father placed upon Jehovah God the Son our sins. They pierced Him and Jehovah God the Spirit. So that title, that name . . . my point to you is that the Spirit of God is God. He’s eternal. Hebrews 9:14 talks about ‘who through the eternal Spirit.’ If you’re eternal you have to be God because you’re outside of time, outside of creation.

“Psalm 139: 6-7 says, [6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
[7] Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

“Where can I go to get away from you, Lord? Nowhere. Why? Because He’s everywhere. See what He says in verse 7? Who’s everywhere? God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

*****

“Genesis 2:7 tells us, [7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

“Job 33:4 says, [4] The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

“You know what God breathed into his nostrils? God the Holy Spirit gave life to Adam. He’s the life giver. He’s the author of this Book. ‘Holy men of old spake as they were moved by God.’

“Paul says in Acts 28, ‘spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers.’ Peter says in Acts 1, ‘As the Holy Ghost spoke by David in the psalm.’ Jesus says in Mark 12, ‘As the Holy Ghost wrote.’ Who wrote the Book? The Holy Spirit. Paul says all Scripture is given by inspiration of who? God. You follow that? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the godhead.

“You hear people talk about the new birth. It’s a fascinating thing to me, you hear people talk about the new birth and my first question is, ‘What is the new birth?’ You never find anybody that knows. They’ll tell you how to get saved or something.

“Jesus, talking to Nicodemus in John 3:6 says, [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

“Who is it that gives you everlasting life? Who is it that ‘begats’ you into the family of God? Paul says were the born ones of God. He says, ‘By the gospel I have begotten you.’ Who is it that does that? God the Holy Spirit is the one who gives you life.

“John 6:63 is a verse you need to commit to memory. It says, [63] It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

“You get that? Your flesh is not where the profit is; it’s the Spirit that gives life. How does He do it? ‘The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’

“You see, the Spirit of God is God. That’s why Jesus would talk about people being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. That’s why you find those three put together over and over and over in the Bible. Separate persons but equal in their nature and in their ability to have a relationship with creation.

*****

“Paul uses a lot of different titles for the Holy Spirit designed to demonstrate His function, His working.

“I Corinthians 3:16 says, ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?’ He’s the spirit of God and He dwells. Chapter 6:19 says, [19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

"In one place it says you’re ‘the temple of the Spirit of God.’ God Himself is going to come and function and work in you. He’s going to find a dwelling place; a working place. But in chapter 6 he says, ‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.’

“You have the personal presence and the personal relationship with the one who has set you apart in the Lord Jesus Christ and He’s the one who is the transforming agent who’s to bring about the transformation. He’s the one by whom you can glorify God in your Spirit and in your body. It comes from a personal relationship with Him.

“II Corinthians 3:3 says, [3] Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

“Notice it’s written by the Spirit of the living God. That’s God able to live in you, in the circumstances of your life, in the decisions, in the uprisings and the downfalls, in the traumas and the blessings.

“In everything in your life, He’s there living, functioning in your life. He is there as a part of your life. In fact, He is your life! He’s the living God. That’s how He writes Christ into your heart.”